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. 12, 2013
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 »
Stories for May. 10, 2013
How the New York Times can fight BuzzFeed & reinvent its future
The NYT’s multimedia project Snow Fall was a huge success, attracting big audiences and lots of plaudits. But the paper can do even better — it can build a new business from this type of project, and change the definition of journalism in the new century. Read more at GigaOM »
A mobile internet subsidized by content providers: ESPN might want it but you shouldn’t
ESPN is reportedly in negotiations with Verizon to exempt its content from the carrier’s data caps. Such a deal would set a precedence for a very different mobile internet than the one we know today. Read more »
News flash: Twitter doesn’t have to hire journalists to be a powerful media competitor
photo: Shutterstock / noporn
Twitter says it doesn’t have any interest in hiring reporters or performing other journalistic functions — but regardless of whether it does so, it is still a powerful media entity and one that grows stronger by the day. Read more »
Financial Times joins Flipboard, says it’s a better deal than Apple
The Financial Times is the latest publisher to strike a partnership with Flipboard. The deal is interesting because the FT recently left another third-party platform, iTunes. Read more »
Ping.it: Not a Google Reader replacement, but a tool to discover emerging viral content
Ping.it aims to help users discover targeted content across the web — for example, YouTube videos that appeared on Reddit and got the largest number of Facebook likes. The service, in public beta, is still clunky, but worth checking out. Read more »
Stories for May. 9, 2013
Is it the best of times or the worst of times for journalism? Yes
photo: Flickr / George Kelly
There are plenty of reasons for pessimism about the state of the media and journalism, including repeated layoffs, bankruptcies and so on. But there are also many reasons to be optimistic about the current environment. Read more »
YouTube launches its paid subscription channels with select partners
YouTube’s long-rumored paid channels are live: The Google-owned service started its new subscription offering with select partners Thursday. Read more »
Politico will test a metered paywall in 6 states and abroad, but DC gets a break
Politico announced Thursday that it will test a metered paywall this week in six states, as well as abroad. But readers in the Washington, D.C. area remain exempt because Politico gets so much advertising revenue from them. Read more »
Dish’s Ergen: we prefer working with broadcasters over Aereo
photo: Asa Mathad, All Things D
The chairman of Dish Networks toned down some of his recent rhetoric against broadcasters on today’s earnings call, and said he is in favor of a subscriber-advertising model for TV. Read more »
What’s the best price for a self-published ebook? $3.99, Smashwords research suggests
Self-publishing platform and distributor Smashwords analyzed ebook sales for nearly a year. CEO Mark Coker draws some interesting conclusions on the best way to price a self-published ebook. Read more »
Apple wins trademark case over ‘iBooks’
Apple has won one of its many lawsuits involving “i” products — a federal judge threw out a case in which a New York publisher claimed that it, not Apple, has the rights to use “iBooks.” Read more at GigaOM »
In Nook, Microsoft sees a chance to compete against Amazon and Apple
Microsoft already has a stake in Nook Media, and now it is reportedly seeking to buy out the entire company. In Nook, Microsoft sees a shot at competing against Amazon and Apple — in a way it might not be able to do from scratch. Read more »
Stories for May. 8, 2013
LinkedIn continues its evolution as a media entity with the launch of magazine-style news channels
LinkedIn has been making some significant moves towards becoming a media entity focused on business news, and the launch of new magazine-style channels of content is just the latest example of this. Read more »
Fox sees “healthy growth” of home video market, thanks to digital downloads
News Corp COO Chase Carey spoke about Fox’s digital strategy in an earnings call Wednesday afternoon. The company saw strong growth in home video, thanks to digital downloads. Carey also acknowledged that Hulu will have to adapt in coming years to compete with Netflix. Read more »
Slacker wants to take a page out of Muve Music’s playbook with telco partnerships
Slacker has seen some solid growth after its relaunch in February – now, the company wants to add millions of paying subscribers with a carrier partnership. Read more »
“Fair use” takes center stage at Google Books appeal
photo: Google
The long-running fight over Google’s decision to scan the world’s library books took a new twist on Wednesday as an appeals court pushed the parties over copyright law’s “fair use” doctrine. Read more »
Why Branch could have a future connecting companies with customers
photo: Albert Chau
