Thursday, December 11, 2014

12.11.14

Entertainment:
·         Allegedly, Al Pacino is in talks with Marvel to join the Avengers
·         London-based JukeDeck has received a small seed funding round for its platform (because they won the Le Web startup competition), because their app composes original music based on a user’s settings, giving video creators, games developers and other users a simple way of sourcing music
·         Video startup Zype unveiled its online video platform today, which it says can help publishers grow and monetize their audiences
·         Google has a new app available on the Play Store that provides some insight into how it will bring live content to its Android TV platform
·         Net2TV has announced this morning that its 18 branded OTT programs will be added to ARRIS Market, a platform for cable operators to combine OTT and traditional linear programming
·         Sony emails are being unearthed from the pile of data hackers dumped online, and one thread shows executives making racist jokes about movies President Barack Obama might like
·         Reed Hastings predicts that broadcast TV will last until 2030
·         Comedy Central star Amy Schumer will host the 2015 MTV Movie Awards
·         Sling Media (part of Charlie Ergen's empire at Dish Network and EchoStar) just launched an ad and social-media campaign that ridicules TV Everywhere
·         Tugg Inc. said it has closed its Series A funding in a round led by production and distribution company Broad Green Pictures
·         Carmike Cinemas and Marcus Theatres just joined the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition, as did a smaller player, Wehrenberg Theatres. DCDC handles satellite delivery and technology, and now has all of the five largest U.S. exhibition chains including Regal, AMC, and Cinemark.
·         Please see below for the nominees for the 2015 Golden Globe Awards
·         Fandor CEO Ted Hope will deliver this year's keynote speech for the Prime Time conference in Ottawa in March 2015
·         Sony Pictures' internal workings in the wake of a devastating cyber-attack last month, execs in the studio's TV division have discussed selling a majority of Crackle and more
·         TruTV and Tumblr are partnering on a TV-meets-social deal that could net Tumblr users a possible show on the network
·         IM Global is launching a music division
·         SoundCloud has raised a $150MM round from unidentified investors, less than a year after the company brought in $60MM from Institutional Venture Partners and the Chernin Group
·         Please see below for an interesting article about Hollywood and technology, in relation to the Sony hack
·         The ownership of connected TV devices in the US grew 5% quarter-on-quarter in Q3 2014 and 28% year-on-year to reach 168 million units according to research from Strategy Analytics
Tech:          
·         Facebook recently launched a new tool for online advertisers called Atlas, and part of the company’s pitch is that it can explicitly establish a link between online ads and offline purchases
·         Robinhood, an iOS app that is going live in the App Store today, uses swipes and taps to make trading stocks feel more like checking your email
·         Mobile video game recording service Kamcord has raised a $15MM Series B round of funding from GungHo, Tencent, Wargaming, and several other investors
·         Spotify’s new “Top Tracks In Your Network” is a personalized, constantly updated playlist based on what the people you follow are listening to
·         Google has introduced offline video playback for YouTube mobile users, but it’s only available on Android devices in India, Indonesia or the Philippines
·         Indiegogo brings its crowdfunding app to Android, beating Kickstarter to the punch
·         Google is shutting down its Google News service in Spain due to new legislation that will require the company to pay publishers for displaying any portion of their work
Deals:
·         Microsoft has acquired HockeyApp to add its developer tools to its mobile effort
·         LendingClub’s valuation is roughly $8.9B after it went public today
·         Open Text is to acquire Actuate for $330MM
Business:
·         Chinese phone company Xiaomi has said it is ready to talk to Ericsson to overcome a temporary ban that was slapped on its smartphone business in India
·         Tape recording employee conversations – and playing them back to them – may have helped insulate Bridgewater Associates from frivolous lawsuits, the hedge fund’s founder, Ray Dalio, says
·         "Why should I cut production?" said Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali Al-Naimi in response to questions over whether he thought it would be necessary to reduce output prior to OPEC's next meeting in June
·         Activist investor Starboard Value has bought a 6% stake in Staples
·         eBay is weighing a plan to "eliminate thousands of jobs early next year,"
·         Merrill Lynch told its 14,000 brokers on Wednesday they will get higher bonus payments in 2015 for attracting new clients and assets but eliminated pay for servicing clients with less than $250,000
·         Please see below for a list of the 50 best companies to work for, according to Glassdoor users
·         Qualcomm confirmed Wednesday that it plans to cut 600 jobs, with half the cuts coming in California
Exec Moves:
·         Hasbro's board just elected Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns to be an independent director, effective immediately
Retail:
Startups:
·         Hinge announced it has raised an additional $1MM, which will fund Hinge’s rapid expansion into new cities to compete against Tinder
·         Woven Digital, owners of Brobible and Uproxx, it has raised $18MM in Series A funding
·         Thailand’s Page365 has raised a $420,000 seed round as it seeks to become a hub for retailers
·         Ring, the smart doorbell startup led by Jamie Siminoff, has raised $4.5MM in equity and another $2.5MM in debt financing
Government:
Other:
·         Harvard University astrophysicists Avi Loeb and James Guillochon have realized that some of the fastest stars in the Milky Way can approach the speed of light
·         Our Bad Media bloggers are accusing The New Yorker’s Malcolm Gladwell of plagiarism


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