NBC Universal has teamed up with Web 2.0 widget maker, Clearspring Technologies to make its news, entertainment, and sports content into portable widgets that can be integrated into blogs, social networking sites, wikis, and other Web sites.
Content from “Dateline,” “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “Meet the Press” and “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams,” as well as content from NBC Sports, DotComedy.com and iVillage.com will be the first available in the form of widgets.
“We want to create a fun, shared experience for our users and understand their needs as they interact with our content beyond our online properties.” Sab Kanaujia, Vice President, Digital Product Strategy & Development, NBC Universal, said . “Changes in the behavior of online users and innovation in technology has provided us with new opportunities to grow the reach for our content and brands online. Clearspring’s content syndication and distribution platform provides us a robust distribution and analytics solution for our widgets initiative.”
“By using our premium hyper-syndication platform, fans of NBCU’s programming can now easily personalize their favorite Web sites with NBCU content. This allows NBCU to lead the shift to the new distributed Web and deliver their premium content whenever and wherever consumers chose to enjoy it," said Chris Marentis, CEO of Clearspring.
CBS Interactive also recently chose Clearspring as its widget partner. These recent deals indicate that these major media and entertainment companies are embracing social networking beyond simply meeting the fans where they are by setting up partnerships with YouTube and MySpace. Traditional media companies are now becoming more interested in benefiting from making their content viral and letting fans take it with them wherever they go.
I've been thinking a lot about CBS' acquisition of last.fm since I first posted about it last week. Maybe it's because I'm totally obsessed with the music discovery and listening service, or it's that I'm really unsure as to whether CBS has good intentions for the company other than finding a means to further its own terrestrial radio services further.
But there are a few possibilities that could play out here. I can't deny that however it plays out, it's good for the last.fm team, that's if they actually get to stay on as promised in the deal (or even want to stay on once the true business model is set in place). For one, it makes last.fm stand out from the pack, especially from one if its fiercest competitors, Pandora.
In a recent ScobleShow video interview, Pandora's CTO, Tom Conrad, talks about his Internet radio service developing a mobile service. This is an area that last.fm has yet to tap, and perhaps the deal with CBS could make it possible. Last.fm already supersedes Pandora in technological developments with the creation of a desktop radio player, the ability to scrobble -- sync -- tracks played on your iPod, and a plethora of customizable widgets for use on blogs and social networks like MySpace. There's even integration with Facebook. Last.fm is transforming the way people listen to, track, and discover music. The company is a technological wonder, so CBS has a really good deal on its hands.
But something else I heard in the Pandora interview on ScobleShow made me realize just how beneficial this deal is for the future of last.fm. There's a movement afoot from the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) to annihilate Internet radio in the form of higher fees charged for playing recorded music, which means that the little guys -- the ones who offer free or suggested donation services -- wouldn't be able to thrive. In last.fm's case the CBS deal could bring a heavy influx of cash in order to keep it alive and playing Internet radio stations based on user's musical preferences.
Things could even be better for CBS. Last.fm could integrate really well into its online Viacom properties, such as MTV.com or VH1.com. Last week I spoke with a senior producer at a major media company who expects that last.fm will become a part of MTV.com's social network, making a more music and videos accessible to users. "It gives the waning MTV.com audience a place to play that is different (and better) than MySpace Music, and stops the MTV.com brand's downward spiral of staleness," he said.
Truth is we won't really know what CBS plans to do with last.fm until it does it. In the meantime I'll keep speculating and talking to experts in the industry about it. Check back in few months to see what really happens.
Last night when I logged into my last.fm account, I noticed a couple of new features, or at least better organization and display of tools on my music profile page. But this is nothing new. It's what I've come to expect of the social networking music site, where members share their listening habits by scrobbling tracks they've been listening to either through the Last.fm downloadable application or a separate plugin that works with their computer music player of choice.
I've been a paid subscriber of last.fm since 2005, and over the course of time, I've watched the site grow in membership and grow in the number of tracks available for listening pleasure on radio stations demarcated by friend, group, artist, genre, or tag. Lately there's been a lot of action on the social network's site to partner with labels and independents to make video available as well. Overall, last.fm has also rolled out more new features and improvements to its UI (user interface) than any other site I've used in the last couple of years. Let's just say that I'm a believer in the product and a very big fan.
So when I heard the announcement that CBS scooped up the Web 2.0 company for $280 million and intended to keep on its management, I both lauded and lamented the acquisition. It's great news for the Last.fm guys if they can actually continue to build the product according to their mission.
What I lament is what every social networker does once their favorite site, app, or tool has been gobbled up by a larger media player. It's something called the foreseeable future, the time when exciting developments begin to cease and the community becomes stagnant. It could even mean that the site becomes an entirely new entity -- one that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the one you once loved.
And so this brings me to the big question -- what will CBS do with last.fm? Like every major media company, CBS needs to figure out how it can fit into the era of portable media, where the public listens to music or watches movies or television when and wherever they want to -- on any device they choose. It's easy to assume that the radio and television broadcasting behemoth will do exactly what was reported in The New York Times yesterday:
"CBS said the deal provided an opportunity to extend its reach online, including adding some of its own programming to Last.FM."
