Stories for May. 18, 2013
How to make Twitter the ultimate news ticker
Recent events, tragic and triumphant, emphasize the social web’s role as a central source for disseminating breaking news. But getting the facts right continues to be a challenge, and a solution requires cooperation and technical innovation. Read more »
Why Yahoo acquiring Tumblr for $1 billion makes a certain horrible kind of sense
Fans of the social-blogging network might not like the idea much, but a $1-billion acquisition of Tumblr would arguably solve a number of problems for Yahoo — and do the same for Tumblr CEO David Karp. Read more at GigaOM »
Stories for May. 17, 2013
Report: Yahoo eager to close $1.1 billion cash deal for Tumblr by Sunday evening
photo: Albert Chau
Tumblr might become part of Yahoo as early as Sunday night, according to a report that suggests Yahoo’s board of directors is set to consider a $1.1 billion offer for the startup. Read more at GigaOM »
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Must read
Crowdfunding a crack scandal — did Gawker go too far?
photo: Chris Howey
Gawker has just taken checkbook journalism to a whole new level — asking the public to help buy a video tape that is likely to bring down the mayor of a major city. Read more »
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Binge-watching forces “One Life to Live,” “All My Children” to cut back on new episodes
When soap operas “One Life to Live” and “All My Children” moved online, it wasn’t clear how fans would watch them. It turns out that most viewers are binge-watching — so the soaps’ production company is cutting back on the number of new episodes each week. Read more »
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Parakweet uses natural language processing to find value in your tweets
photo: GigaOM
Looking for a book suggestion? Culling information from your Twitter feed and turning that into accurate recommendations is harder than it looks, but Parakweet is looking to use natural language procesing to do just that. Read more at GigaOM »
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When can a book be digital-only, and when does it need to be print too?
Book publishers discussed digital-first and digital-only initiatives at the Making Information Pay conference this week. Read more »
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Yahoo wants to buy Tumblr. Will Facebook swoop in at the last minute?
Yahoo wants to buy Tumblr. We hear Facebook might spoil the party. But the question is: is Tumblr the fountain of youth that Yahoo badly needs or will this be case of a pathetic old-middle aged guy hanging with youngsters trying to be hip. Read more at GigaOM »
Stories for May. 16, 2013
Must read
How Google Music wants to take on Spotify, Rdio and Rhapsody
Google launched its own music subscription service Wednesday. Currently, it’s not very different from all the other services out there. So how does it want to compete? Read more »
Is sensor journalism feasible, or even ethical? Columbia’s Tow Center hopes to find out
photo: AOP
Journalists and organizations now have the ability to use sensors to collect their own real-time data and report on it. The practice raises both practical and ethical questions, Columbia’s Emily Bell said Thursday. Read more »
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Google CEO Larry Page: Do as I say, not as I do
Google CEO Larry Page, who has been suffering from vocal cord issues, showed up at the end of the Google I/O keynote and spent some time talking about his vision of technology and took questions from the audience. And that’s when the fun started. Read more at GigaOM »
Producer of The Ring and Mulholland Drive releases new horror movie as an iOS app
Neal Edelstein, producer of hit movies like The Ring and Mulholland Drive, has a new film project: A film delivered in chunks directly through an iOS app. Read more »
Stories for May. 15, 2013
Top jobs of the week in digital media
photo: Shutterstock / Tom Mc Nemar
Looking for a job in digital media? Each week we highlight some of the most interesting positions posted to paidContent’s jobs board. Check out the latest gigs at media companies across the country. Read more »
Publishers to testify against Apple in price-fixing trial
photo: Tricia Duryee
Apple’s exposure in a closely-watched price-fixing case over ebooks looks more serious as the CEOs of major publishers — which have already settled with the government — will testify about Apple’s role in the case. Read more »
New Yorker launches “open-source anonymous inbox” built by Aaron Swartz
photo: The New Yorker
The New Yorker has launched Strongbox, an open-source software system that allows users to submit confidential documents to the magazine anonymously. Strongbox was built by Aaron Swartz before his death. Read more »
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Startup site Tech Cocktail raises $2.5M from Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project
Tech Cocktail, a company that covers startup-related news and organizes events, has received $2.5 million from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project, which aims to revitalize downtown Las Vegas. Read more »
Live blog: Google I/O 2013 showcases Android, Chrome, YouTube and more
Our live coverage from Google I/O 2013, Google’s most significant public event of the year, can be found right here. Read more at GigaOM »
Ebooks made up 20% of the U.S. consumer book industry in 2012, up from 15% in 2011
The U.S. consumer book publishing industry had a strong 2012, fueled in part by the growth of ebooks. Read more »
Stories for May. 14, 2013
Reports: Google will launch music subscription service at I/O
photo: paidContent / Amanda Natividad
Google is set to launch a music subscription service at its Google I/O developer conference Wednesday, according to multiple reports. The service will compete with Spotify and similar services. Read more »
GigaOM hits Google I/O 2013 (roundup)
Here you’ll find all our coverage of Google I/O 2013, Google’s annual showcase of its technology prowess. Read more at GigaOM »
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German online publishers’ anti-adblock campaign backfires
A public campaign by some of the biggest German online publishers against ad-blocking software may have backfired, as downloads of one popular ad-blocking product have more than doubled. Read more »
Crowdsourcing is here to stay — now it’s about building tools for networked journalism
photo: Flickr / Christian Scholz
NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen says that many of the cultural barriers to doing “networked journalism” have been lowered, and he is trying to help media outlets develop smart tools and ways of making use of crowdsourcing. Read more »
Kids’ reading app Ruckus partners with CT Public Television to create CPTV-branded app
photo: Ruckus Media Group
In an interesting public-private partnership, children’s reading app Ruckus is teaming up with Connecticut Public Television to offer a CPTV-branded kids’ iOS app. Read more »
Aereo will launch in Atlanta in June, and is changing its pricing plans everywhere
photo: Aereo
Aereo announced Tuesday that it will launch in Atlanta in June. It’s already available in the New York City area, and will launch in Boston on Wednesday. The company also simplified its pricing plans, eliminating daily and yearly options. Read more »
Netflix makes changes to public API after “Streamageddon” backlash
Figuring out which titles are going expire soon on Netflix just got a lot harder: The company changed its public API Monday night to prevent this information from popping up on third-party websites. Read more »
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Stories for May. 13, 2013
Feds grab reporters’ phone records: war on terror — or war on leaks?
