Techmeme: Spotify working with Goldman Sachs to raise $500M at possible $6B+ valuation; could delay IPO for another year (Maya Kosoff/Business Insider)

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January 29, 2015, 6:25 PM

Top News

Google:

Google Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2014 Results — Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2014. — “Google's full year revenue for 2014 was $66 billion, up 19% year on year,” said Patrick Pichette …

More: Engadget, Re/code, Marketing Land, PC World, ZDNet, Business Insider, AdExchanger, TechCrunch, Gigaom, Silicon Valley Watcher, MacDailyNews, SlashGear, MobileSyrup.com and Seeking Alpha

Tweets: @ampressman, @lexnfx, @lexnfx, @lexnfx, @chris_ciaccia, @asymco and @sai

Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:

Google misses in Q4 2014 with $14.48B revenue, $6.88 EPS on slowing ad revenue growth — Updated 1:45 p.m. Pacific with new details from Google's earnings call. — Google reported its fourth-quarter earnings today, with GAAP EPS of $6.88 on revenue of $14.48 billion (minus traffic acquisition costs).

More: ZDNet, Business Insider, Wall Street Journal, 9to5Google, Mercury News, Fortune, BGR, CNET, USA Today, Tech Trader Daily, The Verge, GeekWire, Wall Street Journal, Phandroid and bizjournals. Tweets: @chris_ciaccia

Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:

Microsoft to be a minority investor in $70M+ round being raised by Cyanogen, makers of the popular modified Android OS CyanogenMod — Microsoft to Invest in Rogue Android Startup Cyanogen — Microsoft is investing in a hot startup that's trying to weaken Google 's hold over Android.

Julia White / The Official Microsoft Blog:

Microsoft launches Office for Android tablets, new Outlook mail apps for iOS and Android — Office everywhere: More great news for Office on iOS and Android — Last week, we saw the new experiences coming with Windows 10, including how Office universal apps for Windows 10 will deliver …

More: Office Blogs, The Daily Dot, Ars Technica, Office Blogs, TechnoBuffalo, Telegraph, Engadget, GadgeTell, TIME, PC Magazine, Droid Life, The Register, Bloomberg Business, AnandTech and Pocketnow. Tweets: @msftnews

Office Blogs:

New Accompli-based Outlook for iOS and Android integrates email, calendar, contacts, and files, supports Office 365, Exchange, iCloud, Gmail, and Yahoo accounts — A deeper look at Outlook for iOS and Android — Today, we announced the release of Outlook for iOS and a preview of Outlook for Android.

More: The Verge, TechCrunch, Pocket-lint, Business Insider, New York Times, MacRumors, Macworld, Ars Technica, Ink, Bits, & Pixels, Lifehacker, ITworld.com, Phandroid, iDownloadBlog.com, Digital Trends, MobileSyrup.com, Redmond Pie, PhoneDog.com and Computerworld

Micah Singleton / The Verge:

FCC redefines broadband: minimum download speed raised from 4 to 25 Mbps, minimum upload from 1 to 3 Mbps — The FCC has changed the definition of broadband — The Federal Communications Commission has voted to change the definition of broadband by raising the minimum download speeds needed …

More: FCC.gov, Ars Technica, Business Insider, Android Authority, ZDNet, AppleInsider, Engadget, BGR, Guardian, Hit & Run, TechnoBuffalo, Re/code, Neowin, GamePolitics blogs, Ars Technica, New York Times, Electronista, CNBC, SlashGear, Geek.com and Gigaom

Tweets: @wstrife and @munin

Douglas MacMillan / Wall Street Journal:

Alibaba invests $10M in Ouya, plans to incorporate Ouya's game library into set-top boxes — Alibaba Breathes New Life Into Game-Console Maker Ouya — Ouya, the game-console maker that has struggled to gain traction since its record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, has received a new injection …

More: Android Police, Ars Technica, The Verge, Engadget, VentureBeat, GamesIndustry.biz and Gamasutra

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

Amazon posts $214M profit, $0.45 EPS in Q4 2014 on $29.33B revenue; Prime membership grows 53% year over year — Amazon Prime memberships grow 53% in 2014, despite $20 price hike … Amazon's decision to increase the price of its Prime membership doesn't seem to be hurting the company.

