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Sorry RIM, it looks like yesterday’s stock bump may be all you get out of these acquisition rumors.

After a note from Jefferies analyst Peter Misek recently pointed to the possibility of Samsung licensing RIM’s nascent BlackBerry 10 platform, Reuters reported earlier today that the Korean electronics giant confirmed that it hasn’t considered either a licensing deal or a full-on buyout.

If this all sounds more than a little familiar, that’s because nearly the exact same sequence of events took place earlier this year.

BGR reported in back January that Samsung was strongly considering a RIM acquisition, though Samsung was quick to shoot that notion down. Then, in March, the two companies were said to be engaged in licensing talks, with Samsung supposedly considering a minority investment in the beleaguered Canadian company. Naturally, that deal was never heard from again.

This time, the RIM/Samsung rumblings began shortly after The Telegraph published an interview with RIM CEO Thorsten Heins in which he alluded (once again) to the possibility of licensing BlackBerry 10 to some capable handset manufacturers.

“You could think about us building a reference system, and then basically licensing that reference design, have others build the hardware around it – either it’s a BlackBerry or it’s something else being built on the BlackBerry platform,” he said. “We’re investigating this and it’s way too early to get into any details.”

While Heins doesn’t mention Samsung explicitly, The Telegraph does, noting that the next BlackBerry smartphone could be built by “Samsung or Sony.” Soon afterward, analyst Misek tried to make that connection more explicit by releasing a note to investors mentioning that the Korean electronics giant would be the company most interested in licensing BlackBerry 10.

To be fair, Samsung tying up with RIM isn’t the most outlandish notion out there — the potential deal probably wouldn’t have made as many headlines as it had if it wasn’t at least somewhat plausible. RIM would get a much-needed shot in the arm when it comes to BlackBerry hardware (from a company that has nailed the sexy, all-touch form factor no less), while Samsung could increase its role in the enterprise market as well as reducing its reliance on Google. For now though, the fabled deal looks like it will remain just that.

Sprint is making solid headway with its new LTE network — it’s already live in 15 (mostly Texan markets) with another four slated to light up before Labor Day rolls around and the carrier aims to have 12,000 LTE sites online by the end of the year.

Sure, the process has been held up at least partially thanks to some damn birds, but now it seems another region should officially get the LTE nod shortly. AndroidPolice reported last night that users in the San Francisco Bay Area have been able to get up and running on Sprint’s nascent LTE network ahead of an official announcement.

This isn’t the first time that Bay Area Sprint customers have caught a glimpse of Sprint’s new 4G network at work — some people reported seeing 4G icons appearing on their LTE devices back in early July — but it’s finally gotten to the point where people can actually use the network. Suffice it to say that the network probably isn’t ready for prime time just yet, but initial speed tests seem promising enough.

Android Police’s tipster reported seeing speeds of roughly 13MBps down and 8MBps up around Palo Alto and Mountain View. Not shabby at all, but that could all change once Sprint makes its official announcement (rumors point to a November reveal) and users tempted by sweet new hardware start piling onto the network. If you’re in the area and have a compatible handset, I’d advise you to take it for a spin before then, if only you so can play the hipster card and claim to have been on Sprint’s LTE network before it went big.

According to Business Insider sources, Apple is in talks to acquire social commerce site The Fancy in a move meant to kickstart the tech giant’s nascent general e-commerce business.

Sure, the Pebble has nabbed its share of headlines and accolades lately, but that doesn’t mean it’s got the nascent smart watch market all sewed up. Case in point: veteran MetaWatch recently pulled back the curtains on its new Strata smart watch, and it’s already picking up plenty of steam on (where else?) Kickstarter.

Unlike some of the other smartwatch concepts that have been dreamed up in recent months, the Strata is the brainchild of a known quantity. MetaWatch has been tackling the problem of putting topical information on people’s wrists for nearly eight years now — the company’s roots lay with the clothing and accessory mavens at Fossil, which produced a pair of fashion-conscious smart timepieces in May 2011 before the team split off and formed their own company that August. Since then that team has been working on developer-oriented smart watches, but now they’re ready to bring the Strata to the masses.

