20 Hours Left To Help 300 Kids Learn To Code This Summer

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While rumors have been swirling for days, Yahoo finally confirmed this morning that it has acquired popular blogging service Tumblr for about $1.1 billion. Notably, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer promises Yahoo won’t ruin the Tumblr experience. “We promise not to screw it up,” Mayer said in a blog post today. “Tumblr is incredibly special and has a great thing going. We will operate Tumblr independently. David Karp will remain CEO. The product roadmap, their team, their wit and irreverence will all remain the same as will their mission to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve. Yahoo will help Tumblr get even better, faster.” Tumblr is a huge platform for blogging and sharing content. The service hosts 105 million blogs and 900 new posts are put up per second. It has 300 million monthly unique visitors and 120,000 signups each day. The big weakness for Tumblr is actually making money. It only pulled in $13 million in revenue in 2012. But that’s where Yahoo can come in and help the company find more ways to make cash through advertising. “The two companies will also work together to create advertising opportunities that are seamless and enhance user experience,” Mayer wrote. Yahoo will pay approximately $1.1 billion for Tumblr — all in cash. Prior to today, New York City-based Tumblr had raised $125 million in funding from investors including Union Square Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Insight Venture Partners, The Chernin Group, Spark Capital, and CrunchFund. Tumblr CEO Karp describes the deal as “awesome” and insists that Tumblr won’t change much. “We’re not turning purple,” Karp wrote in a blog post. “Our headquarters isn’t moving. Our team isn’t changing. Our roadmap isn’t changing. And our mission – to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve – certainly isn’t changing.” Marissa Mayer photo via Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat Filed under: Deals, Media     

Just put the baby in this blanket and get a full record of its vital signs--and a way to automatically alert a doctor if something goes wrong. Like so many consumer technology products, the baby monitor has changed dramatically over the years. Remember the quaint days of one-way audio monitors? Those were quickly supplanted by two-way monitors (so you can calm your child down), wireless webcam monitors, devices equipped with infrared night vision and movement sensors…the list goes on. As part of Microsoft’s annual Imagine Cup, a global student technology competition, a small group of students from Winona State University came up with an even more high-tech baby monitor: one that measures and logs data on a baby’s heartbeat, breathing, and movement. Editor’s NoteThe Miracle Workers team didn’t make it to the Imagine Cup finals, but they plan on continuing their work together.Read Full Story    

Over the weekend, Kanye West gave the name and release date of his long-teased new album, rocked Saturday Night Live, and debuted a new song on 66 buildings around the world. What did you do this weekend? If there is any musician right now who knows how to dominate a news cycle for a whole weekend, it’s Kanye West. In the case of this past weekend, the increasingly eccentric rapper/producer accomplished what it’s taken Daft Punk all year to do: get the entire music-buying public talking about a new album. In just under 48 hours, West rolled out the name and release date of his long-teased new album, rocked Saturday Night Live (memorably) (again), and debuted a new song with video projections on the sides of buildings around the world.Read Full Story    

Instead of just selling us more useless things, these advertisers and marketers are helping to package and make popular the idea of doing good and responsible business. Editor’s NoteThis is the latest entry in Catchafire's Generosity Series, a multi-month celebration and investigation of bold generosity with the goal of understanding its causes, its benefits, and how to inspire more giving. We’ll be interviewing a long list of impressive change makers who have demonstrated their generosity through acts of service, rather than exclusively through deep-pocketed philanthropy. This month, we’re honoring some of the most generous marketing geniuses. We’ve already looked at Social Media Mavens, designers, and Wall Street. The series will run through the winter with more profiles of generous Tech Founders and Filmmakers.Read Full Story