Bus Radio, a provider of radio broadcasts targeting school buses, has raised $10 million in its second round of venture capital, according to a report in Private Equity Week. The investment was led by Charles River Ventures and included Sigma Partners, according to the report. Massachusetts-based Bus Radio plans to offer its school bus radio […]

Google has filed for a patent on digital billboard technology that would turn “kiosk-type billboards” in malls, airports and elsewhere into “a network of electronic display devices,” or “advertisements in a network of electronic display devices”. Such a service could integrate Google’s successful keyword-based ad system, which is also the foundation of recent forays by […]

The founders of Skype, who pioneered free voice over Internet phone calls using computers, are hoping to repeat the phenomenon with a broadband TV service. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis - who also established the music-sharing site Kazaa - came out of stealth mode Tuesday (Jan. 16) with what was formerly known as the ‘Venice […]

Sales at Apple’s iTunes Store fell 65% in the first six months of 2006, according to a survey of U.S. iTunes debit and credit card purchases conducted by Forrester Research. The number of monthly iTunes transactions dropped 58% in the first half of 2006, while the average size of purchase also declined by 17%, the […]

The new operating system launched last week for business and will launch next month in January to consumers. Microsoft hired 10,000 people to create Windows Vista, a task that lasted approximately five years, according to Business Week. Experts are saying Vista may be the last of its kind. Why? If Google continues to offer free, […]

Fox, Viacom, CBS and NBC Universal are in talks about creating a video Web site to compete with Google’s YouTube, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. While a deal is still far off, the four media companies envision a jointly owned site that would be the primary Web source for videos from their television […]

A week after announcing that it has landed $20 million in new funding, BitTorrent, a provider of peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, said on Friday that it has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire uTorrent, a lightweight implementation of the BitTorrent protocol. BitTorrent said that it plans to integrate some of its content delivery technology into the […]

India-based outsourcer HCL Technologies has introduced a service under which it will remotely upgrade business computers to Windows Vista from its offshore facilities. The company said Friday that its Zero Touch desktop deployment service for Microsoft Windows Vista is completely automated and will allow businesses to cut Vista installation costs by 40%. The service also […]

Microsoft announced a royalty-free licensing program so that outside developers can apply the Office 2007 interface to their own applications. The license, which can be applied to applications on any platform, Linux and Mac OS X included, gives developers the right to duplicate Office 2007’s new interface elements, including the top-of-the-window Ribbon, the Mini Toolbar, […]

Wikia, a site that allows users to share information, news, stories, media and opinions that fall outside the scope of an encyclopedia, said on Wednesday that it has received a new investment from Amazon.com. The size of the round, the company’s second, was not disclosed. San Mateo, Calif.-based Wikia, co-founded in 2004 by Jimmy Wales, […]

Washington - NAVTEQ, a Chicago-based producer of digital maps for vehicle navigation and location-based devices, said on Wednesday that it will pay $37.5 million in cash to acquire The Map Network, a DC-based producer of maps for travel destinations, special events and major hotels. NAVTEQ called the deal a “natural extension” of its core map […]

Spot Runner, a start-up that offers a Web interface for creating and placing ads into local television programming, has banked $40 million in funding from a slew of big-name investors, which will help it expand into other media. The Los Angeles-based company on Monday announced the new round — with CBS Corp., Interpublic Group […]