Conceptually, the Strata doesn’t stray too far from the models that preceded it. In short, the watch connects to a compatible iDevice or Android handset via Bluetooth and provides call information, text messages, and weather updates at a glance. Thanks to MetaWatch’s SDKs and open-sourced software developers can tap into the Strata with apps that live directly on handset it’s connected to. A few nifty add-ons like an integrated running app, music controls, and an alert that warns users when they’ve wandered away from their phones rounds out the (rather handsome) package.

Where the Strata really bucks the trend it helped start is its strong focus on iOS support, and specifically support for iOS6. Take a look at the watch’s Kickstarter demo video to see what I mean — go ahead, I’ll wait.

Yep, there’s nary a mention of Android to be found. That’s not to say that the Strata will leave Android users behind. MetaWatch’s earlier development units were meant to be used with Android devices, and the project’s description notes that the Strata already works with devices like the Galaxy Nexus. There’s no word yet on what other specific models the Strata will play nice with, but apparently most Android handsets running on 2.1 or later should do the job.

Then again, that iOS push may be a savvier move than it appears at first glance. Huge consumer electronics companies like Motorola and Sony have thrown their gauntlets into the wrist-mounted display ring with devices that link up to their respective Android smartphones, with varying (and not very considerable) degrees of popularity. Apple’s hardware ecosystem on the other hand hasn’t yet played home to this sort of wearable device, and the Strata’s novelty and utility may be enough to inspire a new generation of iPhone-toting wrist-glancers.

So far, the Strata’s Kickstarter campaign seems to be moving at a steady clip — the project only went live yesterday morning and at time of writing 361 backers have chipped in a total of $62,000 to help MetaWatch’s latest make the leap from prototype to product. If this sort of momentum keeps up, we should be looking at a fully-funded project before Monday rolls around, but with tremendous popularity comes tremendous pressure — the team behind the record-breaking Pebble smart watch recently announced that they wouldn’t be able to stick to their original September launch window.

Coincidentally, MetaWatch also aims to push out its first Stratas to Kickstarter backers in September, and there’s word of a retail push in the works too. We’ll soon see if demand for this little guy reaches the same fever pitch that propelled the Pebble to the top of the Kickstarter charts, but for now you may want to lock one down before they’re all gone — a first-run Strata can be had for $159, while developer-oriented packages and special edition variants can cost as much as $299.

Car sharing is suddenly a hot topic and a number of startups like Getaround, Wheelz and JustShareIt are trying to capture a slice of this nascent market. San Francisco-based RelayRides just leapfrogged quite a few of these by partnering with General Motor’s OnStar service. Using OnStar’s proprietary API, which will become available to other developers later this summer, the RelayRides’ potential users now include the millions of Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC owners who will now be able to rent out their cars “without the hassle of installing expensive aftermarket hardware or having to meet a renter to hand off keys.”

The company first announced its plans to work with GM last year, but it took the service a bit to make this service available. The two parties did not disclose the specific financial details of their partnership

For those who want to rent one of these GM cars, renting a RealyRides vehicle will be about as easy to use as a ZipCar. OnStar’s API provides RelayRides with location information and remote door lock and unlock features, making the process hassle-free for owners and renters.

Owners, who can add their cars to the service for free, receive 60% of the reservation fee and 100% of any gas charges and excess mileage. Those who decide to rent out their cars are also automatically protected through a $1 million insurance policy that protects them from lawsuits for injuries and property damage while the car is rented (renters are covered by a $300,000 policy). RelayRides also says that it will pay for standard comprehensive insurance and collision losses.

It’s worth noting that RelayRides itself won’t use OnStar’s location features to allow owners to track their cars while they are rented. It also asks those owners who use the OnStar Family Link feature, which does allow them to track a car, to disclose this to their renters and the company asks them not to use the service during the rental periods.

