Thursday Recap: iTunes in the Cloud Expansion, Google Q2, Pocket Raises $5 Mil
Thursday Recap: iTunes in the Cloud Expansion, Google Q2, Pocket Raises $5 Mil
iTunes in the Cloud Spreads Its Wings to More Than 50 Countries
MacRumors is reporting that Apple has started rolling out iTunes in the Cloud to a ton of new countries today, in addition to debuting iTunes Match in Hungary and Poland. While there are more than 50 countries now capable of using iTunes in the Cloud to access music and music videos, a big group just gained the ability to access movies the same way for the first time, including Ireland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia in Europe; Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela in Latin America; and Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam in the Asia-Pacific markets.
Mo' Money, Mo' Money, Mo' Money! Google Announces Q2 2012 Financials
Google is still a cash machine, as indicated by its Investor Relations website today and the posting of its Q2 2012 financial results. "Google standalone had a strong quarter with 21 percent year-on-year revenue growth, and we launched a bunch of exciting new products at I/O -- in particular the Nexus 7 tablet, which has received rave reviews,†said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “This quarter is also special because Motorola is now part of the Google family, and we’re excited about the potential to build great devices for users.†The company announced $12.21 billion in revenue for the second quarter, a 35 percent increase over last year during the same three months last year.
Pocket Raises $5 Million to Continue Expansion
"Read later" services have never been more popular than right now, and one of the biggest is Pocket (formerly Read It Later), which is now saving almost a million items each day from its users. Since rebranding back in April, the company has hooked up its service with more than 350 major apps, and is available on all major mobile platforms. With all of that growth comes the need for more scratch in the coffers, so the company announced today that they've successfully raised $5 million from three existing partners. The money will be used to expand the service while keeping food on the table for the eight people who make up its "passionate team," so look for more big things from Pocket in the months ahead.
Noise Industries Releases Free Manifesto Titling Plugin for FCPX
The good folks at Noise Industries are back with another freebie plugin for FxFactory, and it's a pretty awesome one. Manifesto is a set of title generators for Final Cut Pro X, Motion and After Effects which create pro-looking static and roll or crawl titles, no key framing necessary. The plugin includes a full in-app text editor and can also import existing RTF files, complete with any existing formatting. Should you prefer to tweak key framing, Manifesto certainly allows you to do so, and includes built-in motion blur and de-flicker options. You can even add another effect to a Manifesto title to bring a title in or out of your clip. All of this comes at no expense to the user, other than downloading the plugin and the latest version of FxFactory from the Noise Industries website.
Microsoft Says Windows 8 On Sale October 26
After teasing users with a rough timeline (fall, 2012) and then a little bit more specific one (late October), The Windows Blog has come right out and announced an official release date for Windows 8. "That’s right! Just a few minutes ago, Steven Sinofsky announced at Microsoft’s annual sales meeting that customers will be able to get Windows 8 -- whether in upgrade fashion or on a new PC -- starting on October 26th," the blog post announced Wednesday. "Now everyone has a specific date to mark on their calendars. It’s on mine!" Believe it or not, it's on ours, too.
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