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Yahoo Discloses Some Government Data Request Information

Mike Isaac in News on June 17 at 7:58 pm PT

Yahoo disclosed on Monday the approximate number of data requests it received between December of last year and May 31, two days after Facebook and Microsoft made similar disclosures. Yahoo said it received between 12,000 and 13,000 requests during that period, including state, local and FISA requests. Apple released similar data earlier Monday morning. Yahoo will also begin to release a transparency report with regard to government requests for data, which companies like Google and Microsoft already do.

News Byte

Yahoo Joins Roster of Sponsors for 49er’s New Stadium

John Murrell in News on June 17 at 2:24 pm PT

The San Francisco 49ers and Yahoo said today they had signed a 10-year agreement that will make Yahoo “the exclusive online sports content, social networking, and photo and video sharing partner” for the team and its new Levi’s Stadium, set to open in 2014 in Santa Clara, Calif. The deal will, among other things, provide the purple portal a prime spot for a Fantasy Football Lounge and viewing area, and will encourage fans to upload photos to Flickr with the chance that they may show up on the stadium’s big screens during the game.

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Yahoo Vacs Up Yet Another Startup — Rondee, a Conference Calling Service — And Shuts It Down

Kara Swisher in Enterprise on June 13 at 12:35 am PT

Yahoo bought its second company in one day, purchasing enterprise conference call service Rondee after it announced the acquisition of GhostBird Software, an Apple iOS photo app creator, for its Flickr team earlier today. Rondee’s staff will join Yahoo’s Small Business unit, which the company had once considered shutting down. (Every Yahoo division, please line up for your gift of a tiny startup from CEO Marissa Mayer!) According to a post on Rondee’s website, it will start the shutdown of the service and the transfer of its clients to InstantConference by the end of July. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Rondee was founded in 2006. (For anyone who gets this one — perhaps we in the media are not smart enough, as Yahoo execs are fond of saying these days — please send me a note.)

News Byte

GhostBird Software Lands at Yahoo

John Murrell in News on June 12 at 1:56 pm PT

Photography app developer GhostBird Software said today it had been acquired by Yahoo for an undisclosed sum and would be bringing its technology to the Flickr team. The company’s iOS apps, KitCam and PhotoForge2, have been pulled from Apple’s App Store, and no further updates are planned.