Google reportedly acquires natural language processing startup Wavii

Word that Google has snapped up natural language processing startup Wavii first came from TechCrunch, and now the Wall Street Journal is chiming in with its own sources claiming the deal has in fact been struck, and that an announcement is imminent. In its current form, Wavii parses a personalized news feed and distills text into a summary for the top stories, similar to Yahoo's recently-purchased Summly. TechCrunch reports that Apple and Google were locked in a bidding war for the outfit, but the web titan ultimately won with a bid in the neighborhood of $30 million. According to the WSJ, the fledgling firm's talent will join Page and Co.'s web search team, which means the language detection technology may bolster its Knowledge Graph, giving users better results (and direct answers) for their queries. As language recognition permeates Page and Co.'s projects, Google Now and Google Glass could potentially benefit from the acquisition as well. Mountain View has yet to acknowledge the reported purchase, but if the tea leaves are being read correctly, expect that to happen soon.

Source: TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal

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By: Unknown On 9:55 PM

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Twitter acquires music discovery service We Are Hunted, readies music app?

Last month, rumors swirled that Twitter had acquired music discovery service We Are Hunted to fold it into a forthcoming music app. Today, that acquisition has been made official, with the We Are Hunted team announcing that it's shutting down its services and joining team Twitter, with the promise that it would "continue to create services that will delight you." Alas, there's no more detail provided about what services it'll be creating, but its core competency of tune discovery sure will dovetail nicely with Twitter's rumored preferred method of sonic delivery, SoundCloud. Time will tell if this attempt at a musical social network goes over better than the last one.

Via: The Next Web

Source: We Are Hunted

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By: Unknown On 9:20 AM

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LinkedIn acquires Pulse news reader for $90 million

LinkedIn Acquires Pulse

Pulse's Talent, Technology, and Products to Help LinkedIn Accelerate Its Content and Mobile Initiatives

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 11, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD), the world's largest professional network on the Internet with more than 200 million members worldwide, today announced it agreed to acquire Pulse (owned by Alphonso Labs, Inc.), a leading news reader and mobile content distribution platform.

Pulse was founded in 2010 by Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta while they were students at Stanford University. It quickly grew to become one of the most widely used platforms for content consumption on the Internet.

Pulse currently has more than 30 million users who have activated its iOS and Android-based news reader apps in more than 190 countries.

Pulse is available in nine languages, and approximately 40% of users are outside the United States. More than 750 of the world's leading publishers distribute their content through Pulse.

"We are thrilled to be able to add Pulse's considerable talent, technology, and products to our growing ecosystem of content offerings, and we believe that they will help us accelerate our ability to deliver to our members the insights they need to be better at what they do, on any device," said Deep Nishar, SVP of Products and User Experience. "To continue to deliver that value to our members, our vision for content is that LinkedIn will be the definitive professional publishing platform, and Pulse is a perfect complement to this vision."

"News--the people, the places, the stories--is part of our daily conversation. Over the past three years, Pulse has established itself as a key part of that conversation; it has grown from a small project, to a platform for millions of readers to access their favorite content," said Kothari. Gupta added, "Now that our team is part of LinkedIn, we'll work together to expand the possibilities for content discovery, helping readers engage in conversations with colleagues, mentors, industry leaders, and beyond."

Following closing, members of the Pulse team, including those from Engineering, Product and Design, will join LinkedIn at the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The existing Pulse apps will continue to be supported as the integrated Pulse and LinkedIn teams work to build future generations of professional content consumption products.

The transaction is valued at approximately $90 million, subject to adjustment, in a combination of approximately 90 percent stock and approximately 10 percent cash, and the stock being issued in the transaction will be done so in a private placement. Subject to the completion of customary conditions, the acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of 2013.

Nishar blogged about the acquisition at

http://blog.linkedin.com/2013/04/11/welcome-pulse-to-linkedin-family, and a SlideShare presentation outlining the deal can be found on LinkedIn's SlideShare page at:

https://www.slideshare.net/linkedin/welcome-pulse-to-linked-in-family and on the investor relations section of the LinkedIn website at: http://investors.linkedin.com/. Kothari and Gupta blogged about the acquisition at http://www.pulse.me/linkedin.

