Media consumer, tech enthusiast, and gamer
If the deal happens, Blockbuster would be the only company able to offer the coveted video triple-play: combining movies offered online, through the mail, and in-store. Could that be enough for even the diehard Netflix fan to switch? Here are details:
Read More “Watch out Netflix! Blockbuster In Advanced Talks to Acquire Movielink” »
So the latest news in online video revolves around Viacom signing a deal with YouTube competitor/newcomer Joost. The deal is limited for now (no South Park or Colbert Report) and will include shows like MTV’s My Super Sweet 16, BET’s American Gangster, Comedy Central’s Freak Show, and some movies from Paramount. Financial details weren’t disclosed.
This comes just weeks after Viacom demanded YouTube to take down 100,000+ videos of various shows including the good stuff from Comedy Central. Interestingly enough, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has an article out today that details the behind-the-scenes action of Google losing Viacom and CBS deals. The whole thing cites are favorite source: “those familiar with the situation.” But, hey, that source has pulled through for us before.
Read More “Behind the Scenes Details Leading to Google/YouTube Losing Viacom & CBS Deals” »
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?” »
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” »
Wal-Mart today announced a partnership with all six major Hollywood Studios (Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox, and Universal) to offer digital movies and TV shows via its site: www.walmart.com/videodownloads. While the company has the first mover advantage (being the only digital distributor to go into business with all six studios), I still think Netflix is the company that will make online movie watching a reality (incidentally, Netflix is the company to which Wal-Mart admitted defeat in the DVD rental market). Here’s why:
Read More “Wal-Mart Goes Digital Movies… Why Netflix May Dethrone Them Again” »
So we’ve all heard the news of Viacom demanding YouTube to take down 100,000+ videos of various shows including good stuff from Comedy Central. A Viacom executive is quoted as to saying, “People are waking up to the fact that there is no marketing advantage… There’s no novelty anymore.” Hmm… I love the use of the word “people,” as if Viacom can speak for anyone involved in marketing video content.
You have to be pretty uncreative to come to this conclusion when the fifth most popular Internet site in the world has shown your content over a billion times. Interestingly enough, CBS and NBC have found an advantageous way to partner with YouTube despite Viacom’s claim.
Read More “Can Viacom Force YouTube to Implement Automatic Blocking of Video Uploads?” »
Microsoft is getting some bad press for offering to pay a blogger to change a supposedly inaccurate article on Wikipedia. The blogger let it out in the open, and it wasn’t long before it hit the mainstream press. Even the Wall Street Journal decided to run an article based around the situation.
I suppose the principle of payment for Wikipedia coverage is the key issue here (some argue it’s about Microsoft’s clumsiness), though I’m curious to know why Microsoft (or whichever Microsoft employee pulling the strings, more to the point) really felt the need to correct a technical Wikipedia article on Office Open XML.
Read More “Scandal 2.0: Is Microsoft the only company paying for Wikipedia edits?” »