Whether it’s a sign of economic recovery or just investment bankers getting ready to take off the month of August, there’s been a lot acquisition activity lately. In the last week alone, IBM purchased SPSS for $1.2 billion, Amazon bought Zappos for $928 million, Sprint paid $483 million for Virgin Mobile, AdKnowledge paid $50 million for Super Rewards, and Yahoo picked up Xoopit for $20 million. So far in July, the value of the acquisitions we track on CrunchBase totals $9.6 billion, which is nearly three times more M&A activity than the $2.6 billion we tracked in June. M&A exits already started to perk up in the second quarter , according to our latest CrunchBase report. But the increased deal flow on July suggests that corporate buyers are opening up their purse strings even more while acquisition prices are still relatively cheap.
Whether it’s a sign of economic recovery or just investment bankers getting ready to take off the month of August, there’s been a lot acquisition activity lately. In the last week alone, IBM purchased SPSS for $1.2 billion, Amazon bought Zappos for $928 million, Sprint paid $483 million for Virgin Mobile, AdKnowledge paid $50 million for Super Rewards, and Yahoo picked up Xoopit for $20 million.
So far in July, the value of the acquisitions we track on CrunchBase totals $9.6 billion, which is nearly three times more M&A activity than the $2.6 billion we tracked in June. M&A exits already started to perk up in the second quarter , according to our latest CrunchBase report. But the increased deal flow on July suggests that corporate buyers are opening up their purse strings even more while acquisition prices are still relatively cheap.
But the bargains might not last. Already, the median acquisition price leaped up to $260 million in July, from $22 million in June. Most of that jump was due to some very big transactions such as the ones listed above, as well as Agilent’s $1.5 billion purchase of Varian and Bristol-Myers’ $2.1 billion acquisition of Medarex. Still, you know what they say about rising tides . . .
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The conventional wisdom out there on Web video advertising is that most advertisers don’t want to risk being associated with user-generated videos (i.e., the vast bulk of videos on YouTube). It is only the professionally-produced stuff on portions of YouTube and Hulu and Blip.tv where the advertising dollars are going. This is the conventional wisdom because it is mostly true. But YouTube wants to change advertiser’s minds (because the vast bulk of its videos are audience-produced, did we mention that?). So in a blog post today, YouTube trots out a told-ya-so case study about the “JK Wedding Entrance Video” (embedded below) that has been spreading around like crazy. Since it was posted on July 19, it has been watched more than 12 million times.
The conventional wisdom out there on Web video advertising is that most advertisers don’t want to risk being associated with user-generated videos (i.e., the vast bulk of videos on YouTube). It is only the professionally-produced stuff on portions of YouTube and Hulu and Blip.tv where the advertising dollars are going. This is the conventional wisdom because it is mostly true.
But YouTube wants to change advertiser’s minds (because the vast bulk of its videos are audience-produced, did we mention that?). So in a blog post today, YouTube trots out a told-ya-so case study about the “JK Wedding Entrance Video” (embedded below) that has been spreading around like crazy. Since it was posted on July 19, it has been watched more than 12 million times. It’s even spawned its own (professionally-produced) faux sequel, the “JK Divorce Entrance Dance” (also embedded below).
In case you haven’t seen it, the original video shows an entire wedding party boogieing down the aisle in Minnesota. Instead of a traditional wedding march, the couple picked Chris Brown’s “Forever.” YouTube’s content fingerprinting system picked that up and the copyright holders were able to place click-to-buy ads on the video which linked to downloads of the song on iTunes and Amazon.
YouTube reports that the click-through rate on those ads was two times higher than the overall click-through rate for those types of ads on the site, and that there was even a spillover effect on official “Forever” music video, which also saw the click-through rate son the same ads go up 2.5 times the average. (It makes sense that would be higher since people going to the official video presumably are more interested in the song itself).
Not only that, but “Forever” climbed the music charts, reaching the No. 4 spot on iTunes (it is now No. 15) and No. 3 spot on Amazon’s MP3 top seller’s list (it is currently No. 4). Not bad for a song that was released a year ago.
