Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Search engine Cuil launched earlier this evening, claiming a bigger index size (120 billion web pages) than Google or any other search engine. The pedigree of the founders and execs, which includes three ex senior Googlers, means the service will be compared to Google from day one. And the way they will be compared is index size and, more importantly, relevance/ranking of results.  Techcrunch has been testing the engine for the last hour. Based on their test queries Cuil is an excellent search engine, particularly since it is all of an hour old. But it doesn’t appear to have the depth of results that Google has, despite their claims. And the results are not nearly as relevant. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/27/google-beats-cuil-hands-down-in-size-and-relevance-but-that-isnt-the-whole-story 7/27)

In my own search tests, I also found the results less than Google-relevant in three attempts.  I’m also not quite a fan of the visual search results.  Perhaps, I’m just too used to the Google search results or perhaps Google search results are easier to scan through.

Netflix, which attracted 168,000 new customers during the second quarter, plans to stick with its current subscription models for movie rentals. “We don’t plan to enter the pay-per-view segment, where Apple, Amazon, Sony and others focus, or the ad-supported segment, where Hulu, YouTube and others compete,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said. “Both of those segments will likely be substantial, but our subscription segment will also be large and will provide Netflix plenty of room for growth.” (The Hollywood Reporter 7/25, Los Angeles Times/Associated Press 7/26)

Emboldened by Optimedia’s new Power Ratings survey that combines TV, streaming, iTunes purchases, and mobile viewing, The CW has changed its mind and decided to once again stream episodes of Gossip Girl on its web site. Gossip Girl ranks as the #15 on TV when factoring in multiple platforms and other intangibles. (Cynopsis 7/28)

Someone still needs to do something about the completely intolerable CW site but for this above, I am thankful.  Now seriously, can someone work on making the site intuitive and simple in use.  I think it’s a testament to how obsessed fans are with this show (present company included) that they would be willing to inflict CW.com on themselves.

CBS Interactive unveiled a new CBS HD Gallery on CBS.com containing clips and a few full episodes from a dozen of its prime time shows. You can check out clips from 6 new fall shows: The Mentalist, Eleventh Hour, Worst Week, Harper’s Island, The Ex List and Gary Unmarried there as well. Intel is sponsoring the offering to promote its Centrino mobile technology. (Cynopsis 7/28)

Jimmy Fallon, who will take Conan O’Brien’s place on NBC’s Late Night next year after Jay Leno leaves The Tonight Show, will hone his skills online in 5-10 minute segments beginning in the fall, reported the New York Times. (Cynopsis 7/28)

To promote the latest collection of short stories by Stephen King CBS Corp.’s Simon & Schuster is introducing a series of daily animated shorts on iTunes and Amazon.com today produced by Marvel Entertainment. A season pass for the Stephen King’s N, one of the stories in the Just After Sunset anthology, can be had for the economical price of $3.99 for 25 episodes. Click here to download an embeddable widget that will automatically deliver an ad-supported version of each episode for free. (Cynopsis 7/28)

Click the image below for the first episode.  It’s like a cheesy version of The Ring but the artwork is amazing.  And to try to redeem my snarkiness, here lies one very well coordinated widget strategy.

A new website called GoAnimate.com launched at Comic-Con enabling novice users to create their own cartoons using a simple menu-based interface. A new deal will also allow users to create reels with characters under the Entertainment Rights umbrella of licenses including Underdog, Richie Rich and Mr. Magoo. To kick things off (and attract talented animators) GoAnimate is hosting a contest looking for original creations, dangling $5,000 for the top-judged entry and $2,500 for the most popular entry. (Cynopsis 7/28)

Hulu is attacking that sizeable segment of the market that’s never heard of the service by unveiling a new Widget Gallery to help spread the word and remind loyal users to check back often for new shows. A selection of embeddable players allow users to queue and track featured, recently added or most popular videos from a number of environments including Facebook, Netvibes and Piczo. Hulu.com also began streaming its first soap opera – Guiding Light – on July 25 and will debut two other TeleNext Media shows As The World Turns today and Another World on July 29. (Cynopsis 7/28)

Microsoft is working with producer Peter Safran (Scary Movie, Meet The Spartans) to create a series of comedic shorts for free distribution on the 12 million member Xbox Live platform, directed by leading horror film directors including James Wan (Saw) and Marcus Nispel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre.) The 10-minute shorts, which will also be available on MSN and Zune, are actually pilots that could be developed into full blown online series, according to Microsoft. (Cynopsis 7/28)

NBCU’s Sci Fi Network announced a slate of new online programming (including another series of ten Battlestar Galactica webisodes) as well as a new stand-alone entertainment site based on the entertainment news section SCI FI WIRE, expected to launch during Q4. Sci Fi also plans to launch a new social network in the fall based around Ghost Hunters where users can share their favorite ghost stories and gear. The recently redesigned SciFi.com just finished its best quarter ever in terms of uniques (3.4MM), visits (5.7MM), page views (36.8MM) and video streams (5.2MM). (Cynopsis 7/28)

From the indefatigable vertical women’s online network Glam Media comes the Glam Application Platform, aka “Atako,” designed to allow developers to build apps and share in revenue generated when their apps are used by Glam’s 77 million monthly readers. For instance the GlamTV app lets publishers embed video accompanied by brand advertising, revenue from which is shared between publisher, video provider and content owner. The open source platform, currently in private beta, even has its own embeddable Glam Apps Store. (Cynopsis 7/28)

Short form videos still dominate online viewing, according to a new study conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates & Metacafe. The online survey, which looked at the habits of 2,000 users aged 12-64, identified Comedy (37%), music videos (36%), UGC (33%), news (31%)  and movie trailers (28%) as the top 5 short form categories. Other findings include:

• 50% of respondents watch online video weekly
• 11% watch online video daily
• 28% of those who watch online videos report watching less TV as a result
• 19% of online video users report regularly sharing a link to a video with someone else

Facebook, LinkedIn and Imeem were the big gainers in Nielsen Online’s latest social networking rankings. Facebook added over 12 million new users during the last year, but it still trails industry leader MySpace by 20 million users, whose growth was almost perfectly flat. (Cynopsis 7/28)

Top 10 Social Networking Sites – June 2008
Site                  June-08 UA (000)    June-07 UA (000)  YOY Growth
Myspace.com             59,482               59,722                  0%
Facebook                   29,226               16,547                77%
Classmates Online      15,451               11,589                33%
LinkedIn                      9,566                 3,335              187%
Windows Live Spaces    8,546                 7,825                 9%
Reunion.com                7,481                 4,098                83%
AOL Hometown             5,539                 6,847               -19%
Club Penguin                4,347                  4,218                 3%
Flixster                        3,662                  2,626                39%
Imeem                        3,558                  1,603               122%
Source: Nielsen Online