GigaOM

Yahoo IM and Google Talk, both are getting major upgrades. Yahoo says its IM with voice is now out of beta and has published a list of 180-odd plugins that work with the Yahoo Messenger. Nice to see Pando right at the top of the most downloaded plugin list. This plug-in strategy seems to be [...]

For Moto its all China all the time. Earlier this month the company opened a store in Shanghai, and now Motorola says it has a deal with Chinese online game company Shanda for mobile gaming. Motorola’s E680g handset will offer several of Shanda’s online game titles for Chinese mobile gamers.
Too bad the 6-month exclusive deal [...]

Netgear more known for its wireless routers and switches seems to be getting pretty serious about the digital home. They just bought SkipJam, a six year old software start-up based in Port Chester, NY for $9 million in cash. That got them five engineers. SkipJam had come up with a product called iMedia, that network [...]

Google is about to open up its Mountain View WiFi network to more than 500 more trusted testers, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans. The expanded test indicates that the service is inching closer to its public debut. Google hopes to make the service ready for general availablity later this summer.
When I posted [...]

Earlier this morning, Erick Schonfeld asked the question: Where did Kazaa get $115 million? This evening we have an answer - the Bank of eBay. Reuters reports that Skype and Kazaa co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis coughed up most of the money. That’s not that much considering that they got $2.6 billion they got [...]

PortalPlayer, a fabless chip company based in San Jose, California says that company CEO Gary Johnson is leaving the company for opportunities in the start-up land. The company became a stock market darling because its chips powered the red-hot iPod.
“My true passion is in leading companies through their initial rapid growth,” said Mr. Johnson. “When [...]