Monthly Archive for September, 2011

Intel Capital invests $24 million in seven new companies

Published on September 8, 2011 in Global Strategy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Intel Capital announced today it has invested $24 million in seven new startups. And so far this year, Intel said that it has seen two initial public offerings and 10 acquisitions from its portfolio of investments in startups.

The new investments include five new software start-ups and two follow-on investments. Since the company is a strategic corporate investor, it shoots for both a financial return and investments that help Intel’s strategic interests. The deals show Intel isn’t slowing down its investments despite a slow world economy [Read more].

Is journalism as we know it becoming obsolete?

Published on September 4, 2011 in Global Strategy. 0 Comments Tags: .

There have been plenty of obituaries written for the newspaper business, most of which have a kernel of truth to them — but is journalism as we know it at risk as well? Dave Winer, a programming guru and visiting scholar at the New York University school of journalism, says it is.

In a blog post on Friday, Winer argued that “journalism itself is becoming obsolete” because now anyone can do it. Is he right? In some ways, yes. One thing is for sure: Journalism is being transformed by the web and by real-time publishing networks and what Om calls the “democracy of distribution.” Whether that’s good or bad depends on your point of view [Read more].

It cost a lot of money to push bits around the net before there was a net. They had to have huge capital-intensive printing plants, fleets of trucks and delivery boys with paper routes. Now we can hear directly from the sources and build our own news networks. It’s still early days for this… but in a generation or two we won’t be employing people to gather news for us. It’ll work differently [Source].

Is the future of social commerce on Facebook?

Published on September 4, 2011 in Social Media. 0 Comments Tags: .

Facebook’s explosive growth has led many to question whether it will become the de facto hub of commerce for retailers. Facebook Commerce is alluring because it enables companies to harness social capital, and retailers are eager to tap into the tremendous word-of-mouth potential of fans liking products, making purchases, and sharing with friends.

Social media strategists often tell their clients to “fish where the fish are,” but while Facebook storefronts can be effective to facilitate impulse purchases, are they the right long-term strategy to grow sales through social media? Perhaps not.

Facebook Insights does provide valuable data on interactions and soft metrics such as impressions, likes and comments. While these are great for measuring engagement, retailers must ultimately make decisions based on factors that directly influence transactional metrics like conversions or acquisition costs, and Facebook’s analytics engine does not yet provide the level of relevant data required for effective merchandising [Read more].

Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle tablet set for November at $250

Published on September 4, 2011 in High Tech & Media. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Amazon’s long-rumored tablet, dubbed simply the Kindle, is “very real” and headed your way this November for $250, reports TechCrunch’s MG Siegler.

Amazon also plans to offer free Prime subscriptions with the tablet. The premium service typically costs $79 a year and offers perks like free two-day shipping and access to Amazon’s Instant Video. A free Prime membership alone would net Amazon plenty of interested buyers, but at $250 the tablet seems like a downright steal (that will also ingeniously tempt owners into buying more stuff from Amazon).

The tablet runs a heavily customized version of Android 2.2, and Siegler writes that it “looks nothing like the Android you’re used to seeing.” The main screen features a carousel of all your content on the device (or linked to your Amazon account), and it sounds like the interface shares little with the stock Android setup. The Kindle tablet is so deeply customized, Siegler says, that there’s no Android Market, only Amazon’s Android marketplace, and no default Android apps from Google [Read more].