Filed under: Feature | Tags: Calendar, Google Calendar, ICal, Jott.com, Meeting, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook, Windows, World Wide Web
ONLINE SITE OF THE WEEK: JOTT TIME
If you haven’t yet been introduced to Jott.com and find yourself in need of some productivity tools, it’s about time for a visit. Jott.com helps turn your voice notes into action. The site was great before but, even better, Outlook functionality has been added. While at meetings or out of the office, you can send yourself a draft e-mail, create a task, or add a meeting to your calendar. Beats the hell out of e-mailing myself to-dos. Click on the video below for a quick demo. Just try to ignore the super cheese music.
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Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: CBS, ESPN, ESPN Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball, Major League Baseball on CBS, Television, USA, Visible World
Nick Jr.’s internationally popular “Dora the Explorer” children’s animated series will kick off a new season next month. Fresh episodes, which, for the first time since the show premiered, will feature a new voice cast, will run Sept. 15 to 19 and culminate with a five-hour marathon. Multichannel News (8/21) , Financial Times (8/21)
Travel Channel has picked up the cable rights to the CBS series “The Amazing Race.” As part of the deal, the cable network gets Seasons 12 through 14 and plans to debut the Emmy-winning show Sept. 3 in the 8 p.m. time slot. Variety (8/21)
Film credits from the 1920s reveal imprecision in copyright claims that experts say could invalidate Disney’s long-held copyright to Mickey Mouse. The cartoon character is said to be worth more than $3 billion to Disney. A Disney lawyer dismisses the idea as “frivolous.” (Iwantmedia 8/22, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mickey22-2008aug22,0,6883462.story 8/22)
ESPN and Major League Baseball have come to terms on a new rights contract that will enable the cable sports network to leverage various media platforms, including video game consoles and iPods, to deliver baseball content. The deal, which runs through 2013, includes online streaming of live games and highlights, as well as the development of new interactive elements in televised games. USA TODAY/Associated Press (8/21)
A company called Visible World says it has created an open standard for addressable TV advertising that will allow marketers to more precisely target their chosen demographic. Visible World President Tara Walpert-Levy said the new application enabled advertisers to deliver specifically tailored messages, down to individual households. MediaPost Communications (8/21)
AT&T has started offering potential customers $125 if they switch their broadband service away from a cable provider. Those who do so by Nov. 15 also get AT&T’s introductory broadband price for two years. CED Magazine (8/2008)
Harbinger Capital Management, which earlier this month disclosed to federal regulators that it had acquired a 4.9% stake in Cablevision, has upped its influence to 8.1%, or 18.95 million shares, according to this report. Harbinger, which is led by fund manager Phil Falcone, has a reputation for shaking up the management of the companies in which it significantly invests. The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) (8/22)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Chris DeWolfe, Facebook, Google, Huffington Post, Microsoft, Myspace, Social network, Tom Anderson
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Today Microsoft released Photosynth, a site that stitches plain photographs together to create a pseudo-3D world. Microsoft first presented the product back in 2006, and has since demoed it a number of times. The two year wait for Photosynth ended yesterday as Microsoft finally opened the doors to the public. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/21/microsoft-celebrates-photosynth-server-failure-surprised-people-like-it 8/21)
I think this service is super hot in theory but not in practice. Currently, photosynth doesn’t allow you to stitch together existing photographs meaning that each user will need to upload 100 photos (the recommended number) to stitch together in hopes of creating this 3D world. Who are these people with all of this free time? Certainly not me. . .
With Facebook surging, MySpace co-founders Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson say they plan to focus on music, pop culture and a proven advertising model to spur growth. MySpace is no longer a social network, they insist. It’s a “social portal”: a global, content-rich hub with a social component. (Iwantmedia 8/22, http://www.fastcompany.com/article/whats-new-myspace 9/08)
“Social Network” is so 2005. MySpace Cofounders Chris DeWolfe (left) and Tom Anderson are calling their site a “social portal”. | photo by Jill Greenberg
Yahoo News says it plans to build an Internet-age news service, leveraging its global audience of a half-billion people to win exclusive interviews with world leaders. Yahoo is cutting deals with wire services and other traditional outlets as well as investing in its own reporters. (Iwantmedia 8/22, http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080821/tc_afp/usitinternetmediacompanyyahoo 8/21)
Google, MySpace and The Huffington Post are offering Wi-Fi access, food, drinks and even mini-facials to bloggers covering the Democratic convention. At a time when many mainstream news organizations are struggling, the online disruptors “will be in plain view.” (Iwantmedia 8/22, http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/22/news/obama_media.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008082210 8/22)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Android, Application programming interface, Google, Google Gear, Mobile phone, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile USA, Windows Mobile
Sony Ericsson has unveiled an upgrade to its PlayNow online music service called PlayNow Arena, which features about 1 million music tracks from major music labels. Separately, the company debuted the TM506 mobile phone, a slim clamshell handset designed for T-Mobile USA that will be able to tap into the carrier’s new 3G network. mocoNews.net (8/22) , InformationWeek (8/21)
After hinting that it would do so last June, Google’s mobile team has released a Geolocation API for Google Gears. This works both on mobile phones and laptops running Gears, but developers will find it most useful for mobile applications. Unfortunately, they will be limited in that regard because Google Gears Mobile still only works on Windows Mobile phones, even though an Android phone is about to launch. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/22/google-offers-a-geolocation-api-for-gears-but-it-only-works-on-windows-mobile 8/22)
Google is nearing an agreement with Verizon to become the default search provider on the wireless provider’s devices and give it a share of advertising revenue. Both carriers and Internet companies view mobile search advertising as an area of rapid growth for the future. (Iwantmedia 8/22, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121937308672462691.html 8/22)
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