acquisition

Google snaps up object recognition startup DNNresearch

Google has acquired a three-person Canadian research company that specializes in voice and image recognition.

DNNresearch, which was founded last year within the the University of Toronto's computer science department, specializes in object recognition and now belongs to Google.

As part of the deal, which was first reported by TechVibes, Google gets the technology and founder university professor Geoffrey Hinton, along with two graduate students -- Alex Krizhevsky and Ilya Sutskever.

"Geoffrey Hinton's research is a magnificent example of disruptive innovation with roots in basic research," University of Toronto President David Naylor said in a statement. &… Read more

HP's Autonomy acquisition probed by U.K. regulators

Hewlett-Packard has a way of quietly announcing its dealings with Autonomy in its annual and quarterly regulatory filings.

In its quarterly report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today, the company announced that the U.K. Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into the alleged irregularities of HP's acquisition of Autonomy.

Here's what HP wrote in its filing:

As a result of the findings of an ongoing investigation, HP has provided information to the U.K. Serious Fraud Office, the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC related to the accounting improprieties, disclosure failures … Read more

Opera buying Skyfire for mobile-video technology

Opera Software is acquiring Skyfire Labs and its technology for squeezing video onto congested mobile-phone networks in a deal worth up to $155 million, the Norwegian browser maker said tonight.

Opera, the fifth-ranked browser maker in terms of global usage, gets paid for adapting its browser for mobile network operators and for driving searches to sites like Yandex and Google. It's been gradually expanding its business into domains such as advertising, though, and the Skyfire deal adds a new dimension to its business selling technology to operators.

"Both companies have evolved far beyond their browser roots," said … Read more

Apple CEO: We've looked at a few big companies to buy

Apple had considered a few blockbuster acquisitions in the past, but ultimately stuck with smaller deals.

That's according to CEO Tim Cook, speaking at an investor conference hosted by Goldman Sachs this morning. He said that Apple at points had looked at buying large companies, but in each case, they failed to pass muster.

"It didn't pass our test for various reasons, and we've looked at more than one," Cook said. "Would we look again? I'm sure we will."

Apple's decision to stay away from bigger deals has helped it avoid … Read more

Google to nab e-commerce firm Channel Intelligence for $125M

Google has signed a deal to acquire e-commerce-solutions company Channel Intelligence for $125 million in cash.

Channel's parent company, ICG, announced the deal today.

Channel's technologies are designed to boost the sale of products online. The company offers a Facebook platform, product search engines, and other services created for companies looking to improve product sales. Channel, based near Orlando, Fla., claims that it "drives $2 billion in sales annually in referred sales online in computing products, home improvement products, appliances, consumer electronics, toys and a variety of other consumer packaged goods."

Google is obviously no stranger … Read more

Philips sells audio, video unit to Funai for $202 million

Royal Philips Electronics has signed a deal to sell its consumer-oriented lifestyle entertainment division to Funai Electric.

According to Philips' announcement today, Funai is paying 150 million euros ($202 million) for the division, which includes audio, visual, multimedia, and accessories. Funai will also license the Philips brand for five-and-a-half years.

Philips' lifestyle entertainment division is made up of a wide range of consumer products, including the company's home speakers, DVD players, and headphones. Although those products will still be available with Philips branding, Osaka, Japan-based Funai will be developing them.

According to Philips CEO Frans van Houten, the move … Read more

Lenovo downplays RIM acquisition rumors

Lenovo has backed away from speculation that it is planning to acquire Research In Motion.

In an interview last week with Bloomberg, Lenovo Chief Financial Officer Wong Mai Ming said that his company is "looking at all opportunities" as it pertains to acquisitions and that a dialogue is open between RIM and Lenovo.

Soon after, the Web erupted with claims that Lenovo and RIM are talking about a buyout.

However, in a statement e-mailed to CNET today, a Lenovo spokesperson said that Wong's comments were taken out of context:

We are aware that Lenovo's CFO...was … Read more

Now we're talking: Amazon buys text-to-speech provider Ivona

Amazon has acquired text-to-speech technology provider Ivona Software for an undisclosed amount, broadening its in-house capabilities as the Internet retailer continues to push its tablet business.

The two companies have collaborated in the past, Amazon noted, with Ivona's technology powering the text-to-speech, voice guide, and explore-by-touch features on Kindle Fire tablets.

In addition, Poland-based Ivona delivers text-to-speech products and services to thousands of developers, businesses, and customers around the world. It offers voice and language portfolios with 44 voices in 17 languages, and it's developing even more.

Amazon has been expanding its tablet business to take on companies … Read more

Yahoo buys Snip.it, a Pinterest clone for content curators

Update, 3:20 p.m. PT: Snip.it confirmed that it was acquired by Yahoo. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Yahoo has acquired Snip.it, a Pinterest-like service for saving articles to collections and sharing them with groups.

Yahoo is paying "mid teens" of millions of dollars for the content discovery site and will announce the deal this week, according to AllThingsD, which cited sources familiar with the deal.

Snip.it was founded by Ramy Adeeb, a former principal at Khosla Ventures, to help people better collect and share content -- articles, images, and videos -- … Read more