Intel

GOOGLE will shutdown the paid portion of its Google Video service on August 15. The service has offered paid downloads for the past 19 months, but will now shift its focus to ad-supported video. When the service shuts down on Wednesday, purchased downloads will completely stop working, leaving consumers with worthless, unplayable DRM-ed files. TV Continue Reading →

THE TELEVISION BUREAU OF ADVERTISING announced that ePort is set to launch this November. ePort is the open-standard electronic exchange for buyers and sellers of TV spots, supported by CBS Television Stations, E.W. Scripps, Gannett Broadcasting, NBCU Stations, and several other broadcasters. The full suite of online transactions will be available in March 2008. FACEBOOK Continue Reading →

OXYGEN MEDIA has sold the first ads through the Online Media Exchange to Intel. A dozen networks registered for the eBay system in time to consider Intel’s slot request. However, there were no other bidders. This was Intel’s first ad purchase on Oxygen. YAHOO has pledged to challenge YOUTUBE‘s dominance in online video. Yahoo will Continue Reading →

As I have often said, Steve Jobs is the world’s foremost expert in making me buy stuff I don’t need with money I don’t want to spend. In this regard, the 8GB iPhone is his ultimate achievement. It is, by far, the most viscerally exciting, aesthetically pleasing piece of technology I have ever held in Continue Reading →

AT&T continues to rollout U-verse. The IPTV service is now available in Ohio, the eighth state to gain coverage. U-verse currently has fewer than 50,000 subscribers, but At&T expects to sign up 10,000 new customers per week by the end of the year. ABC plans to fight commercial-skipping with a “Tease ‘n’ Reveal” strategy. At Continue Reading →

TNS MEDIA INTELLIGENCE reports that advertising spending in the U.S. fell 0.3% in the first quarter. Network TV spending was down 7.2% (to $6.1 billion). National newspaper advertising fell 5.3% (to $810 million). Internet display advertising jumped 16.7% (to $2.7 billion). EBAY will begin auctioning radio ads today via its Media Marketplace. Advertisers will create Continue Reading →

JOOST is gathering an impressive list of advertisers: Microsoft, Intel, HP, Unilever, Sony, United Airlines and more. Spots will include traditional-style ads and on-screen contextual ads. The FCC is asking Congress to legislate the sale of television on a per-channel basis. The request is included in a report on violence on TV. APPLE‘s iTunes Music Continue Reading →

MYSPACE will announce MySpace News. The site will aggregate news feeds from several sites using RSS technology. Users can rank headlines and stories, determining the placement of articles. AT&T has added 15,000 U-verse subscribers already this year. It had 3,000 subscribers at the close of 2006. The IPTV service is available in 200,000 homes, and Continue Reading →

I am about to do the most technical article I have ever written for general public consumption and I promise not to use one technical word. All you need to know is that everything I am about to discuss can be done by an average 14 year old with a computer and a broadband connection. Continue Reading →

By now, everyone in our business has either read or knows about Steve Jobs’s essay, “Thoughts on Music by Steve Jobs.” (If you haven’t read it, click here for my commentary and a full version of the original essay by Mr. Jobs.) The thesis of Mr. Jobs’s essay is that Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, Continue Reading →