Digital Audio/Video News

ALVISO, Calif. - TiVo Inc. posted a loss in the latest quarter as sales dropped 12 percent. The company was coming off a big profit a year ago that was caused by a payout from a legal victory.

Google and TiVo are teaming up for a new deal that'll put your clicking habits into the hands of advertisers. Before you grab the nearest "privacy violation" placard, though, check out the specifics of this arrangement -- it's probably far less invasive than what you're expecting.

Joost, a provider of online TV, movies and music, has received a boost. The company, which operates out of offices in the U.S., the U.K., and the Netherlands, has been acquired by Adconion.

NEW YORK - The struggling online video startup Joost, begun with much fanfare by the creators of Skype and Kazaa, has been sold to an online advertising company.

On the heels of Google's Teracent acquisition, TiVo has announced a deal of its own with the search giant. TiVo has entered into an audience-research agreement with Google to empower the Google TV Ads platform.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Adconion Media Group announced Tuesday it has acquired the assets of Joost, an online video portal from the founders of Skype that failed to live up to its pre-launch buzz.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - In its bid to make TV advertising more accountable -- and to sell more of it through its online auction service -- Google has teamed up with TiVo, the companies are set to announce Tuesday.

Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber owes his entire career to the Internet. When he was the ripe old age of 13, Bieber and his family began posting videos of his performances on YouTube. Someone in a suit liked the tunes and boom -- Bieber was signed with Usher's label. Now his infamy shall be cast in the iron of the Web, as one of Bieber's team was arrested for not using Twitter. One more time: arrested for not using Twitter.

Spotify, the popular music streaming service available only in select European countries, introduced on Monday a mobile application for the Symbian operating system, which includes Nokia, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung phones.

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Swedish streaming software Spotify announced on Monday the launch of a music application for the Symbian platform, used by the world's biggest mobile phone maker Nokia and other smartphones.

NEW YORK - Moody's Investors Service downgraded ratings for Liberty Media Corp. subsidiary Liberty Media LLC on Friday. The changes come shortly after shareholders approved the formation of a new company out of DirecTV Group Inc. and some of Liberty's entertainment businesses.

JOHNSTON, Iowa - Former U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt pushed Friday for Iowa to expand its focus on public health, arguing the state has the medical infrastructure in place to make it a leader in the field.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Media mogul John Malone said the U.S. No.1 satellite TV operator DirecTV Group is not up for sale in an interview with business cable network CNBC on Friday.

PARIS (AFP) - Thousands of French Internet users flooded video sharing websites Friday to enjoy a lampoon of their glamourous first couple, almost a week after they appeared on the US show the Simpsons.

In a step to make YouTube videos more accessible to deaf people as well as to anyone else searching for videos online, Google has launched an automatic video captioning service.

TOKYO (AFP) - Sony Corp. aims to launch next year a new online service that will allow people to download content such as music and movies to their televisions and other electronic gadgets, a top executive said Friday.

Google fired another shell at Microsoft's fundamental business model on Thursday, when it released the code behind its Google Chrome OS. What happens when you turn the operating system into just another advertising medium? Quite a number of things.

Sales of plasma HDTVs have been on the decline for some time now. Although plasmas are generally cheaper than comparably-sized LCD models, their picture isn't as bright; as a result, their images often appear dark and washed out under the bright, fluorescent glare of the local big box store. However, plasmas are often favored by home theater buffs, who savor the display technology's fast refresh rates and often superior reproduction of black and dark tones.

TOKYO - Sony's new online service connecting the whole range of its gadgets to downloadable content like movies and games should help build brand loyalty, a top executive said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Google, in a significant development for deaf Internet users, announced it was adding automatic caption capability to videos on YouTube.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Liberty Media Corp Chairman John Malone said on Thursday that DirecTV Group would be "compatible" with a telephone company if either of its current partners showed an interest in buying it.

For the California Energy Commission, the voluntary guidelines of the Federal Energy Star program aren't enough to curb energy guzzling by HDTVs. In a unanimous vote, the CEC just introduced the nation's first state-mandated regulations for energy efficiency. The regulations will apply to televisions up to 58 inches in screen size.

In a move to make YouTube's massive inventory more accessible to deaf and hearing-impaired people, Google announced plans to add automatic captioning technology to the video site. Google has combined its automatic speech-recognition technology with the existing YouTube caption system. Called auto-caps for short, the captions rely on the same voice-recognition algorithms in Google Voice to automatically generate captions for YouTube videos.

Shareholders approved the formation of a new company out of DirecTV Group Inc. and some of Liberty Media Corp.'s entertainment businesses, as the chairman of both firms dampened speculation about a sale to a big phone company.

WASHINGTON - Think of it as closed captioning for the new media world.

Televisions are notorious for draining huge amounts of energy, which is why California is cracking down with energy efficiency regulations. But your HDTV isn't the only home tech product that's slurping up power. Here are 5 other gadgets that you should turn off when not in use:

It's time for yet another application store, but this time it's not for a phone or an MP3 player. Instead, Livescribe is introducing a beta edition of its App Store for its Pulse SmartPen.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The birth of Wikipedia, the death of Napster, the iPhone, Facebook, and Twitter were named by the Webby Awards on Wednesday as among the top 10 Internet moments of the decade.