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Microsoft acquires digital marketing firm aQuantive at $6 billion

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AQuantiveIn its largest acquisition by far, Microsoft closes its purchase of aQuantive at $6 billion to kick off its goal to compete with Google and Yahoo in the online advertising realm.

aQuantive, a digital marketing company based in Seattle, has been known for its ad services and technologies through its individual operations such as Avenue A, Razorfish, Atlas and DrivePM, among others. With aQuantive, Microsoft hopes to create an advertising platform for advertisers, and publishers, that will match Google’s and Yahoo’s.

“Today we take a significant step forward in our ability to capture share of the $40 billion online ad opportunity and the larger $600 billion ad market, which is rapidly shifting to the world of online and IP-served platforms, including TV and gaming,” Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division, said. “The addition of aQuantive’s technologies and people to the Microsoft portfolio is a core, strategic investment and step forward in our plans to become one of the top two online advertising platforms in the industry.”

This seemingly ambitious move by Microsoft could alter the online marketing industry altogether, with their goal to be “number one or number two,” as Johnson further stated. Google and Yahoo’s online advertising platform has been going on for years. As far as trampling one or both of these two web giants is concerned, you can tell that Microsoft is dead serious with the amount it spared on the acquisition as well as its investment on building up a leadership team that will hopefully take them to the top.

Originally posted on August 14, 2007 @ 1:30 am

New weight loss network DietTV.com raises $2 million in funds

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DietTV.comNew weight loss community DietTV.com gets $2 million in first round funding from MentorTech Ventures to add to founder and CEO Ken Seiff’s intial investment to develop the project.

DietTV.com is the product of months of research, and scouting for potential advertisers, dieters, and investors. Seiff has always believed that there are big opportunities in the particular niche of weight loss and dieting, as well as a big online market too.
Currently on beta testing, the amount raised is to be used on the development and maintenance of DietTV.com.

The startup provides members video and written content that centers around effective weight loss methods — tips, health information, motivational talks, among others. Of course there’s the usual web2.0 functionality that allows users and members to help and be encouragements to one another.

“Unlike a lot of social networking sites, which mainly face inward, DietTV’s profiles face outward, with members offering something apart from themselves to help someone else,” Seiff said, in a conversation with David Kaplan. “You have 200 million Americans who are overweight or obese. And there’s thousands of solutions out there, but they’re mostly one-size fits all. With an online social net, you can tailor the information to fit the individual, which is why this kind of subject works better in this platform.”

Originally posted on August 14, 2007 @ 6:20 am

Universal Music invests on Loud.com

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Loud.comUniversal Music Group has recently announced their equity investment in Loud.com (also known as Battlerap.com), an ad-supported online street competition portal and community catering to hip-hop lovers, artists, and enthusiasts.

Loud.com has been operating to provide its members the opportunity to mingle with professional hip-hoppers, allowing them to upload their own raps, purchase audio files, and aspire for a record deal with Street Records Corporation which, apparently, is also distributed by Universal.

“Universal’s strategy is to become actively involved in all areas of media where our artists and our music are present,” Nick Henny, vice chairman and CFO of UMG, said. “Loud.com has created an incredibly vibrant and growing on-line hip-hop community that features not only compelling user-generated content, but also the means for users to create their own music and compete for a record deal.”

While this deal further expands UMG’s market reach, it also gives Loud.com a boost in its credentials, having the largest record label in the world backing them up.

Originally posted on August 9, 2007 @ 12:50 pm

Nokia to launch its first-ever social network

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Nokia joins the social networking scene with its very own Mosh, a user-generated network intended for use with any mobile device. (That means even non-Nokia devices, right?).

Currently on private beta, Mosh plans to provide users an avenue to create, upload, collect and share applications such as games, videos, blogs, music and photos, all through your mobile devices and/or your desktops. The first social network ever created by the most popular handset maker, Mosh is reported to be Nokia’s way of bridging the gap between mobile and desktop interfaces. The site is accessible through .com and .mobi domains.

Being the world’s leader when it comes to mobile phones, Nokia could very well set the trend for mobile social networks and file-sharing as well with the launch of Mosh.

Originally posted on August 10, 2007 @ 7:08 am

Life goes on for Fake Steve Jobs

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The Real Steve JobsIn a not-so-new but still widely-talked-about news, life goes on for Fake Steve Jobs even after his real identity — Daniel Lyons, 46 years old senior editor of Forbes magazine — was unveiled to the world wide web.

After more than a year of anonymity, with the past months growing with more and more rumors on who the real FSJ is, New York Times journalist Brad Stone cracked the mystery that has long been speculated upon and revealed Lyons as the man behind The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs.

Now as a reaction to the unexpected revelations, Lyons (aka Fake Steve Jobs) posted “Damn, I am so busted, yo” in his usual satiric style of writing that Silicon Valley and the blogosphere has grown to hate and love. “Well it had to happen. Honestly I can’t believe it’s taken this long. But as you may have heard, I’ve been busted by a newspaper reporter. My cover has been blown,” Lyons said.

In spite of the blown cover, however, there’s no stopping Fake Steve Jobs. Lyons keeps his fake identity and continues to blog about Apple, as well as Silicon Valley elites, as if not swayed by the revelation. And since his cover has already been revealed, Forbes.com will soon be hosting his blog as well, to their pleasure.

“Apple faithful, here in our darkest hour I know what you’re thinking: What’s next for FSJ? Well, I’m taking a few days off to sit in a lake and do some yoga and meditation and non-thinking. Then I’m coming back next week, badder than ever, with a new sponsor — my homeboys at Forbes.com.” Lyons said in the same comeback post.

Some of us would think (including Lyons himself) that by revealing who the real “Fake Steve Jobs” is, Stone singlehandedly “robbed thousands of people around the world of their sense of childlike wonder”. After all, it was the mystery blogger that made the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs more.. well, mysterious.

Still, all worked out well for Lyons (whose secret diary now gets almost half a million page views a day), and Forbes.com (who didn’t know that they have in their payroll the Fake Apple CEO) and Steve Jobs himself (who seems to be enjoying his very own satire). Also, at least the real Steve Jobs won’t have to wonder if it was Bill Gates who was blogging as him.

Postscript. The photo above is of the Real Steve Jobs.

Originally posted on August 9, 2007 @ 3:43 am