And even more precisely, it could be, as Om Malik wrote very early this morning:
"Last.fm could be CBS’s hedge for its terrestrial radio operations."
Last.fm isn't CBS' first attempt at remaining relevant. The company also recently purchased Wallstrip.com, a popular video and blog financial news site, and made investments in social networking on-demand video site Joost.
EMI is testing out new business models and attempting to improve its relationship with consumers at the same time. Recent partnerships with iTunes, Amazon, and YouTube could prove successful for the record label's brand as it cozies up to some of music aficionados' favorite digital services.
The music giant's latest move will enable YouTube users to watch EMI artists' videos and also incorporate elements of the videos into their own user-generated content to create a mashup. As part of the deal, YouTube is required to track EMI content so that artists will be compensated. In some cases, the record label may still request the removal of copyright content from YouTube's servers.
EMI's YouTube partnership follows closely on the heels of Apple's release of iTunes Plus, where music buyers can now purchase songs without copy protection. Apple's new service currently only makes EMI music available without protection, but the rest of the music industry is expected to follow. iTunes purchasers will no longer be limited to listening to their downloads only on iPods as they'll now be able to play the music on any MP3 device.
EMI will also be Amazon's first partner when the online retailer launches it's DRM-free music store.
The music company could be taking a really big risk here, but with the dire straits that the music industry is in overall its better that the industry figure out what its consumers really want instead of blocking how they interact with music and music artists on every front.
Today the 2007 EPpy winners were announced at the Editor & Publisher/Mediaweek Interactive Conference, and FastCompany.com won the Best National Magazine-Affiliated Web Site award.
Awards were given in 32 different categories for excellence in online media, both for design and for content.
Since 1996, the EPpy Awards have honored the best new media services from the newspaper industry. Each year, an independent panel of industry experts selects the top examples of interactive services in a variety of categories. The awards are co-sponsored by E&P and Mediaweek magazines.
This LG KE850 Phone is rumored as Verizon's possible answer to the iPhone. (image via gadgetell)
In a recent interview with Leslie Cauley from USA Today Denny Strigl, Verizon's chief operating officer said:
"We do have a very good response in the mill. You'll see that from us in the late summer."
Verizon originally passed on becoming the carrier for the iPhone. Verizon had concerns about Apple's need to have control over the device's pricing, distribution, and marketing. Apple's exclusivity clause was also a factor in Verizon deciding not to carry the iPhone.
Rumors abound that the LG KE850, also known as the Prada phone, could be a model for Verizon's future phone.
If nothing else, Apple's iPhone will bring about innovation in the cellular market. The US has long been behind Europe, Japan, and Korea with 3G development. But the US also doesn't operate on one mobile platform.
That's a very strong title, I know. But it's not mine, and it's not as bad as it sounds. It was written by Paul Scrivens, an FC Expert blogger, designer, and one of the founders of blogging community 9rules, on his own blog Wisdump.
He writes:
"With the huge ad company acquisitions happening over the past couple of weeks it seems some talk has gone back to who is going to acquire Facebook. If you have read any of the articles by Mark Zuckerberg or the VCs they don’t seem to plan on cashing out through acquisition. Instead there are continued talks of bigger things for Facebook and I believe they plan on following the Amazon and eBay plan of becoming a platform."
Zuckerberg's answer is that he's playing a different kind of game. "I'm here to build something for the long term," he says. "Anything else is a distraction." He and his compatriots at the helm of the company--cofounder and VP of engineering Dustin Moskovitz, 22, his roommate at Harvard, and chief technology officer Adam D'Angelo, 23, whom he met in prep school--are true believers. Their faith: that the openness, collaboration, and sharing of information epitomized by social networking can make the world work better. You might think they were naive, except that they're so damn smart and have succeeded in a way most people never do. From a ragtag operation run out of sublet crash pads in Palo Alto, they now have two buildings (soon to be three) of cool gray offices and employ 200 people who enjoy competitive salaries and grown-up benefit packages--not to mention three catered meals a day with free laundry and dry cleaning thrown in. And they continue to crank out improvements to a Web site that is in every meaningful way a technological marvel.
Is Facebook headed down that Friendster alley, a road in which it seems there's no return? Is it just a flash in the pan? Or does Facebook have real potential for building a robust and vibrant Web company?
It's official. Now that T-mobile has kicked it's MDA, powered by Windows Mobile 5, to the curb, the mobile service provider has unveiled it's latest smartphone. Named Wing, the phone is available exclusively for T-Mobile and is the first release of a Windows Mobile 6 capable phone in the U.S.
Like the MDA, Wing is the technological wonder of High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC), the world's leading provider of Microsoft Windows Mobile-based products.
