Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

In September, Seth MacFarlane, creator of “Family Guy” on television, will unveil a carefully guarded new project called “Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy.” Unlike “Family Guy,” which is broadcast on Fox, this animation series will appear exclusively on the Internet. The innovative part involves the distribution plan. Google will syndicate the program using its AdSense advertising system to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlane’s target audience, typically young men. Instead of placing a static ad on a Web page, Google will place a “Cavalcade” video clip. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/business/30google.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 6/30)

And. . .if you’re a Family Guy fan, this photo I took in RI over the weekend should have meaning.

Google just announced its odd Google Media Server, a Windows app that finds photos, music, and video and makes it available to DLNA devices like the PlayStation 3, XBox 360, and most Media Center PCs. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/27/google-goes-after-the-tv-with-google-media-server 6/27)

In an industry first, Sony Pictures’ hoped-for blockbuster “Hancock,” starring Mr. Smith as a bungling superhero, hits theaters on Wednesday and will be available — after its theater run but before release on DVD — over the Internet, directly to viewers’ television sets. That is, if they own a Sony Bravia TV with a Web connection. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/technology/30sony.html?ref=technology 6/30)

Yahoo once again makes the case to shareholders that its existing directors are better equipped to lead the company forward than an alternate slate proposed by Carl Icahn. (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/yahoo-makes-new-pitch-to-shareholders-as-stock-drops-further/index.html?ref=technology 6/30)

Streaming music service Rhapsody has joined the likes of Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Napster by launching an MP3 store.  Its move to offer unprotected music downloads has been anticipated since last Fall when Real Networks joined forces with MTV and Verizon. The Rhapsody MP3 Store offers music from all four major labels (Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, and EMI) at 99 cents per single and mostly $9.99 per single disc album.  (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/29/rhapsody-agrees-drm-is-dead-launches-mp3-store 6/29)

Apple’s iTunes will have more competition for consumers’ musical attention come August. The masterminds who started Hot Topic, a chain of clothing and accessories stores inspired by pop culture and music, have designed a digital-music store called ShockHound, which at launch will sell MP3s from at least three of the four major labels and hundreds of independent labels. ShockHound also plans to use MP3s to help increase sales of clothing and accessories carried by Hot Topic. (The New York Times 6/30)

And here I thought Hot Topic had died a silent but respectable death somewhere. . .

A key feature of Twitter has been down most of this week: Replies. The core Twitter service itself is alive, but the team took the Reply feature down on Tuesday when the service started to slow. As of now, Friday afternoon, Replies are still down.  Disabling certain features is Twitter’s recent attempt to keep their frail architecture from failing completely. They tried it out during Apple’s recent WWDC keynote and it worked, so they’re clearly using this approach more often now to deal with problems. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/27/conversations-come-to-a-screaming-halt-on-twitter-users-simply-move-to-friendfeed 6/27)

Twitter angers and annoys me generally.  I’m all for switching services but let’s be honest for a second here, Twitter still isn’t exactly mainstream unless you call new media fanatics typing away on their iPhones nervously twitching from too much caffeine mainstream.

EMI, which is looking less like a music label and more like a lawsuit label, is at it again. This afternoon they filed a lawsuit alleging “massive and blatant” copyright infringement by Hi5, VideoEgg and ten John Doe defendants to be named later. The core of the suit is over copyrighted EMI content that appears on Hi5, particularly music videos. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/27/emi-music-sues-hi5-videoegg-and-ten-defendants-to-be-named-later 6/27)

Need to schedule a meeting or phone call, but can’t agree on a time that is good for everyone? Try using When Is Good, a dead-simple Web app that does just one thing: zero in on a meeting time that is good for everyone without sending 20 emails back and forth. There are plenty of other apps that help you find a mutually convenient time time for meetings or events (such as Presdo, Scheduly, or Jiffle). But When Is Good strips the process down to its bare essentials. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/27/when-is-good-the-bare-bones-meeting-scheduler 6/27)

Ingenious.  I would LOVE to avoid the 10-plus e-mail streams surrounding even the most simple tasks like lunch or coffee.