Archive for February 1st, 2007
Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said that 4 percent of all data transmitted over Comcast’s high speed internet service is YouTube video. “We don’t view that as a bad thing. We view that as a great thing in terms of the core video business versus a differentiated broadband business,” Roberts said, who said we’ll see and hear more from Comcast Interactive Media in 2007. “The whole focus is video centric and also, on an integrated product experience, what we call cross-platform where you’ll look to Comcast, just as it worked with Triple Play, you’ll look to Comcast to bring you integrated video experience that is working on all devices” Comcast’s Q4 revenue tripled as customers signed up for its discounted “triple play” package.
February 1st, 2007
Wednesday night WNBC hosted a Blogger Summit, inviting well over 100 New York City bloggers into Rockefeller Center. It was moderated by their new technology reporter Sree Sreenivasan, WNBC.com Executive Editor Adam Shaprio, and Content Specialist Erin Monteiro. Are they crazy? Hardly. If you’ve read any recent interviews with Bob Wright lately, NBC understands where their future lies. WNBC used the opportunity to recognize the importance of bloggers covering stories they are often unable to do, as well as to learn how their newsroom and bloggers can better work together. (In the interest of full disclosure, WNBC is a client of mine and the Blogger Summit was their brilliant idea, not mine.) Watch WNBC’s on-air coverage and a behind-the-scenes look by blogger Bing Hu. Is your newsroom ready to forge a relationship with bloggers?
Photo courtesy of WNBC.com.
February 1st, 2007
The Google machine keeps growing. Google’s net income for Q4 nearly tripled to $1.03 billion. Interestingly, CEO Eric Schmidt said they reduced the number of paid search ads available on each page, which yielded higher responses for its advertisers, which in turn generated more revenue.
February 1st, 2007
“The Lite Brites are coming! The Lite Brites are coming!” Not since Paul Revere’s ride has Boston been jolted so strongly by an imminent threat. You all should participate in a media storm some time. It’s lots of fun. I strongly recommend it. And if you happen to find that your years of skilled experience watching cartoons should enter into the equation – even better. Read on, after the jump.
My epitaph.
Read the full post February 1st, 2007
The two “suspects” just held a press conference (video) to talk about, well, hair. Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens decided to turn the tables on the media and require all questions to be hair-related, which prompted one reporter to ask if he was worried his hair would be cut in prison. Both were released on $2,500 bond today after pleading not guilty to placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct.
February 1st, 2007
Cory pointed to the surge of Mooninite products on eBay earlier. I checked out what a sign would cost me (as a souvenir of this magical day) and… $2,025 and rising, with two days left in the bidding. Which has me doing math (always dangerous): They found 38 of these in Boston. That’s an eBay value of $76,950. I believe Turner could seriously defray the cost of its payment to Boston by selling these things. Maybe even turn a profit…
Of course, the bid could be a prank, too…
February 1st, 2007
Give credit to Adult Swim. The site has replaced its normal homepage with the one below - a simple, white-on-black apology to Boston.
ALSO: Video of the apology from the start of Wednesday night’s “Adult Swim” block.
February 1st, 2007
I feel like an author on a book tour. GMA this morning. MSNBC at lunch. Local ABC affil this afternoon. NBC Nightly tonight. A surprise - and lots of fun. Just finished with Alison Stewart and “The Most,” and it was cool. The TV segment was pretty standard - but in the break we continued the discussion online, and that was truly fun. Yeah, she misprounounced my last name, but I get that all the time. (It’s SAF-rin, not SAFE-ran.) Alison even apologized in the webcast. UPDATE: Must have passed the audition - NBC asked me to return to the studio for an interview for tonight’s “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.” So, I’m guessing, a soundbite in a report on the story. This is the weirdest story with which I have ever been involved. 3:30 pm “Nightly” went well, so it’s on to St. Louis! Invited to talk on the Paul Harris show at 4:45 ET on KMOX. Audio now archived. 4:53 pm: KMOX interview was terrific. Paul and his team have a terrific sense of humor. Best question? How come you knew what this was before the police did? Indeed. 6:40 pm: I didn’t make the cut for the NBC Nightly News piece. Lisa Daniels did a good job wrapping up the story. She didn’t use me. I consider this an excellent editorial decision.
February 1st, 2007
As promised, Steve appeared in a Good Morning America piece this morning along with a few Lost Remote screen shots. Here’s the video. And he just wrapped up an appearance on MSNBC’s The Most. To recap, we believe he was the first to break the news of the connection between the Boston devices and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He made an interesting point on GMA: why didn’t the Cartoon Network notify CNN — which was in the middle of breaking news for a good portion of the afternoon — about the connection? They’re both run by Turner Broadcasting. And on MSNBC, Steve said Boston authorities are going too far. “Was it a bad idea? Definitely. Was it an overreaction? Definitely, too,” he said. “The police absolutely did the right thing yesterday, today is the overreaction.” Watch the MSNBC webcast of “The Most” - don’t be fooled by the break between her intro and the show. It’s part the show’s webby charm.
February 1st, 2007
Many of the same Mooninites were displayed around the Seattle area for the last couple weeks. “To us, they’re so obviously not suspicious,” said King County sheriff’s spokesman John Urquhart. “They’re lighted cartoon figures. This is a joke.” Truth be told, none of the displays were placed under bridges, as they were in Boston. But still.
February 1st, 2007
