Filed under: MISC
Apple Backlash: Early Adopters Strike Back
In response to the iPhone price drop as reported on yesterday, early adopters are crying fury in Apple’s general direction. Below is Steve Jobs’ open letter to this audience.
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE
BROADCAST/CABLE
Shares in some of the biggest U.S. entertainment and media companies fell on Wednesday after Goldman Sachs downgraded its view on the sector to “cautious” from “neutral” due to concerns about the U.S. economic slowdown. Goldman Sachs sees “adverse behavioral changes” ahead. (http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSN0520525620070905 9/5)
HBO on Sunday will debut “Alive Day Memories,” a documentary that analyzes the recovery process for U.S. veterans seriously injured in the Iraq War. “Sopranos” star James Gandolfini serves as the interviewer in the film. (The New York Times 9/6)
Media companies that rely on print and broadcast advertising will be “most vulnerable” in the event of a U.S. recession, warns Moody’s Investors Service. Internet search advertising — a market dominated by Google and Yahoo — is better off because it is “cheaper and more responsive.” (http://www.thestreet.com/s/economic-woes-may-mangle-media-stocks/newsanalysis/mediaentertainment/10377946.html 9/5)
ESPN, which drives profit growth at owner Disney, may produce smaller gains in coming years, crimping the stock price of the media giant. Professional football, baseball, basketball and auto racing contracts that take effect by October 2009 will boost expenses by $1 billion a year. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a7Tyg9BxUEY0 9/6)
NBC Universal is seen as a “headache” to owner General Electric, due in part to the disappointing performance of the NBC network. One bet is that GE will look to sell off NBCU after the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The unit is “too valuable” to offload before then, because of the advertising. (http://www.businessweek.com/careers/managementiq/archives/2007/09/ges_comstock_is.html 9/5)
CBS plans to acquire in-store programming and advertising company SignStorey for $71.5 million in cash to expand its out-of-home business. SignStorey has installed video displays that show ads delivered by satellite in supermarkets in six of the top 10 U.S. markets. (http://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP/idUSWNAS356620070906 9/6)
CNN will get some of its news from traffic cameras in about 50 U.S. cities, after signing a deal with TrafficLand, a company whose Web sites aggregate video from about 4,000 traffic cameras in dozens of markets. TrafficLand’s live video streams will be used in CNN programming. (http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/09/03/daily16.html 9/5)
Barbara Walters announced yesterday morning on The View that the fifth panel chair, vacant for quite some time now, will be filled permanently as of Monday. Tho she did not say who would be filling that seat, reports are it will be actress Sherri Shepherd who has guested on the show several times. Other news from The View yesterday – Whoopi’s premiere episode on Tuesday drew in 3.4 million viewers, second only in the show’s 11 year history to last year’s debut by Rosie O’Donnell which drew in 4.4 million viewers.
Fox Business Channel launches on October 15th, and in New York on the Time Warner Cable system, that means there’s a whole lot of transition going on. You might want to write this down: Fox Business gets channel 43; MSNBC moves to channel 14, right next to CNBC on 15. Fox News goes from 46 to 44. Got all that? Well, there’s more. With these moves, other channels are getting moved as a result: USA Network moves to 15, Sci Fi moves to 17 and Bravo goes to 18 – that puts all the NBC networks in a cluster from 14-18. Just a couple more: ABC Family goes to 38, A&E to 46, History to 40 and Discovery shoots all the way up to Channel 66. (http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/09/fox_business_launch_sets_off_c.php 9/5)
Four new NBC series this fall will get a second play on the NBC cable networks, according to a report from thefutoncritic.com. Bionic Woman, Chuck, Journeyman and Life will all get second plays on the NBC cable networks. Bionic Woman will replay on Sci Fi two days after the NBC airing; Life is repurposed on USA later the same night of its broadcasting airing. Both Chuck and Journeyman have scattered replays across all three NBC cable nets – Bravo, USA and Sci Fi. Check listings for all the dates and times.
The NFL changed its controversial restriction which prohibited broadcast networks from posting more than 45 seconds of online video shot of team personnel at team facilities, reports Sports Business Journal. Fox, CBS, ESPN and NBC argued their billion-dollar licensing fees should buy them more online access than non-rights holders.
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Apple and Starbucks are entering a deal to allow people to buy songs wirelessly from Apple’s iTunes store in Starbucks shops without paying WiFi access fees. Starbucks hopes to boost both coffee sales and its new music business, while Apple’s iTunes seeks to sell more downloads. (http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0523824220070905 9/5)
Lulu.com, a service that lets members publish, print and sell their own books, is filing a suit against Hulu.com, the new digital video partnership between NBC Universal and News Corp., for trademark infringement on the grounds that the two names and business models are too similar. (http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9772407-7.html 9/5)
Let the games begin. I’m thinking of starting a site called Zulu. 
