In the online local listings and reviews segment, US big boy Yelp is giving a five-star review to Hamburg-based peer Qype – and buying it to expand the breadth of its business overseas. Read more at paidContent »
4G mobile networks promise fast content access out of the home. The UK’s first such network is bundling movies and free WiFi access – but will consumers pay the 4G premium? Read more at paidContent »
Mobile networks like Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica are urgently investing in over-the-top internet services to guard against becoming dumb pipes. But what is the real value in telcos trying to mimic WhatsApp? Read more »
Music service Rara has spent the last 10 months quietly tweaking its offering following a quiet launch. Now it will start going live properly. The catch? Every user is going to have to pay to play. Read more at paidContent »
European vacation rentals site HouseTrip has everything going for it right now: not least fast growth and a fresh new round of funding. Co-founder Arnaud Bertrand lays out why he thinks his site can carry on winning — and reveals the scale of his ambition. Read more »
The digital vendor that powers music services for Samsung, HTC, RIM and others is taking on investment to expand its offering from downloads to streaming, radio and more. Read more at paidContent »
‘Dead trees’ aren’t dead – they’re just dying. As news publishing’s funding dilemma grows more acute, everyone seems to know what The Guardian should do. Plenty of opinions were floated this week, as the paper denied it will stop printing. Read more at paidContent »
He quit HMV’s digital turnaround. Now new Trinity Mirror CEO Simon Fox says the UK news publisher must become leaner and abort its new Groupon clone to fund better apps and websites for its newspapers. Read more at paidContent »
When the man at the center of the ‘Twitter Joke Trial’ had his conviction quashed, it seemed some sanity had returned to the British legal system’s approach to online offensiveness. But that’s not how things worked out. Read more »
UK mobile ad spending is more than doubling year-on-year, according to new figures, as two more vendors in the space take on new financing to exploit the sector’s growth opportunity. Read more at paidContent »
Keen to drive up its digital ecommerce, the BBC’s commercial division will let buyers of some TV DVDs stream their contents through Flixster as part of UltraViolet’s DECE consortium. Read more at paidContent »
Pearson may be a giant of corporate publishing. But now it is throwing DK’s rich encyclopedic image bank and dozens of classic novels in with the content it wants developers to re-use in their own apps. Read more at paidContent »
4G isn’t the future anymore. A consortium of companies is to set up a ’5G Innovation Centre’ at the University of Surrey, with the aim of making mobile broadband communications faster and more efficient. Read more »
It’s the most viewed YouTube viral ever. Now the stars of Charlie Bit My Finger will get their own professional web series, as agents aim to monetise viral amateur stars on TV’s big screen. Read more at paidContent »
Looking to broaden itself from skateboarding dogs by increasing its volume of original professional video, YouTube is extending its original-channel deal with established producers, with 60 new channels in Europe and the States. Read more at paidContent »
The march of time and the advance of content formats is leaving thousands of old movies unwatchable. Now the British Film Institute will digitise many to preserve them and make them available online. Read more at paidContent »
Pearson CEO Marjorie Scardino once said the FT would be sold “over my dead body”. Now her exit after 15 years is calling some to wonder whether things might change. Read more at paidContent »
A popular service delivering extra live TV streams to UK viewers is being shrunk by the BBC as it looks to move the idea online to cut costs and spurn innovation. Read more »
What happens when a UK newspaper starts charging its American online readers? Not enough, according to The Independent, which says it is likely to undo its model after a year in place. Read more at paidContent »
As another deadline to launch passes, Virgin Media shows more evidence that it will soon finally unveil its iPad TiVo application, along with a full second-screen internet TV strategy. Read more at paidContent »
The industry is still figuring out how to exploit the fact that many TV viewers use mobile devices whilst watching. Even two pay-TV services part of the same mothership don’t fully agree on the opportunity. Read more at paidContent »
AOL’s Huffington Post launches another national edition in tandem with a leading newspaper publisher. But, when it’s not relying on existing local brands, how is HuffPo doing under its own steam against dominant newspaper publishers? Read more at paidContent »
If web users won’t pay for quality news, should they be made to cough up through one of the few digital bills they do pay? A news levy must now be collected through ISPs, one high-profile journalist says. Read more at paidContent »
Business card printer and east London tech darling Moo.com acquires web personal landing page Flavors.me to bolster its digital profile. Read more »
One of the recent crop of mobile personalised news aggregators is being acquired by an RSS advertising company looking to take its ads in to smartphones. Read more at paidContent »
Adobe sounded the death knell for Flash on Android last month. Deciding there is no viable alternative video technology, the BBC is keeping Adobe’s alive through its own workaround app. Blame Android fragmentation. Read more at paidContent »
It has a clear digital vision under former MSN chief Scott Moore, but Yellowbook publisher Hibu warns the cost of servicing its diminishing printed directory business may render its shares worthless. Read more at paidContent »
GNM is beefing up its digital and commercial leadership with US-style C-level appointments, including a new role for digital development director Tanya Cordrey. Read more at paidContent »
Consumers’ use of mobile devices whilst watching TV is becoming popular. But, with another viewing companion app due to launch next week, some in the industry are still debating the potential and the pay-back. Read more at paidContent »
In a bold first-day speech, the BBC’s new boss says the corporation must stop thinking that online innovation means repurposing broadcast content and instead ‘create genuinely digital content for the first time’. Read more at paidContent »
Sweden’s TeliaSonera was the first carrier in the world to launch LTE, but after nearly three years of waiting it finds its networks unsupported in the new 4G iPhone 5. In fact, most of Europe gets left out in the cold. Read more »
About to split itself in two whilst still pursuing digital product development, News Corp is adding News International CIO Paul Cheesbrough as its chief technology officer, replacing John McKinley. Read more at paidContent »
A new survey points to falling levels of reading every medium bar SMS in the last seven years. Campaigners are worried, but schoolchildren say they enjoy reading as much as ever. Read more at paidContent »
Nujira has developed technology that eliminates the enormous energy waste of LTE radios. By utilizing a technique called envelope tracking it matches the power fed into the handset with the power it transmits, which could cut down smartphone battery drain by a quarter. Read more »
Bosses of fast-growing online sports broadcaster Perform Group earned millions last week when they cashed out some shares. But their company remains focused on building up by bolting on global sports sites. Read more at paidContent »
Facing off against Sainsbury’s with a string of digital content vendor acquisitions, Tesco is now buying e-book store maker Mobcast for £4.5 million to translate its success in the aisles to the net. Read more at paidContent »
Everything Everywhere will take advantage of its early LTE launch to garner half of all 4G connections in the UK in 2014, according to Wireless Intelligence. UK carriers are also expected to charge premium rates for LTE access, distinguishing them from their US counterparts. Read more »
Simon Fox may be exiting a traditional company plagued by declining analogue content, but that will remain his top challenge, after news publisher Trinity Mirror named him its new CEO. Read more at paidContent »
European technology companies looking to go public usually desert their home turf and head to the U.S. — creating an echo chamber that has made some local investors angry. Now reports suggest that the British government may be trying to reverse that trend. Can it work? Read more »
The trailblazing firm may need more VC cash to cover its losses as it builds a global streaming behemoth, a disclosure reveals. So who gets what value from Spotify, and how could that change after another investment? Read more at paidContent »
