Monday, March 2, 2015

3.2.15

Entertainment:
·         Yahoo is launching a new digital magazine called Yahoo TV - the new magazine will feature articles and analysis on television shows
·         Chew places a lot of emphasis on the video side of what is otherwise a music streaming platform - users are expected to share a video stream alongside their audio
·         Please see below for an interesting article on storytelling in the digital age
·         21st Century Fox and Apollo Global Management, joint owners of the newly-formed global TV giant Endemol Shine Group, said they would merge Shine International and Endemol Worldwide Distribution under CEO Cathy Payne
·         Chinese box-office revenue edged ahead of the United States in February for the first time ever as a record Lunar New Year bonanza brought in $650MM in the second-largest movie market, according to data from research firm Entgroup
·         High school students can get free tickets to “The Imitation Game” thanks to a partnership between the Oscar-winning film’s distributor, the Weinstein Company, and AMC Theatres
·         MyTF1VOD, the on-demand platform of France’s top commercial network TF1, is set to roll-out AfrostreamVOD, a digital service dedicated to African, Afro-American et Afro-Caribean movies
·         A million-dollar ticket for the Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well concerts in Chicago is simply tout tactic on the resale site StubHub
·         India's leading direct-to-home (DTH) operator Tata Sky is to launch the first commercial 4KTV and video services in the subcontinent.
·         Frontier Communications plans to deploy a co-branded version of the TiVo Roamio DVR with over-the-air (OTA) support as part of its video offering for residential and business customers
Tech:
·         Apple has added language to legal documents (via 9to5Mac) regarding the scope of its company activities to include vehicles, with a generic description that includes automobiles, bicycles, rail, ships, aircrafts and more
·         Apple is capitalizing on the fact that they’re the most popular camera by launching a new ad campaign dedicated to images shot by iPhone users
·         Samsung continues investing in the future of mobile virtual reality, with a brand new version of Gear VR designed specifically to work with the new Galaxy S6 and S6 edge smartphones
·         HTC is gearing up to compete in the gaming wearable space, announcing a partnership with games publisher Valve to bring a virtual reality headset to market, called the HTC Vive — to compete with the likes of the Oculus Rift
·         Tinder Plus, the dating app’s first step into the wonderful world of freemium monetization, will launch today for $9.99, according to sources familiar with the matter
·         PayPal just debuted its new chip-and-pin solution (EMV) and it’s NFC enabled — making it one step ahead of Square
·         IBM and Apple announce three bland apps for airlines, retailers, and banks
·         Google has confirmed the long-standing rumors that it was planning to enter the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) space in the U.S.
·         With no new announcements at Mobile World Congress, LG spent most of a press conference Sunday trying to explain the thinking behind its first WebOS-based smartwatch, which was detailed last week
·         The LTE Broadcast project has received another boost, this time in the form of endorsement by capabilities managed, multiscreen video technology provider Quickplay.
Deals:
·         PayPal, the payments service with 162 million users preparing to separate from e-commerce giant eBay later this year, is announcing an acquisition today to help build out its mobile business targeting physical merchants
·         NXP Semiconductors and Freescale Semiconductor are merging in a $40B deal
·         Airbnb is in the process of raising another round of funding that will value it at $20B
·         San Diego-based Pulse Electronics said today that it is an agreement to be acquired by affiliates of Oaktree Capital Management
·         RockYou has raised $23MM in funding from Columbia Capital as part of its strategy of operating aging social games at a profit
Business:
·         Lumber Liquidators shares are getting smoked after a report aired on "60 Minutes" Sunday night that showed major issues at some of the company's factories in China
·         Forbes' magazine has just released its annual world's billionaires list
·         Gannett said the activist investor Icahn had also withdrawn his corporate governance proposals that would have made it easier to sell the media company
·         Orange has been discussing a possible alliance with Telecom Italia
·         Costco Wholesale Corp. named Citigroup Inc. and Visa Inc. as its new credit partners, replacing American Express Co. as the exclusive credit-card network at its stores beginning in April of next year
·         The Nasdaq Composite climbed briefly above the 5000-point level for the first time in almost 15 years, marking a milestone in the revival of an index that once was synonymous with dot-com excess
Exec Moves:
·         David Besbris has left his role as the head of Google’s social and identity product - he has been replaced by Bradley Horowitz, a longtime VP of product for Google+
·         Gordon E. Dyal, a former head of Goldman Sachs’ mergers business and a veteran deal maker, is retiring, the firm announced in an internal memorandum on Monday
·         Jonathan Decker has exited IM Global, where he was president, to join Nicolas Chartier’s Voltage Pictures as president and COO
·         Bob Moczydlowsky, Twitter's head of music, has left the company
Retail:
Startups:
·         Tworlds is a photo-sharing app that lets you experience the life of a total stranger
·         Google SVP Sundar Pichai has given a few hints about what value Google sees in Magic Leap, the very well-financed augmented reality startup that Mountain View led a $542MM investment round in last year, and which Pichai also sits on the board
·         Los Angeles-based online fashion retailer Nasty Gal has raised $12.7MM, as part of an ongoing venture funding targeted at $16MM, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this week
Government:
·         Asian stocks rose on Monday after China cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point over the weekend
·         U.S. consumer spending fell for a second straight month in January as households continued to cut back on purchases, opting to save much of the massive windfall from cheaper gasoline
·         Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said the relationship between the United States and Israel was stronger than ever despite tensions over Washington's ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran
Other:
·         A post written by ISIS supporters has emerged, threatening Twitter employees with death because the microblogging platform deletes accounts related to the terrorist group
·         A video posted online (graphic) shows LAPD officers confronting then shooting and killing an unarmed man on Skid Row on Sunday

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