Kayak IPO Expected In Coming Weeks
CNBC is reporting that travel site Kayak may finally spring its long-delayed IPO in the coming few weeks, riding Facebook's mega-wake. This news follows a bump in recent performance that Kayak showed off in its Q1 earnings report. The company reported a 39 percent increase in revenue and a net earnings of $4 million for the first quarter of the year, compared to $7 million lost in Q1 last year. According to CNBC, Kayak is targeting a $150 million IPO pegging the valuation at a shade over $1 billion.
Study: Pirate Bay-like Sharing Sites Help Albums Sell
File sharing site Pirate Bay's come under fire recently and is being blocked everywhere from Manchester to Mumbai. TorrentFreak found a new study by an economist at North Carolina State University that adds to evidence that closing down such file sharing sites may hurt sections of the same music industry that's hunting them down. Robert Hammond studied a year's worth of album sales data, comparing it with file shares via BitTorrent. He found that album sales did better if they became available first as shared files--selling up to 60 more copies a month after their online "release." Hammond also found that this trend favors established musicians over smaller, indie artists--in fact, the bigger they were, the more benefit they got from file sharers.
Iran To Sue Google Over Leaving The Persian Gulf Nameless On Maps
Irate about Google's regional omission on Google Maps, Iran may sue Google for failing to mark that limb of the Arabian Sea by Iran and the Arabian peninsula as the "Persian Gulf" AP reports. The name of the water body has been a sore point between Iran and its neighbors in the Middle East, the BBC explains--while Iran favors "Persian Gulf," other countries have been rallying behind "Arabian Gulf." Google for its part, prefered to avoid the issue entirely, leaving the water body nameless. H/T: TheNextWeb.
FCC To Vote On Spectrum For Wireless Health Monitors
Wireless medical electronics may be getting their own space. Reuters reports that the Federal Communications Commission is nearing a decision about wireless electronics, and is set to announce plans about their future in the U.S. today. All across the country, research is underway to develop small, sensitive, efficient, low-power sensors for the body that could wirelessly transmit patient data to monitors, giving them a tad more mobility. The FCC is due to vote on a two-spectrum plan on May 24, which would designate one spectrum for wireless monitoring at hospitals and medical facilities, and another spectrum for wirelessly monitoring patient data at their homes.
Pinterest Gains $100 Million Funding, Now Worth $1.5 Billion
AllThingsD reports Pinterest has just landed the big prize: A $100 million investment round led by a $50 million sum from leading Japanese e-commerce site Rakuten. The cash will help Pinterest improve its operations and expand global coverage leveraging Rakuten's existing multinational presence, and comes after previous funding of just $40 million and a valuation in October 2011 of just $200 million. Pinterest has been surrounded by allegations of criminal spamming schemes and copyright infractions, but this growth rate marks it as end of Siicon Valleys next hot startups to watch.
Facebook Insiders Cash Shares In, Pre-IPO Hackathon, New Apps
The additional shares available on IPO that Facebook revealed later yesterday actually won't make Facebook itself any cash--they are actually being sold by existing insider shareholders. This may have raised a few eyebrows in the financial world because selling a stake like this at launch could indicate a lack of long-term confidence in a company's future...although the fact that the offer price has risen from earlier estimates is more likely the driving factor. Meanwhile it's been reported to TechCrunch that a traditional all-nighter Hackathon at Facebook HQ will precede the IPO, ending with the remote-ringing of the Nasdaq bell. And as the last hours before IPO dribble away, Facebook issued an iPhone app designed to help users who utilize Facebook to promote a brand or and event manage their Pages with ease while mobile.
CNBC is reporting that travel site Kayak may finally spring its long-delayed IPO in the coming few weeks, riding Facebook's mega-wake. This news follows a bump in recent performance that Kayak showed off in its Q1 earnings report. The company reported a 39 percent increase in revenue and a net earnings of $4 million for the first quarter of the year, compared to $7 million lost in Q1 last year. According to CNBC, Kayak is targeting a $150 million IPO pegging the valuation at a shade over $1 billion.
Study: Pirate Bay-like Sharing Sites Help Albums Sell
File sharing site Pirate Bay's come under fire recently and is being blocked everywhere from Manchester to Mumbai. TorrentFreak found a new study by an economist at North Carolina State University that adds to evidence that closing down such file sharing sites may hurt sections of the same music industry that's hunting them down. Robert Hammond studied a year's worth of album sales data, comparing it with file shares via BitTorrent. He found that album sales did better if they became available first as shared files--selling up to 60 more copies a month after their online "release." Hammond also found that this trend favors established musicians over smaller, indie artists--in fact, the bigger they were, the more benefit they got from file sharers.
Iran To Sue Google Over Leaving The Persian Gulf Nameless On Maps
Irate about Google's regional omission on Google Maps, Iran may sue Google for failing to mark that limb of the Arabian Sea by Iran and the Arabian peninsula as the "Persian Gulf" AP reports. The name of the water body has been a sore point between Iran and its neighbors in the Middle East, the BBC explains--while Iran favors "Persian Gulf," other countries have been rallying behind "Arabian Gulf." Google for its part, prefered to avoid the issue entirely, leaving the water body nameless. H/T: TheNextWeb.
FCC To Vote On Spectrum For Wireless Health Monitors
Wireless medical electronics may be getting their own space. Reuters reports that the Federal Communications Commission is nearing a decision about wireless electronics, and is set to announce plans about their future in the U.S. today. All across the country, research is underway to develop small, sensitive, efficient, low-power sensors for the body that could wirelessly transmit patient data to monitors, giving them a tad more mobility. The FCC is due to vote on a two-spectrum plan on May 24, which would designate one spectrum for wireless monitoring at hospitals and medical facilities, and another spectrum for wirelessly monitoring patient data at their homes.
Pinterest Gains $100 Million Funding, Now Worth $1.5 Billion
AllThingsD reports Pinterest has just landed the big prize: A $100 million investment round led by a $50 million sum from leading Japanese e-commerce site Rakuten. The cash will help Pinterest improve its operations and expand global coverage leveraging Rakuten's existing multinational presence, and comes after previous funding of just $40 million and a valuation in October 2011 of just $200 million. Pinterest has been surrounded by allegations of criminal spamming schemes and copyright infractions, but this growth rate marks it as end of Siicon Valleys next hot startups to watch.
Facebook Insiders Cash Shares In, Pre-IPO Hackathon, New Apps
The additional shares available on IPO that Facebook revealed later yesterday actually won't make Facebook itself any cash--they are actually being sold by existing insider shareholders. This may have raised a few eyebrows in the financial world because selling a stake like this at launch could indicate a lack of long-term confidence in a company's future...although the fact that the offer price has risen from earlier estimates is more likely the driving factor. Meanwhile it's been reported to TechCrunch that a traditional all-nighter Hackathon at Facebook HQ will precede the IPO, ending with the remote-ringing of the Nasdaq bell. And as the last hours before IPO dribble away, Facebook issued an iPhone app designed to help users who utilize Facebook to promote a brand or and event manage their Pages with ease while mobile.
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