acquisition

Now we're talking: Amazon buys text-to-speech provider Ivona

Amazon has acquired text-to-speech technology provider Ivona Software for an undisclosed amount, broadening its in-house capabilities as the Internet retailer continues to push its tablet business.

The two companies have collaborated in the past, Amazon noted, with Ivona's technology powering the text-to-speech, voice guide, and explore-by-touch features on Kindle Fire tablets.

In addition, Poland-based Ivona delivers text-to-speech products and services to thousands of developers, businesses, and customers around the world. It offers voice and language portfolios with 44 voices in 17 languages, and it's developing even more.

Amazon has been expanding its tablet business to take on companies … Read more

Yahoo buys Snip.it, a Pinterest clone for content curators

Update, 3:20 p.m. PT: Snip.it confirmed that it was acquired by Yahoo. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Yahoo has acquired Snip.it, a Pinterest-like service for saving articles to collections and sharing them with groups.

Yahoo is paying "mid teens" of millions of dollars for the content discovery site and will announce the deal this week, according to AllThingsD, which cited sources familiar with the deal.

Snip.it was founded by Ramy Adeeb, a former principal at Khosla Ventures, to help people better collect and share content -- articles, images, and videos -- … Read more

Shutterfly picks up cloud-based image-storing site ThisLife

Shutterfly announced today that it has acquired cloud-based image-storing service ThisLife.

ThisLife is a lesser-known service for users who want to store photos and videos on the Web. Upon uploading videos or images to ThisLife, users can organize them into events or categories and share them with others. Shutterfly didn't say how much it acquired ThisLife for, but the company noted that the deal will enhance its own services.

According to Shutterfly, in the coming months, it will incorporate ThisLife's storage and sharing features into its own platform. Users will be able to add photos from a host … Read more

Dropbox snaps up cloud-based photo organizer Snapjoy

Dropbox is continuing to reveal its interest in getting into the online photo sharing space. The latest piece of evidence is the acquisition of Snapjoy, a startup that provides a cloud-based photo library.

For reference, Snapjoy's platform can be used to collect photos from a multiude of online and offline sources (i.e., Flickr, desktops, an iPhone, etc.) to be stored in a cloud-based account. Users can elect to share some or all photos, either via invite to select friends or on social networks.

One of the differences that Snapjoy aimed to convey is that its elegant photo stream … Read more

Best Buy founder will make buyout offer by tomorrow -- report

Best Buy's Richard Schulze is ready to make his buyout bid for the company he founded.

By the end of this week, Schulze is expected to make a $5 billion to $6 billion offer for Best Buy, the Star Tribune is reporting, citing unidentified sources who claim to have knowledge of his plans. Last week, Schulze reportedly inked deals with private equity firms and bankers to help him finance the deal.

Schulze founded Best Buy in 1966. Over the summer, he submitted plans to buy out Best Buy for between $24 and $26 a share, representing a 36 percent … Read more

Apple could make bid for map firm TomTom, analyst says

Apple could make a bid for GPS and mapping company TomTom, according to an analyst.

In a note to investors today, Hans Slob, a Netherlands-based analyst at Rabobank International, said he believes there's a 30 percent chance of Apple offering to acquire TomTom. The move, he said, would be designed to quickly handle any troubles Apple could be facing with its Maps iOS application.

"TomTom needs the cash from Apple, and Apple needs the know-how of TomTom," Slob said, according to Bloomberg, which was first to report on the story.

It's not clear if Slob was … Read more

AOL snaps up advertising company Buysight

AOL upped its advertising cache today by announcing that it bought Buysight, an ad company that focuses on retargeted and intent-based targeted advertising.

Buysight will be folded into AOL's Advertising.com Group. This group works on ad technology for desktop, mobile, tablets, and Internet connected televisions.

"We strongly believe that both brand and performance display, as well as mobile and video campaigns benefit from dynamic, targeted creatives and messaging," Advertising.com Group CEO Ned Brody said in a statement. "The acquisition of Buysight brings proven Dynamic Creative Optimization and machine learning capabilities which will further enhance … Read more

Yahoo acquires tiny mobile video-chat startup OnTheAir

Continuing CEO Marissa Mayer's march toward all things mobile, Yahoo has acquired tiny mobile video-chat startup OnTheAir.

Yahoo snapped up the San Francisco-based startup today, the five-employee company announced on its Web site. Yahoo confirmed the acquisition, its second since Mayer took over as chief executive this past July.

"When we first met with the team at Yahoo, it was clear that everybody there is committed to making mobile products the backbone for the world's daily habits," the company wrote.

The mobile market is growing rapidly, and Mayer has said the space is integral to Yahoo'… Read more

Google gets punked by fake news of ICOA acquisition

It's a long ways from April Fools' Day, but someone had a little fun with fake Google acquisition news today.

According to a press release on PRWeb, Google bought Wi-Fi provider ICOA for $400 million. The trouble is the press release isn't real, according to ICOA.

The company's chief financial officer, Erwin Vahlsing Jr., told CNET in an e-mail that the news is false. He didn't provide any other information.

ICOA Chief Executive George Strouthopoulos, meanwhile, told CNET that the company has "never had any discussions with any potential acquirers."

"Someone, I guess … Read more