plug-in

Another Googley “Acqhire” — Contextual Search Start-Up Apture to Join the Chrome Team

Drake Martinet in News on November 10, 2011 at 10:57 am PT

Google has acquired contextual search start-up Apture and will integrate the team and features into Chrome.

Adobe Admits It Is Saying Buh-Bye to Flash for Mobile Devices

Kara Swisher in Mobile on November 9, 2011 at 10:15 am PT

Looks like Apple’s Steve Jobs was right (as usual).

Apple iPad News Reader Zite Sold to CNN for Just Over $20 Million

Kara Swisher in Media on August 30, 2011 at 10:06 am PT

Zite, the magazine-style reading app for the Apple iPad, has been sold to news giant CNN for $20 million to $25 million.

Stealthy Start-Up Sponge Builds Community Q&A for Companies

Liz Gannes in Social on December 22, 2010 at 2:25 pm PT

I recently stumbled across a venture-backed start-up that has managed to keep itself out of the news despite doing what appears to be pretty noteworthy stuff. Sponge, which calls itself “the future of Q&A,” powers pages for businesses to share and build community knowledge.

Your Web Browser Just Told Everyone You Visited a Porn Site

Peter Kafka in Media on May 17, 2010 at 11:47 am PT

Your identity as a dog may still be safe on the Internet. Everything else about you, though, is looking increasingly like an open book. Latest data point: No matter what you do to stay anonymous, there’s a good chance your Web browser is betraying your identity, by leaving a unique fingerprint every time you visit a site.

How to Watch Video, Wirelessly, on Your TV Set

Walt Mossberg in Personal Technology on March 3, 2010 at 6:03 pm PT

Intel’s Wi-Di and MediaMall’s PlayOn offer ways to watch your computer videos on your TV, but they are expensive solutions that have downsides.

Digital File Cabinet You Can Bring With You Anywhere

Walt Mossberg in Personal Technology on January 20, 2010 at 6:03 pm PT

Walt Mossberg reviews Evernote, which lets you create notes of text and photos and file them in your own searchable database, accessible on a number of devices.

Yahoo to Acquire Xoopit for About $20 Million

Kara Swisher in News on July 21, 2009 at 9:00 pm PT

Yahoo plans on announcing Thursday that it has bought Xoopit for a price in the $20 million range, according to several sources, one of its first acquisitions in a long while. Reached late this afternoon by BoomTown, a Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment about the purchase. Xoopit did not respond to emails earlier today. But sources said it was a done deal to buy the San Francisco-based social email start-up that finds photos, videos, links and other files in email so that users can surface and then share them. Xoopit’s investors–Accel Partners and Foundation Capital, along with several angel investors–have pumped about $6.5 million into the company since 2006.