Home / mashable.com rss archive / September-25-2007


RealNetworks Acquires GameTrust for $50 Million
Real Networks has acquired GameTrust for around $50 million. GameTrust provides a private label gaming platform that allows other companies to launch their own branded casual gaming sites. According to the company, their platform hosts more than 8 million gamers per month, with popular sites such as GSN and MiniClip utilizing their software.[via [...]

Sugar Publishing Acquires Social Shopping Site ShopStyle.com
Sugar Publishing, the company behind PopSugar and a network of other sites, has acquired ShopStyle, a social shopping site targeted at women. The company, which is also renaming itself Sugar, Inc, plans to integrate ShopStyle across its various brands as its main shopping engine.According to founder and CEO Brian Sugar: The combination of ShopStyles [...]

Unofficial Facebook IM Application in the Works
There is a lot of buzz going around this evening about a new Facebook IM client that is apparently going into beta this Friday. While its important to note that this does not appear to be an official Facebook IM application, its noteworthy because, well, its on the Facebook platform, but also because it [...]

Project Playlist Raises $3M from Who?
Project Playlist, the music search and discovery tool, has raised $3 million in funding from an unnamed company. No further details were given regarding this deal. You may remember that Project Playlist was banned by MySpace earlier this year, presumably for its playlist-sharing widget. Items such as these don’t seem to be as [...]

Myxer Lets You Mobilize Your Content
Myxer is a mobile media sharing company that lets web publishers offer a way for site visitors to mobilize their content, launching here at DEMO. With the Myxer widget, site visitors can send content to their mobile phones with drag’n'drop ease and almost instant results. There’s a button publishers place on their website inviting [...]

Recently Acquired Sling Media Making a YouTube Killer Too?
We heard earlier this week that Echo Communications will be acquiring Sling Media, which already has a set top box that will record and send your favorite television programs and let you watch them remotely from a PC or mobile phone, as well as tools to control your TV from your PC or mobile phone. [...]

Internet TV Growing in the UK
Screen Digest has conducted a survey that indicates the UK market of online TV will grow considerably in the coming years, reaching $362 million by 2011. This is an important consideration, because online TV in the UK is still relatively new, but the forecast for the growth of this sector means a lot for [...]

Demand Media Raises $100 Million
Demand Media, the company founded by the former CEO of Intermix Media (the company behind MySpace) Richard Rosenblatt, has raised another $100 million in venture capital. Demand Media is in the business of buying domain names with organic traffic (names with easy to remember names) and adding social networking features to them. Accordingly, [...]

Rumor: Google to Buy Sirius?
It sounds unlikely, but the latest rumor concerning Google is a potential acquisition of Sirius Satellite Radio. Those speculating point to the fact Google is moving into radio advertising, could expand the company’s audience by streaming Sirius content over the Web, and through Sirius subscriptions, could diversify its revenue. However, there are big [...]

ZiiTrend Wants You To Help Predict The Future
ZiiTrend is a new social prediction site that wants you to help predict the future on just about any subject you can think of.Whatever your question or interest may be, you can join up on ZiiTrend and try to work with others to see what the future holds. You can browse for already existing [...]

First Look: WidgetBoxs Tool for Building Facebook Applications
WidgetBox, which offers web-based tools for building widgets, has just released a new tool for creating Facebook applications: App Accelerator. The application aims to allow users to create Facebook applications without any need to code, and comes with the ability to add features that will integrate your app with the profile, news feed, and [...]

Phreesias Electronic Doctors Office
Phreesia is a new, free system for doctors and patients to electronically store and enter health data, launching at DEMO today. This is a system for comprehensive information in order that patients & doctors have better conversations, and can better work from important information. This is essentially a way to replace the clipboard, [...]

Filmaroos Family-Oriented Video Sharing Network
Filmaroo is a video-sharing company here at DEMO that is primarily geared towards family members, like mom or grandpa. You know, the ones that aren’t quite technically inclined and are deathly afraid of YouTube. This video-sharing network is basd off of a peer-to-peer bitTorrent system, and as Filmaroo hosts your videos, this P2P [...]

Film School Strikes Marketing Deal With Joost
The Vancouver Film School has struck a revenue-sharing deal with the peer-to-peer video site, Joost.In an effort to help promote their school, and to bring in some revenue in to fund future projects, VFS has negotiated a deal with Joost to allow them to keep 30% of all the money their films generate. [...]

MatchMine Fully Launches Cool Media Recommendations at DEMO
MatchMine is a company we’ve covered in the past, when th company was still in private beta. It’s fully launched at DEMO, and it’s pretty darn cool. You’ll remember that MatchMine is a media recommendation service, and it works by taking in your personal preferences When I first checked out MatchMine, [...]

