iLeads - The New Free LeadCheck Service

pioneer in innovative lead solutions since 1996, today announced the launch of its latest free tool to help lead buyers assess the quality of their purchases in real time. LeadCheck delivers instant, highly relevant information about internet leads from any provider, free of charge.

Covering over 99.8% of US homes, (over 145 million properties), the LeadCheck tool is based on the industry leading data set of CoreLogic, and only requires the street address of the lead (no phone or other lead contact information is required) to run.

?We built LeadCheck, because while most lead aggregators have internal systems to check on their lead quality, until now, the customer had no way to check the 'quality' of their purchase,? said Drew Warmington, founder and Managing Partner of iLeads.com. ?Given that the lead buyer is most at risk, we felt that the he or she should have some of the same ?lead quality? tools that the lead aggregators have available."

Read the rest of press release at  PRWeb

Disney Buys Gaming Startup Playdom

The Walt Disney Company bought social game-startup Playdom in a deal that is potentially worth up to $763.2 million, confirming rumours that began surfacing last week. With this purchase, the era of consolidation in social games seems truly well and underway.

There are signs that the market is quickly maturing and will soon be led by a handful of companies. "FarmVille"-maker Zynga is estimated to be taking in around $500-$700 million in revenue annually and is a constant source of IPO rumors. Last fall social games company Playfish was acquired by Electronic Arts-- one of the biggest videogame-makers--for about $400 million. In February CrowdStar was rumored to be in talks with Microsoft over an acquisition deal that has since reportedly fallen through.

In this latest deal, Disney will initially buy Playdom for $563.2 million but may pay an additional $200 million if the social games-maker reaches certain undisclosed targets. The Mountain View, Calif.-based Playdom is one of the bigger social games-startups and has been able to dominate MySpace with titles like "Mobster." It has also become one of the top social games companies on Facebook despite tough competition from players like Zynga.

Disney in talks to buy gaming start-up Playdom

Walt Disney Co. is is in talks to acquire social gaming start-up Playdom, according to a pair of media reports.

Playdom builds games that run on social networking sites. The company claims more than 38 million monthly active users, and its games include popular titles such as "Mobsters."

The news was first reported Thursday by tech news site TechCrunch.

The Wall Street Journal said Friday that Disney is discussing a deal to buy Playdom for more than $500 million. The report cited people familiar with the matter.

Disney has recently shown interest in expanding its reach beyond traditional video games. Earlier this month, the company bought iPhone app developer Tapulous for an undisclosed amount.

Shares of Disney closed up 1.6 percent, at $34.13, on the New York Stock Exchange

Keep the expenses low to make a startup go

Starting a business can be expensive, as people find when they become entrepreneurs after losing their jobs. But many of these brand-new company owners have also found ways to keep those costs down.

The biggest money saver is working out of your home.

Asking friends and family to refer good but low-cost help, from accountants to graphic artists to lawyers, is another way.

Keeping startup costs down is essential when a business is young and money isn't yet flowing in. But always watching your expenses and being sure they don't get out of hand is a good way to help any company weather the downturns.

"We didn't have a choice" but to keep costs low, said Michael Volpatt, co-owner of the public relations firm Larkin/Volpatt Communications.

"What I've learned in the last 10 years is that financial stability is about sustainability." And that, Volpatt said, means making sure a business isn't ever undermined by costs.

Setting up shop at home is just one of several ways

a cost-cutting entrepreneur can get a venture off the ground

Read the rest of article on chron.com

Times loses almost 90% of online readership

The time has lost almost 90% of its readership since making registration mandatory in June. 

Unregistered users of thetimes.co.uk are now "bounced" to a Times+ membership page where they have to register if they want to view Times content

Data from the web metrics company Experian Hitwise shows that only 25.6% of such users sign up and proceed to a Times web page.

However, some have registered: Dan Sabbagh, formerly the media editor of the Times, suggests that about 150,000 users registered for access to the Times and Sunday Times while they were free, with 15,000 apparently agreeing to pay money.

It is not clear whether the number of people visiting the site will generate enough revenue to justify the experiment ? which Rupert Murdoch says could produce "significant revenues" and, if successful, could see other free-access news websites follow suit.

BSkyB takeover may take one year

News Corp.'s proposed takeover of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc may take up to one year, according to a BSkyB board member.

It may take about 12 months for News Corp. to gain full control of BSkyB, board member Thomas Mockridge said today at a press conference in Italy.

News Corp. and BSkyB have said they plan to work together to seek approval from regulators for a takeover that would be Murdoch's largest acquisition. The process may take six months or more, News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said June 15.

The real message behind the purchase is that Rupert and James believe that pay-TV is the best investment in the media industry, Mockridge, who is also chief executive of Sky Italia SpA, said today. James Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch, is chairman of BSkyB.

