Tuesday, December 2, 2014

12.2.14

Entertainment:      
·         Please see below for an interesting article on how some video stores are thriving in the age of Netflix
·         Vimeo has rolled out a faster, revamped mobile website that reduces the clutter, improves performance, and lets users interact with the service while logged out
·         Scripted.com, which operates an online marketplace for professionally written content, has raised an additional $9MM in funding
·         Sony’s latest attack reveals a spreadsheet listing the alleged salaries of 17 top paid executives of Sony Pictures Entertainment
·         Sonar Entertainment has entered into exclusive first-look deals with two independent production companies - Ridley Scott's Scott Free London and Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler's Killer Content
·         The Bond 24 title and cast will be unveiled on Thursday in a live broadcast on 007.com
·         Sony has seen a huge spike in followers on its main Facebook page and in viewers of trailers to some of the leaked films, says social-media consultancy RelishMix
·         Sony Pictures Television is expanding its reach into Australia with the acquisition of Playmaker Media
·         Over six months after the official closing of WME and Silver Lake Partner's $2.2B deal to acquire IMG, the former is terminating roughly 100 employees of the latter
·         Please see below for two articles on US studios and Chinese businessmen on possible M&A activity
·         Kobalt has unveiled a powerful new set of tools for labels, managers and artists
·         Taylor Swift will become the first solo female artist to play stadiums on back-to-back visits to Australia
·         The large and growing EDM genre has officially arrived - it has its own white paper
·         Please see below for an interesting article on the future of digital storytelling
Tech:
·         David Story is building a mobile app, Project Elastic, which can instantly transform an Excel spreadsheet into an easy to read chart
·         Ustream will broadcast NASA gearing up for its manned mission to Mars, and a key step will be Thursday’s launch of the Orion capsule to a destination 3,600 miles from Earth, loaded with sensors rather than people for this initial trial run
·         Snapchat has opened up its Geofilters tool to a broader community this morning, letting anyone submit artwork that will appear as a geo-targeted filter on Snapchat photos
·         Apple has a new patent granted by the USPTO today, which describes a system that can re-orient an iPhone during freefall, changing the angle of its eventual impact with the ground after first determining how best to shift it to make sure the fall does as little damage as possible
·         Indiegogo is testing an ‘Optional Insurance’ fee that provides a refund if backers do not receive the final product within three months of the estimated delivery date
·         The lawsuit between Formlabs and 3D Systems relating to stereolithography has been dismissed with prejudice, a move that frees Formlabs to make their printers without fear of further patent problems
·         Legacy Republic recruits 250 people to evangelize its digital home video service
·         DeltaDNA, a maker of analytics and game personalization technology, is announcing that it will support indie game developers by giving them a discount pricing structure for using its tools
·         Stephen Hawking is getting an update to his communications interface from Intel
·         Glide, a video messaging startup based in Jerusalem, has raised $20MM in a new funding round led by Marker LLC – valuing the company at $100MM
Deals:
·         Opera, the Norway-based company that develops data-compressed web browsers, app storefronts, and other cloud-based services for mobile and other platforms, has made an acquisition to build out Mediaworks - its mobile advertising subsidiary
·         AOL has confirmed that it has acquired Vidible, a video syndication startup, for roughly $50MM
·         Avanir Pharmaceuticals has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Japanese company Otsuka Pharmaceutical in a deal worth approximately $3.5B
·         The Blackstone Group has agreed to sell IndCor Properties, a warehouse landlord, to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund for $8.1B
·         After making the company’s biggest deal ever in the summer, Priceline Chief Executive Darren Huston says he is still willing to consider additional takeovers
Business:
·         Wal Mart reported its biggest Cyber Monday to date, with mobile traffic pegged at roughly 70% over the holidays
·         Video ad technology provider BlackArrow has announced Virgin Media as its first European customer, signaling a broader international expansion starting in 2015
·         Samsung Electronics is selling its fiber optics business to U.S. glass panel supplier Corning
Exec Moves:
·         PromaxBDA, one of the leading global association for marketing, promotion and design professionals in the entertainment industry, has announced that the company's former board member Steve Kazanjian has been named president and CEO
·         Bank of New York Mellon has agreed to give a board seat to activist investor Trian Fund Management
Retail:
Startups:
·         Veniam, a company that leverages moving vehicles to bring more complete wireless Internet to municipalities, announced that it has raised a $4.9MM Series A round of funding led by True Ventures
·         Helpling, the Rocket Internet-backed cleaner-on-demand service, has raised $17MM in fresh funding
·         SendGrid, the developer of email delivery platform used heavily by app developers, has raised $20MM in its Series C
·         Cognitive Networks has raised $14.5MM from Hearst Ventures and others to bolster its mission of "making smart TVs smarter."
Government:
·         The Obama administration wants to set aside $263MM to improve law enforcement training and fund the purchase of 50,000 cameras that police officers can wear on their bodies
·         President Obama will nominate Ashton Carter to be the next Secretary of Defense
Other:
·         Most of Detroit's municipal power grid has gone down, cutting electricity to public buildings in the city


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