MIT MediaLab Goes to the East
An India government officials says an MIT Media Lab for Asia is in the
offing.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010215/tc/mit_report_dc_1.html (Source: Jack Driscoll)

Time Warner has signed a deal to provide Earthlink services over its cable.
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/articles/timewarner.htm
(Source: Jack Driscoll)

Microsoft’s WebTV Network’s has announced the subscription price of
$9.95 per month for its new Ultimate TV digital video recording/ internet
access service for DBS platform DBS customers. (Source: Mcann Ericsson)

Warner Music Group has signed a three year nonexclusive licensing deal
as well as taken an equity position in Musicbank, a digital locker service,
similar to MP3.com’s my.MP3 locker system, that allows users to listen
to their music collections via the internet once ownership has been verified.
Universal Music Group and BMG have already cut similar deals with Musicbank.

Warner Music has also signed on with Microsoft’s Windows Media format for
commercial music downloads as well as their Windows Media Digital Rights
Management for security.
(Source: Mcann Ericsson)

Bertelsmann To Go Public?
Bertelsmann, a privately held German media group, took steps towards
going public. It acquired 30% of RTL, a European broadcaster, from Groupe
Bruxelles Lambert, a Belgian holding company, in exchange for 25.1% of
its own shares. GBL has the right to take the shares to market within
four years, finally allowing outside investors a stake in Bertelsmann. (Source economist.com)

News Corp Bid on DirecTV
News Corporation was said to be close to acquiring DirecTV, an American
satellite-TV company owned by General Motors through its Hughes
subsidiary, for around $70 billion. News Corp will add DirecTV to its
satellite business, Sky Global Networks, and gain a long-sought North
American operation for its worldwide broadcasting empire.(Source economist.com)

Handheld Wireless Toy - Cybiko Receives $16 Million Second Round
12 February 01 - Cybiko, a U.S. developer of wireless handheld devices (PDAs) and electronic games aimed at the teenage market, has received a $16 million round. Vesta Capital Partners together with its sister company Sun Capital Partners led the investment round. The funds will be used to introduce the Cybiko product to Europe and Asia. AOL Investments also recently made a significant investment. Cybiko was established in 1999 and began full-scale commercial sales in September 2000.

Handheld Gaming - Gamegate Gets Capital Boost for Wireless Expansion
13 February 01 - Gamegate, a Netherlands-based online games provider, has secured a new injection of capital from MentorValley. No financial details were disclosed. The new round of funding will provide Gamegate with a launch pad for an expansion into wireless and other hand-held devices and interactive television. The company envisions a future of cross-platform entertainment, which will be accessible by casual game players through multiple devices. It sees enormous potential for wireless games and has developed a package of 13 wireless games aimed at mobile operators and service providers. Gamegate was founded in 1996 as a spin-off from Euro-partners Informatici. It is currently providing private-label game channels to websites in the U.S. and Europe.

A Wireless Valentine
12 February 01 - CosmicCupid, an SMS-based service from U.K. firm, Carbon Partners, enables mobile phone users to send messages to their Valentine without revealing their identity. The service also offers a choice of romantic and cheeky messages as well as leaving a clue to be picked up at the website. If the person contacted lists the sender's name as someone they fancy, then both parties are contacted to confirm the mutual interest. According to Carbon Partners, recent surveys in the U.K. suggest that flirting by text message was one of the most popular reasons for people to send text messages.

Bolt Acquires Fonepark
12 February 01 - Bolt, one of the biggest U.S. teenage web businesses, has acquired Fonepark, a U.K.-based developer of youth-focused SMS text messaging applications. No financial details were disclosed. Fonepark was founded at the beginning of 2000, and The Accelerator Group London was the founding investor in the company. A number of Fonepark's employees will join Bolt's U.K. offices. Bolt has four million registered members worldwide and 250,000 registered members in the U.K.. It reports over nine million page views per month and customers spending an average of four hours per month on the Bolt platform. In addition, Bolt provides customized marketing services and research for blue-chip clients.

TalkerNet Technologies Ltd
.
TalkerNet develops the next generation voice-browsing platform for service providers. Using a mobile device and simple voice commands, users can surf and hear any web site content real-time, moreover TalkerNet enables mobile users to request specific information within the web content from dedicated voice menus that are constructed on the fly. The platform is based on 'Total Voice', an algorithm-based technology that conducts real-time transcoding and optimization for voice.

InterWorld Corp.
InterWorld Corp., through strategic alliances with industry leading companies, operators and others, has been able to develop the first truly integrated technology platform that includes Web, WAP, SMS, Voice and PDAs to deliver content in several languages at the same time to users. InterWorld is forging ahead to become the leader in one of the world's most exciting emerging growth markets. InterWorld has ingeniously positioned itself outside the technology circle and content creation.

PVR - USA - 1 in 10 households will have PVR by Summer 2001

Sorry I don't have any hard numbers for actual sales, but here's a link to
an article summarizing a recent study, "PVR and Enhanced TV Potential",
released by eBrain Market Research, a service of the Consumer Electronics
Association (CEA). It makes the claim that 1 in 10 households will
purchase
a PVR by summer 2001.

http://www.electronichouse.com/news060100ceadigital.html

 

Amount of time American children spend on computers daily 21 minutes
Amount of time children spend listening to music daily: 1 hour, 27 minutes
Amount of time children spend watching television daily: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Percent of children 8 and older who have computers in their bedrooms: 21
Percent who have televisions in their bedrooms: 65
(Kaiser Foundation, November 1999)

Percent of parents who say their children watch less television since
they were introduced to the Internet: 37
(U.S. National School Boards Foundation and Children's Television Workshop, March 2000)

Estimated amount director George Lucas will spend for videotape stock on
the entirely digital "Episode II" of the Star Wars saga, scheduled for
release in spring 2002: $15,000
Amount Mr. Lucas would spend for traditional film stock: $2.5 million
(San Francisco Chronicle, December 2000)