Branch might have set out to connect the world’s conversationalists on one platform, but it’s interesting to see how companies are adopting the resource as a more limited way to connect with customers. Read more at GigaOM »
Big Hollywood has no business being on Kickstarter, says Hollywood insider
Zach Braff is raising money for his next movie on Kickstarter. That’s wrong, argues writer, producer and director Ken Levine. Read more »
Open interviews and gatekeepers: The media can either open up or sources can go direct
photo: Shutterstock/Luis Santos
Startup founder Chad Whitacre caused a fuss recently when he suggested that a reporter do an “open interview” that would be available to everyone — but why is that approach seen as such a threat by some media outlets? Read more »
Andrew Sullivan says it’s “unlikely” The Dish will reach its $900,000 goal
photo: Albert Chau
Popular politics blog The Dish, which went independent and added a metered paywall at the beginning of this year, is probably not going to reach its $900,000 goal, founder Andrew Sullivan says. Read more »
Here comes Dinosaur Train: Roku gets PBS and PBS Kids channels
PBS is landing on the Roku with two dedicated channels, which will bring content from shows like Dinosaur Train, Curious George, Frontline and Nova to the media streamer. Read more »
Get your cat on: BuzzFeed creates new section where readers can publish
photo: BuzzFeed
Users will now get their own vertical on BuzzFeed, where they can submit according to their “Cat Power.” Read more »
Kobo Aura HD Review: A “luxury” e-reader that’s not worth the price
The Kobo Aura HD has a great screen, but its deficiencies should make consumers look twice at the $169.99 price tag. Read more at GigaOM »
Chegg cozies up to Coursera to tap into MOOC movement
photo: mtkang
Chegg, a company best known as a textbook rental site, is partnering with Coursera to distribute its content to students enrolled in massive open online courses. Read more »
Updated: AOL grows again on solid ad sales
AOL continues its surprising turnaround with another quarter of growth in its content and advertising segment. The company is still, however, depending on its legacy business for all its profit. Read more »
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 »
Kim Dotcom wants Mega’s messaging services to be both secure and friction-free
The flamboyant entrepreneur, who is facing extradition from New Zealand to the U.S. over copyright infringement allegations, plans to launch easy-to-use yet secure communications services. Read more at GigaOM »
Stories for May. 7, 2013
Marissa Mayer: expect video tiers but no Yahoo Home
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer addressed video, working from home and the company’s future goal during a chat in New York with Stephen Levy of Wired. Read more at GigaOM »
NYT’s Jill Abramson: Social media has changed how editors oversee major stories
Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the New York Times, addressed media trends at Wired’s conference in New York City. Read more »
Planet Money and Kickstarter: Is web-based crowdfunding the future of public media?
photo: Flickr / Christian Scholz
When the NPR show Planet Money wanted to put together a project about the economic life-cycle of a T-shirt, Kickstarter seemed like the natural approach — and it showed how much crowdfunding has in common with public media. Read more »
BitTorrent introduces Bundles to help creators make money with file sharing
BitTorrent wants more artists to give away stuff to file sharers – which is why they just gave those artists an option to also sell stuff to file sharers. Read more »
Evan Williams on Medium: “The magazine is the analog for what we’re doing”
Evan Williams sees Medium, the blogging platform that he and Biz Stone launched last year, as a modern-day magazine. While Medium will eventually open to everyone, Williams said he wants the site to be “a great place for professional writers.” Read more »
Local news outlets get MLB clips (and money) in deal with video wire NDN
photo: MLB, Reggie Jackson
Local papers will get a heaping of Major League Baseball highlights thanks to a new syndication deal with NDN, a company backed by Reggie Jackson. Read more »
In its first Asian launch, Huffington Post expands to Japan
photo: Flickr / Marcus Vegas
The Huffington Post rolled out its first Asian edition in Japan on Tuesday. Read more »
pC LIVE Podcast: New media entities panel with Slate, Vox, reddit and LinkedIn
photo: Albert Chau
Enjoy this re-broadcast of a star-studded panel from our recent paidContent LIVE show in New York. Read more »
Stories for May. 6, 2013
Internet sales tax bill passes Senate, awaits House approval
The Marketplace Fairness Act — which will force online merchants to collect tax on behalf of other states — passed the Senate on Monday. Read more at GigaOM »
Want a job at Gawker Media? You can get a head start by being a regular commenter
The new weekend editor at Gawker’s auto-focused Jalopnik blog got hired because he was a knowledgeable commenter on the site, an example of how the feedback loop between writers and readers can pay off for blogs. Read more »
