Even when Groupon tries to explain itself, the company can be confusing. The daily-deals provider said today that its fourth-quarter financials, as disclosed last month, were weaker than previously reported. The first question that a reader is likely to ask...
Read more »Olbermann Airs Beef With Current TV on Little-Known Site
Celebrities often turn to Twitter to break nuggets of news, but what happens when 140 characters isn’t enough? For Keith Olbermann, the vehicle was TwitLonger. When the news anchor split from Current TV, the obscure cable network, he unleashed his statement...
Read more »With RIM Sliding, What Would Apple Marketers Do to Save BlackBerry?
For Apple, it’s “Think Different.” For RIM, how about “Be Heard?” That’s the advice of one former marketer at Apple, a company known for its advertising genius and ability to convince e-mail addicts weaned on the BlackBerry’s Chiclet keyboard that ...
Read more »PayPal’s New Leader: How He Handled a Crisis at His Startup
Here’s one way to restore “startup energy” to a 13-year-old business: Put an entrepreneur who has been there less than a year in charge. EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe will relinquish his role as the interim president of PayPal to...
Read more »Tech Execs Meet in D.C. to Plan 5-Year Transition to Digital Textbooks
Last month, two top U.S. regulators challenged the nation to get all students to use digital textbooks by 2017. Today, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are meeting with textbook publishers and technology companies in Washington...
Read more »Is the Pen Mightier Than the Finger? Drawing Apps Boost Sales of Stylus
Even Steve Jobs didn’t see this one coming: The stylus is back. The late Apple co-founder derided the idea of using plastic pens with smartphones and tablet computers. “Who wants a stylus?” Jobs said in 2007. “You have to get...
Read more »Zuckerberg Better Than Even Jobs and Gates, Says Roger McNamee
Mark Zuckerberg receives more praise than the average 27-year-old. And rightfully so, seeing as he’s turned a project born out of late-night coding sessions in his college dorm room into one of the world’s most valuable tech companies. But...
Read more »Facebook Gets a New Game Not Made by Zynga. Will It Score?
After all the hoopla surrounding Facebook games in 2009, there’s been very little success to show for it. Or more accurately, the success has been concentrated in one company: Zynga. Thanks to breakout hits like FarmVille and CityVille, the $9.5...
Read more »For Silicon Valley Houses, the Boom Always Comes Around Again
A story today from Bloomberg News reporters Prashant Gopal and John Gittelsohn looks at the rise of real estate bidding wars as some of the overhang in the U.S. housing market gets cleared away. Those wars may be most intense...
Read more »Don’t Show Your Face: FTC Warns of Advertisers’ Use of Recognition Tech
The eyes may be the window to the soul, but the whole face could be a path to your pocketbook, if advertisers have their way. The Federal Trade Commission said on Monday that advertisers are using facial recognition technology to...
Read more »Facebook’s 850 Million Users Agree to Not Name Things ‘Book’ or ‘Face’
Writing a self-defense manual called “Macebook”? You may want to change the name. Facebook updated its terms of service last week to include “Book” among the trademarks that “you will not use” if you want to be able to log...
Read more »