Daily Links 12/14/09: Oracle may be close to gaining European approval

Comcast NBC Deal Opens Door for TV Networks to Seek $1 Billion (Bloomberg)

Comcast/NBC merger may mean office growth (Philadelphia
Business Journal)
Is a twin Comcast tower a possibility?

SAP Gets Into the Supplier Information Management (SIM) Game
(SpendMatters)

Oracle Soothes EU with Offer in Sun Deal
The software giant's $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems could clear European antitrust cops after Oracle agreed to invest in Sun's MySQL database (Bloomberg via Business Week)

IT Structures ReBranded, ReFunded
(StartUpMania)
Tel Aviv and Menlo Park CA-based Cloud startup founded by Safend veteran.

Netformx Raises $12 Million (PE Hub)
Susquehanna Growth Equity leads round for California venture.

Leading Mortgage Services Provider ISGN Closes Deal to Acquire the Loan Fulfillment Solutions Business From Fiserv (Business
Wire)

Altosoft Acquires Rights to Supply Opalis Dashboard
Altosoft to Provide Opalis Dashboard to Existing and New Customers and Announces BSM Analytics for Microsoft System Center (Marketwire)

General Dynamics Awarded $19 Million to Support the Naval Surface Warfare Center (PR Newswire)

Scientists, Journalists Join Forces: Offer New Web Site Timed to COP15
Climate Central Provides Media Resources to Advance Understanding of Climate Change (Business Wire)

ABC Regional to Rep Comcast-Spectacor
(MediaWeek)

WHYY TV12 cuts in Del. coverage rile First Staters (Philadelphia Inquirer)




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People News 12/13/09

Vanguard CEO McNabb to Assume Chairman Role in January (Business Wire)

CEO Greg Bentley Champions Globalization at President's White House Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth (PR Newswire)

Vertex CEO Jeff Westphal Earns Coveted Eastern Technology Council Enterprise Award (Business Wire)

Comcast Taps Nagravision's Grauch
To Join Operator As VP Of Video Premises Technology In January (Multichannel News)

PECO Appoints Comcast Vice President Charisse R. Lillie to Board of Directors (Business Wire)

PMI Announces New Board of Directors Chair
Industry Veteran Eugene Bounds Will Lead Board for 2010 (Business Wire)

New DIA Vision And Mission Coincides With Start of Paul Pomerantz Tenure As Worldwide Executive Director (PR Web)

American Water’s Chief Information Officer Named Premier IT Leader by Computerworld (Business Wire)


Judge Executive Search Strengthens Leadership (Business Wire)

Dynasil Announces the Nominations of Dr. Michael Joyner of the Mayo Clinic and Mr. David Kronfeld of JK & B Capital as New Directors (Business Wire)




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It's big and bold - a fierce competitor.
Comcast: Not your traditional Phila. firm (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Comcast Says: We Support Broadcast (Multichannel News)

Sens. move to block drugmakers from mining Rx data (Associated Press via Google News)

Content Farms: Why Media, Blogs & Google Should Be Worried (Read Write Web)

Comcast’s TV Everywhere, Nowhere to Be Found (GigaOM via New York Times)


Event Report: 2009 SAP Influencer Summit - SAP Must Put Strategy To Execution In Order To Prove Clarity Of Vision (A Software Insider's Point of View>

First Round Capital RoundUp

You've got to hand it to Josh Kopelman, the guy who convinced an Oregon town to change its name to Half.com, for having a talent for coming up with big ideas that promote the brand (in this case, First Round's investment philosophy and portfolio companies). The second annual First Round Holiday Greeting Video has achieved an almost cult-like popularity on the web. It was particularly smart to emphasize its 2009 investments; there are so many new ones now its hard to keep track of them all.

First Round portfolio company Foodzie has brought some big talent on-board, according to TechCrunch. Adam Sah, who helped create Google Gadgets, has joined the Boulder-based online artisan food marketplace as VP Engineering.

More on another Boulder startup (Boulder is where its all happening now) and recent First Round investment SimpleGeo. Meanwhile, venture money continues to flow into the location-aware space, as another company called Gowalla just raised $8.4 million (First Round not involved). However, SimpleGeo is approaching the market more from an API angle than an end user app like Gowalla is.

First Round also participated in a round announced this week led by Kleiner Perkins in One Kings Lane, a private sale website for home furnishings.

Wired's Epicenter Blog writes about how Knewton is trying to change the business model for college test prep courses by driving out excess costs while hopefully producing a higher quality product.

Meanwhile, First Round's Christine Herron talks to Daily Finance about how the cost of getting a startup off the ground is shrinking.




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Boost Mobile Ad

I had to check and see whether this Boost Mobile ad was for real or someone's idea of a parody. Boost Mobile is the Sprint prepaid brand in Philadelphia and other markets.