YouTube presents this as proof that advertising works on viral videos even if they are audience produced. I’m not sure it proves anything other than that breakout videos are good advertising vehicles no matter where they come from. But YouTube needs to sell more of its video inventory to get to profitability, and the bulk of it is . . .
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
By Chris Scott Barr Barnes & Noble is definitely my favorite bookstore to frequent. It just has a friendly and inviting environment, with plenty of chairs to sit in, and a coffee bar. The one thing that I’ve always disliked is that while they do offer Wi-Fi access, you have to pay for it. I’m not [...]
By Chris Scott Barr
Barnes & Noble is definitely my favorite bookstore to frequent. It just has a friendly and inviting environment, with plenty of chairs to sit in, and a coffee bar. The one thing that I’ve always disliked is that while they do offer Wi-Fi access, you have to pay for it. I’m not a fan of Starbucks, but I have thought about sitting in a book store and doing a bit of work, and that would be the perfect place. Well thanks to a partnership with AT&T, Barnes & Noble has announced that all 777 locations will now have free Wi-Fi for all.
This is no doubt a result of their push into the e-book realm, what with their new e-reader application (for your PC, Mac and iPhone) and all. While I don’t see book stores going the way of the dodo, I to think that they will need to innovate in order to stay on top of things. It’s good to see that my favorite one is doing their part to keep up (even if the whole free Wi-Fi access has been a long time coming).
Twitter is now seeing dozens of tweets a minute from users reporting that their Twitter updates are being posted as automatic updates to their Facebook profile, apparently without their consent. The change seems to have happened very recently, and reactions are ranging from surprise to anger. At this point it isn’t clear exactly what’s going on — it seems like some users may have installed the official Twitter application at some point and not had it post updates until now. But others are reporting that they’ve never installed a Twitter-related app, which makes the situation all the more confusing. We’re reaching out to Twitter and Facebook to find out what the cause is. My hunch is that these users have previously installed the official Twitter app on Facebook, which has had problems in the past, and used it to occasionally check their Twitter profiles without realizing that it was also meant to auto-post their tweets to Facebook (a bug may have prevented these posts from ever actually appearing). Now Twitter has fixed the bug, and users don’t know what’s going on. We’ll update as soon we we know the actual cause.
Twitter is now seeing dozens of tweets a minute from users reporting that their Twitter updates are being posted as automatic updates to their Facebook profile, apparently without their consent. The change seems to have happened very recently, and reactions are ranging from surprise to anger.
At this point it isn’t clear exactly what’s going on — it seems like some users may have installed the official Twitter application at some point and not had it post updates until now. But others are reporting that they’ve never installed a Twitter-related app, which makes the situation all the more confusing. We’re reaching out to Twitter and Facebook to find out what the cause is.
My hunch is that these users have previously installed the official Twitter app on Facebook, which has had problems in the past, and used it to occasionally check their Twitter profiles without realizing that it was also meant to auto-post their tweets to Facebook (a bug may have prevented these posts from ever actually appearing). Now Twitter has fixed the bug, and users don’t know what’s going on. We’ll update as soon we we know the actual cause.Update: A Facebook bug caused this, see below.
It looks like this may have something to do with Facebook ignoring an application’s privacy settings. Under Facebook’s application privacy page, I’ve unchecked the box that gives Twitter the ability to post updates to “Publish recent activity (one line stories) to my wall”. However, the updates are still showing up. We’re seeing similar reports from users with the FriendFeed app installed.
Update 2: Facebook has given us the following statement:
Earlier this evening, a small Facebook bug allowed a handful of apps to publish to the stream on behalf of users who had previously authorized the app. The situation has now been resolved, and all application settings will remain intact for users.
Crunch Network: CrunchGeardrool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
By David Ponce The third generation iPod shuffle is great and tiny and whatnot. But it’s also pissed off a few people by forcing them to use Apple’s own earbuds, since all the controls were moved to the cord. While these are capable, they’re also nothing to write home about. So you should [...]
