Charter Communications went public on Monday with its latest bid for Time Warner Cable. The $37.4 billion cash-and-stock proposal, submitted via letter from Charter CEO Tom Rutledge to TWC Chief Rob Marcus, follows three private offers submitted since June that have all been turned down by the nation’s second-largest cable company. TWC rejected the bid as “grossly inadequate.” Rutledge said Charter, the fourth largest cable operator, has no plans to increase the offer. Continue reading Charter Continues Pursuit of Time Warner Cable with New Bid

It’s been nearly a year since LG purchased HP’s webOS to power its future televisions. At a recent semiconductor event held in Seoul, Korea, LG researcher Hong Sung-pyo announced that the company has plans to debut a new TV running its version of the defunct smartphone OS at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. The webOS-powered TV will reportedly run a 2.2GHz dual-core processor with 1.5GB of RAM, enabling multitasking features. Continue reading LG Plans to Debut its New webOS TV During CES in January

Embedded sensor technology has proven to be useful in a number of markets, but some are saying it can revolutionize the retail experience for both companies and consumers if used to its full potential. Though online retail is booming in popularity, many transactions still take place inside physical stores, often with the aid of a mobile device. By linking up those factors, shoppers’ experiences will be more productive, and companies will benefit with greater profits. Continue reading New Sensor Technologies Have Untapped Potential in Retail

We recently reported that Sony’s PlayStation 4 sold more than one million units in its first 24 hours of availability. Now, Microsoft has made the same claim with the launch of its Xbox One console on November 22. While the sales figures set a new record for Microsoft, easily defeating first day sales of its Xbox 360, the Xbox One launched in 11 more countries than the PS4. Both companies are expected to sell 3 million units by the end of the year. Continue reading Microsoft Sells One Million Xbox One Consoles on First Day

It seems that Wall Street loves Twitter. The company set an initial public offering price of $26 late Wednesday, only to see the stock close its first trading day up 73 percent at $44.90 a share, with a session high of over $50. The rocketing IPO set co-founder Evan Williams’ stock value at $2.9 billion and co-founder Jack Dorsey’s at $1.2 billion. CEO Dick Costolo’s stock is now worth $384 million. At about $45 per share, the company is valued at $24.4 billion. Continue reading Twitter Numbers Skyrocket on New York Stock Exchange Debut

BlackBerry announced yesterday that it will abandon a sale of the company, following two months of talks with potential buyers including Facebook, Lenovo and private equity firms. Instead, the struggling smartphone maker plans to raise $1 billion by issuing convertible notes to long-term investors including Fairfax Financial Holdings, the company’s largest shareholder. Additionally, BlackBerry said CEO Thorsten Heins will step down. The news resulted in a 16 percent drop in share price. Continue reading BlackBerry Calls Off Company Sale, CEO Heins to Step Down

According to Twitter’s regulatory filing, the company is looking to raise up to $1.4 billion in its initial public offering with a share-price range of $17 to $20. That would value the social network at about $9.4 billion to $11.1 billion, considerably less than earlier estimates that placed it as high as $16 billion. The modest valuation suggests that the company hopes to avoid the backlash Facebook experienced with its aggressive IPO. The approach could help Twitter win investors who are wary of the network’s mobile business model. Continue reading Twitter Plays it Safe with Modest IPO, Aims to Sway Investors

Amazon is the largest online retailer, bookstore, and Web hosting company in the world — among other things — and now it’s rushing the production of its newest device, a set-top box intended to compete with online video streaming devices for television such as Roku. But despite its efforts to get the new product out on shelves in time for the holiday shopping season, the device will now likely be delayed past then, missing out on potential holiday sales. Continue reading Amazon Set-Top Box Launch Likely Delayed Past the Holidays

Twitter has revealed its plans to raise up to $1 billion in its long-anticipated public offering. Potential buyers finally got a glimpse at Twitter’s financials yesterday, which indicate the social platform’s revenue more than doubled to $254 million during the first half of 2013. However, while the popular messaging service continues to transform electronic communication and public conversation, the company is still losing money while facing hurdles drawing new users and advertisers. Continue reading Twitter Reveals its Financials and Plans for $1 Billion IPO

Twitter announced filing its much-anticipated initial public offering last Thursday, in what could become the highest-profile tech stock market debut since last year’s Facebook IPO. The social media giant filed “confidential” paperwork with securities regulators to sell shares, but did not make public the company’s financials, including revenues. Filing confidentially is a new feature in the stock market created by the JOBS Act, designed for companies making less than $1 billion in revenue. Continue reading Twitter Announces Filing for IPO in Fewer Than 140 Characters

Kodak emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week and has a plan to keep its product in Hollywood, despite a market that favors digital imaging. While more than 75 percent of the world’s cinema screens currently support digital projection, Kodak has commitments to provide film to the major studios for production needs and distribution, deals that run through 2014 or 2015 (depending on the studio). Filmmakers such as J.J. Abrams and Christopher Nolan are using celluloid for their movie projects. Continue reading Kodak Exec Unveils Plans to Keep Film Product in Hollywood

Last week we reported that Verizon Communications had scheduled a board meeting to discuss the possible acquisition of Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, a deal that would be the second-largest acquisition on record and potentially lead to additional mergers across the global telecom industry. Vodafone confirmed late yesterday that terms of the deal call for Verizon to pay $130 billion. If approved by both boards, the deal could be announced as early as this afternoon. Continue reading Deal Update: Vodafone and Verizon Agree on Financial Terms

Facebook’s growth in mobile advertising revenue contributed in part to a surprising second quarter return this year. The social network’s large user base and scalable mobile advertising platforms have become major attractions for advertisers. The company has been taking advertisers more seriously in ad platform development and is working closely with them to understand their needs. As a result, advertisers are becoming more comfortable with Facebook. Continue reading Facebook Mobile Development More Attractive to Advertisers

Chinese online-commerce company Alibaba is the latest tech firm to target the living room, with its new smart TV operating system and a set-top box. The company joins a crowded group that includes Apple, Lenovo, Samsung and others that are exploring the emerging market. Alibaba plans to integrate its Alipay electronic-payment service into the TV software. The company cited declining growth of PC use in China as a motivation for the move into TVs. Continue reading Alibaba Unveils Smart TV Operating System and Set-Top Box

Facebook has been quietly working on a service called Reader that could essentially become a newspaper for mobile devices, according to inside sources. The service, which has reportedly been in development for more than a year, displays content from the social network’s users and publishers in a new visual format designed specifically for smartphones and tablets. Recent versions have been similar to mobile news aggregator Flipboard. Continue reading Facebook Targets News Aggregation in Latest Mobile Effort