Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Turner Broadcasting’s Cartoon Network is embedding a safe online social network into its new website. My CN will provide the brand’s target audience of 7-11-year-olds with social networking functionality with pre-selected statements, messages and an opportunity to rate and share videos and collect coins with one another.

The short answer is we’re not sure. But there’s lots of gossip that it may or may not be the case in the blogosphere. Rumours have been circulating that Apple was in ‘late stage’ talks to acquire the microblogging service for $700m. While the iPhone would be the driver of the deal, with apps like Tweetie a hot seller for Apple, the hardware company tends to buy companies that help sell hardware at a profit, and Twitter doesn’t fit into this category. The Guardian newspaper has stuck its head above the parapet and said no way, so there it is.

Yahoo’s new CEO, Carol Bartz, has got analysts excited again hinting at a potential deal with Microsoft. She said: “There are many different parts to search – some are easier to break apart, some aren’t.” But she has also ruled out breaking the company up into little pieces to sell. “Did I come to Yahoo to sell the company? The answer is no. This is not a company that needs to be pulled apart and left for the chickens.” Yahoo posted a loss for the last quarter of 2008, and its search business was the only area that posted growth with ad revenues rising by 11% in the final three months, while display fell by 2%.

So. Carol Bartz, CEO of a software maker called Autodesk has been appointed the new leader of Yahoo. On her appointment she said: “There is no denying that Yahoo has faced enormous challenges over the last year. But I believe there is now an extraordinary opportunity..” It’s a tough job. But Yahoo employees should be comforted by fact that Bartz kept Microsoft at arm’s length during her career at Autodesk and adaptable to a changing environment. They may feel unsettled by her lack of internet and advertising experience. We’ll be analysing her appointment in this month’s issue of Signpost.

Barack Obama’s successful campaign was unprecedentedly powered by new technology. His victory message was broadcast to activists via email, text, Twitter and Facebook. The web has been called “the central nervous system of the campaign.” It was the first internet election, acting like a global echo chamber. As Gordon Brown and David Cameron clamour to be associated with Obama, their advisers are clamouring to learn more about his online operation. Obama has 2.6 million supporters on his Facebook page, the Conservatives have less than 9,000. Gordon Brown did eventually respond to questions posted on YouTube, but it took him two months. Let’s watch and see if our British politicians have picked up any tips from the President Elect on using technology to enthuse and energise voters.

Microsoft launched its first web-based operating system, Windows Azure last week, described by Microsoft’s chief software architect Ray Ozzie as, “Windows in the cloud.” The new system runs on the internet and signals Microsoft’s attempt to move its software business onto the web. It also shows Microsoft’s increasing determination to make money from advertising and subscriptions, rather than software sales. However, Microsoft is playing catch-up with Google and Amazon who have both already launched similar offerings. Some IT experts have signalled doubts that big corporate clients will be comfortable with the concept of cloud computing. They say companies may be concerned about security, vulnerability to hacker or terrorist attacks and downtime.

Google Earth’s new satellite, GeoEye-1, beams to earth . The new satellite launched from California last month, beamed its first image, of a university campus in Pennsylvania to earth. GeoEye-1’s main client is the US government’s mapping arm, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, but Google is a major sponsor of the $500 million satellite and has exclusive commercial rights to its images. GeoEye-1’s government clients will receive higher resolution photos than commercial partners such as Google, which plans to use the images on Google Maps and Google Earth. Geo1 will not be Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s only space  venture. The Telegraph reports that he has booked a seat on a flight to the International Space Station in 2011.

Randy Thomasson from the Campaign for Children and Families is urging everyone to boycott Google because the company has come out against a proposal to ban gay marriage in the state. “…their website…actually avoids…Thanksgiving, diminishes holidays like the Fourth of July, gives sarcastic tribute to Easter and Christmas, and actually elevates more pagan-type holidays to their liking,” shouts Randy indignantly on the right-wing news site (onenewsnow.com) carrying his story.

A generation of teenagers are growing up publicly with online videos, according to a new research paper from thinktank Demos. “It’s now as normal for teenagers to write a blog as it is to write a diary - that’s a massive shift,” said Celia Hannon, the lead author of the report, Video Republic, at Demos. It also suggests that creating video blogs and online diaries should be part of the school curriculum. The rise of the YouTube generation sees ten hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute of the day, and figures from earlier this year suggest Britons are watching more than 3.6bn videos online each month - a rise of 56% from last year.

Here’s the evidence that blogs are where it’s at. Even Tina Brown, magazine cheerleader and former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, the New Yorker and Talk has launched a new beta blog called The Daily Beast. The site is pitched as a place for original commentary and as curator for other sites’ highlights.“What’s been lacking for the overwhelmed but smart reader is an intelligent guide,” she said in an interview. “The time is right to do a site which cuts through the noise and cuts through the clutter.” The Daily Beast is being backed by the IAC, which also owns search engine Ask.com.