Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Companies using Twitter for commercial purposes may soon start getting charged for that activity, according to an interview British trade magazine Marketing (part of BrandRepublic) held with co-founder Biz Stone. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/10/twitter-to-start-charging-companies-for-having-an-account 2/10)

The founders of ConnectU were apparently paid as much as $65 million in cash and Facebook stock to settle their longstanding dispute with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, according to an ad unearthed by The Recorder this morning. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/10/law-firm-blunder-reveals-value-of-facebookconnectu-settlement-65-million 2/10)

Time to induldge your inner animator. Home animation site GoAnimate is officially announcing tomorrow that they have obtained the rights from CBS to allow you to create your own Star Trek animated stories. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/09/first-look-at-star-trek-animation-studio 2/9)

Google has announced its plan to help consumers gain better information about their personal electricity usage.  The plan, which is listed on Google’s philanthropic website, promotes the adoption of smart electricity meters in homes across the world. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/10/googles-powermeter-project-for-when-the-webs-data-is-not-enough 2/10)

ESPN and Major League Baseball have formed a marketing partnership involving two of their premium online assets: MLB.TV Premium, which streams regular-season games, and ESPN Insider, which has exclusive sports-related content. Starting next week, the companies will begin offering a subscription package that combines the two services, and the arrangement is being promoted via an online and print ad campaign. Mediaweek (2/9)

Fox Sports renewed and expanded its online partnership with MSN to include a broader array of brands and ad components. FoxSports.com will adopt Microsoft products such as Windows Live and Live Search, continue to be the exclusive sports channel for MSN including content from Fox Sports Interactive’s Scout Media and WhatifSports.com for the first time, and take a “more integrated approach” to the development of new products for both online and mobile. (Cynopsis 2/10)

Sony Music Entertainment created an online app to allow users to send an ecard featuring a personalized sing-along with Mariah Carey. (Sony actually launched the concept with a Christmas card app to promote the release of the Elvis Duets CD.) (Cynopsis 2/10)

Comcast’s broadband video services company thePlatform announced a series of new initiatives aimed at lowering streaming costs for small and mid-sized publishers. To save on content delivery costs – typically the biggest cost associated with offering video – thePlatform is partnering with EdgeCast to resell CDN services at a volume-discounted rate typically reserved for larger providers. The company also announced a new “Advantage” program offering discounts for companies who use partners’ services including ad insertion platform Panache, ad management firm BlackArrow, video metrics specialist TubeMogul, video ad network ScanScout and analytics firm Visible Measures. thePlatform managed video for clients who collectively drove 440 million views in Dec. according to comScore, ranking it 3rd behind Google sites and Fox Interactive Media. (Cynopsis 2/10)