Local investors to run Philadelphia Wi-Fi network
Written by admin on June 18, 2008 – 2:45 am -
PHILADELPHIA - A group of local investors said Tuesday they have bought Philadelphia’s wireless Internet network, a week after EarthLink Inc. gave up on the system because it failed to make a profit.
The investors said they plan to form a for-profit company that will provide businesses both wired, high-speed Internet access and wireless service. They also plan to maintain the citywide wireless network Earthlink Inc. built for $17 million and offer wireless service free to consumers.
EarthLink has pulled out of several markets, including New Orleans and San Francisco, because it couldn’t make money from Wi-Fi networks it was building.
And on Friday, MetroFi plans to pull the plug on a free, ad-supported Internet service in Portland, Ore. As had been the case in Philadelphia, neither the city nor any private company has stepped in to buy Portland’s network.
Earthlink’s service didn’t attract enough customers in Philadelphia to be financially viable because of connection problems, poor customer service and prices that weren’t much cheaper than competitive DSL services.
The Philadelphia investors said they are still working out details of their business plan, but in general, they hope to build a new wired network and provide both wired and wireless Internet access to businesses and institutions such as hospitals.
They did say they purchased the network from Earthlink, but they did not disclose the terms of the deal. Earthlink has withdrawn a lawsuit that sought to remove its wireless equipment from streetlights across Philadelphia and cap its liability for the network.
Tags: Fi, investors, Local, network, Philadelphia, run, to, Wi
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High hopes: VCs betting LinkedIn worth $1 billion
Written by admin on June 18, 2008 – 2:43 am -
SAN FRANCISCO - Four venture capital firms are betting Internet startup LinkedIn Corp. is worth $1 billion, highlighting the lofty hopes riding on online services that connect people with their friends, family and business associates.
The 10-figure valuation is implied by a $53 million investment being announced Wednesday from Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.
The investors received a combined 5 percent stake in Mountain View-based LinkedIn, whose 5-year-old Web site helps people use the Web to advance their professional careers.
It’s one of the richest appraisals for a Silicon Valley startup since Microsoft Corp. paid $240 million for 1.6 percent of Facebook Inc. late last year. That deal valued Palo Alto-based Facebook and its online hangout at $15 billion.
The Facebook financing in turn helped several other startups that promote online socializing to promote themselves.
Ning Inc. and Slide Inc. wrangled implied valuations ranging between $500 million and $560 million when investors poured more money into them earlier this year, while RockYou was valued between $200 million and $300 million in a deal completed last week.
Venture capitalists are counting on the services to mine more advertising revenue from their rapidly growing audiences even as much of the U.S. economy is withering.
But finding an effective advertising approach has been tricky for the top social networks.
Privacy complaints prompted Facebook to rein in a marketing tool that tracked its members’ activities on other Web sites. Even Internet search and advertising leader Google Inc. has had trouble peddling products and services to denizens of the Web’s largest social network, News Corp.’s MySpace.
LinkedIn believes its emphasis on connecting executives, other ambitious employees and deal makers gives it a demographic edge over more recreational Internet networks that cater to students and other less-affluent consumers.
“If LinkedIn is able to achieve its goals and objectives in the coming years, this valuation of a billion dollars will be looked upon as very cheap,” predicted Mark Kvamme, a Sequoia Capital partner and a member of LinkedIn’s board of directors.
Sequoia, Greylock and Bessemer invested in LinkedIn prior to the latest financing round. Including the latest infusion, LinkedIn has raised a total of $80 million.
About 23 million people in 150 countries have set up profiles on LinkedIn so far, with another 1.2 million members signing up each month.
Tags: 1, betting, billion, high, hopes, LinkedIn, VCs, worth
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Gateway releases slew of new desktops, offers something for everyone
Written by admin on May 6, 2008 – 4:09 am -
Do you absolutely love Gateway desktops? If you said yes, prepare to be seriously stoked. The company is releasing a slew of new systems this week, ranging from cheapos starter to pretty heavily equipped gaming / multimedia models. We’ve got all the info that’s fit to print (and frankly, some that isn’t), and we’ve rounded up the basic specs and features after the break. Enjoy!
FX7026
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 CPU Overclocked NVIDIA 8800GT graphics chipset 4GB of RAM 640GB hard drive $1,099.99 Available at retail locations
GT5670, GT5674, GT5676 and GT5678
AMD Phenom quad core, or triple core processors 3GB or 4GB of RAM 320GB to 750GB hard drive capacities NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE or ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics chipsets $549.99 to $849.99 Available at retail locations
FX541
NVIDIA SLI-capable motherboard Dual PCIe x16 slots with SLI support $1,199.99 Available online
FX541XT
Factory overclocked CPU
NVIDIA SLI-capable motherboard Dual NVIDIA 8800 GT factory overclocked video cards in SLI mode $3,499.99 Available online
DX442
Intel Pentium Dual-Core, Intel Core 2 Duo, or Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Intel G33 chipset with GMA X3100 Graphics 2GB or 3GB of RAM 320GB or 500GB hard drives $549.99 to $999.99 Available online
Tags: DX442, FX541, FX541XT, FX7026, gateway, GT5670, GT5674, GT5676, GT5678
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