Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Facebook, iTunes, Nick Verreos, On the Web, Social network, Social network service, Television, Verizon FiOS
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Disney-ABC’s Oscar.com unveiled a new original web series “Road to the Oscars,” featuring Bachelor and Bachelorette host Chris Harrison. The series, which will feature Oscar news, exclusive interviews and behind the scenes footage, consists of nine episodes with a new show premiering everyday through Monday, February 23. The site also launched its “Oscars Designer Challenge: Behind the Dress” competition hosted by “Project Runway” alum/ fashion designer Nick Verreos. (Cynopsis 2/19)
Facebook has just launched
its first widget for Facebook Connect, its recently-introduced platform that allows users to authenticate themselves using their Facebook logins. Dubbed ‘Comments Box’, the new widget allows site owners to integrate a comments section into their webpage. But unlike normal commenting systems, comments left in Comments Box will be relayed back to the users’ Facebook profiles, where the conversation can continue (users can also choose to receive notifications through Facebook whenever someone responds to their comments on other websites). (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/facebook-connect-gets-easy-with-new-comments-widget 2/19)
Online TV firm Next New Networks and Verizon FiOS are launching an online network called $99 Music Videos to showcase the talents of emerging musicians and filmmakers. The companies say they are looking to create an “MTV for the digital and iTunes age.” (Iwantmedia 2/19, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3iee816b19c15d56f1b3e2b5da7f3676cb 2/19)
A new interactive site dubbed Fashionology.com launched yesterday as a web extension to a hands-on shop in Beverly Hills that allows tweens to design and make their own clothing. Building on tools popularized by dress up sites, Fashionology uses animated avatars to allow young users to play around with designs, share and borrow ideas with others and order finished products. (Cynopsis 2/19)
Despite the well publicized failure of Bud.tv, sneaker maker Adidas is rolling out its own video portal this week to promote its brands the viral video way, per Adweek. The portal began with basketball page featuring celebrity endorsements from NBA stars such as Dwight Howard, but plans are to ramp up content to include hundreds of embeddable videos, photos and integrations with social networking sites. The portal is the brainchild of EVB, San Francisco. (Cynopsis 2/19)
Nickelodeon‘s portfolio of sites claimed the top spot in comScore’s Family & Lifestyle category in Jan., posting a 13% gain in unique visitors (28.7 million) over a year ago. The group, which includes Nick.com; NickJr.com; The-N.com; Neopets; Shockwave; AddictingGames; ParentsConnect and NOGGIN.com; also ranked first in video streams among kids brands according to Nielsen’s VideoCensus. Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group was fifth among the top brands overall by video streams, behind only YouTube, Yahoo, Hulu and Fox Interactive Media. It delivered 204 million streams and 6.3 million unique video viewers. (Cynopsis 2/19)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: comScore, Facebook, Google, iTunes, Myspace, Netflix, News Corporation, Social network
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Downloading movies is kind of a fool’s game. You have the movie on disk, but now what? Well, it seems Apple is thinking
about adding streaming to the next version of iTunes and, presumably, offering cheaper streaming prices for those so inclined. (http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/12/itunes-might-get-streaming-with-acceptable-prices-for-same 2/12)
Borrowing a model from the sporting world, CBS.com is launching a fantasy league for the newest season of Survivor offering the winners a free trip to Brazil. Registered players are randomly assigned a tribe, in which they win points and compete for the top spot on the Leaderboard. Players are able to trade any or all of their Survivor team members and are awarded points based on their team members’ performance in certain categories. (Cynopsis 2/12)
When TV networks and programmers pay for a search-ad link with Google to promote a new show, the likelihood that people actually will tune in to the show goes up 25%, according to the Internet search giant. The likelihood goes up 20% for an existing show, Google said. MediaPost Communications (2/11)
This past December we reported on how Facebook was coming up on Blogger to steal its top spot among social media sites when measured by total unique visitors worldwide. Now, it appears as though Facebook has finally done it. Data from comScore, which unfortunately goes only through December 2008, shows how Facebook’s visitors (221 million) basically matched Blogger’s (225.5 million) by the end of the year. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/12/looks-like-facebook-just-took-the-top-spot-among-social-media-sites 2/12)
Brett Brewer, the co-founder of MySpace‘s parent company before it was sold to News Corp., says the global battle against Facebook is over. Facebook, he predicts, will come to dominate MySpace in worldwide user numbers. “There’s a fundamental shift going on.” (Iwantmedia 2/12, http://business.smh.com.au/business/facebook-tipped-to-outshine-myspace-20090211-84qt.html 2/12)
Trying to differentiate itself from rival Netflix, Blockbuster is launching a pilot program to expand its Total Access online movie rental service to include video games. So in addition to movie titles to choose from, select Total Access subscribers will have access to game titles for a number of platforms including the Nintendo Wii, PS2, PS3, Xbox and Xbox 360. (Cynopsis 2/12)
Consider it a sign of the times when internet company Google acquires the buildings and premises of a mill site from a paper, packaging and forest products company that caters to the print industry. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/12/google-buys-a-paper-mill 2/12)
Horror maestro Stephen King was on hand Monday to help launch the Kindle 2, reserving a novella exclusively for the device. Now legal thriller specialist John Grisham is close to signing an e-book deal with Bertelsmann AG’s Random House publishing arm to make all 22 of his books available in all e-book formats, reports the WSJ. Amazon’s Kindle has driven two-thirds of all e-book sales thus far, according to estimates. (Cynopsis 2/12)
Cyber-crooks are setting traps on the popular news-sharing Web site Digg. Criminals pose as Digg members and then entice readers with links to “scintillating” online celebrity videos. Those that follow the links are prompted to download software, which turns out to be malware. (Iwantmedia 2/12, http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090211/tc_afp/usitinternetdiggpanda 2/10)
Increased video consumption will contribute to the overall doubling of Mobile Data Traffic every year through 2013, according Cisco‘s annual Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast, updated this week. Almost 64% of the world’s mobile traffic will be video by 2013. The proliferation of netbooks and high-end handsets will be key drivers of traffic; a single laptop can generate as much traffic as 450 basic-feature phones, and a high-end handset such as an iPhone or Blackberry device creates as much traffic as 30 basic-feature phones. (Cynopsis 2/12)
IP Traffic 2006-2012
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 CAGR
Application (TB per month) ’08-’13
Audio 3,612 7,996 16,930 35,486 74,503 154,988 112%
Video 13,062 38,681 107,714 274,820 650,310 1,390,548 154%
P2P 6,714 15,851 33,784 69,856 134,224 220,829 101%
Data 9,680 22,547 48,984 102,054 217,282 417,847 112%
Source: Cisco 2009
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Filed under: Feature, WIRELESS | Tags: Apple, iTunes, Mobile network operator, Mobile TV, Morpheus, MP3, Multimedia, Music and Audio, Music download, Napster, Television, VCast
FROM DIGITAL MUSIC TO MOBILE VIDEO?: LOST IN TRANSLATION
Guest Writer: Pascal Hillet
Do you remember what music downloading was like before iTunes?
Those were the heady days of Napster and Morpheus. There was a portable digital music device called the MPMan F10. I bought one but never could figure out how to make it work. I gave it away.
Then came Jobs. He and Apple figured out how to make a consumer-friendly music service and portable player. This was a Copernican revolution: Apple started from the premise of making as good a consumer experience as possible, then finding a way to deliver it, rather than the other way around. The rest is history.
Photo Credit: kprogram
Yet now I feel as if we’re back in a geocentric universe, only this time with mobile video. There are multiple mobile video and mobile TV services on this earth, and they all, well, suck. Not one of them is consumer-oriented.
For example, why put longish video on a linear service? Mobile viewing by definition isn’t appointment viewing. Who wants to miss both the start and the end of something, watch what’s in between and then try to figure out what it was all about?
Why ask us to pay $5 or $10 on top of the $50 or so we already pay for phone service so that we can watch ancient television episodes in low resolution on a tiny screen? Sorry, not a compelling proposition.
And that’s the point. The industry players (handset manufacturers, mobile operators, technology developers) are not thinking about the consumer first when they try to foist top-down-driven services upon us. Buying any of these is a dismal experience. We’re back to the MPMan.
Small wonder that none of these services have caught on.
Just as for music, we need a service that starts with the consumer in mind. Let us watch whatever we want, whenever we want, wherever we want. Give us an intuitive UI. Make it free, or include it in our phone subscription.
Last time I checked, Apple was doing pretty well selling iPods and iPhones on the back of the iTunes service. Whoever solves the mobile video puzzle will also prosper.
Go ahead. Make some history.
