Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Netflix is putting Microsoft’s Silverlight video playback system to good use by offering “Watch Instantly” functionality under OS X “by the end of the year.”  In other words, if you have a Mac, you will finally have the ability to watch movies instantly on Netflix, functionality currently only available to PC-owners. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/10/26/macs-getting-netflix-watch-instantly-with-silverlight 10/26)

SlingMedia’s class=”snap_preview_icon”> ambitious new video portal, Sling.com class=”snap_preview_icon”>, is set to launch on November 10.  Sling.com enables users to both watch online video served up in channels but also watch video from a Sling box as well. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/26/slingcom-to-launch-on-november-10 10/26)

Today Amazon has launched a new storefront called WindowShop, which presents some of the store’s newest and most popular movies, books, and video games in a way that makes browsing the online megastore actually fun. Each product is displayed as a tile on a large grid, which users can pan across until they find something they’re interested in. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/27/amazons-windowshop-offers-a-sleek-interface-for-the-online-megastore 10/27)

Use cursor keys to navigate? Blasphemy!!  Well, actually no.  Wait, I love this.  I wish it was a bit faster but overall this sort of navigation wins when I’m window shopping rather than searching for a specific title.

Bootstrapped by Pete Field and based out of Whistler, B.C., Canada, HearWhere is a search engine for live music which was launched in May 2008 but has managed to stay largely under the radar.  The live-performance search engine claims to list over one million music shows. The service tells you who is playing nearby, but also plays the associated music, and subsequently links to the artist’s MySpace page. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/27/hearwhere-lets-you-discover-live-music-in-your-neighborhood 10/27)

I dig.  I dig primarily because the site knew I was in Nashville, TN and loaded results in this area straight away without me typing a single thing.  I have a dream. . .that all web sites will one day do all of my thinking for me.  And yes, I just channeled Martin Luther King Jr. for that sentiment.

NBC was #1 for the second straight week among Hitwise’s ad supported broadcast network website rankings. NBC’s Heroes was the top-ranked TV show website while The Office jumped to the #2 spot from #6. Comedy Central’s South Park was the #1 ranked cable TV show website for the second straight week. The election also continues to play a huge role among adult-oriented cable TV sites. The network’s The Daily Show site jumped to the #2 ranking from #4. Meanwhile three Fox News sites made the top 10: Hannity & Homes, Hannity’s America and O’Reilly Factor. (Cynopsis 10/27)

Top Visited US Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Sites (Week ending Oct. 18 2008)
Rank                Network Website    Market Share of Visits
1  NBC           www.nbc.com 29.64%
2  ABC             www.abc.com 26.16%
3  CBS             www.cbs.com 20.98%
4  FOX*            www.fox.com 14.25%
5 The CW      www.cwtv.com 7.86%
6 MNTV   www.mynetworktv.com 1.10%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise, *includes traffic aggregated from stand alone websites americanidol.com, amw.com, familyguy.com, thelot.com and thesimpsons.com.