Tag: deal
Band financed through social-network pals at Slicethepie.com land major label deal
While illegal MP3 downloads may be giving the internet a bad name, here's a story proving it isn't all theft and piracy in the world of digital music. Scars on 45, a UK band funded by fans via the…
UPDATED: Google in talks to purchase Twitter
Google is in talks to acquire Twitter according to sources in a Tech Crunch article this morning. Negotiations have been believed to be at both late and early stages, so we can probably take from that that the stages are in fact somewhere towards the middle.
Google’s valuation of the microblogging platform is thought to be well in excess of the $250 million that Facebook offered a few month’s back. The important difference to this deal is in the payment plan.
Zuckerburg Inc. was looking to use overpriced Facebook stock for the majority of the bargain whereas Google is ready to pay in both cold, hard cash and more stable, publicly-valued shares.
The big questions surrounding the deal are about what Google plans on doing with Twitter and what founders of the service Evan Williams and Biz Stone want out of it too. Twitter represents a real-time search of news and events happening now whereas Google results give weight to pages according to when they were indexed and how many people link to them. If Google does go through with the deal, they would effectively own search but whether they would improve Twitter or leave it to rot is another matter.
For a bigger discussion of the ins and outs of this one, download the Tech Digest podcast.
(via Tech Crunch)
Play.com sim-free iPhone 3G is legit
I must confess, when I saw the story earlier this week about Play.com selling unlocked iPhones, I was a little skeptical. It seemed rather ‘off the back of a lorry’.
Well, the company has explained where they’ve come from. European regulations insist that a sim-free version of any phone is offered, so they’ve shipped them in from the continent. Play reassures customers that they come with a ‘full manufacturer warranty’ and you’re encouraged to register it at the Apple website.
Play was vague on how well it’s selling so far, offering only the statement that “customer response so far has been very positive and orders are growing nicely”. As previously reported, the 8GB model is £550, and the 16GB will cost £600. Expensive, especially with version 3.0 only a few months away.
(via T3)
Bargain of the Week: Decent discounts off Sennheiser headphones
Welcome to Bargain of the Week, where I’ll take a look around the web for the best tech/gadget bargain I can find, and report back to you.
This week, you can grab a 20% discount on any pair of Sennheiser headphones when you buy an MP3 player from Advanced MP3 Players.
Simply enter the code listenlive at the checkout (and buy both items together in the same transaction) for the saving…
Medion Akoya P6612 16" laptop for £580 at Aldi
Whoa. Aldi isn’t somewhere that I shop at a lot, but this is an amazing deal. It’s a Medion Akoya P6612 16″ laptop for just £580. The specs on the P6612 are fantastic for that price…
Sky offer 50% off HD box for new and existing customers
If you’ve got a massive 42″ plasma, but you’re still watching standard definition TV and DVD on it, then I’m sure you know you’re not getting the most out of your technology. What you need is some kind of HD provider, but so far they’ve been rather prohibitively expensive. That’s why I wanted to point out to you that Sky are extending their 50% off HD box offer. They haven’t been shouting about enough – it’s a good deal…
50 Cent lining up MASSIVE £150m deal with Live Nation?
Live Nation’s basically a concert promoter, the one that organised the marginally successful and very worthy Live 8 arena shows. It’s also the new cool company for successful MEGA-ACTS to sign with when their traditional “deals” expire.
Signing with Live Nation means more cash/money up front for the artist, with Nation recouping the cash via record sales and touring revenues – previously dealt with separately – as it works the artist into the ground like a pit pony.
The newest beneficiary of the “joined up” marketing/selling deal is 50 Cent who, according to rumours, is set to SMASH Madonna’s $120m deal…
Yahoo! says "no" to Microsoft – thinks it's worth more than $45 billion
Yahoo! rejected Microsoft’s friendly buyout offer over the weekend, saying that MS’s $45bn offer “massively undervalues” the Yahoo! brand.
Clearly still thinking it’s 1997 and Google doesn’t exist yet, Yahoo! is apparently sticking out for $40 a share – a significant increase on Microsoft’s $31 offer. That would result in MS having to turn Bill Gates upside down and shake out another $12 billion to get the deal signed…
