• Ross Fadner, Jan 29, 2008, 11:01 AM
  • Good News About Unlocked iPhones The New York Times Read the whole story...
  • VMware Plunges Amid Poor Earnings Silicon Alley Insider Read the whole story...
  • U2 Manager Asks ISPs to Fight Piracy Financial Times Read the whole story...
  • Tech Presidential Primary TechCrunch Read the whole story...
  • YouTube Ramps Up Rev Share Program Forbes.com Read the whole story...
  • Google At The Ad Club CNET News.com CNET's Caroline McCarthy lent an ear to the latest New York Advertising Club meeting at Google's offices in Chelsea, during which company execs discussed the Web giant's broad and expanding advertising strategy. Google is venturing into print, TV and radio with the aim of bringing the measurability of the Internet to the offline world. Monday's discussion focused mostly on search king's traditional media initiatives, although the Google team also touched on emerging platforms like Web video, mobile advertising and social media.

    Google's immediate video strategy is less about revolutionizing the industry with new ad forms and more about providing the right environment-i.e. the right consumers-for advertisers. "(Being) able to dive into that community where people are so responsive to seeing their video messages," would be a gold mine, said Sarah Carberry, Google's consumer packaged-goods team manager.

    Tim Castelli, Google's New York ad ales director, said that social media would be the "next big thing in advertising." He added that MySpace and Facebook, which have struggled with monetization, would prosper, and implied that Google might delve into social advertising. Less was said about mobile advertising, which is still a "hush-hush" area for Google because its forthcoming operating software, Android, is still short on details. Read the whole story...
  • Super Bowl Adds Web Extravaganza The Wall Street Journal Super Bowl advertising has always been a television event in and of itself, but now, the Web is playing an increasingly bigger role in the advertising blitz. This year, Super Bowl marketers are dabbling in everything from Web video to profiles on social-networks as part of their Super Bowl campaign. Companies that have spent $2.7 million on 30-second TV ads are expanding their investments through online promotions and tie-ins. Meanwhile, advertisers without Super Bowl spots are splashing cash on big, cheap Super Bowl audiences online.

    Some examples: this weekend, Pepsi North America is boosting its Super Bowl TV presence with an ad blitz on Yahoo. Viacom's Paramount Pictures just signed a deal with ESPN.com to be the dominant advertiser during the Big Game for the next three years. Telecom giant Verizon Communications, which has never purchased a Super Bowl TV spot, is sponsoring AOL's Super Sunday Ad Poll.

    News Corp.'s MySpace, realizing that the ads themselves are content, will post the lineup on its site for free in an effort to bring users back to MySpace.com. Advertisers are already bidding on Super Bowl-related terms on search engines Google and Yahoo. Read the whole story...
  • QTrax's Humiliating Launch London Times It was a pretty humiliating launch day for QTrax, the ad-supported music download site that was highly touted for the having four major record labels as partners. QTrax didn't have the backing of a single one of the Big Four, as EMI, Warner, Sony BMG and Universal all confirmed. Warner and Universal are currently talking to the new online music provider.

    QTrax execs insisted that they would not have launched the service without Big Music's backing, although they admitted that the "ink hadn't dried" on some of deals. The company had spent an estimated $1 million at a conference in Cannes trying to convince the industry that their site would help stem the flow of illegal piracy over the Web. Here's how it works: fans would be able to download and own songs for free provided they put up with a limited amount of advertising while searching the network. However, music files would be protected by digital rights management and would be incompatible with Apple's iPod.

    "We wouldn't have launched the service in front of the whole music industry unless we had secured its backing," said QTrax CEO Alan Klepfisz. "We do have industry agreements including the major labels. Even today, we are working on more deals." He said adding the company would deliver on its promises "within months." Read the whole story...
  • Diller, Liberty Media Fight For IAC Control The Wall Street Journal Liberty Media Corp. Chairman John Malone plans to oust Barry Diller, head of the Web conglomerate IAC/InterActiveCorp. In response to Diller's announcement that IAC would break into five public entities, Malone has nominated a series of replacements for the IAC board. He also took steps to undermine a proxy agreement that allows Diller to vote Liberty's majority voting stake in the company. The proxy is seen as "essentially unbreakable" but yesterday Malone launched a legal maneuver to try to get around it.

    The war between the media moguls was triggered last week when Diller announced that the proposed IAC spinoff would actually limit Liberty's control over the new companies. In response, Diller said, in a statement: "I am beginning to think these people are insane ... everything they cite is hogwash."

    Over the past few years, tensions between Diller and Malone have risen as IAC's stock has underperformed; as a result, both parties began looking for ways to cut ties in the media partnership. Read the whole story...