Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
The WB.com kicks off its latest original series today – the hospital drama parody Children’s Hospital – starring The Daily Show’s Rob Corddry, Megan Mullaly, Ed Helms and others. Rob himself created the show, reminiscent of Gary Marshall’s Young Doctors in Love, for Warner’s Studio 2.0 venture. (Cynopsis 12/8)

Very strange but very funny.  If you want to find out what brain jelly is, click below to watch the first episode.  Not so work appropriate.

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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said he wants to build a “credible competitor” to Google by acquiring Yahoo’s online search business. The software giant should strike a deal “sooner than later,” he added. “I think good ideas are usually better done quickly than slowly.” (Iwantmedia 12/8, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122851712003083965.html 12/6)

UK-based satellite TV service BSkyB relaunched its online Sky Player TV service offered for no extra charge to its DTH customers. Sky Player TV, now viewable both on PCs and Macs, provides live simulcasts of 25 channels including the Sky Sports channels, Sky News, The Disney Channel, National Geographic and British Eurosport with enhanced video quality using bitrates of up to 1.8 Mbps. The service is also available on a subscription basis for non-BSkyB subscribers. The video player is powered by Microsoft’s Silverlight platform. (Cynopsis 12/8)

Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp has decided to dismantle its programming division, which consists of Web sites like CollegeHumor.com and Life123.com. As a result, IAC will eliminate a layer of management and sell off or shut down sites that are not making money. (Iwantmedia 12/8, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081205/FREE/812059968/1084 12/5)

Yahoo Search BOSS, a search web service which launched just last July, is now serving an average of more than 10 million daily queries, or 100 queries per second, the company says. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/08/yahoo-search-boss-serving-10-million-daily-queries 12/8)

Facebook announced a series of upgrades to its video player launched last year. The new player now supports 720p resolution and upgraded audio, so the videos you shoot with that new HD version of the Flip Mino camera will appear in their native quality. Facebook also added the ability to embed videos you’ve posted to third party sites. Facebook says more than 45 million videos have been posted to the social networking service to date at a rate of approximately 100,000 new videos/day. (Cynopsis 12/8)

California-based VideoSurf is developing technology that uses facial-recognition software to allow online video viewers to zoom directly to a certain scene without watching the whole video, according to this report. Another firm, Digitalsmiths in North Carolina, uses facial recognition along with other vision software to help companies that want to make their Web videos easier to find. International Herald Tribune (12/7)

Detroit‘s beleaguered auto makers are taking to the web to make their case for federal aid by creating a series of ambitious web sites, videos, blogs, Facebook profiles and Twitter accounts timed to the release of its business plan to Congress on Tuesday, reports the WSJ. GM is also posting a lengthy mea culpa/plea on various sites and blogs. (Cynopsis 12/8)

In a radio and Web address over the weekend, President-elect Barack Obama promised a broadband expansion during his administration. Pointing out that the U.S. ranks 15th in the world in terms of broadband adoption, Obama said “every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m president.” Broadcasting & Cable (12/7)

I have a dream. . .that every child can be empowered through broadband access, which as an annual cost far exceeds the price of a computer in this country.  I have a dream. . .one that I think President-elect Barack Obama can fulfill.

Web video platform Brightcove has so many API partners just two months after the release of Brightcove 3 that it had to create an alliance to contain them all. Actually, the Brightcove Alliance is more of a marketing exercise to acknowledge and promote its API partners. Nevertheless, nearly 100 companies (including Yahoo, AOL, DoubleClick, Veoh, Metacafe, Slide, Meebo, Blinkx, Sprout, Clearspring, and Visible Measures) have implemented the API in less than two months. The new APIs cover everything from advertising and snalytics to mobile, search, and social media. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/07/two-months-after-release-brightcove-announces-nearly-100-api-partners 12/7)

America‘s obsession with politics was replaced with an obsession for food during Thanksgiving week as 6 of the Top 10 adult-oriented cable TV websites hailed from The Food Network, according to Hitwise’s weekly rankings. (Cynopsis 12/8)

Top Visited US Cable Network TV Show Sites -Excluding Children’s Programming (Week ending Nov.29, 2008)
Rank   Network                   Website                   Market Share of Visits
1    Comedy Central      South Park                        7.39%
2    Food Network         Paula’s Home Cooking         6.43%
3    Food Network         Barefoot Contessa              3.65%
4    Bravo                     Real Housewives of Atlanta 3.14%
5    MTV                     The Hills                            3.01%
6    Food Network         Food Network Specials        2.89%
7    Food Network         Down Home w/The Neelys   2.64%
8    Food Network         Good Eats with Alton Brown 2.62%
9    Food Network         30 Minute Meals                  2.29%
10   BET                       106 & Park                          2.25%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise