It’s only been a few weeks since Microsoft’s $1.2bn deal to buy Yammer was confirmed, but already the company’s influence seems to be spreading: productivity startup Teamly has scored investment from one of Yammer’s early team members and developed a deeper integration with the service. Read more »
The controversial world of paywalled academic publishing has been hit by a major shift, with the British government saying it will make open access to scientific research a condition of public funding by 2014. Read more at paidContent »
A new competition is trying to tempt more startups to London with a £1m booty. But it turns out the “prize” is actually a cash-for-equity investment on terms that are yet to be decided — and from an individual whose identity is being kept secret. Read more »
Digital music retailer 7digital is shaping up to be one of the main smartphone competitors to iTunes Store, as it announces another big manufacturer carriage deal. Read more at paidContent »
London’s Underground metro may have recently introduced Wi-Fi and extra 3G capacity in time for this month’s Olympic Games – but mobile payments remain some way down the track. Read more »
In one of the many fronts of the Apple-Samsung patent war, a British High Court judge has ruled in Samsung’s favour. But is it not time for this playground-level fight to stop clogging up the courts? Read more »
Kasabi, a platform that hosted and published linked data, is closing down after owners Talis Systems said the market was growing too slowly to be sustainable — saying that ‘it’s time to admit that Kasabi is not getting the traction we thought it would’ Read more »
After a long gestation period, crowd investment platform Seedrs has finally opened its doors — allowing British startups to use its platform to pitch for early stage funding. And so far things appear to be going well. Read more »
With its pay-for on-demand TV player nearing release and its YouView era about to begin, UK commercial broadcast leader ITV is restructuring its online division, with a change in leadership and job likely losses. Read more at paidContent »
New mobile data service Samba has launched in the U.K. with a novel idea — agree to watch a few ads, and it will give you free data. But while the company hopes it’s on track for glory, the path it’s taking is littered with bodies. Read more »
A new study from Google and the UK copyright collection society PRS for Music finds that live TV is the fastest-growing segment of copyright infringement — and a large presence on social networking sites. Read more at paidContent »
The British government is considering once again whether to apply mandatory filters to block all adult content on the internet. But what’s the point of campaigning for a technological solution when the technology itself doesn’t work properly? Read more »
RollUp, the niche publishing platform started by former DoubleClick, Brightcove and Demand Media executives, has signed a deal with US wellness network Everyday Health to take over the launch of new sites in Britain and Australia. Read more at paidContent »
Since taking the job heading up the UK government’s project to champion East London as a global technology hub, Eric van der Kleij has taken plenty of brickbats. Now he’s stepping down, who will be there to take on the challenge? Read more »
Private car hire service Uber is preparing to hit the British capital just in time for the Olympics, and the reality is that London, with its iconic black cab service, has the potential to make — or break — Silicon Valley’s latest transportation darling. Read more »
Under new proposals from the British media regulator Ofcom, internet providers will start sending warning letters to those accused of illegal filesharing in 18 months — and will be forced to handed people’s data over to copyright holders after three successive hits. Read more »
Bad news for Netflix’s international aspirations, as Amazon-owned rival Lovefilm announced a U.K. rights deal to show 20th Century Fox movies on its streaming service. But with antitrust authorities hovering over the movies-on-demand market, things are still up for grabs. Read more at paidContent »
Nike falls foul of UK advertising regulators because sponsored tweets for which it paid two top footballers were not obviously marked out as marketing. Read more at paidContent »
UK politician Louise Mensch has got a ton of publicity for her new startup, Menshn — a Twitter-like messaging service that has pre-determined topics for people to talk about. But here’s the thing: it’s an idea that’s rotten from top to bottom. Read more »
With more than $1 billion in tickets sold through its platform, Eventbrite is on a tear — and co-founder Kevin Hartz says it’s now ready to spend some of the $50 million it raised last year on a massive global expansion. Read more »
For what its worth at this point, the much delayed big UK IPTV joint venture YouView may finally be ready to meet a version of its revised and somewhat arbitrary target of launching in time for the London 2012 Olympics. Read more at paidContent »
Since coming out of beta last year, Swedish payments service iZettle has been very careful about how it has grown. The company — which, like Square, lets people take card payments through their iPhone — first launched in its home market, then the rest of the […] Read more »
Turns out, supermarkets want to rule the UK’s digital media roost.
Tesco is buying up plucky online music service We7 as the latest plank of its digital ambitions. Read more at paidContent »
After weeks of trying to find out why Orange mobile censored GigaOM for millions of mobile users in Britain, we finally have an answer: it’s because the company’s crude child protection blocks anything that looks like a blog by default. Read more »
Thomson Reuters is acquiring London-based mobile development outfit Apsmart to build more of its apps for business professionals in-house. Read more at paidContent »
To Zinio and iTunes Newsstand, now add another iPad magazine aggregator. LeKiosk, which launched in France in January 2011, is now launching in the UK on Monday, and is seeking funding for further internationalisation. Read more at paidContent »
British mobile operators have come in for criticism recently for ‘overblocking’ — incorrectly identifying sites as adult content and censoring them from ordinary web users. After GigaOM fell foul of one network’s filters, we asked for answers. And now they’re trickling in. Read more »
First LinkedIn, then eHarmony, and now possibly Last.fm. As the number of sites falling victim to password hackers continues to grow, the questions are flooding in about how these incidents are connected, and who might be the next target. Read more »
Vodafone and O2 are joining forces in Britain to share their grid and try to roll out 4G services faster than planned. It’s being painted as a great deal for consumers — but it’s actually being driven by the actions of their rivals. Read more »
Rob Grimshaw runs The Financial Times’ digital operations. He talked to me about HTML5, premium digital content and digital overtaking print in this short video on the fringes of last week’s paidContent 2012 conference. Read more at paidContent »
One of the poster boys for online specialist entrepreneurial journalism is selling to a price comparison website. But can independent personal finance guru Martin Lewis keep his legion followers happy? Read more at paidContent »
Some UK publishers are trying their hands at new digital experiences to milk the sixtieth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne this weekend. Read more at paidContent »
Gig listings startup Songkick has started its expansion into broader music services, with a new feature called Tourbox that lets bands manage and promote their live dates across the web, through integrations with the likes of YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud and Bandcamp. Read more »
70 years ago Bletchley Park in England was home to a team of computer pioneers who were breaking Nazi ciphers to try and win the war. This weekend, it’s playing host to a different generation of geeks as Europe’s largest mobile hack day prepares to land. Read more »
An interactive education and books crossover started by some of the founders of Zynga’s main social gaming rival is taking on $4 million in venture funding. Read more at paidContent »
Whether they’re outraged, scrabbling in terror, or simply hoping it goes away, it’s the privacy rule that European startups can’t ignore. But what exactly is the European cookie directive? As the rules come into force in the U.K., we take a look at the details. Read more »
Ten years ago, Plastic Logic looked like it had all the elements in place to become a world-beating startup. Now it’s ditched its attempts to become a household name and decided to focus on licensing its technology instead. So where did it all go wrong? Read more »
The team behind London-based photo app developer Lightbox are joining Facebook. But it’s a long way from Instagram’s billion-dollar deal: in fact, while the company’s employees are rejoicing, users and investors appear to have been left out in the cold. Read more »
Fresh from its IPO, the increasingly good-looking online sports video and betting outfit Perform is buying big to add live match data to its services. Read more at paidContent »
Swedish payments startup iZettle, which hopes to become the European equivalent of Square, is launching its first pilot in Britain. The move is the company’s largest rollout — and its biggest test — so far. Read more »