About LinkedIn

Founded in 2003, LinkedIn connects the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. With more than 200 million members worldwide, including executives from every Fortune 500 company, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network on the Internet.

The company has a diversified business model with revenue coming from Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions and Premium Subscriptions.

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, LinkedIn also has offices across the globe.

The LinkedIn logo is available at

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=11096 Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements related to LinkedIn, Pulse, and the potential benefits of the acquisition, including statements regarding future product plans and strategies and the timing of closing. Actual events or results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements due to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks associated with: our ability to successfully integrate Pulse and its technology and personnel; execution of our plans and strategies, including with respect to mobile products and features; demand for content consumption products; and other important factors that could cause results of the acquisition and related transactions to differ materially from those contained in LinkedIn's forward-looking statements described in the documents LinkedIn files from time to time with the SEC, including LinkedIn's most recent Form 10-K, as well as LinkedIn's future filings. Although LinkedIn believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, LinkedIn cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements.

LinkedIn is under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release to conform to actual results.

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By: Unknown On 9:10 AM

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Google acquires neural network startup that may help it hone speech recognition and more

U of T neural networks start-up acquired by Google

TORONTO, ON – Google has picked up a ground-breaking start-up out of the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto.

University Professor Geoffrey Hinton and two of his graduate students, Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever, incorporated DNNresearch Inc. in 2012, and the company has been acquired by Google for its research on deep neural networks.

Hinton is world-renowned for his work with neural nets, and this research has profound implications for areas such as speech recognition, computer vision and language understanding.

"Geoffrey Hinton's research is a magnificent example of disruptive innovation with roots in basic research," said U of T's president, Professor David Naylor. "The discoveries of brilliant researchers, guided freely by their expertise, curiosity, and intuition, lead eventually to practical applications no one could have imagined, much less requisitioned.

"I extend my congratulations to Professor Hinton for this latest achievement."

Recently, Krizhevsky and Sutskever, who will both be moving to Google, developed a system that dramatically improved the state of the art in object recognition.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for Geoff, and a great opportunity for the department," said Computer Science Chair Sven Dickinson. "In recent years, we have been expanding our industrial relations, and this acquisition represents a wonderful opportunity to strengthen our existing ties with Google, one of the world's most innovative IT companies."

The Google deal will support Prof. Hinton's graduate students housed in the department's machine learning group, while protecting their research autonomy under academic freedom. It will also allow Prof. Hinton himself to divide his time between his university research and his work at Google.

"I am extremely excited about this fantastic opportunity to keep my research here in Toronto and, at the same time, help Google apply new developments in deep learning to make systems that help people," said Professor Hinton.

Professor Hinton will spend time at Google's Toronto office and several months of the year at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, CA.

This announcement comes on the heels of a $600,000 gift Google awarded Professor Hinton's research group to support further work in the area of neural nets.

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By: Unknown On 7:16 PM

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Corsair pops the question, acquires Scotland-based Simple Audio

Simple Audio acquired in multi-million dollar deal

Simple Audio®, a networked audio company based in Scotland, today announced that it has been acquired by leading US-based PC enthusiast hardware company Corsair® in a multi-million dollar deal. The deal marks another positive chapter in the Simple Audio story and puts the company in a strong position to extend its reach globally.

Simple Audio's world-class engineering and product development teams will continue to develop and market the company's range of music streaming products from its offices in Glasgow, Scotland.

Simple Audio released its first range of networked audio products last year into UK and European markets where the young company quickly built a strong reputation for superior sound quality and exceptional product design.

Peter Murphy, Founder and CEO of Simple Audio commented:

"When I started Simple Audio the aim was to make high quality digital music accessible to more people. Now the company is in a much stronger position to make this a reality. Corsair's extensive resources and worldwide distribution infrastructure will undoubtedly help Simple Audio achieve its ambitions, including plans to launch our products in the USA and Asia during 2013. We're delighted to be a part of Corsair and very excited about the future."

