Business, Financial & Legal - Page 292

All the latest Business, Financial & Legal news as it relates to tech, gaming, and science - Page 292.

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Symantec acquire LiveOffice for $115 million

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 18, 2012 1:28 AM CST

Symantec has acquired archiving company LifeOffice, in a deal worth $115 million. Symantec increases its cloud-computing power to fight the battle and be more of an on-premise and software as a service (SaaS) company. Most traditional enterprise-software companies are scooping up cloud-based companies, with SAP purchasing SuccessFactors, and Oracle taking RightNow.

Symantec said in a statement that it will use LiveOffice to bolster its information-governance unit, as LiveOffice provides a cloud-based archiving system. LiveOffice and Symantec were partners before the deal, which it has now fused into one. Symantec said in a blog post:

Continue reading: Symantec acquire LiveOffice for $115 million (full post)

Research in Motion pushing Samsung to buy them, Samsung refuse

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 17, 2012 11:22 PM CST

Research in Motion, which I'm sure you are aware are popular for their BlackBerry devices, have been going through some rough times lately. I'm sure virtually everyone working at RIM hate Apple and Google for coming in and creating something which took off quickly, and continues to grow at unprecedented rates. I'm talking of iOS and Android-powered devices.

RIM have slowly been sinking and it's been reported that they are eyeing off every single option they can think of, "in an effort to reverse a negative trend that is approaching a boiling point for investors," says BGR. RIM have reportedly favored an all-out purchase of one or more divisions, or even the entire company. RIM want Samsung to do it, but just after the story went to air, Samsung denied it.

Samsung didn't just slap RIM and walk away, as they are considering licensing RIM's software, or purchasing a portion of RIM's assets. This is better than nothing for RIM.

Continue reading: Research in Motion pushing Samsung to buy them, Samsung refuse (full post)

Wikipedia will go offline in support of SOPA protest

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 17, 2012 4:01 AM CST

SOPA may have been stalled, but the fight is not over, yet. Wikipedia have announced that they are joining in on the Black Out protest which is scheduled for January 18, just mere hours away.

Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, made the announcement through Twitter today, saying that Wikipedia will be unavailable for 24 hours beginning midnight EST of January 18 (4pm AEDT). Instead of Wiki entries, users will get to the site, and get redirected to a page with a banner saying "The Internet Must Remain Free".

Wikipedia is just one of a number of sites that will suspend operations on January 18, these sites include Minecraft, Reddit, Major League Gaming and the entire Cheezburger network. These black outs and protests are to raise awareness for SOPA and PIPE bills. Hopefully this begins to catapult SOPA and PIPA into the mainstream, and the House drops it. Let's hope they don't rename it, add some spice and throw it in with another bill without anyone knowing. It's not like they would be capable of doing that, again.

Continue reading: Wikipedia will go offline in support of SOPA protest (full post)

SOPA has been stalled, Johnny Drama yells "Victory!"

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 16, 2012 3:23 AM CST

Entourage fan? If not, the title means nothing to you. YouTube it! Big news, SOPA has been stalled everyone, stalled! It was stalled due to a lack of 'consensus'. A lack of consensus with something so big going through Congress. Who would've thought!

The backlash from the Internet community with sites like Reddit against it, and the boycotting of companies that supported it like GoDaddy, have helped to force the pathetic bill to be stalled. On Saturday, the House Oversight Chariman, Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) was promised by Majority Leader, Eric Cantor (R-Va.) that the House won't vote on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) unless there is a consensus on the bill.

Issa said in a statement:

Continue reading: SOPA has been stalled, Johnny Drama yells "Victory!" (full post)

Xbox scooped up 40% of all videogame sales during 2011

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 13, 2012 1:18 AM CST

Microsoft has shown its strength just now, with the Xbox taking in nearly half of all consumer spending from physical sales in 2011. Roughly $6.7 billion, or 40-percent of consumer retail spending, was spent on the Xbox, breaking into two separate categories. $2.1 billion on consoles, and $4.6 billion on games, according to NPD data released today.

These figures take into account U.S. retail sales of new physical videogame content, inclusive of portable and console hardware, games and accessories. In the collective sectors, they generated revenues of $17.02 billion last year, an 8-percent decline from 2010's $18.6 billion in generated revenues. Out of that $17.02 billion, Microsoft took a very respectable 40-percent of those sales.

The report doesn't include sales from digital formats, with things like downloadable content, social and mobile games, used and rental sales. Those so-called "newer" categories generated $7.24 billion in revenues last year, an increase of 7-percent over 2010. Whilst the increase in spending on alternative formats was there, it wasn't enough to offset the declines in physical retail. Consumer spending across both categories was between $16.3 and $16.6 billion, falling 2-percent from last year.

