Daily Links 11/21/2012: NBC wins November Sweeps; News Corp takes 49% stake in YES Network

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NBC Wins November Sweeps for First Time in Nine Years (Bloomberg)

News Corporation Completes Deal for 49% Stake in YES Network (New York Times: Media Decoder)

Microsoft Reportedly Plans Stripped Down Xbox Set-Top Box To Compete With Apple TV, Roku (TechCrunch)

FCC chairman backs Dish Network plan to compete with wireless giants (Washington Post)
With caveats.

Salesforce CEO on SAP, Oracle: We're the 'customer company' (ZDNet)

Autonomy Founder Says HP Accounting Claim Doesn’t Add Up (Bloomberg)

In Hewlett’s Claims About Autonomy, Legal Costs Could Pile Up (New York Times: Dealbook)

SAP maintenance revenues: another turn of the screw? (Dennis Howlett/Enterprise Irregulars via ZDNet)

Mastering SAP HANA data modeling for maximum performance (SearchSAP)




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Daily Links 8/13/2012: Google cuts 4,000 at Motorola, but says impact at Horsham "minimal"

Motorola Set for Big Cuts as Google Reinvents It (New York Times)
It sounds as if this round might be mostly aimed at the handset business. Reports have suggested that Google may have decided to sell the Horsham-based home business, but this article doesn't clarify that.
Update: Some cuts at Motorola Home, but company says "the impact on Horsham is minimal", Light Reading Cable reports.

Google Faces a Big Set-Top Overhang With Expected Sale of Moto Home (Multichannel News)


Pay TV should be “afraid, very afraid” of Google Fiber, SNL Kagan says (paidContent)

Dish Network's Ergen predicts a pay TV provider will launch a sports-free service (FierceCable)


Study Examines “Clubby” World of Venture Capital (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)
Study by RJMetrics' co-founder Robert Moore finds that some VCs such as First Round Capital often co-invest with certain firms, while others like Edison Ventures frequently go solo.

Stick a Fork In It: Dell Is Done (PandoDaily)

Dell Is Done? Just a Little Premature (PandoDaily)
An alternative view.

Salesforce.com Just Landed Its Biggest Deal Ever, But Can’t Brag About It (All Things D)

T-Mobile USA Said To Be Target Of Trujillo Buyout Attempt (Bloomberg)

Echo Therapeutics Announces $20 Million Financing with Platinum-Montaur Life Sciences (PR Newswire)


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Daily Links 6/19/2012: Report: LLR Partners to begin raising new fund later this year

Who’s Next to Fundraise? Try LLR Partners (PE Hub)
Says Philly-based LLR is expected to begin raising money for its fourth fund later this year.

Oracle sales exec departs: reorg, or rebuke? (ZDNet Blogs)

Oracle Rushes Out Q4 Results, Top Exec Departs (Information Week)

SAP Looking to Create 'distinguished Engineers' for Its HANA Database (PC World)

Data and Information Governance at Johnson & Johnson (ASUG News)

Why health IT systems integrate poorly today, and what future EHRs can do about it
The push for health data interoperability won't work unless the approach is modernized. (O'Reilly Radar)

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Daily Links 12/20/2011: Feds to probe Verizon Wireless/Cable deal; Will AT&T look at Dish?

Verizon Wireless Probed by U.S. Over Cable Deals (Bloomberg)
The beginning of what is likely to be a long road.

AT&T Ends Bid for T-Mobile (New York Times: DealBook)

Dish Now In Center Of Wireless Universe As AT&T Deal Falters (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

Lessons from managing 125,000 iPads
SAP was an early advocate for and adopter of the iPad. Its CIO shares what he's learned (InfoWorld)
I think the author was off on the number of iPads by a factor of several times. (Update: The article has been edited to show the correct number of iPads at SAP is 12,500.)

