Hasta La Gadget!

The Yahoo purchase of the app Summly and the technology therein have had one rather important effect on those users out there that’ve been using the system thus far – they’re fresh out of luck. As the 17-year-old creator of the Summly ecosystem has become a millionaire overnight, he’ll soon be working for Yahoo full time, and the Summly app will no longer be available to the public. Such is the nature of this takeover.

And there goes another news reading app. If you were looking for alternatives, look no further – we’ve got an alternative RSS reader apps article (originally intended for Google Reader) fresh as last week that’ll still be able to help you on your way. Once you’ve picked up Pulse or Feedly or whichever of the several services are still out there and bright as a pumpkin, you can await their purchase as well.

Of course not every group wishes to be bought out. When you see the monstrous growth and sustained popularity of a system like Pulse, you’ll find that a larger company takeover becomes less and less likely as their service becomes more and more appealing. Have a peek at Google Currents, too, if you dare. You’ll find SlashGear feeds in each of these readers right out in front in the technology sections of each – a quick search will do you fine as well.

Have a peek at our brief history with Summly in the timeline below and, if you’re a Summly user right now, we suggest getting out as soon as possible. Soon there will be no official support, and your apps may well be axed due to incompatibility with your devices. Make with the transfers!

Summly app no longer functional soon: tech to return in Yahoo is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Yahoo has just purchased the mobile news reader app, Summly, in an attempt to make Yahoo a more mobile-centric service. Sources have told All Things D that Yahoo paid $30 million to buy out the iOS app. They paid 90% in cash, and the other 10% in stock. They have also enlisted Nick D’Aloisio, the 17-year old who developed the app, to work with the company for at least 18 months.

Summly is a news reading app that takes a news article and summarizes its main points in only 400 characters. That way users can quickly decide whether or not they want to read the article. While the Summly app was getting popular, Yahoo doesn’t plan on continuing it. The company plans on shutting down the app and using the app’s technology and coding for its own products.

While the Summly app technology would be beneficial for Yahoo’s products, its believed that Yahoo’s real acquisition is Nick D’Aloisio. Sources told All Things D that Yahoo plans on using D’Aloisio to represent its brand in front of both the media and consumers. The company hopes that D’Aloisio’s presence will help make Yahoo seem like a place that “loves both entrepreneurs and mobile experiences, which in turn will presumably attract others like him”.

D’Aloisio is excited about starting his new chapter with Yahoo. Being only 17-years old and having his first entrepreneurial project being bought out for $30 million is a dream come true. He believes that being acquired by Yahoo was a perfect fit for both the company and his app. He stated, “Yahoo has an inspirational goal to make people’s daily routines entertaining and meaningful, and mobile will be a central part of that vision. For us, it’s the perfect fit.” Hopefully D’Aloisio’s venture with Yahoo goes much better than Michael Katz venture with Yahoo.

[via All Things D]

Yahoo buys Summly news app for $30m is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

According to latest reports Yahoo is in talks to purchase a controlling stake in video website Dailymotion. The information has been received from people familiar with the matter. If this is true, it would be the first acquisition that Yahoo makes under the leadership of Marissa Mayer, who took the reigns as CEO after coming over from Google. Yahoo is reportedly going to purchase a 75% stake in Dailymotion, a site supposedly worth around $300 million. Though the deal hasn’t been finalized yet, Yahoo might be able to purchase the entire site in the future. Naturally, both Yahoo and Dailymotion have not commented on the status, or even existence, of this deal. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google+ Hangout To Get New Screen Capture Feature, Google Adds Animated Filter In Image Search For GIFs,

For some reason, Best Buy believes that it’s a good idea to follow Yahoo’s example and forbid its workers from working from home. Considering all of the angry feedback Yahoo received from its employees as well as all of the negative press written about its structure change, you would think Best Buy would stay away from the idea. But no, it’s decided to cancel its flexible work plan, entitled ROWE (Results-Only Work Environment).

Best Buy is requiring all of its corporate employees to work from its headquarters in Richfield, Minnesota. That means that many workers will have to relocate, and many others will have to start commuting. But not too many people will be affected seeing as Best Buy has laid off 400 of its corporate employees in its restructuring process. ROWE was designed so that employees could do their work wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Employees weren’t evaluated on the number of hours they put in, but rather the quality of work they put in.

The company has no plans of ever bringing the ROWE program back, but Matt Furman, Best Buy’s Chief Communications Officer/Senior VP of Public Affairs, stated, “On an individual basis, an employee and a manager will have the opportunity to work out an arrangement that’s in everyone’s interests. But for the most part, the goal is to have the employees in the office whenever possible.”

Best Buy, like Yahoo, wants to bring its business back up and it feels that it needs everyone to be face to face with each other in order to fix the company’s issues. However, this new structure change will (and most likely has) outrage many of its corporate employees who like being able to decide their own schedule. Creativity doesn’t always strike at 9-5 in the office and being forced to stay in one place can actually be inhibiting.

ROWE released a statement saying, “In a Results-Only company or department, employees can do whatever they want whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. No more pointless meetings, racing to get in at 9:00 a.m., or begging for permission to watch your kid play soccer. You make the decisions about what you do and where you do it, every minute of every day.”

[via Network World]

Best Buy follows Yahoo and cancels work-from-home program is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It looks like the work-at-home program isn’t the only program Yahoo is shutting down. Yahoo is also planning on shutting down 7 other products that aren’t bringing in the kind of success Yahoo needs right now. Along with these products, Yahoo also plans on reducing their number of mobile apps from 60-75 to a measly 12-15 apps. Jay Rossiter, Yahoo’s executive VP of Platforms, stated, “The most critical question we ask is whether the experience is truly a daily habit that still resonates for all of you today.”

The 7 products that are set to be discontinued include: Yahoo App Search, Yahoo Sports IQ, Yahoo Clues, Yahoo Message Boards, Yahoo Updates API, Yahoo Avatars, and the Yahoo app for Blackberry. The Blackberry app will continue to be listed in the Blackberry App World until April 1st. Then it will no longer be available for download, and it will no longer receive any support from Yahoo.

Yahoo’s Avatar might be the biggest hit to Yahoo users. Many Yahoo users create their own cartoon-like avatars to use for instant messaging, and for e-mailing. If you check the Yahoo Answers boards, a majority of user icons are their custom avatar icons, which makes me wonder why a service like that isn’t successful. Yahoo says that users who still want to keep their avatars must download their avatar image and manually re-upload it as their profile picture.

Yahoo is following Google’s routine of cleaning out apps that just don’t bring in the kind of engagement and success that the companies want. CEO Marissa Mayer, who is also a former executive from Google, is doing her best in order to turn Yahoo back into the juggernaut it was back in the days. Its shareholders want Yahoo’s stock price to pick back up, and so far they’re pretty happy with the progress that Marissa Mayer has made.

[via Reuters]

Yahoo preparing to shut down 7 services is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.