Twitter just announced that the rumors were indeed true and that it has just closed a "significant round of funding" from a group of five investment firms. While Twitter didn't disclose the actual amount it received today, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Twitter was going to close a $100 million round which would put Twitter's valuation at around $1 billion. At that time, however, the assumption was that up to seven firms were going to be part of this deal. Chances are that today's round is slightly smaller than the rumored $100 million.
Soon, you may start seeing company logos dotting the landscape on Google Maps. While Google has experimented with different types of ads in Google Maps on and off over the years, it now looks like Google is going to make another push to monetize Google Maps. While the details about this project are still quite hazy, it seems like Google plans to launch this program in at least the US and Australia in the next few weeks.
Obsessed with Facebook? You're not alone. The hours you spend logging on to update your status, post photos, and make comments on friends' walls is not simply a "phase" you're going through which will end sometime soon. It's a ongoing trend affecting everyone these days and it has serious implications for the online advertising industry.
According to new figures from Nielsen, the amount of time spent surfing social networking and blogging sites had tripled since last year, suggesting "a wholesale change in the way the Internet is used," says Jon Gibs, VP of media and agency insights at the company's online division.
Now that the DEMOfall 09 conference has wrapped, we can look back to see which companies have the most potential out of the 70+ exhibitors. Despite what the DEMOgod awards crowned as king, we can't say we agree with the judges' every pick. For example, award winner DateCheck from Intelius, a mobile app that lets you search for dirt on that new guy or gal you're seeing, had one of the best onstage demos of the week. However, they don't deserve to be in a "best of" list because the app is really just a front for Intelius's paid (and sketchy) background checking service. That being said, there were still plenty of companies worthy of notice at this fall's conference.
Which companies did we think made the grade? Read on to find out.
In 2008, Google acquisition JotSpot announced that it would "expand upon the Google Page Creator already offered within Apps." The idea was that JotSpot would power a system to help businesses set up their own collaboration, project management and customer extranets. After 3 years of sitting quietly in the Google arsenal, JotSpot has now reemerged in the form of a Google Sites Data API.
As of today, federal judge Denny Chin granted a motion to delay the planned October 7th Google Book settlement. In a trial rife with controversy, Chin noted that it was pointless to hold a hearing on a settlement when key points were still being negotiated with the Department of Justice. According to the New York Times, "The first clear signs that the settlement in its current form would be derailed came late Friday, when the Justice Department raised a number of legal and antitrust objections to it." Nevertheless, with so many objections filed, it appears to the public like the revision process has never really stopped.
Last year on its tenth birthday, Google announced its Project 10^100, a call for unique ideas to help as many people as possible.
In the 12 months between then and now, the company has fielded around 150,000 submissions in 25 languages; the ideas were reviewed by around 3,000 employees around the world. Now Google is asking the public to vote on which of the final 16 "big ideas" are worthy of being implemented. From better banking to landmine removal to real-time news and disaster reporting, the ideas are broad in scope and ambitious in the problems they address - just the sort of problems that Google enjoys tackling.
PostRank just launched a new analytics tool that promises to give publishers a better way to track the social engagement around their content across the web. To do so, PostRank Analytics, which costs $9 per month after a free 30-day trial, combines engagement metrics its already collects from social networks with traditional analytics data from Google Analytics. Given that the majority of engagement around a blog post now happens off-site and within an hour after a post goes up, PostRank's ability to give users a real-time view of how a story is being shared on multiple social networks can be quite useful.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Twitter is about to close a $100 million funding round from as many as seven investors, including T. Rowe Price, Insight Venture Partners, Spark Capital, and Institutional Venture Partners. Even though Twitter has yet to actually make money, these investors are valuing Twitter at about $1 billion. The Wall Street Journal, which is relying on information from an anonymous person "close to the deal," states that the deal could close today and would be Twitter's third and largest round of VC funding to date.
In an ironic twist of fate for 2009, Fox's IGN Entertainment, a company known for its game reviews of products like Zombie Apocalypse acquired What They Play. The newest member of Fox Interactive is touted as the "family guide to video games" and offers reviews, warnings and suggested products. Under the umbrella company of What They Like, What They Play uses the "Entertainment Software Rating Board" (ESRB) to warn parents of games containing explicit lyrics, cartoon violence and drug references.
