Internet & Media

New Zealander and former decathlete Sean Gourley says it's only a matter of time before his company Quid will know more than the United States government. "How much is information worth?" he asked rhetorically during at a recent lunch meeting with CNET, as he showed off Quid's software that uses data, math, and visualizations to help clients make billion-dollar decisions.

Based on today's news from the company, the answer to Gourley's question is "a lot." Quid announced it has secured $10 million in series C funding from some heavyweights in the Silicon … Read more

Netflix said today that it "hates" upsetting customers by raising prices as much as 60 percent and acknowledged that the customer backlash to the rate hike would likely stifle growth and hurt earnings in the short term.

But in the long run, Netflix expects the price hike to yield some important benefits and may help the company hit a key benchmark: generate $1 billion in revenue during a single quarter. No doubt, many Netflix subscribers won't be impressed with that figure since some of that money will be coming out of their pockets. For people who hoped Netflix would reverse its decision on the price increase, the company's remarks suggest that isn't going to happen. … Read more

Netflix's financial performance was mixed in the period leading up to a controversial decision to raise prices by 60 percent, but investors didn't like the look of the company's future.

The video-rental service reported earnings for the second quarter after the close of trading today and said revenue came in at $789 million, a 52-percent jump from the year-ago period but still shy of the $791 million analysts had expected.

To make matters worse, Netflix said it expected to report earnings for the current quarter between 72 cents and $1.07 cents a share. That is less … Read more

A major U.K. retailer has exposed pictures and previously unannounced details of Sony's next-generation Walkman.

Play.com set up a placeholder for the upcoming NWZ-A860 series, revealing a device that appears to differ greatly in design than its predecessors. This Walkman looks wider and curvier, and the circular button arrangement of yesteryear is replaced by a single half-moon-shaped Home button.

A large bezel surrounds the 3.4-inch OLED touch screen, as confirmed by a CNET source familiar with the device who asked not to be named. … Read more

Amy Winehouse is dead.

That means everyone who has music of hers to sell will try to do everything to sell that music.

However, so often in this world, how you sell something really does matter. So when the person behind Microsoft's U.K. PR Twitter account, Tweetbox360, decided to send out a tweet Sunday, only potential purchasers could decide whether it was in perfect taste.

The tweet read: "Remember Amy Winehouse by downloading the ground-breaking 'Back to Black' over at Zune:social.zune.net/album/Amy-Wine..."

Yes, it was hard to get it all into 140 … Read more

LinkedIn has launched a new feature that gives job seekers another way to apply for a position.

The new "Apply with LinkedIn" plug-in can be added to company Web sites and allows job applicants to share their LinkedIn profiles to apply for a position. Upon clicking the button on an employer's site, applicants can edit their profile before submitting it. To save applicants time, the plug-in culls data from the user's profile and automatically populates the company's online employment application with that information.

To check on submissions, applicants can go to their LinkedIn profiles and … Read more

Airbnb, an online marketplace where travelers can find and book places to stay around the world, has picked up $112 million in financing, a move designed to help it grow in the U.S. and abroad.

The company will use the $112 million in Series B financing from investors Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, and General Catalyst to enhance its U.S. online community and expand and hire more people internationally. This latest round of capital adds to the $7.2 million raised on behalf of Sequoia Capital and Greylock in November, bringing the total investment to $119.8 million.

Airbnb … Read more

Updated 3:50 p.m. PT to reflect Barnes & Noble updating its Nook iOS apps.

Apple has finally brought the hammer down on e-reader apps, enforcing its new in-app subscription rules that require app developers to strip out any links to external mechanisms for purchasing digital books or subscriptions.

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Canada-based Kobo have all updated their iOS e-reader apps, with Barnes & Noble temporarily removing its Nook for iPad app from the App Store and sending out a press release late in the afternoon saying it would soon update the app to offer the "… Read more

Facebook's long-awaited iPad app might actually be hidden in the company's latest iPhone app update, TechCrunch is reporting.

According to the blog, Facebook's latest update to its iPhone app, version 3.4.4, includes executable code that allows users with jailbroken iPads to access and use the social network's full, native tablet application.

A Facebook iPad app has topped the wish lists of the social network's users for quite some time. The company currently offers full-featured smartphone applications across several different operating systems, including iOS and Android, but iPad owners need to access Facebook via … Read more