11 posts and columns on shutdown

Twitter Acquires Social Summary Tool Summify

in Social on January 19 at 9:33 am PT

Twitter has acquired Summify, a small start-up that smartly aggregates links shared by users’ friends on social networks.
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Blogs, MacBooks and GSM phones

in Mossberg’s Mailbox on February 16, 2011 at 3:20 pm PT

Walt answers readers’ questions on starting a blog, sleeping MacBooks and GSM phones.

Cisco Security Survey Finds Windows Vulnerabilities And Spam Decreasing

in Enterprise on January 20, 2011 at 6:40 am PT

Still no rest for the weary computer security professional. Smartphones and tablets are coming to the office and creating new opportunities for trouble.

LimeWire Still Shedding Assets Before Shutdown–And a Federal Court Date

in Media on December 20, 2010 at 3:00 am PT

LimeWire’s slow-motion shutdown should be over by the end of this month. But at least one of the music file-sharing service’s affiliated companies has found a home: LimeWire Exchange will be swallowed up by Freelancer.com.

Following Layoffs, Yahoo Cuts Products: MyBlogLog, Delicious, Yahoo! Buzz

in Social on December 16, 2010 at 11:58 am PT

At an all-hands meeting for the Yahoo product team following a round of layoffs yesterday that significantly impacted that group, Chief Product Officer Blake Irving announced plans to “sunset” eight products.

News Byte

LimeWire Makes It Official: It's All Over

in Media on December 3, 2010 at 1:03 pm PT

It took a day, but LimeWire has responded to my request for comment on its imminent shutdown: It acknowledges that it’s shutting down, imminently. Via email: “Given our current situation, plans to bring our separate, legal music service to market have been canceled. The beginning of 2011 will mark the closing of LimeWire’s New York office and cessation of business by LimeWire. We attracted some of the top talent from the technology community over the years to build our new music service. We’ll be helping our team members commence their job search over the next few months.”

LimeWire Laid Off 30 Percent Of Staff Following Shutdown

in Media on November 1, 2010 at 10:22 am PT

Not a surprise: Following a court injunction that turned off its primary file-sharing service, LimeWire laid off a third of its staff last week. A bit of a surprise: The company insists that it can keep its remaining employees working on a new music service.

Why Are AOL Shares Up Today? Maybe for Admitting Bebo Is a Total Bust?

in News on April 7, 2010 at 2:15 pm PT

AOL shares pushed higher today than they have been since its November spinoff, rising almost four percent to close at $27.44. And the reason for the rise? One savvy investor suggested it was due to yesterday’s announcement that the company might shut down Bebo, the social networking site it egregiously overpaid for in 2008. Rather than finding a buyer, said the investor, a shutdown might allow the company to write down the purchase, yielding it hundreds of millions of dollars in tax savings.

Palm Resumed Smartphone Production Last Week

in News on March 3, 2010 at 10:36 am PT

With Chinese New Year celebrations finished, Palm’s manufacturing partners in China are once again producing webOS smartphones after a temporary shutdown in observance of the holiday. Sources close to the company tell me production resumed last week–on Feb. 22 to be exact.

Sirius Subscribership Injured in Chrysler, GM Bankruptcy Pile-Up

in News on May 11, 2009 at 9:12 am PT

If you thought the decline in subscribers posted by Sirius XM Radio in its first quarter was ugly, you ain’t seen nothing yet. With the souring economy weighing heavy on the auto industry–a mainstay of Sirius’s business–and partner Chrysler navigating bankruptcy, the struggling company is bracing itself for continued subscriber losses in its second quarter.
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New York Times Strikes Deal With Boston Globe’s Holdout Union

in Media, May 6, 2009 at 4:00 am PT