Pluck to pick UK head

Pluck, which re-packages social media content for publishers, broadcasters and major brands, is expanding beyond the US and is now on the hunt for a UK MD, according to a highly placed source. Last year the Austin, Texas-based RSS and publisher services company, raised $7 million from Reuters, Austin Ventures and Mayfield and re-focused away from consumer-facing RSS services towards B2B products. Their SiteLife Social Media suite generates user content

Pluck searches for UK head

Pluck, which re-packages social media content for publishers, broadcasters and major brands, is expanding beyond the US and is now on the hunt for a UK MD, according to a highly placed source. Last year the Austin, Texas-based RSS and publisher services company, raised $7 million from Reuters, Austin Ventures and Mayfield and re-focused away from consumer-facing RSS services towards B2B products. Their SiteLife Social Media suite generates user content

Europeans dominate Second Life

There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason why there are more Germans in Second Life than Americans even though there are more American firms advertising inside the virtual world. Could it be down to better broadband in Germany? For now we'll have to ponder the results of a new Comscore study which finds that Second Life has a rapidly growing and global base of active residents. The report

League sues YouTube over copyright

The English Premier League will sue YouTube in the US for alleged copyright infringement and claims the site "knowingly misappropriated" its intellectual property by encouraging videos of matches to be viewed on its site. YouTube already faces a $1bn (£501m) lawsuit from Viacom over similar issues. US music publisher Bourne joins the League in the legal action launched in New York. Doe the League "get it"? It sounds like they

Premier League to sue YouTube

The English Premier League will sue YouTube in the US for alleged copyright infringement and claims the site "knowingly misappropriated" its intellectual property by encouraging videos of matches to be viewed on its site. YouTube already faces a $1bn (£501m) lawsuit from Viacom over similar issues. US music publisher Bourne joins the League in the legal action launched in New York. Doe the League "get it"? It sounds like they

Microsoft and Yahoo! talk merger – opinion roundup

Here are some breaking views on the reported merger between Yahoo and and Microsoft today: WSJ: "A year ago, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. explored the idea of combining to form a greater competitor to Google Inc. The talks led nowhere leaving Microsoft and Yahoo to forge their own paths in pursuit of Google. How did they do? Well, they're talking again." The Times: "Shares in Yahoo! jumped 18 per

Yahoo dumps Photos to push Flickr

Breaking news: Yahoo! Photos will officially be axed today in favour of the Yahoo-owned Flickr, according to several news sites today. The closure will occur over the next few months, after Yahoo found that Flickr, with its social tools, is growing much faster than Yahoo! Photos and recently past it in traffic terms, according to Comscore. Users will be given the option of choosing one of a number of the

Cridland heads to Beeb

James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio, is leaving after six years to work for the BBC, as Head of Future Media & Technology, Audio & Music. "It’s a massive change for me, and a thrill to work with such a great team," he wrote on his blog today. Cridland has spearheaded Virgin's new media strategy and in many respects has enabled the radio station to use new

Aggregator.tv goes into administration

Aggregator.tv has gone into administration. The service was designed to be a high quality video-on-demand service in niche sectors delivered over broadband. A buyer is now being sought. Steve Scott, Head of UI (pictured), confirmed the news to tbites today after the firm failed to secure a second round of funding. Backers included 3i, Intel and Amadeus Capital Partners. "I'm not able to give much more info, save to say