TripMatch Offers Trip Planning Tools For Facebook Users
Trip Match is a new Facebook application for planning trips with your friends. Its fairly comprehensive, offering features for sending invites, keeping track of whos going, and options to add trip details like restaurants and places to go. The application was developed by TripWiser, who operates an independent web site for trip planning [...]

20 Step Plan Emerges to Re-lock Your iPhone
You have to give it to the iPhone hacking community, they’re an ingenius bunch.After the thinly veiled threats of yesterday from Apple, the iPhone hacking community is trying to figure out how to safeguard their unlocked phones from the pending firmware update. One forum user over on MacNN has come up with a 20 step [...]

Europeans: Save Money on Amazon MP3s
Several of our commenters from Europe have noted that at the moment you can buy MP3s on at the new Amazon Digital Music store at the US rate of 89-99 cents, which, thanks to favorable exchange rates, is quite a discount to what they usually pay on iTunes. Well see if Amazon ultimately adjusts the [...]

Quantcast Launches New Analytics Tools
Statistics tracking company, Quantcast, has announced a new suite of analytics tools that promises some fascinating new data to webmasters.Members of Quantcast’s Quantified Publisher Program can now add tools that not only track impressions with parts of your site, but also the interactions. Flash media, widgets, and videos can all be tracked now to see [...]

Fuser Consolidates Your Email and Social Networking Messages
Fuser, the email consolidation service we originally covered while still in private beta, is now available to everyone. The service looks to not only consolidate all of your email accounts, but also the messages you receive on social networks like MySpace and Facebook. Fuser does this without storing your messages, and still uses [...]

ClutterMe is Web Design For The Code Impaired
ClutterMe sent us over an invitation to their new web-design-on-the-fly site, and it truly seems to be the place where anyone can build a page in minutes.You start off with about as blank of a page as you can imagine, a Google search box and some icons, and then you just start editing away inside [...]

YouTube Looking to Add Bumper Ads
It looks like the free-ride is over at YouTube as it has been announced that bumper ads of up to 30-seconds will be rolling out next year.For now it is unclear if these will be attached to every video, or if each user will be allowed to choose if ads are placed in front of [...]

Yahoo and Google Sued Over Their Names
A man currently being detained by immigration in Houston, TX has filed a lawsuit claiming Yahoo and Google stole their names from Tanzanian tribes. As luck would have it, the man is a descendant of both tribes - what are the odds?The lawsuit states that Google was taken from the Gogo tribe, and [...]

Fortumo Opens Up, Wizard For Starting Mobile Businesses
Fortumo has finally been revealed by being opened up to invitation holders, and it’s a wizard generator for creating mobile businesses.Whether you’ve never even pondered creating an SMS-based business, or you’re an old hand at it, it seems Fortumo can help you get going in a matter of minutes. The focus is on four [...]

Digg Adds New Features to API
Digg has added functions to their API, giving developers new options for the applications they build that plug in to the site. Among the new features is the ability to grab the top stories, both from the homepage and from one of Diggs main categories. Additionally, you can now use the Digg API [...]

Google.org Launches Pedal-Powered Machine Contest
Google.org, the search giant’s non-profit organization, is launching an initiative called the Innovate or Die Pedal-Powered Machine Challenge. The contest aims to encourage inventors to design environmentally friendly bikes that cause zero emissions, and will reward $5,000 to the best invention, and free bikes for the top 5 finalists. Inventors are also asked [...]

Security Flaw Found in Ask.com Toolbar for IE
A report from security software provider Secunina APS indicates that the Ask.com Toolbar version 4.0.2 for Internet Explorer has a potentially serious vulnerability. According to the report, the flaw could potentially allow an attacker to take control of someones computer though an Active X control. According to the report:The vulnerability is caused due [...]

One True Media Launches New Features for Creating Video Montages
One True Media, a service that allows users to combine photos, video, music, and special effects to create video montages, has launched a slew of new features. A QuickStyles feature provides users with templates that come with built-in transitions around a specific theme, such as love, freestyle, or birthdays. The company has also [...]

Google Calendar Optimized for iPhone
Google has released a version of Google Calendar that is optimized for usage on the iPhone. Now when you browse to http://calendar.google.com on your iPhone, you will be able to see your different calendars in their respective colors, as shown below:[via]Recommended: Piczo Stuff at Mashcodes!Share This

Evoca Launches API to Enable Customized Voice Recordings
Evoca, which offers services to allow users to make calls and leave voice comments via an embedded Flash player, has announced the launch of their API. The API will allow other companies to utilize Evocas services from their own web sites with their own branding.When we first covered Evoca, they were primarily an add-on [...]

