Is Yahoo looking to “Patch” in to local media?
Business Insider makes a pretty good case for the theory that Yahoo is trying to go hyperlocal and jump into the AOL/Patch space. 1. Yahoo is looking for a local editor for NYC. 2. A source tells BI that Yahoo may redirect users to a cityname.yahoo.com site. 3. A top VC tweeted – then trashed [...]
Clear Channel Airports Go Gesture Crazy
Clear Channel Airports recently announced a partnership with Monster Media, a leading alternative out-of-home media and technology company, to bring gesture-controlled interactive displays to its portfolio of airport locations. Monster Media is known in the out-of-home sector for interactive street level billboards installed on the storefront windows of vacant commercial properties. The video attached above [...]
Newsweek.com relaunches with “River of News”
Newsweek.com‘s latest iteration is following the newest trend of presenting information as a “river of news,” rather than a flood of unnavigable links. There is still a lead story presented at the top in a (too) big picture. But below that comes the news river (called “Newsweek Now”), and it’s a great start. It’s not [...]
iPad magazines show only missed opportunities
You have to be kidding me. Are we really going to go through this again? The first versions of newspapers and magazines on the Web were, essentially, newspapers and magazines ported to the web, style and all. Now we have a chance to learn from the past and create something really wonderful for the iPad [...]
Notes: Idol fossils, Wired iPad, the BIG Apple
Best headline from liveblog American Idol coverage: “The night Chicago died.” (USA Today) Exacting the Potential of Interactive News (RTDNA) Apple’s market cap ($220 billion) now exceeds Microsoft’s ($219 billion). WIRED introduces iPad version of its magazine, instantly becomes #1 paid app. Still, Business Insider calculates that works out to about $10,000.
Traffic to newspaper sites grows 10% in April
Traffic to the top 25 newspaper-based websites grew 10% from March to April, reports MediaWeek. 83.7 million unique visitors checked out a newspaper site in April. Newspaper National Network CEO Jason Klein jumped on the news – and the competion: “”When compared to the Huffington Post, newspaper sites in the top 25 markets delivered more [...]
WSJ readership up 20% since Murdoch purchase
Love Rupert Murdoch or hate him, you have to admit the man knows how to boost an audience. Readership of The Wall Street Journal is up 20% since Rupert bought it back in 2007. Since that time, the WSJ has become smaller and, IMHO, fluffier. But the recipe seems to be working. By comparison, Editor [...]
The Bay Citizen launches today in San Francisco
The Bay Citizen is up and running in San Francisco today. Formerly known by the working title “Bay Area News Project,” the site is a not-for-profit with $5 million in funding from a host of foundations and sponsors. On its site, the Project writes: “In this historic time of flux in the news industry, we [...]
Notes: Burgers & sites, 3D news, Inside Foursquare
How the startup Main Street Connect is like a McDonald’s franchise (Nieman) New Yorker plans one price across digital platforms. Makes sense to us. (Poynter) Journalism with depth – Philly Inquirer goes 3-D (Editors Weblog) Inside Foursquare (Wired via Fimoculous Tumblr)
iPad shortages frustrating potential buyers
I’ve been trying to get an iPad for weeks now through Best Buy. They have a nice 18-month credit program. The trouble is they don’t seem to have many in stock. You can’t get on a waiting list or reserve one, so unless you happen to walk into a store the moment they get an [...]
The Future of Mobile at TechCrunch Disrupt
I was lucky enough this morning to catch a bulk of the future of mobile panel from TechCrunch Disrupt. Thanks to TechCrunch’s live stream of the event, I was able to follow the discussion between Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley, Facebook’s Chris Cox, and Google’s Vic Gundotra from my office. TechCrunch is doing an amazing job of connecting [...]
Guest Post: The future of investigative journalism
Another of the LR Faithful have answered the call to write a guest post, and this time we go international. Stijn Debrouwere is a graphic designer in Belgium. He wrote this thoughtful piece on the future of investigative journalism. If you’d like to write a guest piece for LR, just email me at mail (at) [...]
Facing shutdown, Metblogs may be saved
Back in January, the network of city blogs, Metblogs, publicly asked for help to take the company to the next level. Then today — in the middle of the local boom — Metblogs said it plans to shut down. “We’ve made repeated attempts to secure either financing or a buy-out and neither of which came [...]
Notes: The final word on LOST
We might as well do a LOST wrapup here, if only because it was a sentimental Google Bait for us for so long. When the show first started airing, if you searched “Lost,” then “Lost Remote” was the first result. We got plenty of traffic as a result. Seizing opportunity, we then started to write [...]
A journalism (r)evolution in Azerbaijan
(Note: this post originally appeared at Journalism 2.0, Mark’s “other” blog.) Azerbaijan has had the world’s fastest growing economy for the past five years. That growth hasn’t extended to the media sector, however, as the spread of news remains limited to a few pro-government newspapers and some underground anti-government publications. During my four days in [...]
LOST: Too many commercial breaks
The Twittersphere is yelling it loud: there are too many commercial breaks in the LOST finale. We absolutely support ABC’s need to earn revenue, but it does seem like there are too many, too frequent breaks going on. (UPDATE: EW reports the show had 107 commercials – 45 minutes of air time. Cost to advertisers: [...]
Films may come to your home even sooner
One of the long, long, longstanding predictions here at One LR Plaza has been this: the first billion-dollar opening weekend will come when a movie is released in the theaters, online, on DVD and VOD simultaneously. Of all the predictions I’ve made, this one usually gets me the most trash talk. But I stand by [...]
Take THAT, time zone spoilers! LOST finale to be simulcast around the globe
ABC’s LOST (yep, we’re at the “Lost Remote seeks LOST Google bait” again) is going to be simulcast around the globe at the same time. That means it will be on at 5am in Great Britain. It will also be on simultaneously in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Turkey and Canada, according to The Guardian. SKY1, [...]
Is the Patch revenue model sustainable?
BusinessInsider makes a strong case for a flaw in the (apparent) business model of Patch. It bases its assumptions on this LA Times article. Key quote from LA Times: “The incremental revenue from each view of an online display ad remains remarkably small. Patch.com asks for $15 for every 1,000 viewers it brings to one [...]
Friday Fun: Google’s home page
If you’re looking for a little fun as you count down the hours to the weekend, check out Google’s home page today. I won’t spoil the surprise, but I’ll bet it’s a first. If you’re at work, make sure you turn down your speakers or have headphones. UPDATE: Now that everyone knows it’s Pac Man, [...]
