Facebook buys e-book innovator Push Pop Press

Facebook on Tuesday said it has bought an innovative young startup devoted to re-imagining electronic books.
Facebook planned to incorporate Push Pop Press technology into the world's leading online social network and said it does not intend to get into the digital book business.
"We're thrilled to confirm that we've acquired Push Pop Press, a startup whose groundbreaking software changes the way people publish and consume digital content," Facebook said in response to an AFP inquiry.
"We can't wait for co-founders Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris to get started, and for some of the technology, ideas and inspiration behind Push Pop Press to become part of how millions of people connect and share with each other on Facebook," Facebook continued.
San Francisco-based Push Pop came out of stealth mode in February of this year and a demonstration of the start-up's technology proved a hit at a prestigious TED conference just weeks later.
Matas and Tsinteris both did stints working at Apple, where Matas designed user interfaces and artwork for the iPhone, the iPad, and the OS X operating system for Macintosh computers.
The first title published by Push Pop was "Our Choice," an interactive work by Al Gore focused on causes and potential solutions for climate change.
"We created a new way of publishing and exploring text, images, audio, video and interactive graphics, then teamed up with Melcher Media and Al Gore to create a new kind of book," said a message at pushpoppress.com.
"Now we're taking our publishing technology and everything we've learned and are setting off to help design the world's largest book, Facebook," the message from Matas and Tsinteris continued.
Push Pop has no plans to publish any more digital books.
Al Gore's work will remain available as an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch application with future profits donated to The Climate Reality Project, according to Push Pop co-founders.

Yahoo! takes to airwaves with sports radio

Yahoo! announced the launch Monday of Yahoo! Sports Radio as the Internet company seeks to turn its popularity as an online destination for sports fans into success over the airwaves.
The Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo! said the national sports radio network will be available on over 180 affiliate radio stations across the United States, Sirius Satellite Radio, and through digital and mobile partners.
The network is being launched in partnership with Houston, Texas-based Gow Broadcasting, whose Sporting News Radio stations are being rebranded as Yahoo! Sports Radio.
"Yahoo! Sports Radio builds on our leadership as the number one sports site online and creates a national and local outlet for our brand and talent," Ken Fuchs, vice president of Yahoo! Media Network, said in a statement.
"Our partnership with Gow Broadcasting will provide more access to our users and solutions to our advertising partners that want to connect with them wherever they consume sports," Fuchs said.
Yahoo! Sports boasts 50 million monthly unique users, making it the top online sports destination in the United States.
Yahoo! shares were up 0.15 percent at $13.12 in early trading on Wall Street.

Sony buys videogame maker Sucker Punch

Sony Computer Entertainment announced Tuesday that it has bought the studio behind hit videogames "inFamous" and "Sly Cooper."
Sucker Punch Productions will be part of game development operations of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios and make games exclusively for PlayStation 3 videogame consoles, according to SCE.
"We've enjoyed an incredible relationship with Sony that has allowed us to combine our creative design capabilities with their guidance to make some of the best franchises to hit the PlayStation platforms," said Sucker Punch managing partner Brian Fleming.
"Equally important, the relationship with SCE has provided us the flexibility and trust to take creative risks and invent new properties," he continued.
Sucker Punch will continue to operate in Washington state. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
"Sucker Punch Productions is one of the most highly acclaimed development studios in the industry and we have enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the company for over 12 years," said SCE WWS president Shuhei Yoshida.
Yoshida added that buying Sucker Punch was part of the Japanese entertainment titan's strategy to win PlayStation platform fans by offering games and other content that cannot be found on competing systems.

