archives

o New Media Firm SportVision Raises $25.5 Million In Third Round
o German Agency Asks Bertelsmann To Halt Anti-Semitic Napster Songs
o Interactive TV Developer ACTV Files Patent Suit Against Disney
o Z.com Sues Comedian Chris Rock Over Undelivered Content
o Digital Rights Manager InterTrust Acquires Video Rights Firm PassEdge
o GameSpy To Acquire Assets Of Voice Technology Provider HearMe
o Briefly Noted: ZapMedia - Harman Kardon, Featurewell.com, Digital
Projection - Sundance Film Festival, MoodLogic - Sam's Online -
Discoweb.com, CountryRadio.com
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> Job Postings: Software Developer, Technology Manager, SW & FPGA Engineers, Sales Rep., PR Professionals

> Events: Master the Technology, Potomac Tech Wire Seminar Series, iHollywood Forum

Full Job/Event descriptions listed below "Briefly Noted" section or at
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/postings.html

To Post a Job: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html
To Post an Event: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
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o New Media Firm SportVision Raises $25.5 Million In Third Round

New York -- SportVision, a developer of complementary new media content
for sporting events, announced that it has raised $25.5 million in its
third round of venture capital financing. New investor Motorola Ventures
led the round, joined by other new investors AIG Global Sports and
Entertainment Fund and ACTV. Previous investors Prospect Street Ventures,
RRE Ventures, Bay Partners and Orion Partners also contributed. New
York-based SportVision develops technological enhancements to sports
broadcasts that are used both on television and the Internet. The company
came up with the idea for the "1st & Ten" digital marker line that appears
on viewers' screens during football broadcasts. SportVision also develops
3D representations of players used by the networks during their broadcasts
and on websites.
http://www.sportvision.com/archive.asp?id=84
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o German Agency Asks Bertelsmann To Halt Anti-Semitic Napster Songs

Hanover, Germany -- Germany's internal security agency has asked
Bertelsmann to use its position as partner with music file-trading service
Napster to stop the exchange of anti-Semitic songs, according to a Reuters
report. "Napster is a particular challenge because with it, everyone has
access to skinhead and Nazi music with its incitement to hatred and its
appalling anti-Semitic content," said agency spokesman Ruediger Hesse, in
the report. Bertelsmann has partnered with Redwood City-based Napster to
develop a membership-based file-trading service that will compensate
copyright holders. "Napster is, like any Internet provider or the post
office, merely the transport platform," said Andreas Schmidt, head of
Bertelsmann's eCommerce unit. Schmidt also noted that Bertelsmann is
merely an investor in the company.
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/764431l.htm
http://www.napster.com
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o Interactive TV Developer ACTV Files Patent Suit Against Disney

New York -- ACTV, a developer of technology for interactive television,
announced on Wednesday that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit
against The Walt Disney Company. The suit alleges Disney's Enhanced TV
technology infringes on patents held by New York-based ACTV. The lawsuit
seeks a permanent injunction and undisclosed monetary damages. Enhanced TV
is web content that complements television broadcasts in real-time, and is
used on Disney-owned ABC's "Monday Night Football" and "Who Wants to be a
Millionaire," and ESPN's "Sunday Night Football." ACTV said that Enhanced
TV infringes on patents associated with its Hyper TV product, which is
being used to complement broadcasts of programs including Turner
Broadcasting's WCW Thunder. The company also pointed out that it "offers
fair and reasonable licensing terms under its patents to providers of
enhanced media programming, like ABC and ESPN."
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001220/ny_actv.html
http://www.actv.com
http://www.hypertv.com
http://heavy.etv.go.com/etvHome/mil/
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o Z.com Sues Comedian Chris Rock Over Undelivered Content

New York -- Entertainment site Z.com has filed a lawsuit against comedian
Chris Rock, seeking the return of over $1 million paid to Rock for website
content he failed to develop, Inside.com reported. Burbank-based Z.com's
suit says that it entered into a preliminary agreement with the comedian
and paid him a fee of $1.075 million. Rock allegedly did not negotiate a
final agreement or return the fee. Z.com features content produced by
celebrities including director Oliver Stone, producer Jerry Bruckheimer
and Ellen DeGeneres.
http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=18674&pod_id=10
http://www.z.com/zframesite.zml?siteurl=http%3A//chrisrock.z.com/&category=281
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o Digital Rights Manager InterTrust Acquires Video Rights Firm PassEdge