Rumor: AOL to Buy ValueClick
ValueClick shares have climbed 16% over the past two days as rumors have surfaced that AOL may be interested in acquiring the largest remaining independent online ad network. The rumors come from an analyst at Merriman Curham Ford & Co, who heard AOL is considering a purchase, but thinks a deal is unlikely.It has [...]

Revolution Money Raises $50 Million
More Revolution Money news: theyve raised $50 million in funding. The funding comes from heavyweight financial firms Citi, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank.As we previously reported, Revolution Money is launching a free money transfer service to take on PayPal, and backed by former AOL execs Steve Case and Ted Leonsis. We also noted [...]

Get Your Web 2.0 Idea Funded with You Be the VC Contest
Bang Ventures has launched You Be the VC, a new web site where entrepreneurs can submit their Web-based business ideas and the public can vote on the ones they like best. Ultimately, the public will decide on the three ideas they like best, which Bang Ventures will then fund, in addition to providing programming [...]

Revolution Money to Launch Facebook Application?
Yesterday we covered the launch of Revolution Money, Steve Cases potentially disruptive free money transfer service. Today weve learned that the company may be developing a Facebook application; a smart distribution strategy to get early adopters using the service. While the app is currently unreleased and its unclear if its officially in Revolution [...]

Evoka Launches API to Enable Customized Voice Recordings
Evoka, which offers services to allow users to make calls and leave voice comments via an embedded Flash player, has announced the launch of their API. The API will allow other companies to utilize Evokas services from their own web sites with their own branding.When we first covered Evoka, they were primarily an add-on [...]

Reminder: $100 Discount at Defrag from Mashable
As we announced last week, Mashable readers interested in attending the Defrag conference November 5th-6th in Denver, CO can save $100 by using the promotional code “Mash1″ when registering. Defrag is a conference designed for software innovators focused on knowledge management, social networking, collaboration, and business intelligence. The conference includes a long list of [...]

The Weather Channel Interactive Makes Another Acquisition
The Weather Channel Interactive is suddenly an active name in the Web acquisitions game. Less than two weeks after buying WeatherBonk, the company is announcing the acquisition of two online vacation rental web sites: lakerentals.com and coastalrentals.com.According to the company, these acquisitions will help grow the companys main online vacation rental web site, forGetaway.com, [...]

Amazon Launches Digital Music Store
Amazon.com has launched a public beta for its new digital music service, Amazon MP3. At launch, the service includes more than 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists. As previously reported, every song on Amazon MP3 is available without DRM software, meaning MP3s can be accessed on virtually any device. Amazon [...]

Baagz Launches Social Search Engine
Baagz is a new social search player launching today at DEMOfall. The service allows users to create baagz, which are essentially folders that contain a users favorites Web sites, photos, videos, RSS feeds, and more. The idea is that instead of just searching or just bookmarking, you can use Baagz to keep track [...]

SceneCaster Launches 3D Worlds for Commerce, Search, and Community
SceneCaster, which launches today at DEMOfall, is a new 3D web community. In addition to its own site, the service aims to add a 3D experience to ecommerce outfits like eBay and Amazon, and to social networks and photo sharing services like Facebook and Flickr. The company does this all from within the [...]

Amazon Launches Digital Music Store
Amazon.com has launched a public beta for its new digital music service, Amazon MP3. At launch, the service includes more than 2 million songs from more than 180,000 artists. As previously reported, every song on Amazon MP3 is available without DRM software, meaning mp3s can be accessed on virtually any device. Amazon [...]

Facebook Tops MySpace in the UK
The latest numbers from Nielsen//NetRatings show that Facebook has now surpassed MySpace in the UK. For August, Facebook registered 6.5 million unique visitors versus 6.4 million for MySpace. For Facebook, that represents a whopping 541% jump since December. Meanwhile, Bebo, which is often noted for its popularity in the UK, grew a [...]

TauMed Launches Video Sharing
TauMed, the health-related social network, is launching a video section that will feature a mixture of content produced by both professionals and individuals.As an add-on to their existing written content, the new video section of TauMed will allow users to not only read medical advice and look at pictures of healthy exercise routines, but now [...]

Now Access Your Gmail From Facebook (Unofficially)
Update: Fearful of trademark issues, the developer has just decided to pull down the application. Anyone else want to step up and make a Gmail app for Facebook?–Thanks to an enterprising app developer, you can now access your Gmail from your Facebook account with a Gmail app. Kinda.While neither Google or Facebook have yet [...]

CSS TOOLBOX: 20+ Tools For Working With CSS
Have you always been reliant on others’ templates for your blog or website? You’d like to customize them, but you’re just not sure how? Perhaps it’s time to finally wrestle with the secrets of CSS. This collection of CSS-related links should be a good start - from basic tutorials to advanced tools, it’s all here.Recommended: [...]