Filed under: Feature
ONLINE VIDEO OF THE WEEK: WHERE THE HELL IS MATT?
If you haven’t seen the original version, perhaps you should start here. In 2003, a friend captured Matt getting his silly dance on in Hanoi, Vietnam. The video was passed around on the internet and Matt became quasi-famous. Stride gum approached him in 2006 and offered him expenses to travel to 39 countries on 7 continents to dance in a variety of locations. After releasing that video in June of ’06, Matt received thousands of responses from all over the world. Matt approached Stride Gum to venture out this time, not to dance alone, but to dance with groups of people. This time he traveled to 42 countries and danced with a cast of thousands.
The video was uploaded on June 20th and has already been viewed over 2 million times. The video speaks to bringing together separate cultures all over the world using one silly dance as a universal language. Couldn’t love it more.
If you want more information on the creation process, here’s a full explanation from the creator himself.
Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: Camp Rock, Demi Lovato, Disney, Disney Channel, High School Musical, Jonas Brothers, Television, Television movie
Hard on the success of its Jonas Brothers-starring “Camp Rock” made-for-TV movie, Disney Channel has announced plans for a sequel, which is expected to go into production next year. The original, featuring the increasingly omnipresent brothers as well as Demi Lovato, attracted 8.9 million viewers in its premiere Friday night. (Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter 6/24)
MTV, which has not accepted political advertising since the channel was launched in 1981, will now run national ads from political candidates, their campaign committees and nationally recognized political parties. The move is effective immediately and leaves Lifetime as the only high-profile cable network that still does not take political advertising. (TVWeek.com 6/24)
MSNBC has created MSNBC Films, a company that will fund feature-length documentaries and effectively double — from three to six — the number of documentaries that the cable news network televises each year. First up will be “Dear Zachary,” the true story of a man killed by his pregnant girlfriend. (The Hollywood Reporter 6/24)
Sports memorabilia expert Donald Frangipani is filing a defamation lawsuit against HBO and those associated with its “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” program for a segment that accused him of participating in a forgery ring. Bryant Gumbel is named as a defendant. (Iwantmedia 6/25, http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN2438145420080624 6/24)
Shares of most major media companies finished lower with the broader market on Tuesday, following signs that soaring fuel costs are taking a toll on corporate profits. Time Warner lost 2 cents to $14.60; Disney slipped 17 cents to $32.22; New York Times Co. fell 17 cents to $15.60. Iwantmedia 6/25, (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080624/media_companies_closing_glance.html 6/24)
Cablevision is beefing up its on-demand offerings with Versus on Demand and Golf on Demand as free services to its iO digital-TV customers. Both Versus and Golf Channel are owned by Comcast. (Multichannel News 6/24)
Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Calif, Facebook, Google, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft, News and Media, Yahoo
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Microsoft is said to be in talks again with Yahoo, but “no big deal” is in the works — contradicting a report on the tech blog TechCrunch that said the software giant is discussing a full buyout of the No. 2 Web search engine. The blog report sent Yahoo’s shares up 11%. (Iwantmedia 6/25, http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/06/24/yahoomsft-talks-on-but-no-big-deal-in-works 6/24)
Twitter, the free microblogging service, is closing on another round of financing, this time led by Spark Capital, along with Jeff Bezos‘s investment entity, Bezos Expeditions. Twitter vows that one day it “will become a sustainable business supported by a revenue model.” (Iwantmedia 6/25, http://news.cnet.com/8301-10787_3-9976578-60.html 6/24)
A long-running legal battle over whether Mark Zuckerberg ripped off Harvard classmates in launching Facebook is moving to a courtroom in San Jose, Calif., for a fight that could end up “catastrophic” for the social-networking site, observers say. “This could be a fight for Facebook’s life.” (Iwantmedia 6/25, http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_9682260?nclick_check=1 6/24)
