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. 7, 2013
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 »
Big Bird, Caillou and Sonic could be part of YouTube’s subscription slate
YouTube is reportedly close to launching paid channel subscriptions on its site – and we’ve found a number of clues that hint at kids content being part of this initiative. Read more »
Aereo strikes back: what’s behind the mobile TV service’s new lawsuit against the broadcasters
photo: Aereo
Aereo, which sells $8 a month subscriptions to watch TV on mobile devices, has responded to lawsuits from broadcasters by filing an unorthodox suit of its own this week. The suit may be for PR purposes more than legal ones. Read more »
Think micropayments for media can’t work? Greg Golebiewski says you are wrong
There is a conventional wisdom in the media industry that micropayments for online content don’t work, but Greg Golebiewski of Znak It says that this isn’t true, and that media companies need to experiment with the model. Read more »
Baker & Taylor launches app for reading library ebooks, but still doesn’t support Kindle
Digital library distributor Baker & Taylor launched an app Monday that will let library patrons read ebooks on iOS and Android devices. Read more »
New York Times launches web-only documentaries with Retro Report
The New York Times is launching a series of short, web-only documentaries with nonprofit Retro Report. The weekly 10- to 15-minute documentaries will run on the NYT’s baby boomer blog and will examine events of the past. Read more »
Stories for May. 4, 2013
NewFronts news roundup: a big week for Yahoo, AOL, Blip, Hulu and Crackle
This week, famous faces, new shows and pleas for advertising dollars brought many web video companies to web video’s version of TV’s upfronts. Here are just a few of the biggest stories to emerge. Read more »
Stories for May. 3, 2013
Sourcebooks, Overdrive launch pilot to demonstrate the impact of ebook library lending on sales
Sourcebooks and Overdrive believe that library lending leads to increased book sales and author recognition. In a two-week trial, they will promote a Sourcebooks ebook on library homepages and see how the promotion affects paid sales and author recognition. Read more »
Spotify buys music discovery app Tunigo
Spotify has acquired the music app Tunigo, which helps users discover Spotify playlists and browse music and music-related news. Read more at GigaOM »
Losses mount at Washington Post ahead of summer paywall plan
The Washington Post posted discouraging earnings Friday, with revenue and circulation down from a year ago. Read more »
Vimeo on demand will exclusively distribute new Kristen Bell movie
Vimeo on demand is getting a new movie starring Kristen Bell as a day-and-date release, with the film premiering online the same day it comes out in theaters. Read more »
Barnes & Noble integrating Google Play into Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets
Barnes & Noble is integrating many Google services — including Google Play, Gmail, Google Maps and the Chrome browser — into its Nook HD and Nook HD+ tablets. Read more at GigaOM »
Stories for May. 2, 2013
Why we should stop asking Twitter to introduce a correction feature
Whenever a breaking news event leads to errors on Twitter, critics suggest that the service needs some kind of built in correction or editing mechanism — but adding one would not only be complicated, it would also be unwise. Read more at GigaOM »
Time Warner Cable CEO’s response on Aereo: Yeah, we could do that
photo: Flickr user The Consumerist
Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt is watching the Aereo legal battle with interest. If the upstart prevails, Britt may try a similar tactic himself. Read more at GigaOM »
Is Bitcoin for real? Find out at GigaOM’s Silicon Valley meetup
Bitcoin is a hot topic for the tech and finance industries. GigaOM is hosting an exclusive get-together in San Jose on May 16th where people from Facebook, Google and Expensify will share their thoughts on the crypto-currency. Read more at GigaOM »
RapGenius may not have found the future of news, but it has about as much chance as anyone else
photo: Shutterstock / noporn
It may seem like a sideshow, or a service that can only bring noise and chaos to the news, but RapGenius and its approach towards annotation shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand just yet. Read more »
Pretty enough for TV? Conde Nast and Wall Street Journal strut for online video dollars
photo: Yuri Arcurs
Traditional media brands are cranking out video content in the hopes of persuading marketers to shift ad budgets from TV to online offerings. But can companies like Conde Nast and the Wall Street journal deliver the necessary quality and audience size? Read more »
Former Federated Media CEO Deanna Brown joins e-singles site Byliner as president
E-singles startup Byliner has a new president: Deanna Brown, who was previously the CEO of Federated Media and before that held executive roles at Scripps, Yahoo and AOL. She also founded Inside.com and Gaming Industry News and cofounded CondéNet. Read more »
Stories for May. 1, 2013
What’s trending on Twitter among African Americans? The Root’s new tool will tell you
News site The Root has rolled out a page that shows the most popular tweets and trends among black Americans, who are heavy Twitter users. Read more »
Newspapers need to stop lying to themselves — and to advertisers — about their circulation
photo: Shutterstock / Donskarpo
