I’m pleased to announce that Andrew Wallenstein will be joining us to write about the digital-entertainment business, based in Los Angeles. Andy, who will be a senior editor for us, will also help develop new editorial features for the sites.
If you had any doubts about the newsiness of the nexus of digital entertainment and technology, all you need to do is read our sites, with the drumbeat of news from companies like Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX), Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), Hulu and Epix over the past couple of months. Andy’s job will be to shine a bright light on the revolution in distribution that is changing film and television.

And he’s plenty up to the challenge. Andy comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter, where as editor of digital media, he both oversaw editorial operations for the publication’s website and reported extensively on the entertainment industry. He has broken news on companies such as Yahoo, Hulu and TV.com, and has done deeper dives on everyone from HBO and YouTube to Ashton Kutcher. Among his other accomplishments at THR: he launched Digital Power, an annual event and special issue that has been highlighting the 50 best executives in digital entertainment since 2008.

Andy has showcased his talents at other media properties as well. For the past six years, he has served as a frequent commentator on media issues for National Public Radio. He was also co-host of the TV Guide Network primetime series “Square Off” in 2006-07. Andy has also written for The New York Times (NYSE: NYT), Boston Globe and BusinessWeek.

You can reach him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Andy also will be moderating at our Nov. 8 event in West Hollywood, The Battle for the Digital Home. You can find out more about the agenda here and register here.

Simon Waldman is Group Product Director of LOVEFiLM, and author of “Creative Disruption: What you need to do to shake up your business in a digital world” [FT Prentice Hall]. He blogs here, and tweets as @waldo.

Imagine a business in trouble. A lot of trouble. It is being disrupted by new technology. It has become bureaucratic and bloated.
After decades of healthy profits, it is losing money and revenues are going backwards; its share price is tumbling.

What do you think the chances are that in 17 years’ time, the company would be worth six times as much, and would have delivered 31 consecutive quarters of growth in earnings per share? Yes, the chances are slim, but this is exactly what has happened at IBM. The company this week reported income up by 12%, and, despite a relatively lukewarm reception by Wall Street, now has a market cap of $182 billion, compared to $29 billion in 1993.

Indian online advertising network Komli is buying Indoor Media, a UK-based firm helping clients market to ethnic minorities, in its latest international expansion (announcement).

I am pleased to announce promotions for two stars on our team. 

Ernie Sander, our Managing Editor since 2008, is promoted to Executive Editor of our sites. Before he joined us, Ernie had a stellar career at the Wall Street Journal, helping to launch two new sections.  He also worked for the Journal in Hong Kong, and before that was a reporter and editor at the Associated Press. Ernie is a skilled editor and manager, has a terrific strategic vision, and has developed many new features for us, including Leading Voices.  He is the editor that any publisher would die for. Plus, he keeps us laughing in the office – a very important skill.

Staci D. Kramer is promoted to Editor.  Staci was the first journalist hired by our founder, Rafat Ali, back in October 2004, and was promoted to co-editor and Executive Vice President in 2008.  Staci is a walking encyclopedia – or Google – in this digital age, for everything Paid Content.  But even more important, Staci is an agile and insightful reporter and editor. Staci is also a frequent speaker and moderator, and plays a critical role in setting our strategy and growing the company. Staci will be taking the editorial lead on our conferences in the future, while continuing to report and edit for us.  Perhaps most notably, she is the only person here who has covered floods, droughts, crime, the Stanley Cup playoffs and the World Series!

I couldn’t be happier to have two such fine professionals and collaborators as Ernie and Staci on our team.

Caroline Little
CEO, ContentNext Media

Jay Penske’s Mail.com Media Corp., which has been busily buying up media sites, is selling its Mail.com e-mail business to German internet firm United Internet Group. The sale means Mail.com Media Corp.—which will soon be getting a new name—will now primarily be made up of the media sites it has acquired and built in recent years, including The Boy Genius Report, Deadline Hollywood Daily, and Hollywood Life.

Instamedia, which is best known for its Instablogs citizen journalism platform, has raised $4 million in a first round of funding from Times of India-owner Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. The Instablogs site lets anybody submit an original article a la NowPublic or link to an existing news story anywhere on the web.

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) today announced a slew of new products and features on its phone, music and video viewing offerings. Check out a visual tour of Steve Jobs’ presentation, as well as our coverage, below:

I’m a big fan of the “digital home,” even if the phrase itself has slipped from popular use lately. I cannot wait for it to happen to me—I’ll have connected displays (does the word TV even apply anymore?) throughout the house, including the ones in my pocket, in my lap, or otherwise within reach at all times. Those displays will all speak IP, the language of the internet, and they’ll all speak to each other as well, allowing me to control one display—say, my TV—with another one—my Droid X, for example. There’s so much product innovation yet to come in the digital home that I love my job.

I’m not the only one who sees it, of course. If you follow the excited announcements from TV makers and electronics retailers like Best Buy, the next TV we all buy will be a connected TV (defined as a TV set with its own internet connection whether wired or wireless and some kind of software platform), a critical first step toward that future digital home nirvana.

CBS (NYSE: CBS) Studios International and Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL) Wednesday announced a deal to launch television channels in India through a joint venture company to be called BIG CBS Networks Pvt. Ltd.

BIG CBS will be incorporated in India, and CBS and RBNL will each have a 50% equity interest. The company will initially launch three English language entertainment channels customized for the Indian market in the fourth quarter of 2010. More on B&C]

Mumbai, India-based Mauj Mobile, a mobile content provider that’s part of the People Group, has acquired UK-based Mobango for its international catalog of 35,000 free mobile applications. The acquisition will not only help it expand beyond India, but also into applications from traditional mobile content, like ringtones and wallpapers.

Search engine and portal operator Lycos has been sold to Indian digital marketing firm Ybrant Digital by South Korea’s Daum Communications for $36 million. That’s significantly less than the $95 million Daum paid for Lycos in 2004. The agreement calls for Ybrant to purchase all of Daum’s stock in Lycos in an all-cash deal.

Twenty-four hours after launching its latest handset, suddenly RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) is enduring high-level skepticism that its BlackBerry is suitable for use.

According to two Reuters reports, BlackBerry’s centralized e-mail and messaging services are prompting governments to pick other handsets for official use and to consider a ban…

Mountain View, Calif.-based MobileIron has raised $16 million in a third round of funding to help develop a platform that manages everything from iPads to smartphones in the enterprise.

The round was led by Foundation Capital, reports peHUB. Also participating was its existing investors Storm Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and Big Basin Ventures.

ZenithOptimedia has revised its ad spend forecast upward for the U.S. and Europe, while the internet is poised to grow 13.1 percent in 2010 and gain another 16.1 percent year-over-year in 2011. In the U.S., mobile ad spending and social media ad spending have had a particularly strong impact on the online space’s growth.

UK mobile content and services company Win Plc announced today that it is recommending to shareholders a cash offer from the Sequoia-backed Indian mobile services firm IMI Mobile. The 141 pence ($2.11) per share offer values WIN at around £15.93 million ($ 23.8 million). This represents a 43 percent premium to the share price on the 29th April, the closing price before discussions were announced.

Not all of Win’s shareholders are happy with the offer. Before today’s announcement, ISIS Equity Partners, Win’s largest shareholder with 19.1 percent of the company, released a statement on 10 June that “encouraged the Win Board not to recommend an offer at this level.” It said, “In our opinion, the potential offer, at 141 pence per Win ordinary share, would substantially undervalue the Company.