Good morning, it’s Tuesday, January 4, 2011, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.  If you would like to read this or any other Cynopsis edition online, click here. 

Venture capital money continues to flow into the hands of the hot tech sector as Facebook raised an additional $500 million in financing to value the social networking giant at a staggering $50 billion, per the NYTimes. Goldman Sachs is leading the round with a $450 million investment and existing investor Digital Sky Technologies is picking up the rest. The company, which now has between 1,500 and 2,000 employees, is expected to ramp up hiring, continue its expansion into new markets and move into a new campus – possibly the former Sun Microsystems/Oracle location in Menlo Park, according to reports. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has continually avoided the subject of an IPO for the company, but the new funding could put pressure on the company to go public to appease SEC calls for more transparency.
 

 
Large format exhibitor Imax announced it raked in a record $546 million in global box office sales last year thanks to the launch of 16 digitally remastered 35mm titles – double its revenue from last year. Imax’ stock price reached record volume on Friday on rumors that it was a takeover target of Sony or Disney, a report the company has since denied.
 
Walt Disney Studios announced a new slate of at least 15 Blu-ray 3D titles for home release in 2011, including catalog titles The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast as well as new releases Tron: Legacy and Tangled.
 
Gadget envy anyone? DIY Network is introducing a new show at CES dubbed “Hollywood Hi-Tech” (wt), profiling high end custom home theater installations of the rich and famous. Home-theater designer Theo Kalomirakis is a consultant on the series, Janna Robinson is hosting and subjects include reality TV star Khloe Kardashian, Laker Lamar Odom and Entourage players Kevin Connolly and Jeremy Piven.
 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM ING BOWLING FOR BREASTCANCER.ORG

 
Digital advertising start-up AdKeeper announced a series B round of funding to the tune of $35 million led by Oak Investment Partners. (The firm’s General Partner Fred Harman is also joining AdKeeper’s board as part of the investment.) AdKeeper has developed an online advertising solution that allows consumers to click on a “Keep Button” to save an ad for later viewing so they don’t have to interrupt what they’re doing online. Oak joins earlier investors, including DCM, True Ventures, Spark Capital, First Round Capital, Lerer Ventures, Stan Shuman and The New York Times Co.
 

 
Sleep deprived iPhone users are seething about a glitch that is causing their alarms to go off for no rhyme or reason. Apple has not commented on the glitch, reports about which began circulating Jan. 1.
 
NBC Universal announced it is returning to the floor of CES this year, featuring content booths from Syfy Games, Tech, Taste and Talk by Bravo and Oxygen’s karaoke party. NBCU will again feature live broadcasts from the floor with appearances from Andy Cohen of Bravo, Maria Bartiromo of CNBC, Tamron Hall of MSNBC and chef Richard Blais of Bravo’s Top Chef All-Stars, among others.
 

 
Web users are becoming more willing to shell out hard cash for online content including music, software, video and applications, according to a new survey of some 755 users from The Pew Internet and American Life Project. Almost two-thirds of adults have paid for access to content to date including digital music and software (33%), cell phone or tablet apps (21%), digital games (19%) or digital newspaper, magazine or journal articles (18%). The average user shells out about $10/mo. for online content but power users pay more than that in subscriptions alone ($12), with the ave. for those who have paid for content climbing to $47/mo. The majority of the internet users pay for subscription services (23%), versus downloading an individual file (16%), or accessing streaming content (8%). Demographic factors tend to skew younger and rise with income levels and education, with college-educated users aged 30-49 the most likely to purchase content.
 
Digital marketing is becoming a more crucial component to reaching the Hispanic demographic, according to a new digital ad study conducted by ComScore and commissioned by Terra. While previous studies have shown that Hispanics are more active online that the general market, new findings show that online advertising is an even more effective way to reach the audience:

• Hispanics are more responsive to targeted ads with 37% saying they would likely respond to them vs. 30% for non-Hispanics
• 35% of Hispanics vs. 27% of non-Hispanics said they are more open to advertising on sites where they read or contribute user-generated comments
• 37% of Hispanics vs. 25% of non-Hispanics enjoy the interactivity of online video ads, and the ability of obtaining additional information unavailable through a traditional TV ad
• 36% of Hispanics vs. 24% non-Hispanics claim that internet advertising has motivated them to visit a retail establishment while 35% of Hispanics vs. 25% of non-Hispanics are likely to attend movies based on their online campaigns

 
HDTV maker Vizio is expanding into the handheld gadget market with the launch of a new 8” tablet device and 4” smartphone, both powered by Google’s Android operating system. Vizio is hoping the gadgets complement its line of connected TV’s, doubling as remotes and scheduling application delivery devices. Scheduled to launch sometime this summer, both the Via Tablet and the Via Phone will feature a 1 GHz processor, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and HDMI output with HD video playback.
 
Scholastic Media has introduced a new line of “Touch & Tilt” storybook apps for the iPad designed to put an interactive spin on Children’s Classics such as The Magic School Bus: On the Ocean Floor ($7.99) and Go Clifford, Go! ($4.99) Kids can touch the screen to listen to a live narration of the story and tilt the iPad to animate the characters to life. The apps also include replayable games and activities.
 

 
Look for a growing amount of floor space at CES this year to be occupied by digital automobile platforms as such systems transition from future to current world. For instance, Ford has just announced that its voice-activated SYNC connectivity/entertainment system is now in 3 million vehicles and that the feature has become one its most requested options. (Ford CEO Alan Mulally will make a keynote address at the show on Thursday.) Based on Microsoft’s Auto platform, the SYNC system allows you to connect your mobile phone or MP3 player to an onboard computer to pick songs, make calls, receive audible text messages, access travel services or even pull up addresses on Google Maps. The software is fairly elegant and intuitive, borrowing from popular platforms like Pandora with its “Play Similar” feature, which builds virtual playlists of similar sounding songs from your catalog of MP3s.
 
Later –
Wayne Karrfalt for Cynopsis Digital
01.04.11

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