Megaupload users could soon lose all their files
Tech news from around the web:
People who used Megaupload to store files – legitimate or otherwise – could soon find their data has been deleted altogether, reports the WSJ. Federal prosecutors bringing a huge criminal copyright infringement action against the file-sharing site have written to the Virginia judge overseeing the case, saying: “It is our understanding that the hosting companies may begin deleting the contents of the servers beginning as early as February 2, 2012.” Read more
Internet companies dominate EU fundraising in January
Online shopping and renting out spare capacity in flats and cars appeared to be the investment themes in Europe in January, with consumer-facing internet companies once again getting the majority of the money and attention.
Berlin was the fundraising hot-spot with at least four start-ups raising money, from $50m for SoundCloud to a more modest $1.4m for Gidsy.
This is the first of a series of monthly updates on the early-stage technology companies raising money in Europe.
Facebook’s stock market launch is biggest test yet for the social network phenomenon. Can the young company, whose rapid expansion has often struck jarring notes over issues such as user privacy, live up to the huge expectations that could peg its valuation as high as $100bn? April Dembosky investigates as Facebook hurtles towards 1bn users.
New Apple store chief is Dixons CEO
Apple has finally named a successor to Ron Johnson as head of its retail store operation, choosing John Browett, chief executive of the British electronics retailer Dixons.
Mr Browett (pictured left) will join in April as senior vice president of Retail, reporting to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Mr Johnson was named last June as the new chief executive of JC Penney, the US department store chain. Read more
European VC investments hit 11-year low
Venture capital investors appear to be growing increasingly wary of European companies. In 2011, they put just E4.4bn into 1,012 start-ups in the region, a 14 per cent drop from the previous year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
This was the lowest annual deal count since Dow Jones began tracking investments in Europe in 2000. Read more
Apple has done it again. For a brief moment last week, following the announcement that it beat quarterly forecasts with record numbers, the Silicon Valley company once again became the world’s most valuable company.
This time, though, things were different, with Tim Cook, who took over as Apple’s chief executive from co-founder Steve Jobs, now at the helm. Read more
Dropcam HD adds extra sound and vision
Dropcam released a new version of its Wi-Fi security webcam at the Consumer Electronics Show this month and while it is due to go on sale on Tuesday, the company says it is currently sold out and orders placed will not ship till late March.
In which case, I am one of the lucky ones to try out a Dropcam HD, although, while it is a big improvement on its predecessor, I also had some reservations when testing it. Read more
Kim Dotcom actually owns kim.com
A week on from his spectacular arrest, fascination with Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom shows no sign of abating.
One nugget which hasn’t yet been noted: the German-born hacker does actually own the domain name kim.com. Read more
Twitter selectively gags the little blue bird
Twitter has gained something of a reputation for standing up for internet users against institutional authority, for instance in fighting a gag order in the Wikileaks case.
But even Twitter has to bow to censorship sometimes. 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.
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