photo: Flickr / Thomas Leuthard
The Associated Press is raising the alarm over news that the Justice Department secretly seized records for more than 20 phone lines tied to its reporters and bureaus. Read more at GigaOM »
ESPN and Twitter plan to announce partnership for tweeting sports video clips
photo: Jerry Sharp
If you’re looking for the latest video clips from your favorite sports, you might soon find them on Twitter. The social media company has solidified a deal with ESPN that will let users check out the action via Twitter video clips. Read more at GigaOM »
It’s not about how long-form your content is, it’s about engagement with the reader
photo: Scholastic
As more sites focus on longform content, Fast Company disclosed some statistics on how its longer pieces have been doing — but the data shows that the real secret isn’t length but ongoing engagement with readers. Read more »
Lizzie Bennet Diaries producers bring in fans and Theatrics to finish unfinished Austen
Jane Austen scholars know “Sanditon” as a posthumously-published unfinished novel, but for Lizzie Bennet Diaries fans, it’s the springboard for a new bridge series that promises unprecedented audience interactivity. Read more »
Amazon acquires Samsung color display unit Liquavista
Amazon has acquired Samsung’s color screen display technology, Liquavista. The technology could be used to create low-power color screens for Kindles. Read more »
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Why focusing on ‘time spent’ with print misses the point about how the news works now
photo: Flickr / Arvind Grover
Research from McKinsey seems to suggest that print-based media still commands a large proportion of time spent by consumers of news — but that is just part of the larger picture media companies have to understand. Read more »
iTunes’ recent growth shows content could be a big business for Apple
iTunes’ increasingly good quarterly sales demonstrates how the long-rumored Apple video and “iRadio” subscription services the company has over the years tried to bring to fruition could become significant revenue sources. Read more »
Did Bloomberg reporters “snoop” on clients? Depends on what you call snooping
photo: Bloomberg
Bloomberg is at the center of a storm over its reporters’ use of the company’s terminals to track customers. The incident has been somewhat overblown — but the underlying issue of news and data platforms has not. Read more »
Amazon launches its virtual currency, with $5 worth free to every Kindle Fire user
Amazon’s virtual currency, Amazon Coins, launched Monday. It can be used to buy apps and games and make in-app purchases on the Kindle Fire and in Amazon’s app store. Read more »
Amazon Publishing launches Kindle Love Stories podcast, focused on romance books
Amazon Publishing is launching a weekly romance podcast, “Kindle Love Stories.” The podcast will include a discussion group at Goodreads, the reading-focused social network that Amazon recently acquired. Read more »
PBS MediaShift starts publishing ebooks; first topics: cord-cutting and self-publishing
PBS’s MediaShift is launching a line of ebooks, starting with titles on self-publishing and cord-cutting. Executive Mark Glaser says he plans to release 10 to 20 books this year, depending on how well the first titles do. Read more »
Stories for May. 12, 2013
How ABC plans to use live streaming and the cloud to challenge Aereo
ABC is going to offer iOS users in New York and Philadelphia a 24-hour live stream of its programming this week. It’s the first time a broadcaster has embraced live streaming. Read more »
Bitcoin buzz stays high — even after bubble
Bitcoin is more liquid and popular than ever before — though the cyber-currency remains controversial. Here’s a round-up of a busy week of Bitcoin news. Read more at GigaOM »
Stories for May. 11, 2013
Back to the future: What if the ‘mass media’ era was just an accident of history?
photo: Shutterstock / Feng Yu
We are used to thinking of a “mass media” market made up of large newspapers and TV networks as the normal state of affairs in media, but what if that was just a historical anomaly? Read more »
Pay to play: Can YouTube succeed with its paid channel subscriptions?
photo: Flickr / sushiina
YouTube started to offer paid subscriptions to select channels this week. But are people actually going to pay for their YouTube videos? Read more »