As released from the official T-Mobile announcement today, here are the Key features of the T-Mobile Wing:
Compact, powerful smartphone with large external touch screen and stylus
Slide-out screen exposing full QWERTY keypad
Soft-touch exterior with deep blue color
Wi-Fi and EDGE-enabled high-speed Internet access
Full HTML Web browsing
Support for Microsoft Office Mobile enables document viewing and editing
Windows Live for Windows Mobile including Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Hotmail, Live Search, and Windows Live Spaces
Direct Push e-mail available with Exchange Server 2003 SP2 and later; Windows Live Hotmail also supports push mail
T-Mobile’s myFaves
Voice dialing, voice commands and voice recorder
Bluetooth connectivity
2.0 megapixel camera with 8x digital zoom
Video capture and playback music and video player
Micro SD memory card slot
2.8-inch diagonal, 65,000 color screen with 240x320 pixels
2.3 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches; 6.0 ounces
850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz
GSM/GPRS/EDGE/Wi-Fi
While it may be hard for the untrained eye to notice any real differences between the Wing and its predecessor, the MDA, other than the outward physical appearance, what seems to matter here most is what's under the hood. According to a number of benchmark tests run by MyMoible911.com, it's clear that the Wing is a much more robust and efficient device for e-mail and Web functionality, as well as overall computing capabilities.
Who knew? Back in April when I interviewed aQuantive CEO Brian McAndrews for the ad:tech San Francisco opening keynote, "The Digital Decade: What the Past 5 Years Can Teach Us About the Next 5," the industry was abuzz about the impending Google-DoubleClick merger. And not once did McAndrews let on that a similar merger was about to happen for his company. What's the old adage, "Silent but powerful," or "Silent but deadly," or something to that affect.
Today, Microsoft announced that it would pay $6 billion in cash for aQuantive, paying an 85 percent premium, with aQuantive shareholders receiving $66.50 a share. This would be the largest acquisition in the company's history. And while aQuantive's shares rose more than 77 percent after the announcement, Microsoft shares fell 1.1 percent.
The merger between technology company and advertising company is becoming a trend. Google recently agreed to buy DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, while Yahoo acquired 80 percent of Right Media in a deal valued at $680 million, and yesterday WPP Group said it would acquire 24/7 Real Media for $649 million.
Microsoft continues to lag behind Google and Yahoo in search traffic and search advertising revenue, so scooping up one of the largest digital agencies, which includes Avenue A |Razorfish, Atlas, and DRIVEpm, might be one of the smartest moves the software giant has made in a long time.
How will all of this merger activity affect the advertising industry? Will the industry become more competitive or more restrictive? With all of the major power in only a few hands, it would seem it wouldn't be good for the industry at large (just look at what happened to the music industry), but who knows, as advertising continues to move toward integration and becomes more digital-centric this could be the only way to go.
That's right, hakia, a new "meaning-based" search engine, is cookieless. hakia's COO, Melek Pulatkonak, writes on the company's blog:
"hakia.com does NOT place a cookie on your PC when you search at our site. We are the very first search engine not to do so. We will always ask your permission if and when we will have to put a cookie in your PC or cross the privacy line."
What does this mean for Web surfers? It means that hakia, unlike other search engines, will not track your search history or monitor your search behavior. This issues seem to be of major importance to many Web surfers, and hakia is breaking out of pack to provide users with more privacy.
Overall, hakia's approach to search promises to be revolutionary. The company's search strategy focuses on the development of a "natural language" technology that returns search results based on meaning, assimilating the human cognitive process involved with searching. Because of this, hakia does not rely on popularity or indexes like many other search engines.
When I met Pulatkonak and hakia's founder and CEO, Dr. Riza C. Berkan, at Web 2.0 Summit back in November, I had the opportunity to test out the new search engine, now in its Beta-14 release. I found that the search results were arranged in a manner that would be useful for heavy researchers, such as lawyers, reporters, and people in the medical field. For instance, when I asked the search engine, "What is Cancer?" The results came back in categories, such as "Headlines," "Symptoms and Diagnostics," "Healthcare Facilities and Finding a Physician," "Organizations," and so on. The manner in which the results were organized reminded me of how people think when they're looking for something and to obtain very specific information about that topic they're interested in. It seemed to be for people who don't want to put in a bunch of complicated term combinations, such as "cancer+symptoms," in order to find their results. It gives people the opportunity to ask very specific and simple questions and find the answers they need...fast. And while you're thinking that may be Ask.com's approach, it's not. Just look at these results from Ask next to these results for the same question asked of hakia. These are very different search experiences.
It seems hakia has found an innovative solution to search, though still perhaps not the only solution.
Either way, hakia is on to something big in terms of putting its user's first. The search engine's privacy policy of not following you during your searches and its "meaning based" engine both put the power of search within the people searching instead of the search engine itself.
Do you think hakia can become a successful search engine business although the company isn't following a traditional path? Has privacy become as major an issue as hakia's COO states, and will it cause other search engine companies to go cookieless as well?
View our slideshow Search Engine Showdown to learn more about how search technology has evolved over time.
Today the 2007 EPpy winners were announced at the Editor & Publisher/Mediaweek Interactive Conference, and FastCompany.com won the Best National Magazine-Affiliated Web Site award.