A trade group says that newspapers like the New York Times have seen large increases in circulation, but that’s partly because they are allowed to count their readers multiple times. The industry needs to do better. Read more »
The Atlantic launches a new ebook division; will sell e-singles and curated collections
The Atlantic is launching an ebooks division that will publish e-singles and curated collections of content from the magazine’s archives. The first e-single is only available through Amazon’s Kindle Singles store for now, though it will soon be available at other retailers. Read more »
Following pilot, Hachette will make all of its ebooks available to libraries nationwide
photo: Flickr user Eric Mueller
Hachette announced Wednesday that it will make all of its ebooks, including new titles, available to libraries nationwide. New ebooks will be priced at three times the cost of the print version, but a library only has to buy a copy once. 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 »
Thanks to Splitsider, Exquisite Corpse Project documents the making of a film, and the end of an era
What happens when friends and former collaborators get together for one last big hurrah? That’s the story documented by “The Exquisite Corpse Project,” which reunites one of web video’s early comedy troupes for a final film project. Read more »
Stories for Apr. 30, 2013
Craigslist’s hacking, copyright claims against rival PadMapper hold up — for now
Companies want to use Craigslist’s large pool of user-generated classified ads to create new services. Are they innovators or criminals? A California court ruling will help determine that. Read more at GigaOM »
How do RSS users want to share content? Digg and Feedly try to find out
This week, Digg and Feedly both surveyed RSS users on the types of social features they’d like to see integrated into a Google Reader replacement. Feedly says it will roll out an updated product in a couple weeks, while Digg’s product launches in June and is likely to be paid. Read more »
Hulu surpassed 4M paying Hulu Plus subscribers, 1B streams in Q1
More than four million people now pay to access Hulu Plus streams, and all of that streaming shows: The site registered more than one billion streams across its free and paid service in Q1. Read more »
HarperCollins to launch digital-first mystery imprint, with monthly royalty payments
HarperCollins will launch a digital-first line of mysteries and thrillers this fall. The company also said that as of August 1, it will pay all of its digital-first authors royalties on a monthly basis, competing with Amazon Publishing. Read more »
Nielsen will roll out tool to track online TV viewing
photo: Shutterstock / Mehmet Dilsiz
Nielsen is rolling out a pilot product that lets TV networks track viewing of shows on their websites. The tool doesn’t yet account for viewing on mobile devices, and the pilot doesn’t include viewing on sites like Hulu and YouTube. Read more »
paidContent Live Re-Run: David Karp on Tumblr in the media landscape
photo: Albert Chau
From our recent paidContent LIVE show in NY, a fireside chat with Tumblr Founder and CEO about his company’s platform is evolving with the media. Read more »
Stories for Apr. 29, 2013
New episodes of All My Children and One Life to Live are airing online
Two years after ABC canceled them, soap operas One Life to Live and All My Children are coming back to life online, with four new 30-minute episodes per week available on Hulu and iTunes. But soap fans who are not used to online viewing may not tune in. Read more »
Weather Company unveils three new web series, offers “four-screen” ad opportunity
The Weather Company continues to expand beyond its core programming with new web series devoted to adventure and human interest. The new content comes as the company deepens its content and advertising strategies. Read more »
You gotta watch this House of Cards spoof for the White House Correspondents’ dinner
Have you been watching House of Cards? Then make sure to catch this spoof, created for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and starring key D.C. insiders. Read more »
MLB starts to stream games live on YouTube… outside of the US and Canada
Watching MLB games live on YouTube is now possible… if you live in Europe: The league is starting to stream two games per day on the video site, but not in key markets. Read more »
Target to promote products endorsed by Wired, including Fitbit and Belkin WeMo
Target will sell electronics products endorsed by the editors of Wired in stores and online. Selections include the Square credit card reader, Fitbit and Belkin WeMo. Target also has an editorial partnership with CNET. Read more at GigaOM »
Court backs artist in Rasta case: less copyright control for image owners?
When is the use of another artist’s image “transformative” and when is it just copyright infringement? A major court ruling provides broader protection for appropriation artists. Read more »
Huffington Post to launch in Germany with digital media group Tomorrow Focus
The Huffington Post will launch in Germany this fall. The company has already expanded to Canada, the U.K., France, Spain and Italy, and a Japanese edition will roll out May 7. Read more »
Stories for Apr. 27, 2013
Feast brings the online academy model to cooking classes
photo: David Spinks
Feast CEO David Spinks is combining the e-learning model pioneered by education sites like Udemy and Coursera with his experience in building online communities, and he’s applying it all to building on online cooking school. Read more at GigaOM »
