The Rise and Fall of Microsoft’s Xbox Champions, Robbie Bach and J Allard

Microsoft (MSFT) has initiated one of its biggest management shakeups in years, as it announced today that Robbie Bach and J Allard, the masterminds behind the company’s hugely successful push into video-game consoles, are leaving the company after decades of leading the Windows giant into new markets.

Bach…the head of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices group, is retiring after 22 years at Microsoft, according to an announcement today by Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, who said that Bach is “leaving on a high note.”

The two men are not being directly replaced.

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Groupon: Deals for Members, but What About the Investors?

When asked if it’s truly possible that his portfolio company Groupon Inc. could transform in 17 months from an idea to a business worth more than a billion dollars, New Enterprise Associates Partner Peter Barris chuckled in a way that indicates even he recognizes it may be a dangerous assumption.

But Barris and other investors who accepted a $1.35 billion valuation on the group-buying Web site after a recent round don’t see a return to Internet bubble levels of price inflation. Instead, they think Groupon is one of a new breed of Internet companies worth their weight in gold because of how quickly they can grow.

These days, “you can build a big company, a very, very big [Internet] company,” Barris said. “Business is back to measuring revenue and profits.”

Groupon attracted $135 million in funding, mostly from Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, which has done similar deals with Facebook Inc. and social gaming company Zynga Inc. in the past year. The balance came from new investor Battery Ventures. Early investors NEA and Accel Partners did not reup, but they didn’t take any capital off the table, either.

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Do I Care About Apple’s Market Cap? No. But I Sure as Hell Wish We Hadn’t Sold Off That Apple Stock We Bought in ’97

How does Microsoft feel about being overtaken by Apple as the world’s largest technology company?

It couldn’t care less.

Well, that’s what CEO Steve Ballmer says, anyway.

Asked Wednesday if it bothers him that Apple (AAPL) has finally surpassed Microsoft (MSFT) in total value (click on chart below to enlarge), Ballmer shrugged it off.

“It is a long game. We have good competitors, but we too are very good competitor,” he said. “We are executing very well and that is going to lead to great products and great success….I will make more profit and certainly there is no technology company on the planet that is as profitable as we are….Stock markets will take care of the rest.”

How to convert video to PSP Video formats

This document will show you how to trim, crop, convert video to PSP video formats at length, you can refer to it step by step and take the conversion an easy trip.

It includes two parts:
1. How to convert video to PSP?
2. How to trim, crop, join and edit video for PSP?

The video formats Aiseesoft PSP Movie Converter support are as follows:
AVI, XviD, WMV (Window Media Video), MPEG, MPG, MP4, FLV (YouTube video), 3GP, 3GPP (cell phone video), Mod, Tod, RM, RMVB (Real Player video), M4V, ASF

The audio formats supported by Aiseesoft PSP Movie Converter are:
MP3, WMA, WAV, AC3, M4A, AAC

Part 1: How to convert video to PSP?
Step1. Please download Aiseesoft PSP Video Converter; you can free download it from here.
http://www.aiseesoft.com/psp-movie-converter.html

Step2: Install and run Aiseesoft PSP Movie Converter, click the “Add File” button to import your videos. If you experience any problems adding videos by directly clicking the “Add” button, you can click “File -> Add file” to add the video files you want to convert from your computer.



Step3. Then Click the “Profile” drop-down list to select the format you prefer for each added file. If you don’t know what formats your device support, you can just select the format according to the device



After you finish all the above steps, please click “Start” to begin the conversion.

Free Trial: Free download Aiseesoft PSP Movie Converter

Next Part: How to crop, edit, join and trim movie movie for PSP?

How to Convert RM to 3GP

How to convert RM to 3GP at fast speed:

1 After downloading, launch this RM to 3GP converter

2 Add files

Input RM video file to be converted (you can feel free to add RM files as many as you wish).

3 Select output format and destination

Select the 3GP video file from the profile list, the preview video screen may play the selected file. You are allowed to catch your favorite picture during previewing. Find 3GP video in the folder you have set.

4 Convert

Press Start to convert. After converting, you can play the converted 3GP files on your portable mobile phone like Google Phone, BlackBerry…

Tip: If you need to customize your output video or audio files, try additional editing features such as Trim, Crop, Effect, Merge from the main user-friendly interface.

Need more help, explore: RM to 3GP.

How to Convert MTS (.mts) Files

When you finished the download process, run the .exe file to install it.

1 Click "Add file" button to import videos - MTS

2 Extend the "Profile" category to select an output format you need

3 Click "Browse" button to choose an output folder and click "Open Folder" to open it

4 Try Effect, Trim, Crop, Merge, Settings and more functions according to your needs

5 Click "Start" to convert

Visit How to convert MTS files for full version description!

Nike’s Not-So-Secret World Cup Ads Go Viral Before They Launch

The World Cup starts next month. So where’s the blitz of Nike (NKE) ads that always accompanies the globe’s biggest sporting event?

Funny you should ask. Nike will formally start pushing out its new ads tomorrow on TV, Facebook and Google’s (GOOG) YouTube. But the marketer gave the campaign a small push early this week, which is all it took. People are lapping this stuff up.

This three-minute spot, for instance, is on an “unlisted” YouTube page, which means it’s theoretically “private”–it won’t show up in YouTube search results or its homepage, and you can only get to it via a link (I got there via AdWeek’s Brian Morrissey). But it has already racked up some 400,000 views. That number will start getting really, really big tomorrow.