Plaxo

Here Come the First D10 Speakers: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Entrepreneur Sean Parker, Zynga’s Mark Pincus and More on the Red Hot Seat

Kara Swisher in D10 on March 9 at 10:40 am PT

Speakers? We got your speakers right here.

Sean Parker's Relationship Status: Engaged

Liz Gannes in Social on April 4, 2011 at 6:46 pm PT

Rest in peace, Valleywag. Remember when Silicon Valley gossip was so boring it couldn’t sustain a Gawker blog? Now, People.com is breaking the news of Sean Parker’s engagement.

Plaxo Drops Social and Returns to Address Book Roots

Liz Gannes in Social on March 16, 2011 at 5:30 am PT

At a time where you can find social aggregators everywhere, and with much of the company leadership having left the building, Comcast-owned Plaxo is getting rid of social.

Sean Parker, Music Mogul? Facebook Billionaire Mulling Warner Music Bid

Peter Kafka in Media on March 11, 2011 at 4:48 pm PT

More than a decade ago, Sean Parker helped create Napster, which kicked off the long and steep decline of the big music labels. Soon he might own part of one.

Web TV You’ll Need to Pay to See: Time Warner, Comcast Roll Out “Authentication.” Who Else Is In?

Peter Kafka in Media on June 24, 2009 at 3:00 am PT

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts will announce this morning that their two companies are linking up for a trial of an “authentication” effort. That means a handful of cable subscribers will get online access to Time Warner TV shows that have been previously kept off the Web. The idea is to protect cable subscription revenues by giving pay TV subscribers–but only subscribers–Web access to all the shows they get on TV. It’s a simple idea, but making it a reality will be very, very complicated.

Comcast’s Digital Deal Guy: “We’re Ready For Pitches”*

Peter Kafka in Media on March 24, 2009 at 8:15 am PT

In today’s deal-parched climate, “$50 million today is like $300 million two years ago.” Here’s someone who can take advantage of the new math: Sam Schwartz, who oversees strategy and M&A for Comcast’s digital group. Schwartz has already guided the cable giant through a shopping spree during the past few years, and while he’s too cautious to say it with force, he’s clearly interested in bulking up some more. And unlike some of his peers, he has the green light to do so: “We’re ready for pitches” he says.

New From Google: AdWords Connect

John Paczkowski in Social on May 12, 2008 at 12:00 am PT

Google calls its latest data portability effort Friend Connect, but a better name might have been AdWord Connect. Because, like most Google initiatives, that’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it? Connecting people to ads?