Pennsylvania

Hurricane Irene Is Over; Power Still Out for Many

Arik Hesseldahl in News on August 29, 2011 at 6:27 am PT

Hurricane Irene is now a memory, but the mess it left will take days if not weeks to clean up.

Amazon Seeks Greater Fulfillment by Adding Distribution Centers

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on July 7, 2011 at 2:53 pm PT

Amazon is expanding its warehouse capacity at an insanely aggressive pace, having already announced five new distribution centers so far this year, including two since yesterday.

Exclusive Video: AOL's Tim Armstrong and HuffPo's Arianna Huffington Talk About Their Acquisition Touchdown From the Super Bowl

Kara Swisher in News on February 6, 2011 at 9:01 pm PT

Here’s an exclusive video interview BoomTown did with Huffington Post co-founder and Editor in Chief Arianna Huffington and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong this morning at Super Bowl XLV in Texas, just ahead of their announcement tonight that the Internet company was buying the news and opinion site. Like both the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, the pair are going for an Internet content win, after AOL said it would pay $315 million, mostly in cash and a small amount of stock, for the Huffington Post.

U.S. Tech Job Growth Was Strongest in…Oklahoma City?

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on December 9, 2010 at 7:00 am PT

The TechAmerica Foundation’s annual Cybercities report covering the state of America’s local technology job markets for 2009 (the most recent data available) paints–as you might expect–a depressing picture in all but a few of the markets surveyed.

Exclusive: Comcast's Top Digital Exec Amy Banse to Open New Silicon Valley Equity Fund for Cable Giant and NBC

Kara Swisher in News on November 15, 2010 at 12:09 am PT

Amy Banse, currently the president of Comcast Interactive Media, is shifting into a job as head of a new Silicon Valley-based equity fund aimed at making digital investments for the television cable giant, as well as its new NBC Universal unit, according to sources with knowledge of the plans. As part of the shift, sources said, Banse will be charged with combining two existing corporate investment funds: NBC U’s Peacock Equity and Comcast Interactive Capital.

Social E-Commerce Goes Into Overdrive: LivingSocial Raises Another $14 Million

Kara Swisher in News on April 29, 2010 at 4:30 am PT

Could the social group-buying space get any frothier? Well, yes, it could. After the recent $135 million funding of Groupon that valued the Chicago start-up at upwards of an eye-popping $1 billion, rival LivingSocial announced to today that it had raised a more modest $14 million in a Series C round. That gives the Washington, D.C. start-up almost $50 million in venture funding since 2008 and an estimated valuation of several hundred million dollars now. The newest round for LivingSocial was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners; Earlier investors U.S. Venture Partners, Grotech Ventures and Steve Case’s Revolution are also participating.

Voices

Almost Famous: Chris Messina of Google

Drake Martinet, Intern, All Things Digital in News on March 26, 2010 at 1:09 pm PT

In this installment of “Almost Famous,” which we call “Need to Know,” focusing on less prominent but very important tech execs you need to know better, we did an interview with Chris Messina. He’s a recent get by Google who is all about opening the Web. He’s a designer by training, so be ready for all kinds of visual metaphors, like walled gardens, tearing down silos and keeping the Web from looking like Nascar.

Happy Groundhog Day: Some Lovely Punxsy Phil Video and More, of Course!

Kara Swisher in News on February 2, 2010 at 3:19 pm PT

Every year on Groundhog Day, my friends–such as Liz and Treby, from when I was but a wee BoomTown (well, I am still wee)–call me with holiday greetings. Why? Because freakish child that I was, I actually threw an annual Groundhog Day fest at school, complete with a cake–I used a rabbit-shaped pan, cut off its ears and added slivered almonds as teeth. So, as I take off to bake another cake with the kids–passing on a noble tradition–here are some videos to enjoy.