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While the theories of technology convergence lend themselves toward the marriage of the set-top box and the TV, the stand alone TV peripheral isn’t ready to go away.  Just the opposite, from Apple TV to efforts from Cisco and Motorola to Tivo, the set-top box continues to try and reinvent itself as its own model for a convergence device.

Entering the fray with a Hollywood caliber entrance (in the form of a substantial new financing) is Building B, a year old company founded by former semiconductor entrepreneur and Harvard professor Buno Pati and Chaired by Phil Wise, the former CTO of Sony of America.

Building B hasn’t gone far beyond cryptic descriptions and buzzwords in public description of their stealth startup and in-development hardware but they have convinced investors there’s substance behind their speech.  In a first round, just closed, the company has secured $17.5m

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Exabre, parent company of the U.K. based music discovery and recommendation service The Filter has closed a $5m investment round from Eden Ventures and music icon, Peter Gabriel via his company The Real World Group.

The Filter provides a content-recommendation software product that (once installed) indexes a user’s music library and recommends related titles that may be of interest.   In concept, though not necessarily method of recommendation, it’s similar to Pandora and Last.fm (which was acquired by CBS). 

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“It’s rough out there. Anyone who tries to say otherwise has never taken money from a venture capitalist or candy from a child” Anonymous.

Not long ago, out having a drink with some friends, I was treated to the unsolicited rants of a stranger at the bar. He was an entrepreneur and he was vocally unhappy with the direction his investors were trying to drive the company he helped found.  He was just making conversation but listening to his unsolicited rant inspired this unsolicited reply.

VC’s aren’t saints (and some are indeed sharks) but they sometimes get a bad rap because, like movie studio executives, talent agents, and publishers, they sit in a position where their job requires them to evaluate an idea’s odds of success, and the decision they come to in that evaluation effectively positions them as a toll collector on one dreamer’s bridge to success.  Click to Read More

Seth McFarlane is known for creating The Family Guy and American Dad. Raven-Symone Pearman is recognized among teen and tween audiences for her staring role on Disney’s “That’s So Raven.”   (older audiences may know her from her debut on the Cosby show) Now the two will take their name recognition to a different video format: Internet Video.

In their new venture, McFarlane and Raven-Symone will join forces with Google and film finance company Media Rights Capital (MRC).  The deal was announced Thursday. Google will handle distribution. MRC will provide capital (reportedly into the millions). And the talent will provide…talent.  There’s just one catch. The content will not be syndicated on YouTube as most would expect. Click to Read More

John Lennon went this week.  Paul McCartney a few months ago.  Led Zeppelin is on track for Thanksgiving.  The Beatles too are on the way.  Will Garth Brooks be the next of last major hold outs to come to iTunes?  Better yet, is an announcement about the country star’s catalog imminent?   …  The answers are probably and possibly (or at least, remotely possible).

There is no definitive or confirmed news yet, largely it’s conjecture, more iTunes speculation, but a few facts suggest the stars are beginning to align for Apple.  Notably, taken as a sum of the parts, there is evidence to suggest sooner than later, very possibly by November, Garth too will move from the minus to the plus column in Apple’s musical clubhouse.

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The news from MTV Networks (“MTVN”) is games, lots and lots of games.    As part of a two year plan, reports are: the Viacom owned media network plans to invest more than $500m on games.  The investment will emphasize casual gaming and will include both online, mobile and console based games.

Historically, dating back to Warner Communications purchase of Atari in 1976, big entertainment media companies have not been terribly successful at launching in-house game initiatives.   History won’t deter MTVN. They, Disney, and other big media companies are anxious to cash in on the branding and revenue opportunities in the gaming industry.  They are also loathsome to let independent publishers and startups steal all the thunder, and dollars.

MTV CEO Judy McGrath is hoping they’ll be able to expand some of their brands with game offerings.  Network president Mika Salmi has said explicitly “games are critical.”

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Venture investors tend to move in swarms, feeding off the hot trend and collective buzz.  Casual gaming remains the buzzword du jour in the gaming industry and therefore, not surprisingly,is also hot spot for funding activity.

Kongregate, a San Francisco based startup founded in 2006, is the latest to gain funding. The company has closed a $5m Series A financing led by Greylock.

The marketplace for Casual Games is not hot without reason. According to statistics from comScore, one in four Internet users worldwide, or a total of nearly 217 million people, play online games. Click to Read More