Santa Clara -- InterTrust, a developer of digital rights management
technology, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired the assets of
PassEdge Corporation, a provider of digital rights for video broadcasting
over the Internet. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Oregon-based PassEdge's technology provides security to providers of
subscription and pay-per-view services for both streaming and downloaded
video. This combination "will allow content owners and service providers
such as satellite, cable and DSL providers to quickly enter the market for
video -- be it subscription, pay-per-view or purchase -- with the
confidence that they are using the best DRM technology," said Ed Fish,
chief business officer of InterTrust.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/001220/ca_intertr.html
http://www.intertrust.com
http://www.passedge.com
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o GameSpy To Acquire Assets Of Voice Technology Provider HearMe

Mountain View, Calif. -- GameSpy, a developer of online games and operator
of gaming portal Gamespy.com, announced on Wednesday that it will acquire
assets of HearMe, a provider of voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP)
technology. Assets to be acquired include the company's Mplayer.com game
community site. Terms of the transaction include a combination of cash, a
promissory note, and stock by which HearMe will acquire a 10 percent stake
in Irvine-based GameSpy. The deal is expected to close in the first
quarter of 2001. Mountain View-based HearMe develops technology that
allows computers to be used as telephones, utilizing a computer's unique
IP address as the "telephone number." The company has developed a gaming
community, Mplayer.com, which utilizes this voice technology. In addition
to selling these assets, HearMe also announced a restructuring that will
focus its business solely on licensing its VoIP technology. As a result,
the company will lay off 100 of its 225 employees, or 44% of its entire
workforce. "It makes strategic sense for HearMe to focus all of our
development, sales and marketing efforts on one core business," said Rob
Csongor, CEO of HearMe.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001220/ca_hearme__3.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001220/ca_hearme.html
http://www.gamespy.com
http://www.hearme.com
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o Briefly Noted:

(Atlanta) ZapMedia, developer of devices that can play DVDs and CDs, as
well as access and store music and video from the web, announced on
Wednesday a partnership with consumer electronics manufacturer Harman
Kardon. Under the agreement, Washington, D.C-based Harman Kardon will
manufacture a consumer electronics product based on Atlanta-based
ZapMedia's convergence technology. The device will connect to televisions
and home stereos and play CDs and DVDs. It will also connect to the
Internet through a high-speed Ethernet connection or dialup and can
download, store and play MP3 and video files that are saved to the
device's 30GB hard drive. Harman Kardon has also designed speakers used
with Apple's iMac computers.
http://www.zapmedia.com/html/press/HKnews.htm
http://www.harman.com

(New York) Featurewell.com, an online syndicator of journalism content,
announced on Wednesday that it has reached syndication agreements with
Reason Magazine, Poets & Writers Magazine, ForeWord Magazine and
Ironminds.com. New York-based Featurewell.com provides articles from 200
authors on topics including politics, culture, health, science, sex,
business and technology for editors to purchase and re-use.
http://www.featurewell.com
http://www.reason.com 
http://www.ForeWordmagazine.com
http://www.pw.org/
http://www.ironminds.com

(Kennesaw, Ga.) Digital Projection, Inc., a subsidiary of IMAX
Corporation, announced on Wednesday that it will provide over 20 of its
digital projectors to screen digital films at the upcoming Sundance Film
Festival. Georgia-based Digital Projection manufactures projectors based
on technology from Texas Instruments that increases the amount of light
that is projected, sufficient to screen a film in a theater.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001220/ga_digital.html
http://www.digitalprojection.com/
http://www.sundance.org

(San Francisco) MoodLogic, a provider of music search and recommendation
technology based on a user's "mood," announced on Wednesday that two
retailers have implemented custom versions of its technology on their
websites. Visitors to Canada-based Sam's Online and Spain-based Discoweb
can receive music recommendations based on how other users react
emotionally to a database of 500,000 songs.
http://www.moodlogic.com
http://www.samtherecordman.com
http://www.discoweb.com

(Denver, Colo.) Fahrenheit Entertainment, an operator of several country
music record labels, announced on Wednesday the launch of
CountryRadio.com, a streaming country music channel. Denver-based
Fahrenheit Entertainment recently announced that it would use technology
from Phoenix-based SunnComm to include anti-piracy security on all of its
future album releases, which prevents users from "ripping" the discs to
create MP3 files of songs from the album.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/001220/co_fahrenh.html
http://www.fahrenheitentertainment.com/
http://www.countryradio.com