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Amazon Kindle, Amazon.com, Apple, Audio, iPod, iTunes, Microsoft, Zune
Amazon.com says that its Kindle electronic book reader is out of stock, but isn’t revealing how many have been sold. Citi Investment Research analyst Mark Mahaney is estimating that 500,000 Kindles were sold in 2008, based on a regulatory filing from Kindle partner Sprint. (Iwantmedia 2/4, http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090203/ap_on_hi_te/tec_techbit_amazon_kindle 2/3)
I still say, if Amazon is open to outside devices, Apple needs to swoop in on this one and link the iTunes experience into it as well. Perhaps, when Jobs is back at the healm.
Microsoft said it will begin producing exclusive video content for Zune, its portable media player that is trying to get a toehold in the market controlled by Apple’s iPod device. The first offering will be a comedy called “Cinemash,” which is being developed in collaboration with Mean, an arts and entertainment magazine. Variety (2/3)
Several manufacturers of stripped down Blu-ray disc players are preparing to market their products in the U.S. for about $150, according to a published report. One maker apparently is Lite-On, which makes “white-box” drives. EngadgetHD (2/3)
Canton has introduced three additions to its Reference line of speakers, the Reference 5.2 DC and the Reference 7.2 DC, which are floor-standing units, and the Reference 9.2 DC, which is a monitor speaker. The company said the new models featured aluminum-oxide ceramic dome tweeters for enhanced power handling and distortion levels. ElectronicHouse.com (2/3)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Apple, AppStore, David White, iPhone, IpodTouch, iTunes, Microsoft, Texas hold 'em
Microsoft’s Live Labs division released its first app for the iPhone/iPod Touch – a mobile version of its elegant photo display software called Seadragon. The technology, also used for Microsoft’s Photosynth suite, is built to zoom in and out of photos found on the net regardless of bandwidth constraints or image size. (Cynopsis 12/15)
Apple upgraded the look of the App Store in iTunes, making it considerably easier to navigate. New sidebars highlight the top 20 paid and free apps separately, showcasing a wider variety of apps. (Cynopsis 12/15)
Mobile cost-per-impression rates are falling as games and iPhone apps begin to command a larger share of mobile ad inventory, finds AdAge. Average CPMs in the mobile space are currently hovering around $15, compared to $20-$25 earlier this year. (Cynopsis 12/15)
Hands-On Mobile, the gaming developer that produces “Guitar Hero” and “Texas Hold’ Em” for handsets, said it had laid off an undisclosed number of people, but CEO David White denied that falling revenue was behind the cuts at the San Francisco company. White said the layoffs were necessary after Hands-On sold its international operators. The Washington Post/mocoNews.net (12/14)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Apple, CBS, CharlieHunnam, EMusic, iTunes, ITunes Store, KurtSutter, Victoria's Secret
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Will the music subscription business ever grow beyond its current niche? It looks increasingly doubtful. Today, eMusic announced that since it launched its current music subscription service in 2003, customers have downloaded 250 million songs. Apple’s iTunes, by comparison, has sold more than 5 billion songs 
since it opened the iTunes Store in April, 2003. That makes eMusic one twentieth the size of iTunes. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/20/emusic-250-million-songs-downloaded-itunes-5-billion 11/20)
CBS will extend the Victoria‘s Secret Fashion Show event to multiple platforms. The special will be televised on CBS December 3 at 10p yet can be previewed prior on the special dedicated website at www.cbs.com/victoria with videos, photos and more. CBS.com will also host a Social Viewing Room where the complete fashion show can be viewed following the broadcast at www.cbs.com/socialviewing. In addition, CBS Mobile is working with MediFLO USA allowing a Victoria’s Secret TV channel on FLO TV. (Cynopsis 11/20)
Multiplatform men programmer RipeTV has teamed with Ultimate Fighting Champion creator Art Davie to come up with an entirely new sport created exclusively for digital: XARM fighting. XARM combines arm wrestling with boxing and various martial arts. The winner of the XARM tournament will earn the title of “XARM Heavyweight Champion” and take home a $10,000 prize. (Cynopsis 11/20)
Fancast.com will be hosting a live forum with Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam and series creator Kurt Sutter on Monday, Nov. 24, two days prior to the FX show’s season finale. The hour-long live chat will start at 2 pm ET and will be available to embed live on third party sites. Email Fancast’s Derek Collins at
