Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Yahoo has responded to the fresh rumblings from Icahn and Microsoft, by saying that it’s been willing to enter into direct talks with Microsoft on a sale. It then notes that Microsoft previously signaled its lack of interest (even at the last offered price), and that it’s now looking to partner with Icahn as a way to win that search deal it still wants. (http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-yahoo-responds-to-icahn-microsoft-were-still-willing-to-talk-sale 7/7, http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/08/microsoft-crosses-a-line/ 7/8)

In essence, here’s the story. Yahoo: Oh no you didn’t M!  Microsoft: Y, if you’re not willing to take this relationship seriously, I’ll speak to someone who does.  Yahoo: I really don’t appreciate you spreading lies about me BEHIND MY BACK.  Microsoft: Better get in the game Y, before you lose it all.  Sound like an episode of Gossip Girl? Ballmer would look just fetching in a knee-length red trench.

There are no weekend box office charts for online videos. But if there were, near or at the very top of the list right now might well be a four-and-a-half-minute video called “Dancing,” which more than four million people have viewed on YouTube, and perhaps another million on other sites, in the just over two weeks since it appeared. It’s the online equivalent of a platinum hit, seeping from one computer to the next like a virus. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/arts/television/08dancer.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin 7/8)

You may remember that we featured this video a few weeks ago as the online video of the week.  With just under 5 million views and running, it seems Matt’s second installment is doing quite well for itself.  His objective seems so pure that I just gotta get down with this.

After a lot of huffing and puffing at the beginning of the year, Hasbro and Electronic Arts are finally getting ready to unveil their official version of Scrabble on Facebook. Today, they announced that the Facebook app EA has been working on for more than six months will be launched later this month, although a version on Pogo (EA’s online casual gaming site) is available today. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/07/official-facebook-version-of-scrabble-spells-doubt-for-scrabulous 7/7)

The BBC has proposed a new pre-ordering function to its popular online iPlayer video service, reports Digital Spy. Users will be allowed to pre-order single episodes or full series up to 7 days before they air on linear TV, but DRM protections would render the video unviewable until after the actual broadcast. The move is an attempt to ease traffic constraints on ISPs caused by excessive peak-time downloading. (Cynopsis 7/8)

Privacy concerns have been raised by Google and other companies that track users’ activities on the Web, but the tracking has upsides, too. (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/googles-tracking-of-users-can-also-increase-privacy-protection/index.html?ref=technology 7/8)

The TV and filmed entertainment business is in for a precipitous downturn over the next couple of years as digital distribution, audience fragmentation and widespread file sharing continue to eat into studios’ profit margins, according to an alarming report from Lehman Brothers analyst Anthony DiClemente. Waiting in the wings to benefit are distributors such as Apple’s iTunes and Google’s YouTube, the current behemoths of paid and ad supported online video. He underscored his Sky is Falling mantra with a series of downgrades on Disney, CBS, News Corp., Time Warner and Viacom. (Cynopsis 7/8)