More: CNET, Re/code, VentureBeat, ZDNet, The Verge, New York Times, USA Today, GeekWire, Tech Trader Daily, Variety, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Bloomberg Business and Fox Business

Tweets: @delrey, @delrey, @chris_ciaccia, @levie and @mgsiegler

See also Mediagazer

Daniel Terdiman / VentureBeat:

Facebook launches location tips on iPhone, tests Bluetooth beacons to increase geolocation accuracy in NYC — Facebook invades Yelp, Foursquare territory with geo-specific Place Tips for iPhone — Facebook knows that being able to target users with information about exactly where they are can be extremely lucrative.

More: Facebook, Engadget, ABC News, Electronista, Consumerist, Marketing Land, Re/code and The Verge

Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:

It's over: FCC's AWS-3 spectrum auction ends at record $44.9B in bids — The FCC said bidding in the AWS-3 spectrum auction, known as auction 97, is now closed after 341 rounds of bidding. Total provisional winning bids came in at a record $44.899 billion.

More: The Verge, Wall Street Journal, DSLreports and TmoNews. Tweets: @bfeld. Thanks:@fiercewireless

Peter Kafka / Re/code:

The App Install Ad Boom Helps Tune Raise $27 Million — A few years ago, the app install ad business — fueled by developers who want to distribute their stuff across a universe of smartphones — didn't really exist. — Now it's one of the big reasons Facebook has a giant mobile ad business.

More: VentureBeat, TechCrunch and GeekWire

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Nickelodeon to unveil stand-alone streaming video subscription service in February — Nickelodeon to Unveil Stand-Alone Subscription Video Service in February — Kid-entertainment giant Nickelodeon intends to follow the example of HBO and unveil a direct-to-consumer subscription service in February …

More: TechCrunch, Digital Trends, Reuters, CNBC, New York Times, New York Post, The Verge, Consumerist, Ubergizmo, Gizmodo and Telecompetitor. See also Mediagazer

Maya Kosoff / Business Insider:

Spotify working with Goldman Sachs to raise $500M at possible $6B+ valuation; could delay IPO for another year — Spotify Is Looking To Raise $500 Million In New Funding — Spotify is looking to raise $500 million with help from Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

More: Wall Street Journal and Mashable. Tweets: @joshconstine

Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:

FAA imposes 30-mile radius ban on drones around stadium hosting Super Bowl XLIX — Super Bowl will have 30-mile “no drone zone” — Buzzing quarterback Tom Brady with an unmanned aircraft might sound like fun, but anyone who flies a drone remotely near the University of Phoenix stadium …

More: Wall Street Journal, GeekWire, Marketing Land, Forbes, CNET, The Verge, Gizmodo, CNET, CNN, Fox News and Popular Science

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

Apple resolves iTunes Connect issue presenting wrong user name and apps for developers — Widespread iTunes Connect issue presenting wrong user name and apps for developers (Update: Resolved) — iTunes Connect, Apple's portal where developers manage software published on the App Store …

More: MacRumors, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, InvestorPlace, GeekWire, Cult of Mac and iPhone Hacks

Tweets: @tapbot_paul, @tapbot_paul, @bitario, @llsethj, @9to5mac, @drbarnard and @apollozac

Barb Darrow / Gigaom:

VMware's vCloud Air to integrate Google's BigQuery analytics, Cloud Datastore, Cloud DNS, and Cloud Storage services — VMware is bringing key Google services to its cloud — Here's a deal that has “corporate synergies” written all over it. VMware and Google are working together …