Corsair, with half a billion dollars in annual revenue, has built an excellent reputation for designing and manufacturing innovative, high-performance components and peripherals for PC enthusiasts and gamers.

Andy Paul, President and CEO of Corsair commented:

"We have followed Simple Audio as a potential investment opportunity since 2010 and we are extremely impressed by their vision of HD digital music in the post-iPod era. Their high quality, high-performance Roomplayer system demystifies and simplifies the process of playing digital music throughout the home. We believe now is the right time to invest in the fast-growing digital music space and are delighted to help Simple Audio bring their incredible vision into reality and to music lovers around the world."

Simple Audio received investment in the early stages of its growth from the Edinburgh based investor syndicate Par Equity and the Scottish Co-Investment Fund from the Scottish Investment Bank, a division of Scottish Enterprise. This funding was paramount in helping to support the company's product development plans.

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By: Unknown On 1:27 PM

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Google acquires e-commerce company Channel Intelligence for $125 million

Google just acquired the coupon-focused company Incentive Targeting and retail locker startup BufferBox in November, and it's now further bolstered its e-commerce offerings with an acquisition of Channel Intelligence for $125 million. That company is part of the ICG Group, and offers a variety of marketing and shopping services (primarily concerned with boosting sales) to other companies and online retailers, including Staples and Best Buy. It's also partnered with Google itself in recent years on Google Shopping. Barring any unforeseen hiccups, the company expects the acquisition to close sometime in the first quarter of this year.

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ICG Company Channel Intelligence to be Acquired by Google
Radnor, PA - (February 6, 2013) - ICG Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICGE) ("ICG") is pleased to announce that one of its consolidated companies, Channel Intelligence, Inc. ("CI"), has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) for $125 million in cash. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2013.
ICG is expected to realize approximately $60.5 million in connection with the transaction. A portion of ICG's proceeds will be held in escrow and will be subject to potential identification claims. ICG does not expect to owe any income taxes in connection with the transaction.

"Building upon the perseverance and strong foundation laid by CI's founder Rob Wight, I am extremely proud of the work we accomplished at CI," said Doug Alexander, CEO of CI and President of ICG. "With the talent and hard work of the entire CI team, we successfully navigated a very complex marketplace, ending a record year that culminated in this very exciting acquisition."
"The sale of CI to Google is a testament to the quality of its technology and its strong team led by ICG President, Doug Alexander, who positioned the company to succeed in the rapidly growing e-marketing industry," said Walter Buckley, CEO of ICG. "As drivers and architects of CI's growth and success, we are very pleased with this outcome."
"I am thrilled to see the recognition of value for what this company has accomplished," said Rob Wight, Founder and Chairman of CI. "Our vision for CI started with the desire to simplify the online shopping experience. Under the leadership of Doug and ICG, CI greatly enhanced its value proposition to its customers and partners. I am very proud to see our vision executed to this great outcome."

About ICG
ICG (Nasdaq: ICGE) identifies, capitalizes and grows companies in the cloud-based software and services sectors. These companies transform the way business is done by enabling enterprises to increase efficiencies and improve and automate critical processes. ICG leverages its unique expertise to carefully identify companies based on their potential to become market-changers and market-leaders. ICG is focused on building profitable businesses in the cloud-based software and services sectors by infusing them with management expertise, strategic and operational guidance, as well as growth capital.
About Channel Intelligence
Channel Intelligence helps marketers outperform online with its CI Boost services: Facebook Platform, Where-to-Buy, Product Search Engines and Shopping Engine solutions. Relied upon by companies such as Target, Philips, HP, Neiman Marcus, Best Buy and Kimberly-Clark, CI tracks nearly 15 percent of US transactions online and drives $2 billion in sales annually in referred sales online in computing products, home improvement products, appliances, consumer electronics, toys and a variety of other consumer packaged goods. CI is owned by ICG and Aweida Capital Management. Learn more at www.channelintelligence.com.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Channel Intelligence

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By: Unknown On 9:28 PM

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