Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Reported talks between Apple and the major music companies could lead to a radical overhaul of how people download from iTunes to their iPod or iPhone. Under discussion is said to be a model that would allow customers to download all the music they wanted at no charge — other than a premium they would pay for the devices, similar to the deal Nokia cut with Universal Music last December. (Financial Times 3/19)

Yahoo is asserting that is worth more than the $42 billion Microsoft is offering in a takeover bid. CEO Jerry Yang and other top execs are meeting with their largest shareholders in several cities, arguing that Yahoo can double its cash flow from operations in the next three years. (Iwantmedia 3/19, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-yahoo19mar19,1,7475641.story  3/19)

 
Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick shouldn’t spell doom for smaller advertising networks, according to a report by DeSilva + Phillips. A “long tail” of revenue, profit and scale for the smaller ad networks remains. “There is still a lot of ungathered and unsold inventory.” (Iwantmedia 3/19, http://www.foliomag.com/2008/there-long-tail-ad-networks  3/18)

 
ABC.com is capitalizing on advertising for online programs thanks to popular shows like “Lost” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” which are streamed online with limited commercials. Viewers find ads to be an acceptable exchange for program access, says Disney-ABC media exec Albert Cheng. (Iwantmedia 3/19, http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/media-report-disney-abc-digital-chief/story.aspx?guid=%7B3BD44323%2DF350%2D4282%2D8BC9%2DB9AD69339936%7D  3/19)

Facebook announced new privacy controls at a press event at their downtown Palo Alto headquarters today, and also demoed their new chat application - called Facebook Chat - that has been rumored since last week. Our real time notes and pictures from the event are here. See CNET for more. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/18/facebook-to-launch-new-privacy-controls-confirms-chat-is-coming  3/18)

 
When a second trailer for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” premieres online this week, it should spread as fast as the first thanks to a widget. Viacom’s Paramount is counting on widgets posted on blogs and social networks to maximize the exposure for its trailers. (Iwantmedia 3/19, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ifff588c2bae9eafff6e0544339032bc9  3/19)

 
More blogs are raising venture capital, we’re hearing from people they’ve pitched. Newcomer Silicon Alley Insider is looking for a $3 - $5 million round, if reports are correct. And PaidContent is pitching for a second round in that same range (PaidContent raised a round of “less than $1 million” in 2006). We’re also hearing that PaidContent is trying to sell the company for $15 million or more, and just bail out with some spending money. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/19/more-bloggers-raising-money-here-come-the-politics-and-here-comes-my-rant  3/19)

 
Craigslist’s Craig Newmark divulges that his company helped to broker eBay’s 25% investment in his online classifieds site, contrary to earlier reports that the online auction behemoth acquired the stake without his consent. (Iwantmedia 3/19, http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/7628/Craigslist-Founder-Talks-Biz-Recession-eBay-Community  3/19)

Guess Sarah Lacy’s career is just fine post the insidiously awful Zuckerberg interview at SXSW.  Here she is interviewing Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.