More: Data Center Knowledge, eWeek, Tribal Knowledge, Wall Street Journal, cloudpro.co.uk, Bloomberg Business, VentureBeat, ZDNet, Forbes, RealWire, Virtualization Review and CRN

Owen Williams / The Next Web:

Samsung's Gear VR will provide in-flight entertainment for first-class Qantas passengers — A new partnership between Samsung and Australian airline Qantas means passengers flying on the airline will be able to use a Gear VR on long-haul flights. — A limited number of Gear VR devices …

More: Qantas News Room, SiliconANGLE, GeekWire, Gizmodo Australia, Tech Times, SlashGear, ABC News and GSMArena Blog

Alden Kroll / Steam Community:

Valve has paid out $57M+ to 1.5K creators across 75 countries through Steam Workshop since 2011; announces curated workshops for non-Valve games — Content Creators Earn Over $50M Through Steam Workshop, Can Now Earn Money in More Games — When we launched the Workshop late in 2011 …

More: TechSpot, SiliconANGLE, GeekWire, Engadget and The Verge. Tweets: @pentadact

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:

Nintendo to share up to 70 percent of ad revenue with game YouTubers — Video partnership program comes with some important restrictions, though. — Nintendo's somewhat indecisive stance on letting streamers and producers use video of its games online seems to be crystallizing …

More: GeekWire, Re/code, Kotaku, Polygon, Tubefilter, Zack Scott, GameSpot, Tech Times, SlashGear, Game Rant, Nintendo World Report Updates, TrustedReviews and Joystiq

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

‘Fitbit For Dogs’ Maker Whistle Acquires Tagg Pet Tracker And Raises $15M — Wearables for pets used to be a punchline, but now it's a legitimate business with multiple players active in the space. Said space did just get a bit smaller today, as Whistle, the startup which launched its Fitbit for dogs back in 2013.

More: Gigaom, Business Wire, bizjournals, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, BestTechie, The Verge, PE Hub Blog and Wearable Tech Insider

Jordan Crook / TechCrunch:

GIF search engine Giphy raises $17M Series B led by Lightspeed Ventures at $80M valuation — After An Approach From Facebook, Giphy Raises $17M At An $80M Valuation — Giphy — the betaworks-backed platform for searching and sharing gifs — has just raised $17 million in Series B funding led …

More: Business Insider and Crowdfund Insider

Tony Romm / Politico:

White House privacy bill empowers FTC to levy steep fines on privacy violators, strengthen oversight of data brokers — White House preps expansive online privacy bill — The White House is preparing to send a sweeping online privacy proposal to Congress that would restrict how companies …

More: Gigaom. Tweets: @counternotions, @tonyromm and @juliaangwin

Matti Huuhtanen / Associated Press:

Nokia reports net profit of $502M in Q4 2014, up nearly 10% year over year, higher operating expenses in technologies and mapping services — Nokia turns to fourth quarter profit buoyed by strong growth — HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia made a net profit of 443 million euros ($502 million) …

More: MarketWatch, CNBC and Reuters

Jordan Novet / VentureBeat:

Quantum computing company D-Wave raises an additional $23.1M, bringing total to $138.7M — D-Wave keeps dreaming of quantum computers everywhere, takes $23.1M more — D-Wave Systems, a company building what it calls quantum computers, is announcing today that it has taken on around $23.1 million …

More: TechCrunch, Marketwire, Techvibes Global News, www.vancouversun.com and Forbes

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Imgur introduces new tool to make high-quality GIFs from streaming video like YouTube — Imgur's new tool makes the most beautiful GIFs on the web — Imgur has been on a quest to upgrade the GIF, and part of that means making GIFs look a whole lot nicer.

More: Gigaom, PC Magazine, BuzzFeed, Geek Beat, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, The Daily Dot, The Next Web, Engadget, Mashable and Re/code. See also Mediagazer

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