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Derek_Collins@Comcast.com to arrange a live embed. (Cynopsis 11/20)
Yahoo appears to be quite serious about openness and promoting third party content and applications on their massively visited home page. Today they’re announcing the addition of an eBay widget to the new Yahoo home page, which is still being tested with just a subset of Yahoo users. The widget will be added to the My Applications dashboard area on the left. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/20/yahoo-continues-to-embrace-this-openness-thing-ebay-widget-on-yahoo-home-page 11/20)
The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers just released their quarterly report on U.S. online advertising revenues. For the quarter, they estimate online advertising revenues were almost $5.9 billion ($5.865 billion, to be exact), which is an 11 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago and a 2 percent increase from the second quarter of 2008. (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/20/iab-reports-us-online-advertising-reaches-59-billion-in-the-third-quarter 11/20)
Platform-A led ComScore‘s October Ad Focus rankings reaching 91% of the 190.6 million Americans online. Yahoo! Network followed reaching 86% and Google Ad Network captured the third position reaching 83% of Americans online. ValueClick Networks moved up one position to #4 reaching 82% of online users and Traffic Marketplace rose one position to #8 reaching 74%. (Cynopsis 11/20)
Top Visited US Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Sites (Week ending Nov. 15, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 ABC www.abc.com 29.60%
2 NBC www.nbc.com 24.10%
3 CBS www.cbs.com 22.25%
4 FOX* www.fox.com 14.92%
5 The CW www.cwtv.com 8.36%
6 MNTV www.mynetworktv.com .78%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise, *includes traffic aggregated from stand alone websites americanidol.com, amw.com, familyguy.com, thelot.com and thesimpsons.com.
Top Visited US Broadcast Network TV Show Sites (Week ending Nov. 15, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 NBC Heroes 6.41%
2 NBC Deal or No Deal 5.86%
3 ABC Dancing With The Stars 5.70%
4 FOX America’s Most Wanted 4.67%
5 NBC The Office 4.35%
6 CBS Survivor 3.71%
7 NBC The Biggest Loser 4.29%
8 FOX American Idol 3.21%
9 ABC Grey’s Anatomy 2.70%
10 CBS Ghost Whisperer 2.33%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise
Top Visited US Cable Network TV Show Sites -Excluding Children’s Programming (Week ending Nov.15, 2008)
Rank Network Website Market Share of Visits
1 Comedy Central South Park 6.74%
2 Food Network Paula’s Home Cooking 4.95%
3 Comedy Central The Daily Show 2.92%
4 Discovery Channel Dirty Jobs 2.91%
5 MTV The Hills 2.67%
6 BET 106 & Park 2.64%
7 Fox News O’Reilly Factor 2.63%
8 Bravo Real Housewives of Atlanta 2.51%
9 Food Network 30 Minute Meals 1.99%
10 MSNBC Countdown with Keith O. 1.98%
Source: Custom report from Hitwise
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Filed under: Feature | Tags: Abbey Road, Apple, Audio, Beatles, Bloomingdale, iPod, iTunes, ITunes Store
BEATLES TO APPLE: FINALLY SHOWING JUST A BIT OF LOVE
For a limited time, you can pick up a Beatles-branded iPod to satiate the Beatles fan in you. Only 2,500 have been produced and are being sold exclusively at Bloomingdales.
If you’re a fan of The Beatles, then you know that the band has yet to show some love and offer their wares on the Apple iTunes store, much to the disdain of their fans. Despite the new iPod sporting a laser-etched Beatles logo on the front and a silhouette of the Abbey Road album cover on the back, The Beatles have still not come to an agreement with Apple over distribution of their albums through the store.
So, while you do get 13 albums of The Beatles music in all of its glory, ripping it onto your iTunes library and then transferring to your iPod is up to you. If you didn’t want the music sold through the iTunes store, I get that (ok not really). But why not produce digital files loaded onto these iPods exclusively?
Apparently, the deal didn’t include negotiations with Apple at all. Hence, the weirdness. Etchstar, the company which offers the laser engraving worked with Bloomingdales to design the iPod etching paired with the CD’s.
I guess if you have $795 to spend (see price below), you can afford to have your assistant prepare your iPod for you. Big pimpin’.
What’s Included
120 GB black iPod with Beatles branding
13 Original Beatles CD’s
2 Masters and the “Love” CD
Engraved Guitar Pick
Packaging designed by Psycho Bunny
Price
$795 plus shipping
How to Get One
Click here or on the image above
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