BSkyB, the U.K.'s largest pay-TV provider, spurned a 7.8 billion-pound ($11.75 billion) offer from News Corp., the owner of the Wall Street Journal, for the 61 percent stake it doesn't already own. In the U.K., News Corp. owns the Times, Sunday Times and the Sun newspapers.

Separately, Sky Italia, News Corp.'s Italian satellite TV unit, had very strong and positive growth in the quarter ended June. .

Startup Investments Jump 53%

Venture  capitalists  spend more than $6.5 billion  on 905 firms since 08

Venture capitalists funneled more money into U.S. startups in the second quarter, indicating continuing confidence that the economy is on the mend, analysts said.

A study released Friday shows that startup investments in the April-June period climbed 53 percent from the same three months in 2009 to $6.5 billion. This is the most money invested in startups since the third quarter of 2008.

The funding was divided among 906 startups, nearly 29 percent more than a year ago and the largest number since the fourth quarter of 2008.

Funding went to moreseed and early-stage companies than in any quarter since mid-2007. The market for acquisitions and public stock offerings for more mature startups continues to be rough, though

TeamLab New Management And social Networking Platform For Enterprise.

Ascensio System SIA, a developer and owner of TeamLab.com, is launching the new version of TeamLab, a project management and social networking platform for enterprise. The enhanced product with the new feature set is offered in two solutions: as a ready-to-use cloud-based platform and as an open-source alternative to proprietary collaborative software. TeamLab hosted solution is provided absolutely free of charge.

In addition to previously released TM Community module the new version of TeamLab features 2 more new modules - TM Projects and TM Talk - developed for efficient project management and real time communication of employees. TM Projects module allows you to organize business tasks and project milestones, monitor project members activity, share documents and files within a project team. Via TM Talk employees can exchange messages and information instantly. TM Talk can be integrated into most popular IM clients.

Today a great number of companies still lack well-working collaboration schemes inside their teams which leaves space for employee productivity optimization. With this in mind, Ascensio System SIA developed TeamLab in such a way which lets the information flow inside the enterprise portal as smooth as possible. As a result, employees can share information via various means like wiki, bookmarks, discussions, blog posts and photo exchange.

As distinct from known collaboration solutions TeamLab offers its feature-rich, well-organized collaborative tools for free, with no hidden costs or upgrade plans.

View the rest of press release at PRWeb

mywedding.com Introducing More New Guides in Southern California

With the summer wedding season in full swing, mywedding.com, an online wedding planning resource, just added new guides to their continually growing locally-focused database. Online guides are now available for Palm Springs and Riverside/San Bernardino, bringing the total number of mywedding.com unique online vendor resources in California to thirteen. With the new wedding guides catering towards each specific community, mywedding.com connects more engaged couples with unique vendor resources in the Western United States than ever before.

According to the WE tv Networks Wedding Report, nearly 600 weddings will be celebrated in Palm Springs and 3,700 in Riverside/San Bernardino in 2010, with an estimated spend of close to $12 million and $71.5 million, respectively. Due to the growing popularity and convenience of online wedding planning services, mywedding.com?s goal is to not only meet demand in these flourishing markets, but to exceed expectation by making the wedding planning process as easy as possible for their Southern California engaged couples.

The new guides for Palm Springs and Riverside/San Bernardino, California will make finding wedding vendors an engaging and all-encompassing experience for the couple. Katie Lenchuk, Director of Digital Media notes, ?We are thrilled about our additional expansion throughout Southern California. These couples plan wonderful social events - classic, adventurous, yet laid-back. We are here to support them and facilitate the wedding planning process, making it as fun and simple as possible.? The Palm Springs guide, for example, will provide couples terrific options for all of their vendor needs ? from guest lodging options to reception facilities to photographers ? catering specifically to the local area, its best assets and resources.

View the rest of press release at PRWeb

Swipe - Share what you want to buy and find what others are buying around you

Swipe is an easy way to tell your friends what you want to buy and find what they are buying. Swipe helps you shop street smart by giving you access to prices and product reviews recommended by your friends and other people whom you trust. You can share the inside scoop on countless everyday purchases such as food, clothes, gadgets, furniture, books, tickets, gyms, cars, holiday packages, games  etc ,etc. Swipe starts social conversations around purchases and helps you discover prices, deals, opinions, locations, stores, products and shoppers  - all this in a fun and competitive game environment.

Real time local shopping information helps you get an insight into others shopping habits and saves you time and money, by instantly discovering what others are buying around you. Currently real time local shopping information is not available and is walled in and contained between the shopper and a few close friends. 

Swipe disrupts this structure by providing  free, completely transparent, up to date shopping information in your area from people you trust. Swipe provides a fun medium through which you can easily share and access valuable real time local shopping information regarding stores, products, prices, deals and reviews.