CBS Interactive’s CNET debuts new design
CNET has left the green and yellow design behind for a new look. Among the new features: high-def video on CNET TV, faster serving, better search and aggregated reviews. On the advertising front, explains the WSJ (free version): “The new CNET.com includes a ‘brand showcase’ feature, allowing advertisers to pay for pages where they can [...]
Google launches free ad serving
After months of beta testing, Google has launched AdManager, a full-service ad serving and management tool. And it’s completely free. You can integrate third-party ad tags and then compare CPMs with Adsense on the fly, selecting the ad with the highest return. Or you can turn off Adsense altogether. There’s back-end reporting. Full permission settings. [...]
ESPN launches high school sports site
ESPNrise.com has launched, joining the fray of high school sports sites battling for attention. Unlike many local high school sports efforts, ESPNrise.com takes a broader approach, focusing on states and regions instead of drilling down on individual high schools and all the rich data that comes with it. But it comes with all the usual [...]
Forrester: TV’s future looks like the web
A new report from Forrester Research says that the future of television, something it calls “personal TV,” will be delivered on-demand in a web-like experience with targeted advertising based on location and behavior. This isn’t surprising at all, of course, but the question is how the networks, studios, local TV stations, cable & satellite providers, [...]
The challenges of local search
Gib Olander works for Localeze, which helps local businesses excel in search engines. He wrote a column for MediaPost that does a great job outlining the challenges and semantics of local search. For example, people don’t just search for “Oakland plumber” but “Oakland leaky faucet.” Or a golfer may search for “PING putter Elmhurst, IL” [...]
The Onion launching local city guides
Believe it or not, the humor site The Onion is getting into the local game with Decider, a local city guide that will take on the likes of CitySearch, Yelp and MetroMix. Decider is starting in Chicago (coincidentally just like Huffington Post) with restaurant and music reviews, events and feature stories. The design is clean [...]
Star-Tribune cancels AP
Up until now, mostly small papers here and there have been canceling their AP contracts. But now the Minneapolis-St. Paul daily, Star-Tribune, has given AP the required two-year notice for cancelation.
MTV goes local with Campus Daily Guide
Even MTV is pushing into the local arena. Through a partnership with Zvents, mtvU has rolled out out 25 sites that are essentially city guides for local colleges. Called the Campus Daily Guide, they feature events, restaurant and bar reviews, local search and campus resources. They’ve also tapped into content from the College Media Network [...]
Slow online growth for NY Times Company
Another example of slow growth online for a newspaper company: the New York Times Company announced that online advertising revenue grew .9% in July for its news media group “as more moderate growth in display advertising was partially offset by continued weakness in online recruitment advertising.” But NYTCO says August is trending better.
Democratic convention open thread
Watching on TV? Online? What DNC coverage and technology ideas are worth taking to the RNC in Minneapolis? Which are a bust? Comment away…
Tech takes center stage at convention
Updated: Lots of links from Denver for your browsing pleasure. If you have any more you’d like to point out, please leave in comments. – Lots of live online coverage from the DNC: msnbc.com, CNN.com, Democrats.org, CBSNews.com (simulcast plus online-only webcast, also on CNET), ABCNews.com, WaPost along with Newsweek, Ustream.tv (live from “The [...]
Poynter unveils new site
Poynter Online has a new look this morning – replacing the outdated site that’s been around for quite a while. The new site has a nice look and a bunch of new features (some of which have good application on general news sites…) Kick the tires and let us know what you think.
A landscape of failed ventures
Valleywag has a hot piece sitting under the title “5 ways the newspapers botched the web.” The story looks at the long line of newspaper mis-fires, from RealCities New Century Networks and even Classified Ventures (cars.com et al). The central theory? Daily deadlines did in the newspaper industry because “they couldn’t look farther into the [...]
Top Olympics site? Yahoo, NBC tell different stories
Despite big TV promotion, prominent placement on MSN and MSNBC.com, 211 affiliates cranking towards it and exclusive video, NBCOlympics.com isn’t the top Olympics news site – that crown goes to Yahoo. Silicon Alley Insider quotes Nielsen Online data for the sites – which shows from August 8 – August 18, Yahoo Olympics beat NBC Olympics [...]
Sticker shock: Local station fouls up Obama VP story
Yesterday, a reporter with KMBC in Kansas City had a big scoop: Barack Obama would pick Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh to be his running mate. Except… that didn’t happen. Oops. The station broke into programming with the hot news based on a bumper sticker. Did they hedge? Not enough… KMBC-9 News has every indication that [...]
Obama text message strategically timed
As you know, Obama’s campaign sent out its much-anticipated text early this morning, announcing Biden as his VP choice. You’ll notice a few things from the timing: 1) most newspapers were unable to get it into their Saturday editions, which apparently was the campaign’s intent 2) it probably woke up a bunch of people and [...]
Now Google gets into location race
The mad dash toward location awareness continues with Google’s “Gears Geolocation API.” Developers can use Google’s toolkit to develop location-based services for both mobile devices and on your PC. At its core, the API can “determine your location using nearby cell phone towers or GPS for your mobile device or your computer’s IP address for [...]
Lessons learned from ‘The L Word’
NewTeeVee’s Liz Gannes just returned from casting her vote judging the fiction category of the Interactive Emmy Awards, and she breaks down the five entrants including HBO’s Voyeur, NBC’s Heroes and ABC’s Lost. But Gannes reserved the most praise for Showtime’s The L Word. “It has cultivated the biggest social network for lesbians, OurChart, out [...]
Gannett sites stream album, link Amazon
Updated: Gannett has inked a deal with Capitol Records and Brian Wilson, the former Beach Boy, to debut the singer’s new album online. You can visit any of Gannett’s newspaper and TV sites and listen to the entire album, “That Lucky Old Sun” (see it in action on KUSA’s site, 9News.com here.) If you’re in [...]
Oregon’s largest paper to cut 100
The Oregonian in Portland, OR announced it plans to cut 100 jobs – or a bit less than 10% of its staff. The paper is offering employees with 10+ years of experience a nice buyout: “two years of pay and two years of health care for themselves and dependents.”