ABC Entertainment and Warner Bros. TV Group are entering a deal on streaming rights. The pact allows ABC to stream Warner Bros. television shows as non-permanent offerings, and Warner Bros. the ability to distribute those same episodes as permanent downloads and DVD box sets. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117971417.html?categoryid=14&cs=1 9/5)
Amazon.com is set to unveil the Kindle, an electronic book reader that will wirelessly connect to Amazon’s e-book store. Also this fall, Google plans to start charging users for access to the digital copies of some books in its database. Publishers will share the revenue with the search giant. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/technology/06amazon.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1189108876-Vfii2N6LlyJbxOOp6vMfIg 9/6)
For all the excitement surrounding Facebook, one sobering fact remains: The fast-growing social-networking site has yet to prove itself as a business. Half of its $150 million in revenue comes from an advertising deal with Microsoft. Facebook is not a proven “ad venue.” (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/news/2007/09/ff_facebook 9/6)
Microsoft officially launched Silverlight, the new digital media format the company introduced to developers earlier this year it hopes will rival industry-dominant Adobe Flash. Learning from its mistakes with PC-partial Windows Media, Microsoft’s 1.0 Silverlight release supports Firefox and Internet Explorer on the PC as well as Firefox and Safari on the Mac, right out of the box. Entertainment Tonight, HSN and World Wrestling Entertainment are working with Microsoft on a program designed to foster collaboration among solution providers, content delivery networks, tools vendors and design agencies.
Asterpix.com launched a new “hypervideo” service, enabling users to embed hyperlinks within online video streams. The technology allows specific objects or characters within the frame to be clicked on, offering the user additional information or a menu of interactive options. Asterpix was founded in October 2006 and has raised $4 million in venture capital from New Enterprise Associates.
Sample Video
mtvU and Cisco unveiled five new college student-developed digital applications from the 2007 Digital Incubator program, an annual grant competition that awards students up to $250,000 in funding to develop new digital content, games and applications.
- RapHappy.com is an online/mobile hip hop community site that enables users to record, collaborate on, search and listen to freestyle or written raps
- Launchosiris.com is an MP3 visualizer that uses song lyrics to dynamically generate images
- Casablancathegame.com is an online/mobile party game with elements of social networking, espionage and alternative-reality gaming
- Selectricity.org is a new ranking system that generates winners based on choices that are acceptable to the group as a whole
- HowDoISayThis.com is an interactive wiki where users help create video advice messages
Artist-focused social networking site OurStage came out of beta yesterday, rolling out a new feature to connect top-ranked independent music and film artists with industry veterans. The Artist Access program includes contests, mentoring sessions and festival placements provided by a variety of partners.
Contextual video advertising company Digitalsmiths Corp. has come to market with its own targeted video ad solution dubbed VideoSense. The technology applies a proprietary video search algorithm combining image interpretation with speech recognition to help advertisers drill down more meaningfully into online video content. The company says it has optimized the technology for multiple content platforms including traditional broadcast, broadband and mobile.
The Washington Redskins is teaming up with AOL to offer fans e-mail addresses, an outlet to upload videos and pictures and a Redskins toolbar for the site with RSS feeds. Called Redskins Connect, the site will allow fans to post profiles similar to those found on Facebook. (http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/09/03/daily18.html 9/5)
About 27% of adults visited a local TV website during the past 30 days, according to a new study from The Media Audit. The largest percentage of adults who visited station sites reside in the Raleigh-Durham DMA (60.3% of online adults), followed by Tulsa, Denver, Columbia SC and Little Rock AK.
Filed under: WIRELESS
WIRELESS
Nokia’s July acquisition of Twango will allow the world’s leading mobile-phone manufacturer to incorporate social-networking technology into many of its phones. Nokia plans to use the technology in its S60 software, which is used in many of its mid- to high-end phones. (CNET/Reuters 9/5)
Crisp Wireless extended its partnership with Gannett Co. to power mobile websites for more than 30 of its local TV and newspaper properties. Crisp also has mobile partnerships with Internet Broadcasting, Cars.com, Fandango, Tribune Interactive and Washington Post.
Filed under: GAMING
GAMING
Microsoft’s Xbox Live will be “far more impactful” on gaming than the Wii haptic controller, says Peter Molyneux, head of Lionhead Studios. Molyneux also commented that consoles will continue to rule the gaming market, with PC games being unable to capture the same experience. (GameDaily BIZ 9/5)
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
Apple is unveiling an iPod with a touch screen that can browse the Internet wirelessly, as the company fights to maintain the digital media lead at a time when it faces renewed attacks from rivals. In addition, Apple’s iTunes music store will begin selling songs over wireless connections.(http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0522907220070905 9/5)
Click below for the Guided Tour (as provided by Apple)
Customers will be able to buy Vudu’s new video-on-demand set-top box next month, at which time they will be able to choose from and download a selection of 5,000 movies. The movies, which play instantly over a high-speed Internet connection, will upconvert the picture to pseudo-high definition for those users who have HDTV sets. (Yahoo!/Reuters 9/5, The New York Times 9/6) This is pretty cool actually. Vudu brings you new releases and old favorites from every major studio — Lionsgate, New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. Studios, and Walt Disney Studios — plus titles from 17 independent and international distributors, including First Look, Granada, Kino, and Think Film. The box doesn’t actually hold 5,000 movies. The movie is downloaded seamlessly while watching. No true high definition availability for the moment but to be offered once deals with the movie studios are finalized. Refresh of 10 – 20 titles a week.
