Main Stories
o TiVo Reports Tripling Subscribers in Quarter, Wider Net Loss
o Struggling Games Firm Acclaim Behind on U.K. Payroll, May File for Ch. 11
o HP Unveils Branded Apple iPod, Other Digital Consumer Electronics
o Report: First Quarter E-Book Sales Top $3.23 Million
o PerfectMatch.com Parent Company MarketRange Raises $7 Million
o Report: Downloadable Games Market Expected to Grow Six-Fold by 2009
o More than 150 Arrested in Nationwide Cyber Crimes Sting

o Briefly Noted: Konami - Thierry Henry, Friendster - NBC's "The Apprentice," Majesco - Carl Yankowski, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment - SCi Games - "Constantine," Proteus - AT&T Wireless Olympics services, Cybersquatter - SpikeLee.com
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San Jose, Calif. -- TiVo, a provider of digital video recorder services, announced that it added 288,000 new subscribers during the second quarter, more than triple the number it added in the same period last year, and said its total installed base has more than doubled in the past twelve months. For the quarter, the company posted a wider net loss ($10.8 million) despite a 49% jump in revenue to $39.8 million. Of the new subscribers added during the quarter, 225,000 were generated from TiVo's relationship with satellite TV firm DirecTV, which now accounts for over one million of TiVo's 1.9 million total subscribers. Analysts have made much of TiVo's continued dependence on DirecTV, given that the company sold its 4% stake in TiVo in June.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040826/sfth031_1.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/040826/tech_tivo_earns_3.html
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tivo27aug27.story 
http://www.tivo.com 
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o Struggling Games Firm Acclaim Behind on U.K. Payroll, May File for Ch. 11

London -- GamesIndustry.biz reported on Friday that employees at struggling video game developer Acclaim Entertainment's Manchester, U.K. and Austin, Texas were sent home today, and also that the company's U.K. employees have not been paid for the month of August. The company's staff at its Austin studio was reportedly sent home after the landlord at the facility locked the doors for nonpayment of rent. Acclaim announced last week that it may have to file for Ch. 11 if it cannot locate a lender to replace its expired credit facility with GMAC Commercial Finance, at the same time that its shares were also delisted from the Nasdaq.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=pub&aid=4064
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?section_name=pub&aid=4061
http://www.acclaim.com 
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o HP Unveils Branded Apple iPod, Other Digital Consumer Electronics

Miami -- PC maker HP on Friday unveiled a branded iPod digital music player as part of its new consumer digital electronics line that includes cameras and photo printers, home theater projectors and entertainment-based laptop and desktop PCs. In partnership with Apple, HP will sell a 20GB iPod for $299 and 40GB model for $399 -- the same price Apple charges -- and also offer "printable tattoo" water-resistant skins for the players that feature either album cover art or consumers' own personalized artwork or photos. HP is currently taking pre-orders for the branded iPods and will begin shipping them on Sept. 15.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040827/275102_1.html 
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P2AB32729 
http://www.hp.com/music 
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o Report: First Quarter E-Book Sales Top $3.23 Million

New York -- Sales of e-books were $3.23 million for the first quarter of 2004, a 28% increase from the same period a year ago, according to data compiled by the Open eBook Forum, a trade group made of technology firms and publishers. Factors impeding the growth of e-books include expense and design factors of portable devices used for mobility, competing e-book file formats and publishers' desire for adequate digital rights management for their titles. "Publishers all want heavy-duty DRM, but the problem is that anything you do gets in the way of buying and using e-books," publishing industry analyst Jean Bradford told CNET News.com.
http://www.openebook.org 
http://makeashorterlink.com/?C32E52729   
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o PerfectMatch.com Parent Company MarketRange Raises $7 Million

Seattle -- MarketRange, a provider of online communities including dating site PerfectMatch.com and TalentMatch.com, announced that it has raised $7 million in its second round of venture capital financing. Ignition Partners led the investment round, in which Mellon Ventures also participated. The company will use the funds to accelerate growth for its PerfectMatch service, aggressively seeking new members through online, radio and television partnerships.
http://www.marketrange.com/press/PMPress.asp?pressid=5
http://www.perfectmatch.com 
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o Report: Downloadable Games Market Expected to Grow Six-Fold by 2009

