5to1 is a start-up that launched out of stealth mode at the TechCrunch50 conference. The company aims to make it easier for advertising companies to sell off remnant advertising. Remnant advertising is inventory that was unable to be sold due to ad space or time.

Many people that view news websites will notice there is quite a bit of ads that seem totally irrelevant from the publisher’s brand. The team behind 5to1 includes former Fox Interactive executives Jim Heckman and Ross Levinsohn. 5to1 even raised $4.5 million in seed funding.

5to1 helps get rid of the ineffective ad campaigns that only benefit the networks selling the campaigns. The end goal of the service is to increase the quality and revenue of advertisements.

Rumor has it that iLike is currently in talks with MySpace about an acquisition deal.  MySpace is planning to acquire iLike at a price of $20 million.  This would be MySpace’s first acquisition since Owen Van Natta joined as CEO.

iLike has a sidebar that can be added to iTunes in order to discover new music and artists.  iLike also has an iPhone application that detects where you are located and tells you about upcoming concerts.  And iLike has a very popular Facebook application.  In total, the company has about 50 million registered users.

The company raised $16.5 million in funding from Ticketmaster, Scott Banister, Bob Pittman, and Vinod Khosla.  The company was valuated at $53.2 million based on the term sheets on their last round of funding.

SimplyHired is a job search engine that aggregates listings from various websites.  SimplyHired is based in Mountain View, California and has raised an additional round of funding at $4.6 million, led by IDG Ventures and Foundation Capital.  This brings SimplyHired to a total funding amount of $22.3 million.

Previous investors include Gautam Godhwani, Peter Weck, Anil Godhwani, Jerry Crowley, the late Rajeev Motwani, Kanwal Rekhi, Ron Conway, Dave McClure, James Hong, Guy Kawasaki, Garage Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, Fox Interactive Media, IDG Ventures, and Foundation Capital.

Fox Interactive Media launched a classifieds website through MySpace since they made their investment in SimplyHired.  SimplyHired stated that they have had positive operating cash flow over the past four quarters.  The company had revenue growth for 16 consecutive quarters.

The additional funding will be used to hire additional employees and for international expansion.  SimplyHired syndicates their technology to LinkedIn, The Washington Post, BusinessWeek, Plaxo, and CNNMoney.

[via paidContent]

MySpace’s parent company Fox Interactive Media (FIM) will be shutting down SpringWidgets and Flektor.  SpringWidgets was created by FIM in 2006 and Flektor.  FIM acquired Flektor around the same time as Photobucket.  Between the two companies, there are about 25 employees.

The ten employees of Flektor will have the chance to interview with MySpace.  It is unknown what will happen with SpringWidget’s 15 employees in Atlanta.  However both of the sites will be shut down for good.

SpringWidgets was a widget advertising platform company and Flektor created special effects for widgets.  And as you may know, MySpace users love their widgets which is why FIM probably thought there was synergy there.

It is rumored that FIM paid around $15 million to buy-out Flektor.

[via TechCrunch]

Every weekday between today and mid-August, Hulu will be streaming a new movie, documentary, or sci-fi film.  The calendar of the films is available at: http://www.hulu.com/summer.  Here’s the catch: you won’t know what is playing until the day of.  While this is an annoying feature, I’m sure it’ll keep users coming back to Hulu out of curiosity.

Hulu’s first movie of the event is Lost in Translation starring Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray.  The movie is about a man that comes to Tokyo to film a whiskey commercial bonding with a woman that he would most likely not find himself getting along with.

Hulu Days of Summer has a widget too.  The widget can be embedded in blog posts, social networks, etc.  The widget can be seen below.

Hulu is a video website created through a partnership between NBC and FOX.  Hulu directly competes with Google’s YouTube.

“Bringing Flektor’s unique Web-based tools to MySpace will enable users to make their profile even more unique than they already are,” stated Clint Brauer, VP of Marketing for Flektor. “The glitter text, slideshow creator and polling feature applications were developed by Flektor as another means of self-expression and we are thrilled to share them with MySpace users.”

Flektor, the profile enhancement tool built around MySpace profiles and is owned by Fox Interactive Media/News Corp. announced recently that they will be lauching several easy to setup applications called MySpace Apps.  These tools include Pimpin’ MySpace Slideshows, Truth Polls, and Glitter Text.  MySpace Developer Platform is powering the applications.

The widgets created through Flektor does not require users to import images or create separate Flektor accounts.  By using MySpace’s Developer Platform, Flektor is able to connect their own widgets to an individual’s MySpace user direct account.

Flektor applications will have safe access to a user’s friend list, interests, photos & photo albums, video, status, and moods.  Flektor was started in 2006 and is based in Culver City, Calif.  The company was acquired by News Corp./FOX Interactive Media in May 2007. 

Information Source:
[1] Business Wire: Flektor to Launch Glitter Text, Slideshow Creator and Poll Applications on MySpace

Mike Butcher of TechCrunch UK is reporting a story that News Corporation may acquire LinkedIn.  Butcher mentioned that nothing is official, but his source is someone close to the matter.  This deal would indicate that News Corp. really wants to grow up from their reality shows on FOX and their notorious MySpace social network.

News Corp. made a $5 billion acquisition offer for Dow Jones, parent company of The Wall Street Journal.  And Rupert Murdoch, chairman of the media company specifically mentioned that he would want to make WSJ.com available for free.  Integrating LinkedIn with the Wall Street Journal could be an interesting synergy if there is any viability to this rumor.

More details on this rumor after Thanksgiving.

News Corporation-owned social network, MySpace.com has recently launched a mobile version of their site. The official announcement will be made soon. The URL for the mobile site is: http://mobile.myspace.com.

“Accessing the Internet from your mobile phone will soon be as common as text messaging and voice calling,” stated John Smelzer, the senior VP of Mobile at Fox Interactive. Fox is a subsidiary of News Corporation.

Other Fox Interactive Media properities, Photobucket, FoxSports.com, IGN, and AskMen.com will also soon be going mobile. MySpace mobile users will be able to send/receive messages and friend requests, comments, add posts to bulletins, update their blogs, and find/search friends.

Information Source:
[1] Wilmington Star: Myspace to Launch Ad-Supported Cell Phone