Advertising powerhouses Omnicom Group of the U.S. and Publicus Groupe SA of France announced a merger on Sunday that aims to fend off the growing competition from Silicon Valley tech companies including Google and Facebook. The new Publicis Omnicom Group will have combined revenue of nearly $23 billion. The Wall Street Journal describes the merger as “a $35.1 billion cross-border linkup that shows how Big Data is making Madison Avenue look more like Wall Street.” Continue reading Advertising Giants Merge in Effort to Fend Off Silicon Valley

Microsoft announced missing financial forecasts on Thursday, putting the blame on the decline of the PC market. The company also acknowledged disappointing sales of its tablet computer, the Surface RT. Mobile devices are affecting PC sales as more consumers are buying tablets instead of PCs for movie watching and basic computing. Microsoft is still gaining slowly in sales to business customers, and has hopes for cloud services. Continue reading Microsoft Impacted by Shift to Mobile and Declining PC Sales

The third annual Hollywood Hack Day took place last weekend, bringing a hackathon — a timed collaborative event during which software developers create new apps or Web services — to Los Angeles. United Talent Agency hosted the event and provided increased bandwidth for the 135 developers and designers involved in the 2-day competition. Because the event was in LA, several teams chose to create apps about the art and business of entertainment. Continue reading UTA Draws Developers for Third Annual Hollywood Hack Day

U.S. consumers are buying fewer smartphones and upgrading less often, a problem for device manufacturers and wireless carriers, such as Apple and AT&T respectively. The more advanced smartphones become, the less consumers feel the need to upgrade. Some consumers see the pace of innovation slowing, encouraging them to wait for breakthrough devices, and passing on the newest upgrades. Yet companies see a future in new services and technologies. Continue reading U.S. Consumers Upgrading Smartphones at Declining Rates

Chipmaker Intel has acquired the gesture recognition startup Omek Interactive for close to $50 million. The Israeli startup develops software and related technology for creating gesture recognition interfaces based on information provided by 3D cameras. Omek’s gesture recognition and body tracking software is being used in devices such as TVs, set-top boxes, game consoles, tablets, PCs, smartphones, interactive signs, and medical and fitness devices. Continue reading Intel Acquires Gesture Recognition Startup Omek Interactive

The Visual Effects Society (VES), the industry’s professional honorary society, released “The State of the Global VFX Industry 2013,” a comprehensive strategic analysis of the business drivers impacting all sectors of the VFX industry working in film production and presentation of solutions to mitigate instability. Initial recommendations focus on improving business and financial management acumen among artists and facilities management through training programs and new standards and practices. Continue reading VES Publishes Analysis: The State of the Global VFX Industry

Netflix’s stock value has increased 178 percent during 2013, one of the best performing companies on the S&P 500 index. In order to maintain its edge, Netflix may need to be more like Amazon than HBO, with more of a focus on spending than a fixation on profit growth. But Netflix’s practice of dropping unpopular content may give competitor Amazon a new opportunity to secure exclusive rights to additional programming and gain ground over Netflix. Continue reading Netflix Spending More On Content While Dropping Content

The three companies that mutually own Hulu announced on Friday that they would not be selling the video site, bringing an end to months of bidding and speculation. Instead, the current owners of Hulu — 21st Century Fox, Disney and NBCUniversal — explained that they plan to invest $750 million to compete against online video services such as Netflix and Amazon. Until Friday’s announcement, DirecTV with its $1 billion offer was considered by many to be the leading bidder. Continue reading Hulu Owners Call Off Sale, Announce New Investment Plans

Samsung has picked up Israel- and New York-based TV startup Boxee for about $30 million. Boxee started six years ago by offering PC-based media center software and eventually launched its own hardware product, the Boxee Box. The company attempted to solve its content problem with the launch of the Boxee TV, which was rebranded in April as Boxee Cloud DVR. With the acquisition, Samsung plans to shut down Boxee’s unlimited Cloud DVR service on July 10. Continue reading Samsung Acquires Boxee, Plans to Shutter Cloud DVR Service

The Tribune Company has agreed to pay about $2.73 billion to acquire all 19 television stations from Local TV Holdings, which is owned by investment firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Tribune, which already owns 23 local TV outlets and is looking to possibly sell some or all of its newspapers, will become one of the country’s largest station groups through the deal (and the biggest holder of Fox affiliates). The 19 stations cover areas from Scranton to Salt Lake City. Continue reading Tribune to Acquire 19 Local TV Stations in $2.7 Billion Deal

Barnes & Noble announced this week that it will stop producing its own color tablet e-reader, the Nook, in favor of third party, co-branded devices. The company’s decision may reflect a trend in the decline of dedicated e-readers competing with the growing popularity of tablet devices. Consumers are looking to tablets, which have more features and apps available, including e-reader capability, compared to standalone e-readers. Continue reading In the Wake of Heavy Losses, Future of Nook is Uncertain

Yesterday, we reported on news published by The Korea Times claiming that Samsung would phase out its unprofitable desktop PC business to focus on connected and portable devices including tablets and all-in-one laptops. Engadget reached out to Samsung for clarification and learned that the report is not accurate. “The rumor that Samsung is withdrawing from the PC desktop business is groundless,” the company said in a statement. Continue reading Update: Samsung Says it is Not Shuttering Desktop PC Biz

SoftBank Corp. is expected to take over Sprint Nextel in a $21.6 billion deal, while separately, Sprint raised its Clearwire offer to $5 a share, beating a rival bid from Dish Network. Masayoshi Son — chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank, who founded the company in 1981 — told shareholders at an annual meeting in Tokyo on Friday that he plans on SoftBank becoming “the world’s biggest company.” Sprint shareholders are scheduled to vote on the takeover tomorrow. Continue reading SoftBank to Acquire Sprint Nextel, CEO Boasts Big Plans

Sprint Nextel, the third largest U.S. wireless carrier, accepted a $21.6 billion bid last week from Japan’s SoftBank and gave Dish Network a Tuesday deadline to make a best and final offer. However, Dish said it would not submit a new offer by the deadline, which clears the way for a Sprint acquisition by SoftBank. Dish has shifted its focus to purchasing a large stake in Clearwire Communications, but now faces a lawsuit filed by Sprint to block the offer. Continue reading Dish Network Opts Not to Submit New Bid for Sprint Nextel

Social media platform LinkedIn has been making the transition from a utilitarian network designed for business professionals to something much more dynamic. Since October, LinkedIn has been offering original content authored by a select group of “Influencers,” leaders from a variety of fields that post their thoughts on life, careers and success. Traffic to all LinkedIn’s news products has increased eightfold since the Influencers were introduced. Continue reading LinkedIn Turns to Influencers to Enhance Publishing Efforts