Facebook Casino Game Launches, Backed by Myspace’s Tom Anderson and Reality-TV Star Brody Jenner

RocketFrog is the latest company to bet on casino-style games on Facebook as online gambling becomes more of a reality.
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ShoeDazzle’s New CEO Tweaks Business to Make Subscribing Pinch Less

ShoeDazzle, the fairly high-profile start-up co-founded by Kim Kardashian and funded by Andreessen Horowitz, is making some changes that make signing up a little less of a commitment.
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YBuy’s Subscription Service Lets You Try Gadgets for 30 Days

Here’s a twist on the popular subscription services: A site that lets you try out consumer electronics and home and kitchen gadgets before buying them.
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News Byte

Bieber Climbs to Top of Bing’s Annual Hit Parade

It’s hard to top the public’s abiding (if baffling) interest in the activities of Kim Kardashian, but Justin Bieber did it, at least according to Bing’s almost-year-end roundup of top searches. Bieber dethroned the “reality” star as the most searched-for person in 2011 and didn’t even have to get married and divorced to do it. In the news category, searches related to the Casey Anthony trial topped those about the death of Osama Bin Laden. More categories, rankings and info-nuggets are listed in a Bing blog post.

Viral Video: Kim’s Fairy-Tale Divorce, Kardashian-Style

The reality show famebots are — let’s all admit it — media and digital geniuses at making their traffic-accident lives into audience gold (-plated).
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JustFabulous Secures $33 Million to Make Subscriptions Fashionable Again

An old trend is coming back into vogue like a pair of skinny jeans with ankle zippers.
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Geek-tastic! Twitter Queen Kim Kardashian Reportedly to Wed at Eric Schmidt’s SoCal Estate (Or at Kleiner Partner’s Luxe Crib).

Here’s a delicious juxtaposition you don’t get often: Various reports indicate that reality show empress Kim Kardashian’s upcoming wedding to New Jersey Nets basketball player Kris Humphries will be held at either the Montecito estate of Google’s Executive Chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt or that of a VC legend.
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Kim Kardashian's ShoeDazzle Walks Away With $40 Million from Andreessen Horowitz

ShoeDazzle, a two-year old company building a subscription-based e-commerce business, has raised $40 million in capital from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz.

Twitter Trusts, No Longer Verifies

Want to prove that you’re the real deal on Twitter? Unless you’re really famous, and/or an Apple executive, you can’t do it with a “verified” badge anymore.

News Byte

Bing Search Trends: The Year of the Kardashian

It’s that time of year again when we are privy to a peek (disturbing as it may be) into society’s collective news appetite as reflected by the year’s search trends. Today, Microsoft’s Bing offered its insights. While last year’s top search queries included serious topics like the stock market, swine flu and Michael Jackson, this year’s Top 10 is almost all celebrity names. The single most popular search on Bing in 2010: Kim Kardashian, by a wide margin over No. 2, Sandra Bullock. The list from there: 3. Tiger Woods; 4. Lady Gaga; 5. Barack Obama; 6. Hairstyles; 7. Kate Gosselin (the sole repeater from last year); 8. Walmart; 9. Justin Bieber; and 10. Free.