If you have a few minutes of free time today, take a looksie at Vita.mn, a unique events and entertainment site that just launched in beta by the folks at Star Tribune in the Twin Cities. Called the “ultimate guide to what’s going on in the Twin Cities,” Vita.mn has a social networking engine running in the background, although I’m still a little unclear on how to use it. Users can dig other users, designate their favorites, create top ten lists and write up wiki-style guides. Vita.mn seems to be one of the first concerted forays by a local traditional media company into the Web 2.0 space, so it’ll be high on my list of sites to watch. Not to mention, it has a damn cool domain.
As expected, Amazon.com has launched “Amazon Unbox,” a movie and TV show download site with a respectable content selection out of the gate. There are TV shows from CBS, Fox, MTV, VH1, HGTV, Comedy Central and more (original Star Trek episodes are available for download for the first time). And movies from 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. TV shows go for $1.99 each, and movies run between $7.98 and $19.99. Or you can rent movies, like Office Space, for as low as $2.99. To celebrate the launch, Amazon is offering a $1.99 rebate on all purchases, meaning users can download their first TV show for free. It looks like a solid product, but I haven’t put it through it’s paces yet. Post in comments if you’ve given it a try…
Radar’s John Cook has written an intriguing profile of Perverted Justice and its relationship with NBC News with the popular Dateline “To Catch a Predator” specials. “NBC is paying the group between $100,000 and $150,000 per show,” writes Cook, who attributes the information to one current NBC News staffer and one former NBC official. Cook goes on to report that the deal was negotiated by the network’s entertainment lawyers, and Perverted Justice is entitled to a portion of revenue from any subsequent DVD sales.
CBS’ upcoming show The Class is about a group of former grade school kids who reconnect when they’re in their 20s. So what better way to promote it online than team up with Classmates.com, a site that reconnects people with old classmates. Each show’s character will have its own page (with video), which in turn allows Classmates.com users to add them as friends. Nifty.
NBC has launched a new site (in beta) called ItsYourShowTV.com that encourages users to submit original video for cash prizes. A series of weekly challenges keeps the content focused, such as “try to teach your grandparents to use modern technology and make a brilliant short while you’re at it.” Weekly winners — as determined by users — take home $1,000, and the big purse is $100,000 for the best overall clip. Also, the site allows you to download “tools” such as video, music and sound effects to use in your editing. “We know you like to mix it up so we’re giving out some ingredients,” reads the site. “Now we’re gonna sit back and watch the madness.” Of course, there’s a TV component. Some of the winning clips will be aired on NBC with Carson Daly hosting, yet the format is “currently in development.” The project is shared with Carson Daly Productions. Press release…
When I saw the new social networking feature on Facebook, called News Feed, I have to admit I thought it was downright cool. In essense, it alerts you of any changes in your friends’ profiles and relationships. So, Jenny is now friends with Steve, and Rick added some photos, Kate added a favorite activity and Bob wrote a new blog post. Even though News Feed just aggregates information that friends are already publicizing on Facebook on their own profiles — and users can opt out of the new feature — there’s been a massive backlash. One protest group already boasts 500,000 members, and many are calling for a boycott. Which raises the question, can a network be too social? And it underlines the simple fact that social networks are controlled by the community, and new features should be developed in collaboration with them. So if Facebook had previewed the feature, asked for feedback and made some suggested changes, I doubt the site would be facing a backlash. (Digg is a great example of a social network that listens intently to its users.) Meanwhile, Facebook is asking users to “breathe” as it scrambles to figure out what to do next. A good lesson learned for all social networking sites.
Through a new partnership with the National Journal publications, MSNBC.com has launched a new politics section with some intriguing features. The section uses a wider, photo-heavy layout with a list of headlines that’s sortable by importance, date, source or title. Click the plus sign to preview a story in the page (mmmm Ajax.) Click on the “key races” tab and you’re taken to a draggable Virtual Earth map with rollover markers. And message boards are coming soon. Adds Rex from MSNBC.com in comments, “There are several experiments on here, some of which might stick and some of which might not. People will immediately notice the big visual grid, but one small idea is the ‘importance’ indicator, which is one of the interesting ideas we’re toying with.” Screen grab…
Borrell Associates has released its local online advertising outlook for 2007, and there are a few surprises. While local advertising is expected to grow 31.6% to $7.7 billion in 2007 — and online video ads are reaching a trackable level — the trend isn’t expected to last. “We are projecting a slowdown in the growth of standard online ads by 2008, a further slowdown in 2009, and a flattening or perhaps even a mild decline in local online advertising by 2010 as online promotions begin to attract more ad dollars away from traditional advertising,” reads the report. Real estate and automotive continue to be the two hot sectors, with both combining to account for more than one-third of all local online advertising. You can download the executive summary here for free, but the report — which includes projections for the top 210 DMAs — will cost ya.
The numbers for Wednesday are in, and the CBS Evening News beat its competition handily. CBS pulled a 7.0/14, NBC delivered a 4.9/10, and ABC had a 5.3/10, reports TVNewser. The newscast featured a very timely interview with President Bush, and Couric continued to plug CBSNews.com in just about every segment.
Whoa. Reporter John Mattes of Fox 6 News in San Diego was attacked while covering a suspected real estate scam. Mattes suffered cracked ribs and other injuries. His cameraman kept rolling…
Photogs: Would you have put the camera down, or kept shooting?
You may remember some time ago Microsoft announced it’s working with the New York Times to come up with a more user-friendly way to read the news, from the internet to mobile devices. For example, reading a longer story on the web requires you to hit the page down button as you go, breaking up your reading momentum. Explains NYTimes.com’s Nick Thuesen, “Times Reader, with the help of some sweet controls from Microsoft’s .NET Framework 3.0, will determine the viewing size of your content and paginate it into columns and pages… making for a nice, neat, tidy and most important, readable experience.” It also uses the exact same font as the paper. See below for a screen grab, and click here for full screen. Times Reader is “close to hitting beta release,” Thuesen promises. (Via Fimoculous)
In a TV first, TiVo Series2 subscribers who enter to play fantasy football on CBS Sportsline can update their picks via their remote controls. Plus, they’ll get the latest stats, sports news and video from CBS Sportsline. The service is free.
Coming this Sunday, KNBC will debut a live, interactive game show after NBC’s airing of Sunday Night Football. The Challenge, as it’s called, gives viewers the chance to compete for prizes by answering questions over the internet and mobile devices (powered by HipCricket). “This show represents thinking two to three years down the road for television,” said host Fred Roggin. “It’s simple to do the post-game format show, but if you look at the numbers, you see audience drops each quarter-hour. But with this show, if you miss a question, you might miss the grand prize.” So far, over 25,000 people have already registered to play. And Roggin says the show has already exceeded its revenue target with a host of advertisers. Kudos to KNBC for trying something new, and we’ll be curious to know how well it does in the ratings.
Coming this Sunday, KNBC will debut a live, interactive 
