Google has entered an agreement to compensate the Associated Press for stories and photographs. Google suggested that the content will become the basis of a new product that will launch in the next several months. The as-yet-undefined product will complement…
A group of Japanese electronics manufacturers, including Sony, Matsushita, Sharp Corp., Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi, announced plans to develop a joint standard for Internet televisions. The televisions, which are rumored to hit sales floors next year, will make viewing rich…
Revenues increased 7 percent over first-quarter 2006 (or $200,000 better than guidance) to $3.4 million. Local search revenues were $1.7 million for the second quarter, representing growth of 46 percent (or $100,000 better than guidance) versus the previous quarter. The…
The upgrade of the popular MSN Spaces, renamed Windows Live Spaces, had a bumpy start. According to the official blog: "We know we disappointed a bunch of you with the issues we had in our rollout last night. There was…
The NAA released data that showed newspaper Web site visits in May reached 56 million unique visits. This is an increase over both April and June, when newspaper visits were 54 million and 54.4 million, respectively. Further, about 55 million…
A new social networking site called Eons.com launched earlier this week. The concept: a Web site for 50-plus Americans. It includes an obituary database and alert notification when someone, well, passes.Jeff Taylor, the founder of Eons.com, told Reuters, "The death…
AP and BusinessWeek are reporting that newspaper groups including Gannett Co., McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co. have agreed to increase their ownership percentage in CareerBuilder.com, ShopLocal.com and Topix.net.The deals place the following valuations on each of the respective businesses: CareerBuilder…
Sallie Mae announced that it has signed an agreement to purchase Upromise. Sallie Mae services more than 10 million customers totaling US$130 billion in loans. Upromise launched in 2001 and has grown into one of the largest direct marketing companies…
CNET ran a report stating Google ads are running on a Detroit-based radio station. This is part of the strategy revolving around the dMarc acquisition last year. Other portals and ad networks have not been shy in suggesting that they…
Apple is now offering Warner Bros.' television content through its popular iTunes store. Television shows like "Friends," "Babylon 5," "The Jetsons" and the never before seen pilot episode of "Aquaman" are now available. (Calls to agent Ari Gold were not…
Two deals were announced to distribute Hollywood studio content this week. The first, reported by MSNBC, involves the sale of the episodic television show "Arrested Development" to Internet portal MSN and cable networks HDNet and G4. (Read: Warner and Apple…
AT&T and MetroFi submitted a joint proposal to operate a municipal Wi-Fi network in Riverside, California, that covers 65 square miles. The proposed project has similarities to the Google-Earthlink partnership for San Francisco. The AT&T MetroFi network will be supported…
MSN plans on spending US$500 million on AdCenter, Windows Live and other online services this year to bolster its competitive edge. Advertising revenue on the network declined 3 percent from the same period last year. In fiscal 2006, the unit…
In a big change for the music industry, Yahoo! and Sony BMG have started selling Jessica Simpson's new single without Digital Rights Management (DRM). This marks this first time labels with any market clout have opted to sell unprotected digital…
MediaPost reported some interesting comments from Karen Crow, director of sales and operations for Google: "We've been doing a lot of linking with advertisers' back end to find out, for example, what specific products their local store has, and which…
Reuters reported that an Arkansas court handed Google a victory last Friday "over disgruntled advertisers who had sued the search engine giant accusing it of trying to drive up fees through so-called click fraud." An independent report was commissioned as…
MSN released some numbers that claim 25 percent of users in Britain are writing blogs. Not surprisingly, the study also suggests the demographics of blog writing skew younger. Forty-two percent of people under 25 regularly update a blog compared with…
The Australian Age reported that Publishing and Broadcasting LTD has hired Tony Faure as chief executive running to run its Nine-MSN Internet property. Mr. Faure most recently sold HomeScreen Entertainment, the online DVD rental he founded, to Quickflix. Previously, Mr.…
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, Google grabbed 49.9 percent of searches in June, up 31 percent from the previous year. Yahoo! served 23 percent of searches, up 29 percent from a year earlier, followed by MSN at 10.3 percent, up 3 percent.…