AT&T aims to expand its services to help companies deliver digital media to consumers’ computers and mobile phones, moving into competition with outfits like Akamai. AT&T, which already has customers like Forbes.com, will spend $70 million to bolster its network infrastructure. (Iwantmedia 6/25, http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2434215220080624 6/24)
New content recognition software may spark more copyright-related battles online like the recent Associated Press-blogger flap. Publishers will know which sites attract the most traffic using their articles, and may demand a cut on the associated advertising revenue. (Iwantmedia 6/25, http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2008/tc20080625_325222.htm 6/25)
CBS Television Stations’ digital media group is rolling out a widget-advertising-revenue-sharing program with local bloggers at more than a dozen network-owned stations across the country. The program launched at New York’s WCBS last week and was “making money from day one.” (Iwantmedia 6/25, http://www.observer.com/2008/cbs-news-becomes-widget-factory 6/24)
Internet advertising spending will surpass radio this year, forecasts Steve King, head of Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia. “Internet has already overtaken cinema and outdoors. In a couple of years it’s going to overtake magazines.” Also, Publicis is forming a unit to boost Internet sales. (Iwantmedia 6/25, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aeJ2MQBDVzKA 6/25)
Charter Communications, the fourth-largest U.S. cable operator, is backing off a plan to monitor customers’ Internet surfing data. The company was planning to harvest the data for clues to customer interests and then make money from advertisers who would use it to target pitches. (Iwantmedia 6/25, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401033.html 6/25)
Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, Keyboard, Motorola, QWERTY, ROKR E8, Telecommunications, The Wall Street Journal, Wi-Fi
Nokia has brought to the U.S. its N78 smartphone, a 3G-capable device that also features integrated Wi-Fi connectivity, a 3.2-megapixel camera and a microSD slot that holds 8 gigabtyes of music. Priced at $560, the unlocked handset does not have a QWERTY keyboard or a traditional dial pad, but instead relies on four raised keys for input. (InformationWeek 6/24)
Motorola’s ROKR E8 mobile phone, which will be available July 7 for just under $200, features a keyboard that changes depending on what function users are doing at the time. The keyboard offers typical phone options when it’s being used to make a call, for instance, but then dynamically morphs into different arrangements when it’s time to take a photo or listen to music. (The Wall Street Journal 6/25)
The secret sauce on the ROKR E8 is its keyboard, which changes when it’s used as a phone, music device and camera.
Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Arts, Blu-ray Disc, DVD, HD DVD, Home Video, Movies, Region 1, Sales
For homeowners who don’t like the look of speakers or are lacking for space, U.K.’s Amina Technologies has developed technology that builds them into the walls. With the Plaster In-Wall Loudspeaker, “all visual signs of a sound source completely disappear, but it also leaves a minimal technological impact to create a stunning interior design,” according to Amina, which is selling three variations starting at just under $900. (Pocket-lint.co.uk 6/24)
Blu-ray disc sales will reach about $9.5 billion in 2012, the year it will overtake standard DVD, according to a new home-entertainment-industry report, which bases its projection on an optimistic prediction on the amount of Blu-ray content that will be released. Sales of HD discs reached nearly 9 million units last year, which generated more than $260 million in sales. (ElectronicHouse.com 6/24)
For homeowners who don’t like the look of speakers or are lacking for space, U.K.’s Amina Technologies has developed technology that builds them into the walls. With the Plaster In-Wall Loudspeaker, “all visual signs of a sound source completely disappear, but it also leaves a minimal technological impact to create a stunning interior design,” according to Amina, which is selling three variations starting at just under $900. (Pocket-lint.co.uk 6/24)
Blu-ray disc sales will reach about $9.5 billion in 2012, the year it will overtake standard DVD, according to a new home-entertainment-industry report, which bases its projection on an optimistic prediction on the amount of Blu-ray content that will be released. Sales of HD discs reached nearly 9 million units last year, which generated more than $260 million in sales. (ElectronicHouse.com 6/24)