Oracle Falls Short on Weak Software Sales (All Things Digital)

Oracle Sales, Profit Miss Estimates as Clients Cut Spending (Bloomberg)

10 Biggest ERP Software Failures of 2011 (PC World)

Can Tom Rutledge bring innovation back to Charter?
(Gigaom)

Pitch-a-thons give startups in second-tier cities investor love (Reuters)



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Daily Links 11/8/2011: Bentley Systems makes two acquisitions

Bentley Acquires FormSys to Expand SACS Offerings for Floating Structures (Business Wire)

Bentley Makes Point Clouds Valuable Across Full Infrastructure Lifecycle Through Acquisition of Pointools Ltd (Business Wire)

Liberty Interactive Reports Third Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)
QVC revenue grows 6%; parent Liberty increases stake in HSN slightly to 34%, buys back shares.


Exclusive: HP weighing sale of webOS unit (Reuters via Fox Business)
Oracle mentioned as one possible buyer.

PHD Virtual Technologies Announces Additional Investment (PR Web)
Insight Venture Partners and Citrix Systems invest again in Philly-based provider of virtualization monitoring solutions.


Getting your staff on board with superior customer service (Washington Post)
By Gary Jackson, chief executive of Philly-based Shunra Software.

Siemens/MobileMD To Play In Accountable Care Arena
The technology giant positions itself for emerging reimbursement environment with purchase of health information exchange vendor MobileMD (Information Week)


Tyco CEO Breen to resign from Comcast board (MarketWatch)

Don't Pull the Plug on Cablevision (Barron's)

Dish Network CEO Ergen: 'We're just not getting our fair share yet' (Fierce Cable)

Sneak peak at Comcast’s Skype on Xfinity service (Gigaom)


Gary Flake names all-star cast of investors in Clipboard’s $1.4M round (Geekwire)
First Round Capital is one of them.

PANL: Gabelli, Avian Doubt Skeptical View Of Patent Hearing (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)
Wondering who Universal Display's IP attorneys are.

Universal Display Corporation Announces Third Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)

USA Technologies, Inc. Reports Results for First Quarter of Fiscal 2012
License and Transaction Fee Revenues Up 62%, Total Revenue Up 51% Compared to a Quarter a Year Ago (Business Wire)

CardioNet, Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)

Plosser says Fed should target inflation, not jobs (Reuters)



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Daily Links 9/23/2011: Comcast developing "AnyPlay" iPad TV streaming service

Newton's BigBelly Solar is building an Internet of trash cans (Boston Globe)
BigBelly has many of its trash bins in Philadelphia.

Amazon air conditions centers after criticism (MarketWatch)

Dish’s ‘Blockbuster Movie Pass’ Aimed More Towards Subs, Not Netflix (paidContent)

Dish misses out on opportunity to cash in on Netflix missteps (Ars Technica)

Comcast Working on iPad TV Streaming Service Called AnyPlay (Mac Rumors)

Vishal Sikka Gets Real on SAP HANA Benefits and Barriers (ASUG News)

The Oracle Mark Hurd Wants You To Know
As Oracle has reshaped its business, some misconceptions have arisen, Hurd says. He wants to set you straight. (Information Week)

HP: How to polish a Silicon Valley gem (EE Times)

Nationwide Said to Be in Talks to Buy Harleysville (Bloomberg)

Stylish Eyewear Maker Warby Parker Tries On $12M In Funding (Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)
New York-based online eyeglass retailer founded by Wharton students; First Round Capital an investor.



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Daily Links 8/9/2011: QVC revenue up 8%; Strong international growth

Liberty Media Reports Second Quarter 2011 Financial Results (Business Wire)
QVC revenue up 8% (stronger internationally) and operating income up 4%; Liberty hopes to complete split-off of Liberty Capital and Liberty Starz in 3rd quarter after Bank of New York's appeal is heard in the Delaware Supreme Court in mid-September.

WVT Communications Finalizes $17 Million Acquisition of Alteva
New Organizational Structure Established (Marketwire)

Tax issue spurs PhillyCarShare to sell to Enterprise (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Clearwire: Merrill Now Sees Going Concern Risk; Target 50 Cents (Forbes: The Tech Trade)

Dish Network Lost 135,000 Subscribers in Second Quarter

 (Hollywood Reporter)

HSBC in Talks to Sell Credit Card Portfolio (New York Times: DealBook)
Prospective buyer said to be Capital One, which agreed to acquire Wilmington-based ING Direct USA in June. HSBC has already phased out its credit card operations in Delaware.

