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
o
http://deadline.com/2014/12/sonar-entertainment-deals-scott-free-london-killer-content-1201305596/
·
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
o
http://recode.net/2014/12/01/video-messaging-startup-glide-raises-20-million-valued-at-100-million/
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
