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DMW Daily, July 18, 2008

Top Stories
o Report: U.S. Game Sales Up 53% in June to $1.69 Billion
o Google Shares Plunge After Earnings Fall Shy of Expectations
o Legg Mason Supports Yahoo Directors; Won't Back Icahn
o Google Buys Russian Contextual Ad Firm Begun for $140 Million
o Video Podcast Network PodTech Acquired for Under $500,000
o Visual Effects Software Firm GenArts Nabs Funding, Hires CEO
Opinion & Analysis
o Analysis: Google Blows Q2, YouTube Still a Mystery
o Buzz Watch: This Week in YouTube
Briefly Noted
o AT&T, Verizon Offer NBC Olympics Coverage on TV, Web, Mobile
o Activision to Include Hendrix Avatar, Music in Next "Guitar Hero"
o Indie911's Hoooka Widget to Distribute First Feature Film
o GravityZoo Debuts Beta of Cloud-based Music Library & Player
o AT&T Gets Exclusive EA "Spore" Content for Mobile, Broadband
o Mobile Posse to Provide Mobile Sports Data from STATS
 Top Stories
o Report: U.S. Game Sales Up 53% in June to $1.69 Billion 
Port Washington, N.Y. - U.S. video game sales were up 53% in June from a year ago, to $1.69 billion, and although Sony got a major bump in sales via the top-selling, PlayStation 3-exclusive "Metal Gear Solid 4," Nintendo once again led with sales of 666,000 Wii consoles during the month, according to sales data compiled by market research firm NPD Group. [more..]
o Google Shares Plunge After Earnings Fall Shy of Expectations 
Mountain View, Calif. - Shares of Google fell more than 9% -- roughly $50 -- by late Friday after the Internet giant posted second quarter earnings that fell well short of Wall Street expectations. [more..]
o Legg Mason Supports Yahoo Directors; Won't Back Icahn 
Baltimore - In a major blow to dissent shareholder Carl Icahn, Legg Mason -- the asset management firm that owns 4.4% of Yahoo's shares -- announced on Friday that it will be supporting the existing Yahoo board, and not the dissident slate nominated by Icahn. [more..]
o Google Buys Russian Contextual Ad Firm Begun for $140 Million 
Mountain View, Calif. - Google announced on Friday that it will acquired Russian contextual advertising service ZAO Begun from Rambler Media for $140 million. [more..]
o Video Podcast Network PodTech Acquired for Under $500,000 
Los Angeles - PodTech, a publisher of video podcasts about new technology that raised over $7.5 million in venture capital, has been sold for less than half a million dollars to ViewPartner, a holding company of multimedia technologies, VentureBeat reported. [more..]
o Visual Effects Software Firm GenArts Nabs Funding, Hires CEO 
Cambridge, Mass. - GenArts, a provider of visual effects software for the film, broadcast and video industries, has announced that Insight Venture Partners made a venture capital investment in the company earlier this year. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o Analysis: Google Blows Q2, YouTube Still a Mystery 
YouTube remains impervious to monetization models. CEO Eric Schmidt said Google was trying multiple ad strategies, including pre-roll, post-roll and "in-view" ads but had yet to hit on the formula for turning YouTube's huge traffic into meaningful revenue, blogs Paul Sweeting. [more..]
o Buzz Watch: This Week in YouTube 
n/a
 Briefly Noted
o AT&T, Verizon Offer NBC Olympics Coverage on TV, Web, Mobile 
New York - NBC Universal this week granted both Verizon and AT&T rights to air its Olympics coverage on the broadband, IPTV and mobile platforms. [more..]
o Activision to Include Hendrix Avatar, Music in Next "Guitar Hero" 
Los Angeles - Activision will include the music and likeness of rock legend Jimi Hendrix in the next iteration of its "Guitar Hero" franchise, via a deal with Experience Hendrix, the Associated Press reported. [more..]
o Indie911's Hoooka Widget to Distribute First Feature Film 
Los Angeles - Indie911 has announced plans to offer its first full-length feature, B-Side Entertainment's music industry documentary "Before the Music Dies," on its Hoooka online distribution service, Variety reports. [more..]
o GravityZoo Debuts Beta of Cloud-based Music Library & Player 
Maastricht, The Netherlands - GravityZoo on Friday announced the beta launch of MediaZoo, its "cloud-based" music library and player that allows users -- and up to five friends -- to store and access their music libraries online. [more..]
o AT&T Gets Exclusive EA "Spore" Content for Mobile, Broadband 
Dallas - AT&T said this week that it has signed a deal with Electronic Arts to offer exclusive content from the publisher's forthcoming "Spore" game to its wireless and broadband subscribers. [more..]
o Mobile Posse to Provide Mobile Sports Data from STATS 
McLean, Va. - Mobile Posse, a mobile technology company, announced that it has partnered with STATS, the world's leading sports information provider, for availability of sports content on Mobile Posse's mobile advertising delivery platform. [more..]