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Monster.com Buys Social Networking Service Tickle for $54 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 25, 2004 - 7:31am.
San Francisco -- The parent company of online jobs site Monster.com announced that it has acquired Tickle, the San Francisco-based provider of a social networking service with 18 million members, for $53.9 million in cash and stock. Unlike other social networking sites such as Friendster, Tickle (formerly Emode) offers IQ and personality tests designed to better match users up with friends and potential mates. The company's career assessment tests will be integrated into those offered to job seekers on Monster.com.
tags: Deals | Internet | Social Networking | Career | Acquisitions | Classifieds | Monster.com | Tickle |

Sony Plans Networked TV Using New "Cell" PlayStation Processor

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 25, 2004 - 7:29am.
Tokyo -- Sony announced on Tuesday that it plans to sell a networked broadband television in 2006 that will utilize the same "Cell" processor currently in development for use in the next generation of its PlayStation video game console, Reuters reported, citing an interview in Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Sony said the Cell processor, which will be up to ten times more powerful than standard chips, will begin a test production in early 2005. Sony has committed $4.4 billion through 2007 to develop the Cell, along with partners IBM and Toshiba.
tags: TV | Sony | PlayStation | Cell |

Loudeye P2P Anti-Piracy Service "Guarantees" 99% Effectiveness

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 25, 2004 - 7:23am.
Seattle -- Loudeye Technologies, a provider of streaming song samples and other digital media services, on Tuesday announced a service that guarantees 99% effectiveness in blocking copyrighted content from being traded on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. The anti-piracy service level agreement is being offered to the music, movie, video game and software industries. The technology comes out of Seattle-based Loudeye's March acquisition of Overpeer, a provider of digital media data mining, anti-piracy and promotional solutions.
tags: P2P | Loudeye | Anti-Piracy | Guarantees |

Clear Channel Acquires Patent for Selling Instant Live Concert CDs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 25, 2004 - 7:22am.
New York -- Clear Channel Entertainment has purchased a patent it says gives it the exclusive right to record and sell live concert CDs direct from venues, Rolling Stone reported. New York-based DiscLive, which was recently acquired by Immediatek, estimated it would gross $500,000 this spring from selling live concert CDs from bands like The Pixies, Billy Idol and the Allman Brothers. The service includes a mobile recording and CD burning studio that can churn out finished discs for fans to pre-order online and pick up at the venue after the concert. Clear Channel, which operates a similar service called Instant Live, purchased the patent for DiscLive's technology from its inventors, and believes that it covers not only Clear Channel's 130 owned venues, but all U.S. venues as well. The company has granted one-dollar licenses of the patent to some smaller bands that want to record and sell CDs of their shows, but told The Pixies that they may no longer sell their concert CDs direct from venues. "We want to be artist-friendly," Steve Simon, Clear Channel's director of Instant Live, told Rolling Stone. "But it is a business, and it's not going to be 'we have the patent, now everybody can use it for free.'"
tags: Clear Channel | CDs | Patent |