Will Comcast Deal Move Summer Scene From Hamptons to, Gasp, Jersey? (New York Observer)

FCC chairman's dinner RT LOL! (Washington Post: Post Tech)

Microsoft, SAP to outline doubts on Oracle/Sun deal (Reuters)

SAP Business byDesign: Taming the multi-tenant beast (Enterprise Irregulars)

Heartland Executives Told the Truth, Judge Says (IDG via New York Times)

Versus Sub Count Takes 9 Million Hit As Previews End
Dish, Time Warner Cable, Cox Free Previews End, As DirecTV Dispute Lingers (Multichannel News)

TV’s QVC expands its mobile channel with a robust iPhone app (InternetRetailer.com)

IMS Drops as Senate Data Measure Casts Doubt on Sale (Bloomberg)

Technology Leaders (TL Ventures) in fight over fees
(Philly.com: Philly Deals)

Instem Announces New Full Service Office in Shanghai
Instem’s New Shanghai Office Providing Local Support for Chinese Clients (Business Wire)




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Comcast-NBC Universal: Will the Marriage of Cable and Content Work? (Knowledge@Wharton)


Sprint: Today, An Upgrade, As Citi Turns Bullish; Will It Merge With T-Mobile? (Barron's: Tech Trader Daily)

Sprint's Hesse commits to Clearwire, hints at new 4G pricing scenarios (Fierce Wireless)


Kulicke & Soffa's CEO to retire in June 2011 (EE Times)

GSI’s Fun Weekend (Wall Street Journal: Digits)

SAP Sets Pace on 'Flexible' Software Pricing
The German software maker is blazing new trails by letting customers pay for licenses over longer stretches. Microsoft, Oracle, and Adobe aren't far behind (Business Week)

SAP: We're serious about SAP on-demand (SearchSAP.com)

SAP: Out with the Old, Shrugging Off The Tag (Enterprise Irregulars)

SAP: All-in-One Carbon, Energy, Sustainability Software
SAP promises new software to integrate carbon counting, energy efficiency, environmental monitoring and social responsibility reporting. (Greentech Media)

PSERS Reports Q3 Results (PE Hub)


Motorola Expands 4G Broadband During 2009 as It Builds Momentum for WiMAX and LTE in 2010 (PR Newswire)

Microsoft Buys Health-Care Software Company (IDG via New York Times)

Herley Reports Earnings for First Quarter of Fiscal 2010 (PR Newswire)




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USA Technologies to postpone key Annual Meeting (for a long time)

USA Technologies Announces New Date for Annual Meeting Due to Misleading, Inaccurate and Selective Disclosure by Dissident Group
Rescheduled Meeting to Be Held on June 15, 2010 (Business Wire)

You have read this headline carefully to fully understand what management has done. They've pushed back the Annual Meeting
from December 15, 2009 to June 15 2010. Cool way to avoid a proxy vote, if you can do it.




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First Round Capital 2009 Holiday Card

First Round Capital 2009 Holiday Card from First Round Capital on Vimeo.

Daily Links 12/9/09: Mister Roberts goes to Washington

Comcast CEO Roberts Said to Meet With U.S. Regulators on NBC (Bloomberg)

Should Consumers Fear the Comcast Deal? (New York Times: Room For Debate Blog)

Disney's Iger: NBC/Comcast No Threat (MediaPost: Media Daily News)


SAP Outlines Five-Year Enterprise Software Plan
SAP's unfolding strategy emphasizes on-demand computing, cloud architectures, flexible pricing, mobile and in-memory computing. (Information Week)

SAP Planning to Open up On-demand Development Platform (PCWorld)

SAP Influencer Summit, Dispatch 2: First-Day Ramblings (Spend Matters)

SAP Lifts Some Restrictions On Partner Sales To Large Companies (Channel Web)

Analyst eyes Motorola break-up scenario; shares up (Associated Press via Forbes)

Leading Independent Proxy Advisory Firm RiskMetrics Group Recommends USAT Shareholders Vote BLUE Proxy Card 'FOR' Each of Independent Shareholder Group SAVE's Board of Director Nominees
(PR Newswire)
USA Technologies Comments on RiskMetrics Report
Urges Shareholders to Vote FOR the Company’s Nominees on the WHITE Proxy Card Today (Business Wire)

Heartland Payment Systems Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit Dismissed in US District Court (Business Wire)

Cloaked in the Cloud
(The Boomi Blog)

Nobel Prize Winning Founder of Retirement Manager Financial Engines Plots IPO (alarm:clock)

Verizon To Pay New Jersey $795,000 To Settle FiOS Marketing Suit
State Announces Settlement With Verizon Over Its Advertisement And Sale Of FiOS Service (Multichannel News)

Innovative Solutions & Support, Inc. Announces Financial Results for the Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2009
Completes year of profitability, revenue growth and positive operating cash flow (Business Wire)


C&D Technologies Reports Fiscal 2010 Third Quarter Results
Third Quarter Revenues, Unit Volume, Margins and Earnings All Sequentially Improve Relative to Second Quarter (PR Newswire)




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