Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Yesterday, CBS sent out a press release touting the success of Last.fm’s month-old redesign, citing a 20 percent increase in unique visitors and a 36 percent increase in total minutes between June and July. Despite a few bugs on the day of launch, the redesign seems to be paying off. But why is CBS so keen on beating its chest when it comes to Last.fm? Ever since CBS bought Last.fm in May, 2007 for $280 million, it’s been under pressure to justify the purchase. At the time of the purchase, Last.fm was running neck-and-neck against social music network imeem and music radio service Pandora.. Today, imeem is killing Last.fm (see Google Trends for Websites chart above), and Pandora is still holding its own. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/15/lastfm-needs-more-than-a-redesign-to-catch-up-to-imeem 8/15)

Techcrunch received confirmation from AOL that the company has acquired Socialthing!, a lifestreaming service that competes with FriendFeed. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/14/confirmed-aol-acquires-lifestreaming-service-socialthing 8/14)

CBSNews.com and CNET.com will feature live, Web-exclusive specials anchored by Katie Couric each night following CBS’s prime time coverage of the 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions. The Webcasts will be archived for on-demand viewing. (Iwantmedia 8/15, http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6587662.html 8/14)

Facebook’s controversial and widely-disdained Beacon service, which it originally introduced in November, has led to the company behind slapped with another class action lawsuit. The suit alleges that Facebook never sought user approval before collecting personal information, and was also keeping tabs on people who weren’t even signed up for Facebook. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/14/facebook-gets-slapped-with-another-lawsuit-over-beacon-wishes-it-could-opt-out 8/14)

After more than two months of testing, Google has finally turned on AdSense for Feeds. Formerly, these were FeedBurner ads. The acquired company has moved its advertising program over to Google’s system, and now any AdSense advertiser can tap into the Feedburner network. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/15/google-turns-on-adsense-for-feeds 8/15)

With the appointment of Frank Biondi, Jr. and John Chapple to Yahoo’s board of directors today, the last two slots on the board are now filled. Biondi, the former CEO of Viacom, and Chapple, the former CEO of Nextel, were both on Carl Icahn’s original alternate slate when he was still trying to replace the entire board. As part of his compromise with Yahoo, Icahn backed down from his proxy battle in return for three seats on the board. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/14/yahoo-rounds-out-its-board-with-former-ceos-from-nextel-and-viacom 8/14)