A Career Venture Capitalist Responds To Criticism From BI Commenters (Business Insider)
By First Round's Charlie O'Donnell.

Great Hill Partners Acquires Plimus for $115M USD (Business Wire)
Exit for Bala Cynwyd-based Susquehanna Growth Equity.

This App Could Save Your Life (Wired: Epicenter)

Deacom to Begin Testing Its Newly Developed SaaS Based CRM System (SBWIRE)

NetSuite stops selling to smaller businesses. Congratulations (ZDNet Blogs)

Dell, NextGen Team On Cloud-Based Services
Dell will sell NextGen's suite of healthcare applications and provide hosting as it targets the EMR marketplace. (Information Week)

HITECH Act Blocking Smaller IT Firms
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act prevents some small and midsize IT services firms from pursuing new healthcare business opportunities, says a CompTIA report. (Information Week)



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Daily Links 5/23/2011: Comcast expands streaming video to iPhone

The untold story of SAP and data centers (ZDNet Blogs)

New Dish CEO: More acquisitions on horizon (AP via CBS News)

Comcast makes rare public relations misstep in Baker hire (LA Times: Company Town)

Comcast Streams Video To iPhone
MSO Provides Almost 6,000 Hours of On-Demand Content From 25 Programmers Through Apps (Multichannel News)

Comcast's next generation Xfinity Spectrum DVR shows off quad tuners, new menu and apps (Engadget)

Liberty Media Execs Explain Barnes & Noble Bid (Hollywood Reporter)
Shareholders approve spin-offs of Starz and Liberty Capital.

Canoe To Lead VOD Ad Interop At CableLabs
But Some Big Vendors Sitting Out the May 23-27 Event (Multichannel News)

Software AG Buys Terracotta to Build New Cloud Platform (Gigaom)

SAP vs. Workday - In-Core/Memory Resident DB Usage (ZDNet Blogs)

Oracle sued by university (Montclair State) for alleged ERP failure (Computerworld)

SCVNGR Founder Burns His Ships and Takes on Groupon (Gigaom)

Charles Schwab Should Be Worried About ING Direct USA (Forbes Blogs)



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Daily Links 5/16/2011: SunGard CEO Cristobal Conde steps down

SunGard Announces Chief Executive Officer Transition (Business Wire)
SunGard emphasizes that this is a long-planned transition for Cristobal Conde which has nothing to do with the company's sluggish performance in recent years. Some speculate, though, that it might be a step towards preparing for an exit (IPO or split-up?) for the PE firms involved.

City of Philadelphia Selects eClinicalWorks for Electronic Health Records (Business Wire)

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Greater Philadelphia finalists announced (Business Wire)

WSJ: data caps keep Netflix from "swamping the network" (Ars Technica)

Dish Network CEO Resigns (Light Reading Cable)
Charlie Ergen will remain as Chairman.

Greenblatt: NBC Will Add New Brian Williams Show to Schedule as 'Soon as It's Ready' (Hollywood Reporter)

The Uncertain Future of '30 Rock' (The Atlantic Wire)

Report: Comcast Wants Ron Meyer to Stay at Universal -- For Now (The Wrap)

Comcast Aims Metro Ethernet At Midsize Business
Services Portfolio Provides Capacity Up to 10 Gbps (Multichannel News)

RCR Wireless News global tour set for Philadelphia (RCR Wireless News)

One Small Start-Up’s Plan To Get Customers To Notice: An IPO
(Wall Street Journal: Venture Capital Dispatch)
Israel-based WhiteSmoke, maker of English grammar software with US headquarters in Wilmington, plans IPO on the NASDAQ.

India owner sells Blue Bell software firm to Cerberus for $137M (Philly.com: Philly Deals)


Temple Opens Vault on Hybrid System (HPCwire)



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Daily Links 4/20/2011: Will SunGard bid on Blackboard?

