by Joe Mandese on Apr 30, 5:21 PM
Ed Wilson, chief revenue and sales officer of Tribune Co. since 2009, and as president of Tribune Broadcasting since 2008, is stepping down from both positions, effective immediately. He will remain a consultant.
by David Goetzl on Apr 30, 3:14 PM
No surprise here: Nielsen CFO Brian West declined comment on a report that the company’s private-equity backers are looking to do an IPO. “It’s all rumor and speculation,� he said on a conference call. The Financial Times reported the six owners are looking for a valuation of $21 billion. In 2006, the firms -- AlpInvest Partners, the Blackstone Group, the Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Thomas H. Lee Partners -- purchased Nielsen at a value of more than $10 billion and took it private.
by Karl Greenberg on Apr 30, 2:50 PM
Chevrolet has signed on to sponsor the Oprah Winfrey/Harpo Studios “No Phone Zoneâ€� campaign. General Motors’ Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre and employees from GM’s Lansing Delta Township assembly plant, appeared in a taped segment of “The Oprah Winfrey Showâ€� to announce the company’s support of the public education campaign against texting and hand-held cell-phoning while driving. In addition to Whitacre’s appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Showâ€�, Chevrolet will lead an internal campaign to encourage employees in the U.S. to take the “No Phone Zoneâ€� pledge at Oprah.com. Chevrolet will also sponsor more than 400 public service announcement (PSA) …
by Gavin O'Malley on Apr 30, 2:08 PM
After having a little time to digest Facebook’s far-reaching Open Graph initiative, blogger
Robert Scoble concludes that the top social net “has broken an invisible privacy contract with its users.â€� Indeed, “Previously private data is showing up on Yelp, Pandora, and Spotify … That wasn’t expected by the users.â€� Still, due to the fear of being left behind and/or the promise of more engaged users, publishers are falling over themselves to play Facebook’s game. Scoble now says that his initial prediction that 30 of the top 100 Web sites would incorporate Facebook’s “Likeâ€� buttons in the first few months …
by Gavin O'Malley on Apr 30, 1:16 PM
In a huge blow to Microsoft and its mobile strategy, Hewlett-Packard has killed its highly anticipated Windows 7 tablet computer, a source tells
TechCrunch. In grand fashion, Microsoft head Steve Ballmer unveiled the device at CES 2010 in January, and it was expected to hit shelves by mid-year. Yet, HP was reportedly not satisfied with Windows 7 as a tablet operating system. “HP may also be abandoning Intel-based hardware for its slate lineup simply because it’s too power hungry,â€� TechCrunch speculates. So, what will HP use in lieu of Windows 7? “Look for Google-powered devices, which have already been …
by Gavin O'Malley on Apr 30, 1:16 PM
Just hours after Apple head Steve Jobs released an open letter on Thursday lambasting Adobe and its Flash media player,
The Wall Street Journal sat down for an exclusive interview with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. As The Journal noted, “The squabbling between Apple and Adobe has been getting increasingly personal, with Adobe executives and employees angered in particular by Apple’s decision to block Adobe software that would allow developers to produce programs in Flash that would then be converted to work on the iPhone.â€� In response to what The Journal called Jobs’ “extraordinary attack,â€� Narayen said the difference between …
by Gavin O'Malley on Apr 30, 1:15 PM
Slamming social networks as nothing more than tools for “cyber-bullying,� the principal of one New Jersey middle school is asking parents to join a voluntary ban on the popular services. “Rumors used to be some mean girl says something in the hall, but now it’s out there for the whole world to look at,� Anthony Orsini, the principal at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Ridgewood, NJ told
CBS 2. Meanwhile, Meredith Wearly, the school’s guidance counselor, told the TV station that about 75% of her day is now spent dealing with social networking issues with students. Principal Orsini said …
by Karl Greenberg on Apr 30, 10:52 AM
The National Hockey League has introduced an application for the new iPad: NHL Ice Time - Playoffs Edition. The app, which was co-developed by the NHL and app maker NeuLion is a freebee from the iTunes store through the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The League says this is the right way to reach fans because “NHL fans are young, affluent and educated, and have more handheld devices, HDTVs and broadband connections than fans of other major sports.â€� “With demand for NHL hockey at an all-time high, we’re taking every opportunity to shorten the distance between the League …
by John Capone on Apr 30, 10:49 AM
Nothing good ever lasts. It's a long-held truism that, though cliche, continually bears itself out. Then there is that whole free lunch thing. Regardless, when Apple acquired LaLa, a cloud-based music service that allowed users to listen to free music and purchase low-cost web albums, there was rampant speculation that Apple bought the service only because it posed a serious threat to its iTunes system and, well, it could afford to kill LaLa. The timing of the acquisition was suspect. Music fans with iPods and iPhones could not access the service, either via app or the Safari mobile browser. …
by Karl Greenberg on Apr 29, 3:21 PM
Ford’s Fiesta compact car will be featured in Funkmaster Flex’s new TV show, “Funk Flex Full Throttle� which premiers this Sunday on MTV2. Flex will customize one of the cars on the episode. Ford says that as part of the partnership, one viewer will win the chance to win the customized Fiesta. During each 30-minute episode, Flex interviews Hip-Hop artists and lets them look at his latest car customization projects.