Boston -- In the next five years, there is expected to be a 600% growth in the market for downloadable games, according to a new report form Strategy Analytics. The sector will account for 82% of the mobile game market, the firm said. Meanwhile, the level of private funding of mobile game distributors during the past four months "has not been seen since the halcyon days of the late 1990s." In June, distributor Mforma announced $44 million of financing for its first external round of venture funding. In July, game publisher Sorrent announced that it had raised $20 million in a third funding round led by BA Venture Partners, and Canadian mobile publisher, Airborne Entertainment, announced a new financing deal worth $22 million led by Insight Venture Partners. In August, IN-FUSIO announced that it had raised $27 million in its latest round of financing led by Insight Venture Partners.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F2D242529 
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o More than 150 Arrested in Nationwide Cyber Crimes Sting

Washington, D.C. -- Attorney General John Ashcroft on Thursday announced the arrests or convictions of more than 150 individuals as part of a nationwide operation against Internet crimes. Operation Web Snare, which included arrests of several people on Thursday, is targeting a variety of online economic crimes including identity theft, fraud, counterfeit software, computer intrusions and other intellectual property crimes. It also is targeting "phishing," where criminals use e-mails and web sites resembling those of legitimate organizations to commit identity theft and fraud. According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the number of unique phishing attacks increased from 176 in January to 1,422 in June. Ashcroft said that he has recommended full use of the new Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act, which mandates stiff prison terms for those who use identity theft to commit other crimes. "This effort shows how effective law enforcement can be against online crime when all levels of government -- domestically and internationally -- work together," said Ashcroft.
http://www.usdoj.gov 

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(Redwood City, Calif.) Japanese video game developer Konami announced that it has signed French striker Thierry Henry, of the English Premier League's team Arsenal, to be the cover athlete for its "Pro Evolution Soccer 4." The game is scheduled for release on PlayStation 2 in October, and for the Xbox and PC in November. The company also announced a bizarre promotion for the release of its "Metal Gear Solid 3," whereby anyone who owns or buys over 100 shares in the company by Sept. 30 will receive a free premium edition of the title on the day that it ships this fall.
http://www.konami.com

(Mountain View, Calif.) Social networking site Friendster on Friday launched a promotion for NBC's reality series, "The Apprentice," as all 18 candidates from the upcoming season of the series have now posted member profiles on the site. The site launched a similar promotion last month for Dreamworks' film "Anchorman," creating a user profile based on Will Ferrell's character Ron Burgundy. http://apprentice.friendster.com

(Edison, N.J.) Video game publisher Majesco announced on Friday that it has named Carl Yankowski as its CEO and chairman. Previously, Yankowski served as CEO of handheld maker Palm, Inc. and also as president of Sony Electronics. Former Majesco CEO Jesse Sutton will remain president of the company, while his father Morris Sutton, who founded the company and served as chairman, will become chairman emeritus. New Jersey-based Majesco's titles include "BloodRayne" and "Advent Rising, as well as a video playback accessory for Nintendo Game Boy Advance.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040827/275104_1.html 
http://www.majesco.com

(Burbank, Calif.) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment said on Friday that U.K.-based SCi Games has been licensed to publish "Constantine," a game based on the DC Comics/Vertigo "Hellblazer" graphic novels and upcoming Warner Bros. film. U.K. developer Bits Corp. is currently developing the title for PlayStation 2 and Xbox for release alongside the film in 2005.
http://www.sci.co.uk 
http://www.bitscorp.com 
http://constantinemovie.warnerbros.com

(New York) Proteus, a provider of wireless entertainment and community content, said on Friday that its text messaging applications are being used to power a number of AT&T Wireless' Olympics-related services. D.C.-based Proteus has provided a trivia program, daily text alerts, a "Guess the Gold" contest, and on-air wireless polling on NBC primetime, Bravo and Telemundo. Another service allows users to send fan mail to any U.S. Olympic Team athlete via text messaging.
http://www.proteus.com 
http://www.attwireless.com/usolympics

(Geneva) The World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) domain name dispute arbitration division has ruled in favor of director Spike Lee, and ordered a Filipino website operator that had been directing visitors to SpikeLee.com to a pornographic website to transfer ownership of the domain to Mr. Lee. The WIPO said the cybersquatter registered the domain in bad faith in 1999, and since then has been redirecting surfers from SpikeLee.com to ClubHongKong.com.
http://arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2004/d2004-0483.html 
 
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