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 »
Stories for May. 9, 2013
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 »
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 »
