Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA by Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Boston police say they have captured a suspect they believe to be the so-called “Craigslist killer,” a case that has attracted national attention. Philip Markoff, 22, of Quincy, Mass., is accused of preying on several women who advertised erotic services on Craigslist. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1166939 4/21)

With all of the online video services now offering much of the same content, the new differentiating factor seems to be high definition quality. Microsoft has been there for a while (with videos over Xbox Live), as has Apple (over the Apple TV), and now Amazon is joining the gang. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/21/amazon-jumps-into-the-hd-stream-as-well-doesnt-really-make-a-splash/ 4/21)

Janet Robinson, CEO of the New York Times Co., says the struggling publisher is exploring alternative, online business models for newspapers, such as subscriptions. The company is reporting a first-quarter net loss of more than $74 million, with advertising revenue down 27%. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://www.smartmoney.com/news/ON/?story=ON-20090421-000444-1154 4/21)

“Punked” is one of those words that started out as a slang term, but was taken to a whole new level by a pop culture moment — in this case, the MTV show Punk’d. But as quickly as it heated up in 2003, it quickly burned out, lasting just 4 years. But the company behind it, Ashton Kutcher’s Katalyst Media, may have found a way to revive the formula — take it live and online.  Katalyst is teaming up with Ustream, the online streaming video service, to bring “Punk’d-style experiences” to the platform. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/20/katalyst-media-taking-punkd-live-with-ustream/ 4/20)

Google is unveiling software tools that let people search the Internet using pictures or chronologically organize results of queries for news. The new News Timeline amasses stories from newspapers, magazines and blogs and presents search results in chronological graphs. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090421/tc_afp/usitinternetmediagoogle 4/20)

Social-news site Digg is ending its advertising partnership with Microsoft more than a year before their contract is due to expire. Instead of relying on Microsoft as its exclusive ad partner, Digg will now primarily use the internal sales force it recently began building. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10223354-36.html 4/20)

Years after Yahoo and Google integrated web IM features into their free webmail services (Yahoo Messenger in Yahoo Mail and Gtalk in Gmail, respectively), Redmond is finally enabling users to log into their Hotmail accounts and converse with their contacts over instant messaging directly without the need to log on to Windows Live Messenger separately, or to even have the program installed altogether. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/21/ages-after-yahoo-and-google-microsoft-finally-enables-web-based-im-in-hotmail/ 4/21)

Time Inc. is trying to build its online advertising business with an ad network of its own that will, among other things, allow advertisers to make targeted buys across its properties. One of the biggest sites on the network is People.com, which attracted 13 million people in March. (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=136123 4/20)

More Americans are said to be making their income from blogging than from working as computer programmers, firefighters or bartenders. More than 20 million Americans are now blogging, with 452,000 of those using blogging “as their main source of income.” (Iwantmedia 4/21, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124026415808636575.html 4/21)

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