Second Life CEO goes virtual shopping
Mark Kingdon, chief executive of Linden Lab, has announced two acquisitions that should further his strategy of making the Second Life virtual world more user-friendly, while cashing in on the booming virtual goods market.
The San Francisco-based company said it had bought for undisclosed sums the Xstreet SL and OnRez website-based marketplaces for virtual goods. Read more
Microsoft’s money backs an IBM adversary – again
Whenever a significant legal challenge is filed against IBM, it seems you don’t have to scratch the surface much to find Microsoft lurking somewhere in the background.
Take the complaint that has just been filed with the European Commission against IBM’s mainframe monopoly. T3, the Florida company that brought the case, was the recipient of a Microsoft investment just two months ago. Read more
An Obamaramic inauguration realised
As we noted last week, today’s inauguration of President Obama is likely “to be the most photographed and filmed event of all time, thanks to the addition of user-generated content on the web.” The early results are in, and at first glance they are quite impressive.
Google’s GeoEye, the satellite it uses to create Google Maps and Google Earth, captured the estimated two-to-four million people on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