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Job Postings:
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To Post Jobs: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html

> MultiVideo Channel One, Inc. (MVC1), Software Developer - Washington DC

Software Developer needed to design video compression software that
delivers digital video files via the Internet. MVC1 offers a national
television broadcast and a new Internet media platform for distributing
traditional and new interactive content.
Send resumes to kwhite@mvc1.com
http://www.mvc1.com
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> Washingtonpost.com, Technology Manager

Washingtonpost.com, the region's most popular destination for everything
Washington, is seeking a Technology Manager. Join our hot team of
professionals and enjoy advanced classes in the latest technologies,
networking at industry events, working for a solid world-class
organization with a future, and making your mark on our award-winning
website. Send resumes to jobstech@wpni.com or visit
http://www.washingtonpost.com and click on Join Us.
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> Convergent Companies, Inc., SW & FPGA Engineers - Greenbelt, MD

We are developing break-through video compression technologies for the
Internet and are looking for FPGA and Software engineers with 1-8 yrs
experience. BSEE/CS familiarity with C++, image processing, object
programming. FPGA position, exp FPGA programming, DSP architectures esp
w/Xilinx. Check out Employment section of our website for details.
Send resumes to jobs@convergentcompanies.com
http://www.convergentcompanies.com
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> Intervise, Sales Representative - DC Metro

Responsible for selling IT Consulting Services to Fortune 1000 companies
and Internet startups. Sales Professional must have 3+ years experience in
selling IT Professional Services. Package includes base salary and
commissions, 401K and Health and Dental insurance.
Send resumes to cgriesbach@intervise.com
http://www.intervise.com
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> KG Communications, Public Relations Professionals - McLean, VA

KG Communications specializes in launching start-ups in the telecom field.
Opportunities exist for candidates with strong writing and communications
skills, knowledge of high-tech trade & business media, analysts and
events. A minimum 3 years' experience in high-tech PR-telecom a plus.
Highly competitive compensation, benefits and perks.
Send resumes to kay.handrahan@kgcom.com

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Event Postings:
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To Post Events: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html

> Master the Technology that is Changing the World - GW Virginia Campus

The George Washington University School of Engineering and Applied Science
will hold an informational session at the Virginia Campus in Ashburn from
6-8 p.m. on January 11th . This is a great opportunity to find out about
cutting edge graduate engineering degree programs including: Computer
Security and Information Assurance; Multimedia, Animation, Graphics and
User Interfaces; Software Engineering and Systems; Computer Architecture,
Networks, Parallel and Distributed Computing; Wireless and Mobile
Networks; Telecommunications and Computers. Contact: scason@va.gwu.edu
http://www.seasva.gwu.edu
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> Potomac Tech Wire Seminar Series: Doing Business with Israel

Sponsor: Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. On Thursday, Jan. 11, Potomac Tech
Wire and Jones Day will host a panel discussion on DC technology firms
doing business with Israel. Panelists include: Daniel Epstein, Executive
Director of US-Israeli Business Exchange; Emanuel Friedman, Chairman and
Co-CEO of Friedman, Billings & Ramsey; Philip Garfunkle, Former President
of Yazam; Stephan Mallenbaum, Partner, Jones Day (Moderator); Additional
Panelists To Be Determined. When: 7:30-8:00 a.m. - Registration and
Breakfast; 8:00-9:30 a.m. - Panel Discussion and Q&A; Where: McLean
Hilton.
To Register for this Event: http://www.potomactechwire.com/Israel.htm
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> iHollywood Forum: How Adult Entertainment Profits From the Internet

Whatever one's attitude toward adult entertainment, one fact is
undeniable: it's the only segment of the entertainment industry that
consistently makes money on the Internet. Panelists include: Larry Flynt,
Publisher of Hustler Magazine; Gail Harris, CEO and President of Falcon
Foto; David Schlesinger, Vice President of Internet Marketing at Vivid
Video; Fred Lane, Author of "Obscene Profits: The Entrepreneurs of
Pornography in the Cyber Age" (Routledge 2000); Mike Rick, Co-founder of
Cybersynergism (Webmaster Superstore for Online Adult Entertainment) and
kSEXRadio.com. When: Wednesday January 17, 6:00 pm-10pm; Where: Santa
Monica Doubletree.
To Register: http://www.ihollywoodforum.com/new/events/jan17_2001.htm
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