Continue reading: Xbox scooped up 40% of all videogame sales during 2011 (full post)

eBay and Amazon forecasts for mobile commerce volume in 2012, $8 billion and $7 billion, respectively

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 12, 2012 9:18 PM CST

CES 2012: eBay CEO (and new interim PayPal CEO) John Donahoe, revealed at his CES keynote yesterday a number of new mobile payments forecasts for not only eBay, but PayPal, too. PayPal VP David Marcus said a few days ago that PayPal had surpassed its expectation of $3.5 billion in mobile payments in 2011, reaching $4 billion for 2011.

Donahoe said in his CEO keynote that eBay reached $5 billion in mobile GMV (gross merchandise volume), this is a 100-percent jump on 2010's GMV. Donahoe also projected yesterday that eBay would reach $8 billion in mobile GMV in 2012, with PayPal reaching $7 billion in transactions in 2012.

Mobile has more than 65 million downloads of eBay's mobile applications across all platforms. More than 890,000 new eBay shoppers completed their very first eBay purchase via the mobile apps in 2011, an 113-percent increase year-over-year. Donahoe also announced a new strategic partner in eBay's RedLaser barcode scanning app, who is it? Well, it's Best Buy. The app was updated last fall to include integration from PayPal and Milo to give users the ability to buy now for either in-store pick-up, or home delivery later.

Continue reading: eBay and Amazon forecasts for mobile commerce volume in 2012, $8 billion and $7 billion, respectively (full post)

Microsoft have (for now) halted plans for Web TV subscription

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 12, 2012 2:25 AM CST

Microsoft has clamped down its plans to launch an online subscription service for TV shows and movies, according to a report from Reuters. Microsoft were deep in discussion with potential programming partners for over 12 months now, and were, up until recently, planning to launch the service in the upcoming months.

They have done a 180-degree turn on that decision, after deciding that the licensing costs were too high for the business model they envisaged, according to people "familiar with the discussions". One senior media executive who was involved in these talks, said:

Continue reading: Microsoft have (for now) halted plans for Web TV subscription (full post)

Reddit prepares for anti-SOPA blackout, planned for January 18 between 8am and 8pm

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 11, 2012 7:44 PM CST

Thank you, Reddit. For being one of the biggest sites on the Internet opposed to the ridiculous, corrupt crap that is SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). We've covered it a few times now and I'm completely, 100-percent opposed to it. This is something where everyone needs to be aware, and pass news around as much as possible to make others aware.

If SOPA is passed, everything you know about the Internet will change, completely. It will not be the same. It's pretty much the censorship of the entire Internet. Reddit, being as strong as they are, and very community-based, are fighting against it. Reddit will be blacking out their entire site on January 18 from 8am-8pm EST (1300-0100 UTC) as a protest.

Reddit will simply display a message about how the PIPA/SOPA legislation would shut down sites like Reddit, and they'll link users to resources where they can learn more, and suggest ways they can take action. They'll also showcase the live video stream of the House hearing, where Internet entrepreneurs and technical experts will be testifying.

Continue reading: Reddit prepares for anti-SOPA blackout, planned for January 18 between 8am and 8pm (full post)

OCZ acquires Israel-based SANRAD Inc.

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 9, 2012 7:37 PM CST

OCZ Technology have been snapping up companies lately and today is no different with the acquisition of SANRAD Inc., an Israel-based provider of flash caching and virtualization software and hardware. The addition of intellectual property to OCZ's growing portfolio is expected to increase the adoption of PCIe SSD storage solutions specifically in VMware and Citrix Zen environments.

SANRAD currently sells its flash caching and virtualization software to OEMs such as NEXSAN and Brocade. The deal between OCZ and SANRAD is reportedly worth approximately $15 million, which consists of approx. 2.1 million shares of OCZ stock. From the press release:

Continue reading: OCZ acquires Israel-based SANRAD Inc. (full post)

Consumer Electronic sales during holiday period dropped 6% from last year

Anthony Garreffa | Jan 8, 2012 11:27 PM CST

The Consumer Electronics Show starts up this week and right out of the gate in relation to consumer electronics is a report from the NPD Group: Consumer electronic sales during the 2011 holiday period dropped 6-percent when compared to 2010.

But, it doesn't look like it'll get any better. The NPD Weekly Tracking Service notes that the decline comes off of another decline from the year before. 2011's drop was not as bad as 2010's bad, but it shows the direction the market is headed. NPD says:

Continue reading: Consumer Electronic sales during holiday period dropped 6% from last year (full post)

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