Internet a windfall for Australian economy

The Internet now accounts for 3.6 percent of Australia's economic growth, rivalling the retail sector in value or worth about half the country's lucrative mining exports, a study reported Wednesday.
The Deloitte/Access Economics study said the Internet contributed Aus$50 billion (US$53 billion) to Australia's gross domestic product in 2010, as much as the retail and education sectors and more than agriculture and fishing.
Though only half as valuable as the key mining sector, which contributed Aus$100 billion to GDP in 2010, the Internet was already worth as much as the iron ore industry -- a major economic driver fueled by Asia's steel mills.
By 2016 the Internet's contribution to GDP was expected to be Aus$70 billion, with annual growth of about seven percent -- double the predicted growth rate for the national economy -- the report said.
"The Connected Continent" study was commissioned by Google, and the online giant's Australian director, Nick Leeder, said it was the first such stocktake of the Internet's value in the mining-driven country.
It found that Internet use had doubled in Australia in the past four years and the number of connected households was expected to increase 20 percent by 2016.
The Internet's contribution to GDP was measured by tallying the amount spent by consumers, businesses, government and overseas residents on Internet-related goods and services that were produced in Australia.
Separately, the Internet directly employed 190,000 Australians, generating Aus$22 billion last year, the report found.
The Internet's value in Australia was on a par with France, above Italy, Spain and Russia, but below Britain, Sweden and Hong Kong, according to the study.
Ric Simes, leader of the study, said the Internet was fundamentally transforming the way business was done, with almost every Australian company and government agency having an online presence.
"The Internet is having a profound effect on how the economy and society works in many ways that we don’t fully yet understand," said Simes.
Australia's finance and real estate agencies were leading the online charge but primary industries such as farming and mining were also enthusiastic adopters of the Internet, according to the study.

Sales up 19% for VW Group in the 1st half of 2011

2011 VW Passat
The Volkswagen Group with its Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT and ?koda passenger car brands grew 19% in deliveries in the first half of 2011. A total of 91,712 vehicles from Group brands were registered on the relevant fleet market. In comparison, only 77,122 units were registered for the first half of 2010.
The Volkswagen brand remained atop the German passenger cars brand ranking with 56,329 registrations, an increase of 22%. SEAT did exceedingly well growing 96.5 % to 2,108 units registered, meanwhile ?koda grew 31.4 % with 9,050 vehicles.
The individual model ranking also reflected the Group’s success. Volkswagen took first and second place with the Passat and the Golf, respectively and the Audi A4 came in at third.

Geeky I’m Watch Based on Android

Probably the only thing a smartphone lacks is a fixed and handy position on your person. Is rummaging for your handset or mislaying it a common thing with you? Then you can consider getting a smartwatch that will stay in place, function as a stylish watch and as many other gadgets as well. The latest and assumedly the most sophisticated of these is the device called I’m Watch, designed and put together in Italy by designers Manuel Zanella and Massimiliano Bertolini. It’s a perfect wrist multifunction watch containing a smartphone OS and SDK that provides the whole bundle of modern-day features.

The I’m Watch can be connected to almost all of your customary android gadgets and handsets (work is going on to have it connected to all of them including BlackBerry) and thereupon lets you use all their applications in the whole range – from answering incoming calls and controlling email and text messages to socializing via Facebook and Twitter.

Connection can be established via WiFi or Bluetooth, whatever is more convenient at the moment. The operational facilities are 4GB of internal memory and 64MB RAM; the smartwatch is powered by Li-Po 600 mAh battery. The display is a 1.54” color affair with the resolution of 240 x 240.
As for the design, you have a choice of going luxury and going color. The first of these, I’m Jewel, is manufactured from gold, titanium and other precious materials, and decorated with jewels. Once again you have several versions to choose priced from $845 to $16,930. The more affordable version is I’m Color, worth $352, and offering variants of white, black, blue, green, pink, red and yellow.
Pre-orders require 20% advance payment, and you can get your smartwatch starting October.

Cute USB Wi-Fi Dongle

Coming on is another brilliant example of some really nice cute-ing up of gadgets we are only too accustomed to come by in a wacky or high-tech model. This is the GW-USPetit Cute USB Wi-Fi dongle by Planex, all made compatible with both PCs and Macs. Design-wise they fall into four categories – Hello Kitty series, Evangelion series, Rilakkuma series and One-Piece series, all sooo pretty you will buy the whole bundle meaning to give them away as presents but then find you just don’t have the nerve to.