E-reading company Kobo has acquired French digital software company Aquafadas in an effort to develop more digital illustrated content like comic books and magazines. Separately, the company announced new partnerships with New Zealand booksellers. Read more »
At the Frankfurt Book Fair on Tuesday, Berlin-based Txtr announced a tiny e-reader that will cost under €10 when subsidized by mobile carriers. With the Beagle, the company aims to convert the 80 percent of global mobile phone users who don’t already read ebooks. Read more »
Fresh from raising €100 million, French music service Deezer’s CEO Axel Dauchez tells paidContent he wants to tip-toe around the US and Spotify while using funds to go global. Read more »
The YouTube of sound is a clear success, but its big monetization play – beyond pro-account subscriptions – still remains a mystery. Read more »
As North American ebook retailers Barnes & Noble and Kobo expand their presence abroad, they are seeing their businesses change. Representatives from both companies spoke about some lessons learned on Monday at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Read more »
It’s the most viewed YouTube viral ever. Now the stars of Charlie Bit My Finger will get their own professional web series, as agents aim to monetise viral amateur stars on TV’s big screen. Read more »
Looking to broaden itself from skateboarding dogs by increasing its volume of original professional video, YouTube is extending its original-channel deal with established producers, with 60 new channels in Europe and the States. Read more »
Deezer now stands a much greater chance of challenging powerful Spotify in the race to sign unlimited-music subscription customers, after reportedly taking a €100 million funding. But can any of their ilk be a success? Read more »
With 2m members, science startup ResearchGate isn’t just talking big when it says it wants to start a revolution: it’s actually changing the way scientists work. Co-founder Ijad Madisch explains his vision — and how he’d like to change Germany’s clone-heavy culture along the way. Read more »
Google’s video site is already the number-five web service in Turkey. Now it will have to work under the fast-growing country’s laws. But that could mean a big growth opportunity for the service. Read more »
Around the world, rival services are gobbling up emerging markets by rebadging Google’s software. Yandex is the latest, with its own Chrome-based web browser and alternative Android app store. Read more at GigaOM »
A data visualisation web app, GetBulb, wins a €50,000 loan note from DFJ Esprit in The Irish Times’ Digital Challenge. But what did the publisher learn from working with start-ups? Read more »
Can a virtual stock exchange for content curation, combined with Reddit-style voting, lead to better online video discovery? Turkey-based media curation startup Woisio thinks so, and it is trying to prove its theory with a private beta test of its new platform. Read more »
Parents trying to get their daughter’s Facebook messages to learn more about her death were stopped by federal privacy rules. The situation shows again how current laws have not evolved to account for the age of social media. Read more at GigaOM »
A French tabloid set off a temporary worldwide panic that Facebook had published the private messages of its users. France’s privacy regulator has now accepted the company’s explanation that this didn’t happen — but did blame Facebook for stirring up confusion. Read more at GigaOM »
The industry is still figuring out how to exploit the fact that many TV viewers use mobile devices whilst watching. Even two pay-TV services part of the same mothership don’t fully agree on the opportunity. Read more »
Print and digital media are so disconnected, they often appear a lifetime apart. But new technology promises to bridge the divide and save newspapers by bringing interactive buttons, Facebook likes and audio playback to newsprint. Read more »
One of the recent crop of mobile personalised news aggregators is being acquired by an RSS advertising company looking to take its ads in to smartphones. Read more »
Last December, the European Commission began investigating Apple and five book publishers for allegedly conspiring to set ebook prices. Now the EC, Apple and four of the publishers have reached a preliminary agreement that largely mirrors the terms of the ebook settlement in the U.S. Read more »
Search engines are losing share of users’ clicks. Analysts say they are going to Facebook and Twitter. What does that mean for the future of search? Read more »
In a bold first-day speech, the BBC’s new boss says the corporation must stop thinking that online innovation means repurposing broadcast content and instead ‘create genuinely digital content for the first time’. Read more »
For years Reddit has been used by journalists as a source of stories and ideas — but most outlets have preferred to keep their addiction quiet. Now, thanks in large part to President Obama, it doesn’t have to be their dirty little secret any more. Read more at GigaOM »
Moves to allow the digitization of ‘orphan works’ and free up the metadata around 20 million cultural objects will benefit the public and could inspire a new wave of apps and web services. But the underlying motivation is fundamentally political. Read more »
Publishers increasingly want to know exactly what readers are looking for. Now investment is being given to a start-up that purports not just to tell them – but also to write the content for them. Read more »
A Danish report says Spotify may offer HBO TV shows in Scandinavia. We have seen that kind of speculation in the past. But there may be valid reasons why the music service could branch out. Read more »
At an event in the UK on Tuesday, Waterstones CEO James Daunt shared a few more details on how the bookstore’s partnership with Amazon will work, but admitted that working with “a major competitor” is not easy. Read more »
Russian video aggregator ivi.ru is raising $40 million more. The money will be used to license TV and movie content, as investors hope decreasing piracy and willingness to pay for content can make for success. Read more »
The company which powers mobile music for Sony and RIM says it is buying a Swedish indie and will acquire further, after it turned a pre-tax profit last year. Read more »
Russia’s lacklustre music market desperately needs strong legal digital services. Now Apple may be about to play that role, finally launching in the country, according to reports. Read more »
Government plans to make publicly-funded research available for free online will be great for citizens but terrible news for journal publishers. One could lose up to 60 percent of its profits, an analyst warns. Read more »
Readers and writers are revolting after it emerged that several leading crime authors have been posing as reviewers to puff up their own books. But is the outcry really just a distraction from all the other ways publishers — and people in general — try to game the system? Read more »
Hadopi, the French body created by former President Nicolas Sarkozy to enforce copyright laws online, has rarely been popular for its three strikes disconnection policy. Now, after hints that the new government may cut its funding, the group’s leader has told politicians to stop meddling. Read more »
UK thriller author Stephen Leather’s admission that he created fake accounts to review his own books has led to a storm of controversy over bad author behavior and “sock puppet” reviews. Here’s what’s happened so far and how bad author behavior might be fixed. Read more »
“Freeview is shaking off the limitations of its spectrum,” is the declaration of a company that has been acquired by the UK’s big television infrastructure firm to inject internet content in to terrestrial broadcasts. Read more »
Bosses of fast-growing online sports broadcaster Perform Group earned millions last week when they cashed out some shares. But their company remains focused on building up by bolting on global sports sites. Read more »
Should websites charge users or advertisers? Russia’s number-two operator does both, but has this year seen payments from its user base quickly become its top revenue line, in a positive sign for Russian content payments. Read more »
British arch-satirist Armando Iannucci – best known for his documentary-style dissections of the political classes — is getting ready to take on his next project: a black comedy based on Silicon Valley’s worst moments of excess. Fish, meet barrel. Read more at GigaOM »
Real-time bidding is gaining traction with publishers keen to wring more out of their online inventory. Now rival French publishers are joining forces for a united pitch to advertisers. Read more »
Facing off against Sainsbury’s with a string of digital content vendor acquisitions, Tesco is now buying e-book store maker Mobcast for £4.5 million to translate its success in the aisles to the net. Read more »
Another European startup is trying to be a Zynga or a Playfish in its local language. Spain’s Playfish is raising money for the effort, seven months after formation. Read more »
