Media consumer, tech enthusiast, and gamer
The Yahoo Suggestion Board, Dell IdeaStorm, and MSN Reporter were all released last week and were all at least, shall we say, “Digg Inspired.” But should we call them Digg clones? How similar are they? Let’s take a closer look and compare things like purpose, voting/bury style, uniqueness, algorithm, login, default view, etc. See the chart below.
Read More “Just How Digg-Like Are They? Chart Comparing New Sites by Yahoo, Microsoft & Dell” »
So Yahoo today released a Digg-like voting system as the backbone of the Yahoo Suggestion Board. Even though the Yahoo announcement credited Digg, the Digg crowd is not pleased. The new suggestion system was first implemented for Yahoo Autos and of the top 5 “suggestions,” 3 have nothing to do with autos (see screenshot below).
My initial thoughts echoed what Michael Arrington said, “It’s an excellent way for Yahoo to gauge the popularity of suggestions, and is in no way competitive with Digg.” But then, what stops Yahoo from easily implementing this new Digg-like system elsewhere on the site? Answer: nothing.
Even then, if Yahoo competes with Digg down the road, what would that mean? Should I be upset for some reason? Digg has a good thing going, to be sure, I’m a huge fan. But I just can’t think of a good reason for Yahoo’s move to bother me.
Read More “Yahoo vs. Digg: Is Yahoo’s Move As Innocent As It Looks?” »
The New York Times has an interesting piece outlining signs that advertising may be coming to our cellphones. The good news: guidelines have been established to limit ads to those who “opt in.” And by choosing to do so, cellphone customers may receive free services in exchange. The guidelines have already been agreed upon by Verizon, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, and others.
While some may not be too thrilled by the idea, I’m personally fine with it.
Read More “The Year of Cellphone Advertising: Paying for Services through “Opt in” Ads” »
Mike Vorhaus is the managing director of the consulting and research firm Frank N. Magid Associates and is in charge of a fairly in-depth study of consumer trends in gaming. His latest work is that of profiling “lapsed” console gamers. Here’s what he found:
Guys, of course, are the core of the console-games market and are the basis of his study. Vorhaus refers to declining gamer activity as “cliffs” in the gamers life. The first group, 12-to-17-year-old boys, has 78% playing console games at least once a week. But when boys become men and enter the 18-to-34-year-old bracket, they fall off the first cliff. Those still playing console games weekly: 42%.
Read More “Game Industry Worried: Gamers Giving It Up As They Grow Up” »
So our friends at the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) are running multiple stories on Google today with reference to online video. At the heart of the story is the classic clash between Google’s mantra “Do No Evil” and, well, the evil Google is apparently doing.
Perhaps as a result of this alleged evil, talks are back on among media companies to create a YouTube rival, according to unnamed executives involved in the situation. Another form of pseudo-pressure is coming from MySpace, which is likely to announce today a video-filtering system so as to be on the good side of those copyright protectors.
But back to the Google scandal…
The DRM battle continues! The latest news revolves around EMI being in talks with retailers to sell music DRM-free vs. Warner Music Group’s clear “No!” fired back at Steve Jobs (who recommended a DRM-free music world earlier this week). Here’s the scoop on each side:
Read More “EMI Interested in DRM-Free While Warner Says No Way to Steve Jobs” »
So all in the same week we have the following news:
1) Steve Jobs embraces a DRM-free world but says his hands are tied.
2) Amazon & Tivo join forces to bring you Amazon
3) Wal-Mart announces digital movie and TV show downloads from all six of the major studios.
Let’s take each of these and have a closer look:
Read More “Will DRM die or thrive? Apple, Amazon, Tivo, Wal-Mart not sure…” »
When Google bought YouTube back in October for $1.65 billion, we didn’t know exactly what this meant for the founders financially. But now we know. Google today filed a registration statement with the SEC, which explains how many Google shares the founders of YouTube received as part of the deal.
Read More “Google Discloses Payout to YouTube Founders: Hurley $345M & Chen $326M” »