Thursday, February 26, 2015

2.26.15

Entertainment:
·         The FCC is expected to approve Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed "net neutrality" rules today, which will regulate broadband providers more heavily than in the past and restrict their power to control download speeds on the web
·         Nickelodeon today unveiled its new mobile streaming subscription service called Noggin, which will be aimed at preschoolers and priced at $5.99 per month when it launches next month
·         Neil Young and Bob Stevenson launched N3twork, a new social network based on interests rather than friends - it hasn’t taken off like they expected, so they’re pivoting back into mobile gaming
·         Lytro, which is developing a new type of camera that dramatically changes photography, raised $50MM in its Series C
·         Sony Pictures Entertainment has entered into a two-year, first-look deal with Josh Bratman's Immersive Pictures
·         Kevin Spacey will be honored at the April 12 ceremony for his successful 11-year tenure as artistic director of London's Old Vic and his contribution to British theater
·         AMC Networks on Thursday reported improved fourth-quarter financials that exceeded Wall Street expectations
·         Wuaki.tv, the growing Barcelona-based video-on-demand and streaming service with more than two million European registered users, has officially launched in Italy
·         Spotify is taking a break from updating its mobile app to tout a new desktop feature that gives users access to the massive lyrics catalog of Musixmatch
·         The Kardashian klan signed a deal with E! for another four years at a deal of $100MM
·         Walt Disney Co. announced earlier this week that it was increasing its single-day theme-park admission to as high as $105 per person, the naysayers started naysaying
·         With over-the-top (OTT) firms posing increasing real and present dangers to their businesses, increased churn is a reality for pay-TV providers, but research says that the operators maintain a user experience edge
·         TransGaming has inked announced a new milestone partnership to bring its on-demand TV games from GameTree TV to Liberty Global
Tech:
·         Please see below for an article on Xiaomi’s new phone and how it is comparable to an iPhone
·         Apple has issued invites for a new media event on March 9, with the tagline “Spring Forward,” which likely refers to time, hence the Apple Watch is a good guess for the star of the show
·         SolarCity, the solar power startup whose chairman is the seemingly ever-present Elon Musk, has announced a new $750MM fund created to help fund residential solar projects, including defraying the upfront costs of solar panel installation at homes in 14 different states across the U.S. and in D.C.
·         Google announced this morning the launch of a pilot program which will allow mobile application developers the ability to advertise their apps directly within the Google Play store
·         Google has built an artificial intelligence system that can learn – and become amazing at – video games all on its own, given no commands but a simple instruction to play titles
·         Clicking on an InMoji icon leads a consumer to whatever experience the brand wants — video or audio content, exclusive offers, or new tools
·         Dolby dives into virtual reality with Atmos surround sound for VR
Deals:
·         Barnes & Noble said that it would spin off its college bookstores business into a separate publicly traded company, changing up its breakup plans
Business:
·         Samsung Electronics has decided to freeze paychecks for its employees this year, as the tech giant struggles amid a slump in profits, heavy competition and a weak Japanese yen
·         RadioShack has received approval from a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to auction off about 2,000 of its stores with an initial $200MM bid from hedge fund Standard General
·         IBM will spend $4B on its cloud services, data analytics and mobile businesses in a bid to turn it into what CEO Ginni Rometty said will be a $40-billion-a-year-in-revenue business by 2018
Exec Moves:
·         Amazon.com has hired President Barack Obama's former spokesman Jay Carney as senior vice president for worldwide corporate affairs
·         Five months after Jane Turton was upped to Managing Director at All3Media amid the company’s sale to Discovery Communications and Liberty Global, she has been handed the CEO job
Retail:
Startups:
·         Twenty20, the startup formerly known as Instacanvas, today announced that it has raised an $8MM Series A round led by Canaan Partners
·         Luxe Valet, the on-demand valet parking app provider which launched into LA in January, has reportedly raised $20MM in a new financing
Government:
·         The Islamic State (ISIS) militant known as "Jihadi John" has been named as Mohammed Emwazi, a British man from West London
Other:
·         Aston Martin has a new carbon-fiber car called the Vulcan, it’s got an 800-horsepower V12 and it will cost $2.3MM - Aston will build just two dozen of them


No comments:

Post a Comment