News.com

CBS Acquires CNET Networks for $1.8 Billion

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 15, 2008 - 8:15am.

New York - CBS (NYSE: CBS) announced on Thursday that it has agreed to acquire CNET Networks (NASD: CNET), a technology publishing company that operates sites including News.com, ZDNet, GameSpot, TV.com and MP3.com, in a deal valued at $1.8 billion. CBS will pay $11.50 per share, an impressive 45% premium over CNET's share price at closing on Wednesday; CNET's board has unanimously approved the deal.

CNET News.com: Top Prize at MashupCamp Goes to Podbop

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 23, 2006 - 11:24am.

Mountain View, Calif. - CNET News.com recently reported from MashupCamp, a contest where developers must merge two or more applications into a new software program. The winning project was 22-year-old Taylor McKnight's Podbop, which informs users of upcoming concerts in their area, and finds and downloads free, legal MP3s from the bands. Other popular mashups from the event included Chicagocrime.org, which combines Chicago crime statistics with Google Maps, and FlySpy, which provides a graphical view of the cheapest times to purchase airline tickets.

CNET News.com: Synergy Sports Providing NBA Video Clipping Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 6, 2006 - 4:55am.

San Francisco - CNET News.com on Monday profiled Synergy Sports Technology, which provides a service for NBA teams that logs every play from every game so that coaches can later examine streaming video for analysis. Currently, four NBA teams -- Dallas, Miami, Boston and Indiana -- subscribe to the service, which lets teams follow statistics for their own players and rival teams in areas like setting picks and challenging shots, which to this point have not typically been measured by a third-party service. Synergy co-founders Garrick Barr and Nils Lahr also recently began offering college basketball games on Synergy, and plan to expand their coverage into football.

News.com: Labels Looking to Limit CD Burning Capabilities

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 2, 2004 - 3:29pm.

San Francisco -- Citing the unfettered copying of CDs enabled by CD burners, the major record labels are currently testing technology that would limit the number of times a CD may be copied, and eliminate the ability to make copies of copies, CNET News.com reported on Wednesday. Anti-piracy firms SunnComm and Macrovision are developing such technologies in cooperation with the labels, with SunnComm and BMG already testing a "secure burn" solution and Macrovision expected to release its technology within several months. "If there's somebody who's making 25 copies for the world and finds they can't do that, then few people will probably complain. But if someone finds they can't make a copy for their kid so he can play it in the car, you're going to have a lot of people returning broken CDs," Mike McGuire, an analyst with GartnerG2, told News.com. A Macrovision executive told News.com that the labels are also interested in further limiting the amount of copying that can be done with songs purchased from online services like iTunes and Napster.

tags: Labels | News.com | Limit CD Burning Capabilities |