By David Ponce
The third generation iPod shuffle is great and tiny and whatnot. But it’s also pissed off a few people by forcing them to use Apple’s own earbuds, since all the controls were moved to the cord. While these are capable, they’re also nothing to write home about. So you should be happy to know Belkin has released an adapter that allows you to use any headphones you like with the shuffle by simply giving you a 3.5mm jack input on one side, a 3.5mm connector on the other and controls in between.
It’s all of $20 and will be available at the end of July in North America and in mid-August everywhere else.
By Andrew Liszewski While definitely slick looking, I think these new suitcases, that are a result of a partnership between McLaren and Samsonite, might actually venture a bit too far into overkill territory. The luxury bags, which start at $326 and will be available in the Fall or Winter, feature a high-end suspension system for the [...]
By Andrew Liszewski
While definitely slick looking, I think these new suitcases, that are a result of a partnership between McLaren and Samsonite, might actually venture a bit too far into overkill territory. The luxury bags, which start at $326 and will be available in the Fall or Winter, feature a high-end suspension system for the wheels which absorbs the impact of bumpy or uneven terrain to protect what’s inside the bag. It’s a clever idea and all, but until they develop a suspension system that protects your suitcase from baggage handlers, I’m not interested.
By Andrew Liszewski I’ll admit I haven’t exactly been following the progress of external DVD burners over the past few years, but it’s nice to see they’ve finally reached the size of portable CD players from about 15 years ago. In fact the Pioneer DVR-XD09 could actually be mistaken for a very thick CD case, were [...]
By Andrew Liszewski
I’ll admit I haven’t exactly been following the progress of external DVD burners over the past few years, but it’s nice to see they’ve finally reached the size of portable CD players from about 15 years ago. In fact the Pioneer DVR-XD09 could actually be mistaken for a very thick CD case, were it not for the fact it weighed in around 8 ounces. It connects to your PC, or more likely your laptop, via USB 2, and is capable of burning all types of disc media from old-timey CD-Rs up to dual-layer DVDs. And you road warriors or MacBook Air owners can expect it to be available sometime in August with an MSRP of $79.99.
By Andrew Liszewski Over the next few weeks if you happen to be having a conversation at the water cooler and the question of who makes the smallest 32GB USB flash drive comes up, you can confidently drop Super Talent’s name. Today the company announced six new models of their Pico drives that each feature 32GB [...]
By Andrew Liszewski
Over the next few weeks if you happen to be having a conversation at the water cooler and the question of who makes the smallest 32GB USB flash drive comes up, you can confidently drop Super Talent’s name. Today the company announced six new models of their Pico drives that each feature 32GB of NAND flash storage as well as transfer speeds up to 200X, or 30MB/sec. Three of the new models are water resistant and feature gold or nickel finishes ($85) while the other three include AES-256 hardware encryption for extra security ($99).
By Chris Scott Barr Technology is always being improved upon, usually meaning faster speeds and more storage coming in smaller packages. One of the latest technological milestones comes to us from Western Digital. The hard drive manufacturer has announced that they have crafted the highest capacity 2.5-inch drives. Utilizing 333GB platter technology, they were able to [...]
By Chris Scott Barr
Technology is always being improved upon, usually meaning faster speeds and more storage coming in smaller packages. One of the latest technological milestones comes to us from Western Digital. The hard drive manufacturer has announced that they have crafted the highest capacity 2.5-inch drives. Utilizing 333GB platter technology, they were able to birth 750GB and 1TB drives. There’s only one small problem. Specifically a 3mm problem.
When you hear about a 2.5-inch hard drive, you’ll probably think that its primary function is to sit inside a laptop. Well if you were to crack open most laptops, you’ll find a drive that measures 2.5-inches long, and 9.5mm thick. Unfortunately these new drives from Western Digital are 12.5mm thick. This means that there are going to be a lot of notebooks that don’t accept these new larger drives.