RelayRides has received $13 million in venture capital from a range of well-known investment firms, including Google Ventures, Shasta Ventures and General Motors Ventures (the last one surely helped to get the company access to OnStar).

According to RealyRides’ own data, the company added more vehicles to its fleet last month than Getaround and Wheelz combined. Almost 30% of the company’s users currently hail from California, while just 10% come from Massachusetts and 8% from New York.

A piece of legislation designed to make crowdfunding a legal option for startups will be passed into law as President Barack Obama plans to sign the JOBS Act Thursday, VentureBeat has confirmed.

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act has already successfully made its way through the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives, with some modifications, and will allow startups raising $1 million or less to let regular Joes and Janes (read: non-accredited investors) purchase a limited amount of equity in their nascent businesses via approved portals.

The legislation also eliminates the 500-sharehoulder rule, meaning that startups can wait longer before needing to publicly report financial data to the SEC and hold off on forced public offerings.

“On Thursday, the President will sign the Jobs Act,” press deputy secretary Josh Earnest said in a press gaggle on Friday.

News of the JOBS Act imminent approval started spreading on Twitter Saturday afternoon when Aol co-founder, Revolution CEO, and JOBS Act proponent Steve Case tweeted the revelation.

The entrepreneur-friendly initiative flew through the Senate with a 73 to 26 passing vote, and the revised law passed in the House with a 380 to 41 overwhelming majority. The legislation, popular with Democratic and Republican political parties alike, was already known to be supported by the White House and President Obama.

“The JOBS Act will help revitalize an IPO market that has suffered in recent years under the weight of market volatility and one-size-fits-all regulation,” Highland Capital general partner and National Venture Capital Association chair Paul Maeder said in a previous statement. “The passage of this legislation sends a strong and welcome signal to our most promising companies that the U.S. capital markets system is open for business.”

Filed under: VentureBeat

Rihanna’s “We Found Love” was the most-listened to song on Facebook for 2011.

Granted, the whole listening-to-songs-on-Facebook thing is still a nascent feature at the beginning of 2012. But Rihanna’s digital team tapped AgencyNet to do some online promotion for her new album, and the Facebook title ended up being the pièce de résistance.

In this clip, AgencyNet executive vice president Alex Morrison joins VentureBeat for a casual chat about how musicians and techies are meeting in the middle over Facebook’s new music-sharing, listen-along features.

Filed under: media, VentureBeat, video

You’ve heard the same terms we have in recent years: Content marketing, branded content, custom publishing, or – the least favorite one I heard recently – corporate content creation. Ugh.

OK, so the semantics are less than inspired – no big surprise there. But the opportunity all those terms point at is indeed a big one.  In the age of ubiquitous digital media, companies from kitchen-table startups to Fortune 500s are making a huge shift — from advertorial to editorial, from spectator to player, by discovering the power and potential of original content.  Where would Groupon be without the creative chops of its writers?

As ill-defined as content marketing might be at this nascent stage, defining success in this new discipline is no simple task either. But there are some guiding principles we think everyone should agree on. Here are a few we believe in at Orginal9.
Via original9.com

You’ve heard the same terms we have in recent years: Content marketing, branded content, custom publishing, or – the least favorite one I heard recently – corporate content creation. Ugh.

OK, so the semantics are less than inspired – no big surprise there. But the opportunity all those terms point at is indeed a big one.  In the age of ubiquitous digital media, companies from kitchen-table startups to Fortune 500s are making a huge shift — from advertorial to editorial, from spectator to player, by discovering the power and potential of original content.  Where would Groupon be without the creative chops of its writers?

As ill-defined as content marketing might be at this nascent stage, defining success in this new discipline is no simple task either. But there are some guiding principles we think everyone should agree on. Here are a few we believe in at Orginal9.
Via original9.com