Andrew Mason OUTWEIRDS Zuckerberg As Weirdest CEO… Oops Your Sacked

The group shopping website Groupon has fired its chief executive and co-founder as the company struggles to turn around its poor earnings and crumbling share price.

On the day its stock slid 24 per cent after reporting dismal quarterly results, the daily deals company said Andrew Mason was asked to step down.

In an unusually candid letter to staff, Mr Mason confessed he was getting in the way of the company he co-founded just a few years ago and had failed in his role as leader.

“After four-and-a-half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today. If you’re wondering why… you haven’t been paying attention,” Mr Mason wrote in a memo to staff.

“From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that’s hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.”

Co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and board member Ted Leonsis will lead the company until a permanent chief executive is found. Groupon declined to comment on potential candidates :: Read the full article »»»»

Piracy Does Not Harm U.S. Box Office Sales

Despite the claims of the MPAA and other supporters of SOPA and PIPA, file-sharing does not negatively impact box office sales in the U.S., according to a new study conducted by economists from Wellesley College and the University of Minnesota.

The focus of the study is on lag times between U.S. release and foreign release. The study found that longer gaps between a movie’s release in America and its release in foreign countries led to increased piracy in those countries, and correspondingly lower box office sales. The study estimates that pre-release piracy impacted foreign box office sales by as much as 7%

In the U.S., however, box office sales were not impacted by piracy at all. The study concludes that the impact of piracy is driven primarily by the lack of legal availability of content in foreign markets.

Shot Entirely on Nokia N8 Smartphone, Olive Gets Cinema Release

Getting a clue is often the first stumbling block for creatives, all the skill in the world is next to useless without a great idea. Hooman Khalili first got the idea to make a feature film shot entirely on a smartphone in January 2010. A little less than two years later, his film Olive, shot on a Nokia N8, is going to be shown in a Los Angeles theatre for a week. Read the full article »»»»

Apple vs Samsung: Samsungs Henka Move

In the war that has been Apple vs Samsung, the latter has won what could be the final slap-down.

Samsung has won the right to sell its Galaxy 10.1 tablet in Australia after the Federal Court overturned a ban on the sale of the computer. Last month, the court slapped a temporary injunction on sales of the Galaxy 10.1 after rival Apple said the Galaxy range of tablets and smartphones was too similar to its iPad and iPhone. Read the full article »»»»

Android Overtakes Apple Mobile App Downloads

​The growth of Googles Android platform has been stratospheric over the past 12 months, at October 2010 Android held 19 percent of the U.S. smartphone market – with Apples iPhone iOS at 24 percent. Fast forward 12 months to October 2011 and Android was holding 38 percent of the smartphone market, an increase of almost 20 percent, against Apples 26 percent, an increase of only 2 percent. Androids big big numbers is also reflected in it’s massive increase of available apps to 500,000.

Note worthy is Samsungs strangle hold on the smartphone market. Our favorite semiconductor behemoth has consistently outperformed Apple in sales. Samsung smartphones make up almost 25 percent of the U.S. market, while the much lauded Apple iPhone has consistently sat below 9 percent. This explains Apples aggression toward Samsung [check the litigation links]  84.5 million smartphone handsets in the U.S. equates to 21 million Samsung handsets to Apples 8 million iPhones, ouch! Read the full article »»»»