Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA by Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

As Hulu continues its spectacular rise (it is the No. 3 video site in the U.S. and is closing in on No. 2), it just got major buy-in from yet another major media company. Disney is now an investor, joining News Corp and NBC (along with private equity firm Providence Equity Partners). Each of the three media companies now reportedly own 27 percent of Hulu. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/30/disney-buys-into-hulu-youtube-should-be-worried/ 4/30)

A future version of iTunes, which was included in the beta version of an iPhone software update sent to developers, included a reference to Blu-ray playback in the “About iTunes” section, according to reports. The news indicates that Apple is preparing to make its applications and hardware compatible with Blu-ray, although the company has not released any statements to verify this speculation. InformationWeek (4/30) , Digital Trends (4/29

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes says his company is working with several distributors on its TV Everywhere concept and will begin testing it sometime during the second half of the year. TV Everywhere, theoretically, will allow subscription-paying cable customers to watch their favorite shows on a number of other media platforms, including those that are mobile. Reuters (4/29)

Twitter has rolled out search functionality in a more prominent area of the site: the right nav bar.  The functionality was originally only available to select users but now has been rolled out to everyone. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/30/twitter-brings-search-to-all/ 4/30)

To build buzz for MTV‘s Justin Timberlake-produced reality show The Phone, Fanscape has launched an interactive Twitter-based game on MTV’s Twitter page. Similar to the popular kids’ game “Telephone,” Fanscape tweets MTV’s audience weekly with abstract messages, asking them to change one word and retweet the message to create progressively funnier conversations. (Cynopsis 4/30)

Google has just announced that it has become the default location provider service in Firefox, which means beginning in the latest Firefox Beta (available here) users will be able to update their location from their web browser without having to install an extra plugins or programs through Google. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/30/google-becomes-default-location-provider-for-firefox/ 4/30)

Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp says it is in talks to buy Yahoo’s online-dating business, after posting a first-quarter loss due to advertising woes. “We would love to have Yahoo Personals,” Diller says. IAC already owns Match.com, the Web’s largest online personals service. (Iwantmedia 4/30, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124100716278968323.html 4/30)

Sony is making more of its films available for free on Crackle.com, the company’s online movie and television video site, adding “Spider-Man 2″ and other titles as it looks to attract more viewers and advertisers. The latest additions specifically target younger males. (Iwantmedia 4/30, http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118002988.html?categoryid=1237&cs=1 4/29)

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