Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Microsoft is expressing optimism about its takeover bid for Yahoo, saying the two companies’ top managers “continue to have a very close dialogue.” Also: Yahoo is facing seven shareholder lawsuits alleging the slumping Internet firm bungled its response to Microsoft’s takeover offer. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080228/tc_afp/usitcompanytakeoveryahoomicrosoft 2/28, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080227/ap_on_hi_te/yahoo_lawsuits 2/27)
Google is rumored to be considering a bid to acquire just under 20% of Yahoo’s stock, in an effort to disrupt Microsoft’s takeover bid for the Internet company. Google “would rather fight a fragmented market than a single, stronger, Microsoft/Yahoo.” (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/27/were-sorting-through-some-crazy-googleyahoo-rumors 2/27)
Facing concerns about slowing growth, Google is quietly testing a new feature that will use up search marketers’ unspent advertising budgets. The feature, called Automatic Matching, expands participating advertisers’ list of keywords to include terms Google deems relevant. (http://www.nypost.com/seven/02282008/business/dollar_grab_99670.htm 2/28)
Google and a consortium of telecoms are investing $300 million to construct a high-speed fiber optic undersea cable between the U.S. and Japan. In a blog post, Google’s network acquisitions manager, Francois Sterin, wrote, “We’re not competing with telecom providers, but the volume of data we need to move around the world has grown to the point where in some cases we’ve exceeded the ability traditional players can offer.”(InformationWeek 2/26)
Apple said it will release the specifications necessary for outside developers to create applications for the iPhone next week as well as unveil a new suite of features aimed at business clients. The company is on track to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of the year.
Holy open source Batman! Love it.
NBC officially selected P2P content delivery network Pando Networks to power its NBC Direct service, which will offer DVD-quality downloads of NBC prime time shows including 30 Rock, Heroes and The Office. Pando will also provide hash matching, digital fingerprinting and content watermarking technologies to ensure copyright protection.
Disney digital studio Stage 9 Digital Media, quietly in the works for two years, will be unveiled today with the premiere of “Squeegees,” a comedy series about window-washer slackers, on ABC.com and YouTube. It is the first of a planned 20 online programs in development. (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disney28feb28,1,5371620.story 2/28)
Time Warner’s TMZ.com is securing a partnership with News Corp.’s MySpace to bring the entertainment-news site’s content to the online social network’s video platform, MySpaceTV. TMZ will populate a branded channel on MySpaceTV, featuring select exclusive clips. (http://www.worldscreen.com/newscurrent.php?filename=tmz022707.htm 2/27)
The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, described as “a place to meet people who are much smarter than you,” is living up to its reputation. This year’s gathering, in Monterey, Calif., is attracting the likes of Larry Page, Matt Groening and Pierre Omidyar. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/28/BUHCVAA0G.DTL 2/28)
Netflix raised its earnings, revenue and subscriber forecasts, expecting to end March with upwards of 8.26 million subscribers.
Scott Meyer, CEO of About.com, is exiting the New York Times online reference guide after his senior staff threatened to quit unless he left, a tipster says. His staff “ridiculed him as a biz-dev type who was clueless about the Web.” Meyer is leaving About.com without a replacement. (http://valleywag.com/361616/scott-meyer-ousted-in-aboutcom-staff-revolt 2/27)
ESPN.com threw out the first pitch on a new season of Fantasy Baseball sponsored again by Dick’s Sporting Goods. Multiplatform offerings include live scoring, mobile alerts, podcasts and extensive TV, radio and online coverage. Fantasy sports usage grew by nearly 170% last year for ESPN.com in terms of unique visits, according to the network, with fantasy baseball players growing nine-fold during 2007, the first time it was offered for free.
Cast members and executive producers of CBS‘ Ghost Whisperer: The Other Site II will conduct a live behind-the-scenes tour of the set and answer questions from fans tonight at 5 pm ET/2 pm PT on Veoh‘s Viral Live channel. The online companion series, produced by Slam Internet, Inc., continues through March 7.
WWE partnered with digital marketing agency electricArtists to develop an embeddable news widget to provide fans with video highlights, ticket info and breaking news.
Web-video company Akimbo has launched a new service that enables content providers to easily integrate video-on-demand offerings on their Web sites. Male-oriented digital channel MavTV is Akimbo’s first partner for its VOD solution. (Broadcasting & Cable 2/27)
Kijiji, eBay’s free local classifieds portal, launched in America last summer and is now the sixth largest U.S. classifieds site. Kijiji “will be No. 1 in the U.S.,” predicts eBay exec Jacob Aqraou. Craigslist “is not going to be successful internationally. Craigslist has zero localization.” (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/27/kijiji-talks-smack-about-craigslist-we-will-be-no-1-in-the-us 2/27)
Revenue from cable-broadband equipment is poised to hit $1.4 billion worldwide by 2011, according to a new study from Infonetics Research. The research firm said that revenue from universal-edge QAMS and CMTS increased 13% in the fourth quarter of 2007, to $199 million, and that total sales for aggregation equipment last year were $860 million. (TheRetailBRIDGE.com 2/28)
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