Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Advertising, Google, LinkedIn, News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, Twitter, Wall Street Journal, Web search engine
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Google users may not turn up any News Corp. articles in their searches after the company launches its paid content strategy, according to comments made by Rupert Murdoch in a Sky News interview. Murdoch complained that search engine readers hold little value for print sites’ advertisers and again held up his Wall St. Journal site as an example of what the model would look like. (Only the first paragraph of news stories would come up in search engines.) “There’s not enough advertising in the world to make all the websites profitable. We’d rather have fewer people coming to our websites but paying,” said Mr. Murdoch.
Techcrunch reported that 25% of WSJ.com’s traffic comes from Google. That’s, in essence, what we’re talking about here: 25%. It’s a bit like Kraft taking all of it’s products off of supermarket shelves. And considering that WSJ has a deal with Google to allow users to read full article content when they search through the engine, it seems a bit like an about-face no?
In a continued housecleaning at Walt Disney Co., studio distribution veteran Mark Zoradi is leaving after 29 years. The departure of Zoradi, president of Disney’s motion pictures group, follows the ousting of his former boss, Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, in September and Miramax Films President Daniel Battsek late last month. (LA Times 11/10)
LinkedIn and Twitter have linked up. Starting immediately, users of LinkedIn and Twitter can cross-file to each other’s services, by checking a box on either Twitter or LinkedIn. (Reuters11/10)
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Filed under: GAMING | Tags: Company, Developers and Publishers, Electronic Arts, Games, London, Playfish, Video game, Wall Street Journal
Electronic Arts announced that it plans to acquire the assets of Playfish, a London-based developer of online social games, for at least $275 million. Meanwhile, the company said it will cut 17% of its workforce — about 1,500 jobs — and close several facilities in hopes of saving about $100 million annually. The Wall Street Journal (11/9) , Reuters (11/9)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: iPhone, Microsoft Windows, NPD Group, Operating system, San Francisco, Wall Street Journal, Windows 7, Windows Vista
Yesterday in San Francisco, AT&T held a Tech Showcase to show off some of the new innovations they are working on in their labs. One such thing I got a demo of was a way to use your iPhone to search television content simply by using your voice. (Techcrunch11/5)
U.S. unit sales of boxed copies of Windows 7 were 234% higher during the new operating system’s first few days on store shelves than the comparable period two years ago for Windows Vista, according to research firm NPD Group. But one analyst quoted in this report said the Windows 7 effect so far on the PC market as a whole had been “mixed.” The Wall Street Journal (11/6)
Redbox, operator of the $1-a-night DVD kiosks that are controversial among Hollywood studios, is reporting that revenue grew 90% in the third quarter and operating income nearly doubled. The company says it could “easily grow” its current 20,600 kiosks to nearly 60,000. (Iwantmedia11/6, LA Times 11/6)
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Filed under: ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA | Tags: Apple, Google, ITunes Store, Lala, Myspace, Pandora, Searching, Wall Street Journal
ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Apple is trying to round up programming support to offer a $30-a-month subscription-television service. The Wall Street Journal says Apple’s “over-the-top” service in theory could rival cable television, given it can offer programmers a base of 100 million customers through iTunes. The Wall Street Journal/Digits blog (11/2)
Best Buy Co., the world’s largest electronics retailer, will start an online store for movies and television shows that will compete with Apple Inc.’s iTunes. (Bloomberg11/3)
Last week Google launched the Music Onebox — a special new search result that lets users stream songs in their entirety for free. The feature is being powered through partnerships with MySpace and Lala who are providing the song streams, with contributions from a host of other partners like Pandora and imeem. Millions of people will doubtless stumble across the new feature on their own as they run searches for their favorite bands, but Google also has a few tricks up its sleeve to get the word out. We’re hearing that a number of well known artists will soon be actively promoting the service, offering exclusive content to fans who Google them.
Tres smart marketing promotion. Tres Tres smart, The word of mouth on this should be intense. Nice move Google. Very nice. (Techcrunch11/3)
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Filed under: GAMING | Tags: DFC Intelligence, iPhone, iPod Touch, New Super Mario Bros, Nintendo, Video game, Wall Street Journal, Wii
Nintendo on Nov. 15 is scheduled to launch its latest game for the Wii console, “New Super Mario Bros.” The Japanese company needs a big hit: The heady days when the Wii was a must-have entertainment platform have, at least for now, faded, and sales and profit have gone south in the first half of the year. BusinessWeek(11/1) , The Wall Street Journal (10/30)
Revenue from video games designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch will spike from $46 million last year to more than $2.8 billion by 2014, according to a new study from researcher DFC Intelligence. The report went on to say that the overall market for games will rise just 8%, from $10.9 billion last year to $11.7 billion in 2014. The Wall Street Journal/Digits (10/30)
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Filed under: WIRELESS | Tags: Apple, Colbert Report, Comedy Central, iPhone, Ivan Seidenberg, Smartphones, Verizon, Wall Street Journal
A new Colbert Report app means iPhone users never have to be without “The WØrd.” The $1 app, released Monday by Comedy Central, includes every “WØrd” video done by hyper-real talking head Stephen Colbert so far and will be updated weekly. The clips are arranged alphabetically and can be sorted by air date and popularity. (Wired10/26)
As much as I love The Word, I still need something more than video in a mobile app. Give me some utility. Give me something to do with it.
Despite the introduction of new smartphones such as the Android-based Droid and RIM‘s brand new BlackBerry Storm2, Verizon Wireless would like nothing more than to add the iPhone to its network, according to remarks made by Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg during the company’s earnings call with analysts. It’s just not up to them. “This is a decision that is exclusively in Apple‘s court,” he said. Verizon reported net income of 41 cents/share, a 30% drop from a year earlier. The company ended the quarter with 89 million wireless customers, 3.3 million high-speed internet customers and 2.7 million FiOS TV customers. (Cynopsis10/27)
Much of The Wall Street Journal‘s online content is subscription only, but the dogged could find ways around that, notably via its free mobile applications. The Journal has moved to close that loophole, flipping the switch today on a plan to make many articles on its BlackBerry and iPhone applications available only to subscribers. (Mediaweek10/26)
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Filed under: TECHNOLOGY | Tags: Australia, Blu-ray Disc, Edward Jones, Hewlett-Packard, Optical disc, Swinburne University of Technology, Wall Street, Wall Street Journal
(Below) But what if people no longer want to use optical drives?
Researchers at the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia report that they have developed optical-disc technology that will allow for the storage of 1.6TB of content, about 32 times what a 50GB Blu-ray disc can hold. And the researchers apparently have struck a deal with consumer-electronics powerhouse Samsung to use the technology once it is perfected. Electronista (5/20)
After reporting a 3.2% revenue drop in its second fiscal quarter, Hewlett-Packard this week announced plans to cut 2% of its work force, accounting for about 6,000 jobs, over the next year. Overall, however, the results were in line with Wall Street expectations. “We’re pretty pleased with the results,” said Bill Kreher, an Edward Jones analyst, though he added that “we’re not seeing clear signs of a pickup” in the tech market. The Wall Street Journal (5/20)
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