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All posts tagged ‘Google’

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Madison Avenue’s Plan B: Data-Driven Jewelry?

jewelryThe digital disruption wave is crashing down on the ad business. One agency’s response: A line of jewelry “that takes interesting data and transforms it into wearable art.”

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More Money for “Real Time” Ad Tech: AppNexus Raises $5 Million

exchangeAppNexus, an ad-buying “platform,” has raised $5 million in round led by Kodiak Venture Partners, along with Venrock and First Round Capital. The company is one of many trying to take advantage of “real-time” bidding for Web display ad inventory.

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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Does Your Mom Edit Your Blog? Google Wants to Know.

mom Why did Google start labeling blogs as “blogs” in its search results? Eric Schmidt thinks it may have to do with your mother.

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YouTube’s Newest Partner: Will Ferrell

will ferrellSlowly but surely, YouTube has been able to bump up the number of “premium” content creators willing to hand over some of their stuff to the world’s biggest video site. Here’s yet another one: Funny or Die, the comedy site backed by Will Ferrell, Sequoia and HBO, among others.

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Wednesday, November 4, 2009

MySpace’s “Work in Progress”: Losing Money and Traffic, Blowing Google Guarantees

jokerDid Rupert Murdoch wait way too long to fix MySpace? It’s easy to get that impression from the News Corp. earnings call today.

The takeaway: The site is losing traffic and money and is going to get at least $100 million less from Google than it once thought. “It’s a work in progress,” News Corp. says, over and over again.

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News Corp. Saved by Movies and Cable, Hammered by Broadcast and Print

rupert-murdochRupert Murdoch and company aren’t exactly celebrating, but they did provide a better earnings number than Wall Street expected. They can thank Fox News, and yet another “Ice Age” movie. Not helping the cause: The company’s broadcast TV and newspaper properties. Not very relevant: MySpace, et al.

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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Beatles on iTunes? Nope. MP3? Yes.

beatles appleNo, you still can’t buy the Beatles on iTunes. But next month, you will finally be able to buy the band’s music–legally–in MP3 form. Provided you’re willing to pay way, way up.

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Spring Design: Here’s How Barnes & Noble Turned Our Reader Into the Nook

perry_masonPuzzled by the weird story of the “Alex,” the would-be e-reader that looks something like the “Nook,” the e-reader Barnes & Noble introduced last month? Then this won’t clear anything up: Spring Design’s court case against the bookseller, which it says broke an “implicit promise” and stole its idea for a two-screen device.

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Don’t Tell a Soul! Media, Tech Moguls Take Manhattan for Semisecret Quadrangle Conference.

don't talkWouldn’t you like to bump elbows with media moguls and hear from the likes of Eric Schmidt, Biz Stone and James Murdoch? Me too! Alas, Quadrangle’s Foursquare conference is closed to the public and the press. But at least I can tell you whom you won’t be hearing from.

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Monday, November 2, 2009

Apple’s iTunes Pitch: TV for $30 a Month

appletvWould you pay $30 a month to watch TV via iTunes?

That’s the pitch Apple has been making to TV networks in recent weeks. The company is trying to round up support for a monthly subscription service that would deliver TV programs via its multimedia software, multiple sources tell me. The industry finds this idea both tempting and terrifying.

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Thursday, October 29, 2009

UTube: 10 Million Streams for Bono and Co.’s Live Show

u2 youtubeWhat happens when one of the biggest bands in the world Webcasts a live concert on the world’s biggest video site?

You get a lot of video streams. Close to 10 million, says YouTube, adding that Sunday’s live Webcast of U2’s Rose Bowl concert was the single largest event it has streamed so far.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Whoops! Are Reports of the Ad Recovery Greatly Exaggerated?

sunshine-cloudHere’s the counterpoint to Publicis’s mildly optimistic take on the ad market yesterday: Rival ad-holding company Interpublic Group’s report, which is mildly pessimistic. But the takeaway is the same: If things get better, anyone who’s not Google won’t see much real sign of it until next year.

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CBS Digital Boss Quincy Smith’s Not-Quite Exit Interview: “Hulu’s a Great Service. That’s Part of the Problem.”

cbs_video_buttonsThe man who helped shape CBS’s standalone Web video strategy explains himself, for the record.

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Looking for Microsoft’s Ad Exchange? Wait Until (Early) Next Year.

exchangeMicrosoft bought ad exchange company AdECN more than two years ago. And unless you’ve been paying very close attention, that’s the last you ever heard of it.

This should finally change next year. People familiar with Microsoft’s plans say the company intends to open the exchange for business in January, which will allow online ad buyers and sellers to match up in real time. That will put it several months behind Google, which opened up its ad exchange in September.

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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Ad Market Prediction of the Day: Recovery Is Here, Says Ad Giant Publicis

tunnelIt’s all well and good for Google to say the worst is over. But what about media companies that survive on revenue streams other than search ads?

Things should be better for them, too, says Publicis, one of the biggest advertising companies in the world. The French holding company, which announced its results today, says things bottomed out this summer.

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About Peter

Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »

Ethics Statement

Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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