THE BUSINESS OF TECHNOLOGY
Sina Weibo, a social microblogger that has sometimes been referred to as China's “Twitter,” has rolled out an English language interface, widening marketing possibilities that could extend the service to more international markets. A Sina representative told Tech in Asia, "Countries in Southeast Asia [can] pick English or Chinese – this isn’t … [Read more...]
Hanergy Holding Group, China's largest clean energy company, finalized its purchase of MiaSole, the world's largest thin film-PV company, in an agreement that gives it a 100 percent stake, the AP reported. The group's financial backing will help MiaSole invest in research and development as it rides out a downturn in the global solar market that … [Read more...]
LinkedIn has reached another milestone. The professional social network now has a user base of over 200 million users from over 200 countries. The site is used in 19 different languages. More than half of its users live outside the US. It's a ranking that Deep Nishar, LinkedIn's Senior Vice-president, described as “an important and exciting … [Read more...]
Pearson, the British education publisher, purchased a 5 percent stake in NOOK Media, the Barnes & Noble subsidiary that's behind the NOOK reader and its digital content store, for $89.5 million. "We formed NOOK Media to be a leader in the exploding market for digital content," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & … [Read more...]
Despite all the talk about Google's Android gaining market share to dominate the mobile space, truth is Apple dominates the mobile market when it comes to actual advertising served, perhaps because people are actually using their devices more to interact with the Internet. Sales can measure only a small component of the puzzle. The real game is … [Read more...]
The US Trade Representative removed the Chinese ecommerce site Taobao from its “Notorious Markets” for piracy, citing efforts on the part of the company to work with copyright holders after it was placed on the list for its reputation for counterfeited merchandise on the site. The Office of the United States Trade Representative report states … [Read more...]
A Delaware federal jury has ruled that Apple's iPhone violated three patents owned by MobileMedia Ideas, a patent-licensing firm owned by MPEG-LA that acquired patents from Sony and Nokia. After four hours of deliberation, the jury ruled the patents were not invalid, as Apple had claimed. Damages will be set at a later trial, though … [Read more...]
Google has shut down its online shopping search service in China, a further tightening move in the country after the company shut down its Music Search in the country last fall. The site no appears as a link on the Google.cn website, and Google confirmed the move in its China blog. “Shopping search the original intention of the development of … [Read more...]
Police in Mildura, Australia have a bone to pick with Apple's Map App that's far more serious than a misplaced airport, an erased London or disappearing national monument. Authorities issued a startling warning to Australian citizens that the errors on the app were “potentially life threatening,” after the app mistakenly located the city of Mildura … [Read more...]
For Dafiti, the investment bell has been ringing like a cash register lately. The Zappos-like clone for Brazil and Latin America landed $45 million as recently as August. This week, the company upped the ante with a new $65 million round, bringing its total capital to a staggering $180 million. That's the fourth round the company has raised in the … [Read more...]