Want to Know How First Round Capital was Started? (Silicon Alley Insider)


NBC Sports Chief Says Network Will Make Money on $2 Billion NHL Deal (The Hollywood Reporter)

Comcast SportsNet pilots NBC O&O plan (Variety)

TiVo soars on ruling in Dish Network case
Dish to seek Supreme Court review of decision (MarketWatch)

Blackboard: Who Are The Buyers? (Forbes: The Tech Trade)
Some analysts name SunGard (with its SunGard Higher Education unit) as a potential bidder. I tend to think that its highly leveraged capital structure might limit SunGard's ability to act, given the multiple Blackboard will command, but suppose if they really want to do it they might be able to find a way to finance it.
Internet Capital Group of Wayne was a significant investor in Blackboard, although it divested its remaining interest last year.
(Update: Missed this announcement from a couple of weeks ago on SunGard/Blackboard partnership, though its not something to read too much into.)

Pearson and SunGard Higher Education Integrate Pearson LearningStudio SaaS-based LMS with the Banner Student and Luminis Platform Solutions (SunGard Press Release)
Interesting, though certainly coincidental, timing.

Hewlett-Packard Hires Homlish of SAP as Chief Marketing Officer (Bloomberg)

All change in SAP's on-demand leadership (ZDNet Blogs)

Gartner Says Worldwide Business Intelligence, Analytics and Performance Management Software Market Surpassed the $10 Billion Mark in 2010 (Gartner Press Release)

Philly Controller's Office devises an app for reporting waste and fraud (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Gov. Christie says he has 'grave concerns' about bill to deregulate basic phone service (NJ.com)



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Daily Links 4/6/2011: ShopRunner Wants to Give Amazon’s Free Shipping Program a Run for Its Money

ShopRunner Wants to Give Amazon’s Free Shipping Program a Run for Its Money (All Things Digital: eMoney)

ShopRunner Launches Enhanced Marketplace Where Millions of Products Are Eligible for Free, Two-Day Shipping (Business Wire)

Dish Network Wins Auction for Blockbuster With $320 Million Bid (Hollywood Reporter)

Dish's Latest Buy Is a Blockbuster (Light Reading Cable)

Comcast to FCC: Keep Hulu info secret (Politico)

Cisco: De-Emphasis, Not Divestiture, Of Consumer, Says Barclays (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)
Competes with Motorola Mobility in providing technology to the Cable industry.


Analyst: Motorola Xoom and Atrix are duds (VentureBeat)

Dell Boomi Exec Says Architects, SIs Exploring New Cloud Integration Options (Integration Developer News)

Do SAP customers really need in-memory Strategic Workforce Planning? (SearchSAP.com)

Others Drawn Into Oracle, Rimini Street Legal Fray (PC World)

Alteva Receives Unified Communications® Magazine's 2010 Product of the Year Award (Marketwire)

Commodore Announces New Commodore64, VIC Computers (PC Magazine)
A rebirth of sorts for Commodore, the PC pioneer that was based in West Chester, although the current entity has no relationship to the old one or local connection.

Pennridge district readying government-education channel for Comcast (Philadelphia Inquirer)



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Daily Links 2/10/2011: NBC, Versus said to have inside track on NHL deal

Costs drag down GSI Commerce 4Q earnings by 32 pct (Bloomberg)

NBC, Versus have inside track on NHL deal (SI.com: Red Light)

Mobile payment startup builds buzz through causes (Reuters)
On Philly's Xipwire.

Sprint in 'Good' Talks With Clearwire on Financing (Light Reading Cable)

Cisco Cable Set-Top Sales Tumble Again
Vendor Pins Turnaround Hopes on 'Videoscape' Converged TV Strategy (Multichannel News)

Arris Revenue Falls On Weaker Sales To Comcast, TWC
Revenue Drops 11.3% for Fourth Quarter of 2010, Income Plummets 66% (Multichannel News)

Verizon iPhone Lines Inversely Proportional to Verizon iPhone Rumors (All Things Digital: Digital Daily)

Dish Network stock jumps amid talk of AT&T bid (LA Times)

Phila. Early Stage Venture Showcase report (Philadelphia Business
Journal)

Pulse Electronics Corporation Reports Fourth Quarter Results
(Business Wire)

ENIAC Day to celebrate dedication of Penn’s historic computer (Penn Current)




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