Since these aren’t going to work in a lot of laptops, Western Digital says that they will be perfect for portable storage solutions. Unfortunately, I’m not thinking that they’ll perform all that well in this area either. First, the drive only spins at a paltry 5200RPM, meaning it will be slow as molasses. The cache is also a measly 8MB. Frankly, $190 for the 750GB and $250 for the 1TB drive are too expensive for that speed. I can get a 3.5-inch 1TB drive that spins at 7200RPM with a 32MB cache for around $80. It’s a little bigger, sure, but if you’re actually storing files large enough to require that much space, you’ll really notice the difference in speed.
We’ve been screaming and whining about the iPhone App Store for nigh on a year now and we seem to have avoided talking about one of the most obvious sources of information about the Store: Steve himself. Harry “Long Tail” McCracken remembers what Steve said way back in the old days about the App Store.
Jobs said that Apple wouldn’t distribute porn or malicious apps or privacy-invading apps, and said that Apple’s interests and those of third-party developers were the same. The slide also mentioned “Bandwidth hogs,” which apparently meant stuff like SlingPlayer, and “Unforseen,” which I assumed at the time referred to other applications that put iPhone owners at risk in one way or another. What he didn’t do is say that Apple would reject software that competed with Apple or AT&T offerings.
This “unforeseen” section is what really bugs everyone. Google Voice, for example, could feasibly recreate some basic iPhone functionality and also act as a resource hog. We’ve been screaming and whining about the iPhone App Store for nigh on a year now and we seem to have avoided talking about one of the most obvious sources of information about the Store: Steve himself. Harry “Long Tail” McCracken remembers what Steve said way back in the old days about the App Store.
Jobs said that Apple wouldn’t distribute porn or malicious apps or privacy-invading apps, and said that Apple’s interests and those of third-party developers were the same. The slide also mentioned “Bandwidth hogs,” which apparently meant stuff like SlingPlayer, and “Unforseen,” which I assumed at the time referred to other applications that put iPhone owners at risk in one way or another. What he didn’t do is say that Apple would reject software that competed with Apple or AT&T offerings.
This “unforeseen” section is what really bugs everyone. Google Voice, for example, could feasibly recreate some basic iPhone functionality and also act as a resource hog.
Whether it’s a sign of economic recovery or just investment bankers getting ready to take off the month of August, there’s been a lot acquisition activity lately. In the last week alone, IBM purchased SPSS for $1.2 billion, Amazon bought Zappos for $928 million, Sprint paid $483 million for Virgin Mobile, AdKnowledge paid $50 million for Super Rewards, and Yahoo picked up Xoopit for $20 million. So far in July, the value of the acquisitions we track on CrunchBase totals $9.6 billion, which is nearly three times more M&A activity than the $2.6 billion we tracked in June. M&A exits already started to perk up in the second quarter , according to our latest CrunchBase report. But the increased deal flow on July suggests that corporate buyers are opening up their purse strings even more while acquisition prices are still relatively cheap.
The conventional wisdom out there on Web video advertising is that most advertisers don’t want to risk being associated with user-generated videos (i.e., the vast bulk of videos on YouTube). It is only the professionally-produced stuff on portions of YouTube and Hulu and Blip.tv where the advertising dollars are going. This is the conventional wisdom because it is mostly true. But YouTube wants to change advertiser’s minds (because the vast bulk of its videos are audience-produced, did we mention that?). So in a 
Twitter is now seeing dozens of tweets a minute from users reporting that their Twitter updates are being posted as automatic updates to their Facebook profile, apparently without their consent. The change seems to have happened very recently, and reactions are ranging from surprise to anger. At this point it isn’t clear exactly what’s going on — it seems like some users may have installed the official Twitter application at some point and not had it post updates until now. But others are reporting that they’ve never installed a Twitter-related app, which makes the situation all the more confusing. We’re reaching out to Twitter and Facebook to find out what the cause is. My hunch is that these users have previously installed the official Twitter app on Facebook, which has had 
We’ve been 
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