Am I Happy about the Gowalla and Facebook Deal?

[ Gowalla co-founder and CEO Josh Williams on "This Week in Startups" in December 2010. Episode here. ]

By Jason Calacanis

Since the leak on Dec. 2 that Facebook was buying mobile social startup Gowalla, which I was lucky enough to invest in, I've been getting a constant stream of questions.

-- Am I pleased with the outcome?
-- Did the founders do an end run around the investors?
-- Did Facebook do an end run around the investors?

In the words of Facebook's status feature: "It's complicated."

Click to read more ...

Zite CEO Expects More Social Readers to Emerge in 2012, Will Microsoft Be Next?

[ Image courtesy of Mark Johnson's Twitter account @philosophygeek. ]

Zite CEO Mark Johnson tells LAUNCH that he expects to see more personalized digital magazines and readers emerge in 2012 followed by consolidation in 2013. Earlier today, CNN-owned Zite launched its app for iPhone. 

"My prediction is that there's going to be a lot more expansion before there's consolidation," Mark says. "I think we'll see a few smaller competitors come out but I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something from Microsoft soon."

Microsoft has received a lot of attention lately since updating Xbox Live, launching Kinect and exploring ideas like using the Xbox 360 as a television connected PC, which would encroach on Apple and Google's existing products.

Google just released Currents yesterday but as Mark notes, even as the space gets more crowded...

Click to read more ...

Google Offers Selling Zagat Guides Three Months after Acquisition

Groupon and LivingSocial don't own the businesses they offer deals on, which just might make Google the first to do so with its deal today for 56% off Zagat print restaurant guides for eight U.S. cities plus its America's Top Restaurants book -- a deal clearly intended for holiday gift-buyers with foodie friends and family.

Google announced its acquisition of restaurant-review publisher Zagat in September for an undisclosed amount, and Google sources told LAUNCH at that time that it would keep the Zagat brand and its subscription model for online content. In 2009, Google failed to buy Yelp, which filed its IPO paperwork last month.

Click to read more ...

Watch CNET Editor Rafe Needleman and Peter Horan on TWiST News Roundtable Live at 1pm PT

[Rafe Needleman and Peter Horan. ]

Tune in for a special news roundtable live from CNET's San Francisco studios with Peter Horan, executive chairman of Halogen Media Group, and CNET's own Rafe Needleman today on This Week in Startups at 1pm PT.

Peter is a media and marketing executive with experience in both startups and multi-billion dollar public companies. Peter has been part of four profitable exits in the last seven years totaling...

Click to read more ...

Zite Personalized News App Lands on iPhone to Rival Flipboard

Personalized news app Zite has just made its way to the iPhone -- the same week competitor Flipboard launched for iPhone.
 
Zite, powered by personalization technology, makes it easy for users to find interesting topics and stories to read based on their taste. Zite learns from both explicit -- thumbs-up and thumbs-down -- and implicit -- what stories you click on -- feedback to deliver more relevant news to you.

Current Zite for iPad users will be able to use their same profile on the iPhone thanks to Sybil, which allows multiple profiles.

While Flipboard's iPhone app...

Click to read more ...