U.S.

Dell to Stop Selling Venue and Venue Pro, but New Mobile Devices in the Works

Lauren Goode in News on March 29 at 8:14 am PT

Computer maker Dell has killed off the last of its current smartphone offerings in the U.S.

Flash! Inevitable Scheduled to Occur! China Smartphone Market to Become World’s Biggest!

John Paczkowski in Mobile on March 16 at 2:38 pm PT

China is fast becoming the engine driving the global smartphone market.

News Byte

Sony PlayStation Vita Launches in U.S., Europe

Lauren Goode in News on February 22 at 5:53 am PT

Sony’s new handheld gaming product, the PlayStation Vita, goes on sale today in Europe and the U.S. Following its initial launch in Japan in December, the device was plagued by some reported bugs, including crashes and gameplay lags, but Sony quickly issued a software update to address the issues. As The Wall Street Journal’s Katie Boehret notes in her review of the Vita, the 3G and Wi-Fi capable Vita costs $299; the Wi-Fi-only version costs $249.

Airbnb’s Skyrocketing Growth Includes Four Million Nights Booked in 2011

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 26 at 6:00 am PT

Travelers have used Airbnb to book a total of five million guest nights over the past four years, staying in spare bedrooms and empty homes around the world.

News Byte

Rhapsody Arrives in U.K. and Germany Via Napster Deal

Peter Kafka in Media on January 26 at 12:01 am PT

Streaming music service Rhapsody, which has only been available in the U.S. for the last 11 years, has finally made it to Europe. The service has finished a deal to buy one-time competitor Napster’s operations in the U.K. and Germany; last fall, Rhapsody bought Napster’s U.S. assets. Rhapsody competitor Spotify isn’t in Germany yet, but industry sources expect that to change soon.

Yahoo Reorgs U.S. Ad Sales After Talent Departure (Internal Memo, Natch!)

Kara Swisher in Media on January 20 at 1:15 pm PT

I love the smell of reorg in the morning!

China Climbs Past U.S. to Become Largest PC Market

John Paczkowski in News on August 23, 2011 at 2:01 pm PT

An inevitable and unsurprising milestone: China has finally surpassed the U.S. in both PC sales and shipments.

Not-So-Chart-tastic Picture of Yahoo’s Q2 Display Disaster

Kara Swisher in Media on July 19, 2011 at 3:43 pm PT

Paging Ross Levinsohn — leader of Yahoo’s Americas region and its ad efforts — stat!

LinkedIn Reaches 100 Million Users

Liz Gannes in Social on March 22, 2011 at 4:50 am PT

The professional online network LinkedIn, which has filed to go public, now has 100 million members, and is growing at a rate of one million new members per week.

News Byte

Survey Finds Video Game Usage on Phones Tops Consoles, Computers

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 28, 2011 at 8:59 pm PT

Seattle-based PopCap has commissioned a study that doesn’t necessarily support the bulk of its business to date — making games for consoles and computers. The pre-IPO casual-game maker of Bejeweled said the survey, conducted by Information Solutions Group, found that among mobile phone gamers in the U.S. and UK, 44 percent say the phone is the primary gaming device of choice, leapfrogging video game consoles (21 percent) and personal computers (30 percent) since a similar survey was last conducted in 2009.