Hot off the press release presses: tech blog GigaOm has acquired paidContent (and parent company ContentNext) from The Guardian. Rumors of the acquisition were first reported by Peter Kafka at AllThingsD.
Wrote GigaOm founder Om Malik in a blog post: → Read More
Bitcoin. Oh, man, where to begin. Its Hype-O-Meter got cranked to 11 this week, and breathless histrionics are everywhere. Death and Taxes called this new currency “a seismic event“; Adam Cohen says it’s nothing but a giant scam; Jason Calacanis calls it “the most dangerous project we’ve ever seen“; and they’re all completely wrong. It’s interesting, and innovative, and down the line it might even be important … but in many crucial ways, Bitcoin is nothing new.
Matthew Ingram at GigaOM wrote a good Bitcoin 101 piece, but a summary of that summary, for those too lazy to click: it’s an anonymous online currency whose transactions and monetary supply are verified by digital cryptography and maintained by an open-source peer-to-peer network. Computers on the Bitcoin network can also “mine” new bitcoins, which are generated at a fixed rate. And, crucially, no more than 21 million will ever exist. (~7 million are currently extant.)
“So what?” you may ask, and not without reason—but Bitcoins are in fact worth something. Right now you can sell them for ~$7 a pop at any of several Bitcoin exchanges. The EFF accepts Bitcoin donations. Creating a secure distributed currency infrastructure is no mean feat; creating one that people actually use is more impressive still. I don’t want to understate that accomplishment. But, people, we have been here before, many times. → Read More
Om Malik, well-respected journalist and founder of technology news blog network Giga Omni Media and its flagship blog GigaOm, broke the news about us being acquired by AOL about a month ago now.
We’re getting back at them today, even if just a little: looks like the publishing company just raised another $2.5 million according to an SEC filing, bringing the total of capital raised by Giga Omni Media to a healthy $8.33 million. → Read More
Socialcast, a social communication SaaS provider for enterprises, has secured $1.4 million in Series A funding from True Ventures and angel investors. True Ventures led the round with $1 million and angel investors contributed $400,000. Socialcast was a finalist for the 2009 Crunchies Award for “Best Bootstrapped Startup.”
Om Malik, the founder of tech blogging network GigaOm and venture partner at True Ventures, will be joining Socialcast’s board of directors. On Malik joined True Ventures last September. Socialcast is Malik’s first investment at True Ventures and his first board appointment as a partner at the VC firm. → Read More
Blogging network GigaOm will announce the acquisition of the small but excellent mobile-focused blog jkOnTheRun this evening. Founders James Kendrick and Kevin Tofel will remain in Houston and continue doing their thing. The deal size isn’t being announced, and it’s likely small. But it shows what might be the beginning of something that I wrote about in March – the rollup of the better blogs (subjectively defined) as the space gets hyper-competitive (you gotta love zero barriers to entry). I predict that this is just the beginning of the process that will accelerate over the next 12-18 months. Larger blogs lacking the stomach for competition will sell to large media corporations. The more competitive large blogs who want to see this thing through will start to acquire the smaller ones and group by topic areas. Whoever builds the network of the most interesting and prodigious voices will eventually “win.” Or perhaps everyone will win, but to different degrees. I’m sticking to my argument that blogs should get cash positive and then start to acquire others – raising a slug of money just gives people an incentive to spend it, and you lose control to a group of investors who may know little or nothing about how to build a blog. And what’s most clear in all of this is that the small, independent, passionate blogger who writes day and night about whatever it is that captures her imagination plays an important role in the ecosystem. They keep the larger blogs honest, and the best of them will grow into large properties in their own right. It’s a beautiful, nasty, hyper-competitive and chaotic world we bloggers live in, and most of the time I wouldn’t change it for the world. CrunchBase Information jkOnTheRun Giga Omni Media Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
Om Malik’s blog network is starting to take shape as he launches WebWorkerDaily this afternoon. The new site is a blog for the distributed worker, where the office is wherever their laptop happens to be. Cell phones, Skype, laptops and other tools have made it possible for an entire generation of workers to do their thing outside of an actual office. This blog is for them. The writers will give advice on the newest tools to make your virtual office more efficient. Om calls this a lifestyle blog, for anyone who works outside of the walls of cubicles. I think the design is magnificent, with its play on the Soviet Union’s hammer and sickle emblem. Web 2.0 workers unite! It’s time for a revolution. → Read More
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