Daily Marauder

ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Google CEO Eric Schmidt hints that a deal with Twitter could be close, although he dampens speculation that he is planning to buy the microblogging phenomenon. “We do not have to buy everyone to work with them.” Google is believed to be seeking real-time search. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/5351937/Google-chief-hints-at-partnership-with-Twitter.html 5/20)

After NBC “unceremoniously” cancelled “My Name Is Earl,” one of the sitcom’s actors, Ethan Suplee, turned to Twitter to complain. His actions helped spark a Twitter-based campaign to resurrect the series. An earlier geek-led campaign purportedly helped save NBC’s “Chuck.” (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2009/05/my-name-is-earl-creator-greg-garcia-is-a-writer-because-he-has-a-way-with-wordsasked-for-his-take-on-nbcs-unceremonious-canc.html 5/19)

U.S. cable giant Comcast climbed the most in customer-satisfaction ratings among its peers by using Twitter to calm disgruntled subscribers, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Comcast employs 10 people to monitor tweets about the company. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a71HPbtIMT20 5/19)

ESPN on July 15 will launch the first integrated video player on YouTube and also will be the first network to run pre-roll ads on the Google-owned site, the Walt Disney Co. unit announced at its upfront. “We’re programming dayparts as if ESPN.com was a new network,” said Sean Bratches, ESPN’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. “We want to make ESPN and our partners’ brands available to fans in every conceivable way.” Advertising Age (5/19)

The DVD box set of the just-ended season of “24″ on News Corp.’s Fox network became available for sale the day after the airing of the season finale. News Corp. describes the unusually quick DVD release as an “experiment” amid changing viewing habits in the digital age. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/technology/news/e3ic8543054a8a9084dc949c8916b611a54 5/19)

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who tries the online streaming radio service Pandora that doesn’t like it. In fact, some users like it so much that they actually ask for ways to pay the company, to make sure it stays alive (something that has been a question mark given the oppressive Internet radio licensing costs). And while there has been a limited subscription version for some time, Pandora has never proactively promoted it. But starting tomorrow it’s taking the freemium model seriously, with the launch of Pandora One. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/19/pandora-gives-the-freemium-model-a-thumbs-up-with-pandora-one/ 5/19)

Remember TotalMusic, the failed music initiative created by Sony BMG and UMG that was built from the start with the goal of serving as Facebook’s music platform (and was ultimately rejected by the social network)? Its assets were recently acquired by Project Playlist, the troubled music streaming startup that just lost its CEO to MySpace last month and has had lawsuits pending from the major record labels since late last year. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/19/the-record-industrys-failed-totalmusic-project-finds-a-new-home-at-project-playlist/ 5/19)

A U.S. district judge is ordering YouTube to pay $1.61 million in royalties to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the performance rights organization, for streaming music on the video site. YouTube is expected to pay songwriters going forward. (Iwantmedia 5/20, http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090519/1127454934.shtml 5/19)

Google has released a new version of Reader that’s been tweaked a bit. Google has added a new set of tabs in the trends page called “Friends Trends,” where you can see which friends share the most content and whose shared items you read. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/19/google-releases-new-version-of-reader/ 5/19)

Following a suit filed by Discovery Communications against Amazon in March alleging infringement on a patent held for e-book technology, Amazon has filed a lawsuit against Discovery alleging infringement on four e-commerce patents held by the company. Discovery has not responded in court to the suits but is in the “process of reviewing those and will respond appropriately in due course.” The Wall Street Journal (5/20)

Looks like Windows Media Center, that hub for video and audio which I’ve never used, is getting full Netflix streaming support. This is good news for those of you running HTPCs with Vista on them — no need for an extra layer or front-end, just open up WMC, enter your info and you’re on your way. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/20/windows-media-center-gets-netflixd 5/20)