Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Yahoo is suddenly the target of two warring camps of tech and media titans. Yahoo and Time Warner are close to a deal to merge Yahoo with AOL, while News Corp. is in talks with Microsoft about joining its bid for Yahoo. One observer says: “The whole situation seems very unstable.” (Iwantmedia 4/10, http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0942900520080410 4/10, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/technology/10google.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 4/10, http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN0929033920080410 4/9)

In its latest effort to drive a harder bargain with Microsoft, Yahoo agreed to carry a selection of AdSense search ads from Google in a two-week trial limited to 3% of all search queries made through the Yahoo portal. Redmond called balderdash almost immediately, pointing out that a definitive agreement between the two companies would give Google over 90% of the search market. Therefore, a larger integration would never pass muster with regulators. Yahoo gets points for creativity here nonetheless. (Cynopsis 4/10, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_on_hi_te/yahoo_google 4/9)

AOL’s Advertising.com is launching self-service tool, located at PubAccess.com, allowing small Web publishers to sell and manage ads on their sites. AOL is under pressure to improve its lackluster performance, as Time Warner mulls a possible sale or spinoff of the unit. (Iwantmedia 4/10, http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20080409-000697-0944 4/9)

AOL launched what they’re calling the AOL Tech Network this evening. It’s a grouping of existing blogs - the Engadget sites, Switched, TUAW and Download Squad, under a new tech content group. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/09/aol-regroups-blogs-launches-aol-tech-network 4/9)

MySpace plans to sell more merchandise and add a check-out feature following its deals with record companies to offer music downloads, says CEO Chris DeWolfe. Partnerships with Web retailers will allow MySpace to enter online retail, which is dominated by eBay and Amazon.com. (Iwantmedia 4/10, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abSTtHUcVxdI 4/9)

Barry Diller’s IAC is planning a slate of start-up Web sites, including sites aimed at African-Americans and kids. IAC’s news-aggregation site in partnership with Tina Brown will have a staff of about 20, including journalist Michael Kinsley, and will target news-savvy professionals. (Iwantmedia 4/10, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120777669866002881.html?mod=googlenews_wsj 4/10)

RushmoreDrive.com, IAC’s new search engine and Web site for African Americans, launched today.

The BBC is launching a version of its popular full-episode iPlayer that will stream programming through Nintendo’s Wii gaming console in the UK, the company announced at MIP TV. BBC says the iPlayer delivered 17.2 million streams & downloads in March and over 42 million views since launching late last year. For Nintendo, the deal is the latest in a series to bring more content to the Wii platform; next up are third party web-based “WiiWare” games and applications scheduled to launch next month. (Cynopsis 4/10)

Cinemax has launched a YouTube channel filled with a variety of short promo pieces.

Nat Geo has launched a new practical site to help viewers calculate the impact they will likely have on the Earth, based on their consumption habits. NGCHumanFootprint.com, built to promote an NGC special airing on Sunday night at 9 pm ET/PT, features a cool flash-based interface that queries users on tendencies such as how many miles they drive each day, then compares the totals to US, UK and Japan averages. (Cynopsis 4/10)

Last.fm said the free on-demand music-streaming service it debuted in January has caused its Amazon.com sales to more than double, adding that the results proved the value of giving listeners no-cost access to music. Users bought 66% more CDs and singles on Amazon since January, according to the CBS-owned site, which features a catalog of about 5 million full-length songs. (The Guardian (London) 4/9)

Pando Networks announced that its new peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, dubbed P4P, increased download speeds of video-based files over U.S. cable networks by 235% in recent tests. Tony Werner, Comcast’s chief technology officer, called the tests promising and said the company “[looks] forward to continuing our mutual efforts with P2P companies distributing legitimate content in order to improve the efficiency of their applications on our network.” (Multichannel News 4/9)

The U.S. improved its standings in terms of broadband infrastructure, climbing from 7th to 4th in the latest Global Information Technology report conducted on behalf of The World Economic Forum, despite lagging considerably in broadband speeds and penetration rates. Cisco Systems sponsored the report. (Cynopsis 4/10)

The State Privacy and Security Coalition, a trade group of Internet companies that includes Google and Yahoo!, have labeled a New York state bill that seeks to impose limits on collecting personal user information for targeted advertising as “unnecessary” and “most likely unconstitutional.” (The Wall Street Journal 4/10)