Filed under: BROADCAST/CABLE | Tags: A&E Network, Arts, Bravo, Emeril Lagasse, Networks, Television, Top Chef, Warner Bros.
Emeril Lagasse will be a guest judge Feb. 18 when Bravo brings its “Top Chef” contestants to New Orleans. The challenge will reduce the number of chefs from four to three as they head toward the show’s Feb. 25 finale. TVWeek.com (1/20)
A&E Network’s third season debut of Paranormal State with two back-to-back episodes on Monday night at 10p attracted an average of 1.1 million A25-54 viewers, 1.2 million A18-49 viewers and 1.5 million total viewers. (Cynopsis 1/21)
Warner Bros. announced yesterday it will shed 800 jobs in the coming weeks as well as outsource 300 positions to a third-party company. (Cynopsis 1/21)
“What Color Is Love?” — an original movie that debuted on Lifetime Movie Network this past Sunday — earned a 1.9 household ratings and a 1.1 ratings with women in the 18-to-49 demographic. It was the network’s third-best-rated original movie ever. Multichannel News (1/20)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Google, Google Maps, Joost, New York City, Search Engines, Searching, TV.com, YouTube
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Big media companies have always had a love-hate relationship with YouTube. They don’t know whether to sue YouTube for abetting copyright infringement or get in bed with it because it is the biggest Web video game in town. YouTube is trying to convince them that love is better than war by giving them a cut of advertising revenues from their videos that appear on YouTube, regardless of who put them there. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/21/exclusive-youtube-will-soon-let-big-content-partners-bring-their-own-ads 1/21)
Here’s the moral of the story kids. Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Monetize it instead. If only media companies could start thinking this way, consumers everywhere would rejoice.
New York City has just launched a revamped webportal at NYCgo
, which now offers an extensive database of events, restaurants, hotels, and other points of interest. All of these are tied into the Google Maps API, making it easier for visitors to quickly find things to do in their vicinity without having to hunt down their hotel’s concierge. The site will also include a listing of promotions and discounts, like the incredibly popular Restaurant Week, during which upscale restaurants offer meals at a flat (and heavily discounted) rate. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/21/nyc-teams-with-google-to-launch-its-own-citysearch 1/21)
Online video sites such as TV.com, Hulu and Joost, which offer much of the same content, are building more social-networking applications into their portals as a way to differentiate themselves and build loyalty. TV.com, for instance, allows viewers to comment on and review videos, enter discussion forums and even create their own blogs. BusinessWeek (1/19)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: App Store, Apple, Cellphones, Microsoft, Mobile phone, MobileMe, United States, Verizon Wireless
Concerns about overloading the country’s wireless networks came to naught Tuesday as the major cell phone carriers reported their aggressive preparations for Inauguration Day paid off. They reported few problems despite a significant increase in their normal traffic loads of calls and texts. Carriers had established satellite sites to provide more capacity. AT&T had poured in a reported $4 million to beef up its network and Verizon Wireless pointed to its $1 billion long-term investment in the Washington market. USA TODAY (1/21) , The New York Times/Bits blog (1/20) , InformationWeek (1/20) , CNET (1/20)
Microsoft will introduce several new mobile services next month, including a rival to Apple’s MobileMe, code named “SkyBox,” that will leverage the Internet to help users sync content on their phones, according to a report. Microsoft also will offer a similar service aimed at small businesses as well as an App Store-like mobile marketplace. Neowin.net (1/19) , The Register (U.K.) (1/20)
Cell phones equipped with GPS technology will continue to grow this year — albeit at a slower pace, according to ABI Research. It predicts in a study that GPS-enabled phone shipments will grow globally 6.4%, compared with a single-digit decline for the overall handset market. cellular-news (U.K.) (1/20)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Android, Apple, Chief operating officer, Fiscal year, iPhone, South Korea, Steve Jobs, Tim Cook
iPhones sales numbers for the first fiscal quarter of 2009 (which ran from Oct. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31st, 2008) are already in. Over the past 3 months, Apple has sold over 4,363,000 iphones. (http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2009/01/21/apple-pushed-44-million-iphones-in-the-last-quarter 1/21)
At the tail end of Apple’s quarterly earnings conference call today, COO Tim Cook (CEO Steve Jobs, who is taking a medical leave of absence, was not on the call) noted that 17 million iPhones have been sold to date. When he was asked about the rising competition from Android, Blackberry, and Palm, Cook made an oblique threat: We approach this business as a software platform business. We are watching the landscape. We like competition as long as they don’t rip off our IP. And if they do, we will go after anyone who does. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/21/apples-tim-cook-warns-competitors-if-you-rip-off-the-iphone-well-go-after-you 1/21)
LG has introduced the 42PQ60D and the 50PQ60D, the former of which is a 42-inch plasma TV with a 600Hz refresh rate while the latter is a 50-inch display with a contrast ratio of 1 billion:1. Initially, the models will only be available in LG’s home market of South Korea. Electronista (1/20)
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