NYT CEO Expects to Sell ‘Boston Globe’ This Year

Fred Wilson: Yahoo Will Put Tumblr on Same Level as Facebook, Twitter

on May 21, 2013

One of Tumblr 's earliest investors, venture capitalist Fred Wilson, says the Yahoo deal will lead to an influx of advertising on the platform and bring it to the level of Facebook and Yahoo in advertisers' minds. "Tumblr has been pushing their native advertising system into the marketplace for the past year," Wilson told interviewer John Battelle Tuesday at the CM Summit in New York. "It's a beautiful system. They say to a marketer, 'Create a Tumblog. Post what you want to the Tumblog and that could be imagery, it could be video it could be GIFs, it could be anything and then we will allow you to promote that throughout the community, much like the way Twitter does.'" Read more... More about Yahoo , Tumblr , Fred Wilson , Business , and Media Read more »

Yahoo Drops Flickr Pro To Compete With Facebook, Still Offers Two Paid Tiers For Ad Haters And Power Users

on May 20, 2013

The bookend to Yahoo’s Big News Day — a major refresh of its photo sharing site Flickr — will see the company drop its Flickr Pro pricing tiers as part of a bid to compete better with Facebook/Instagram and the rest of the crowded market in the online photo space. But it is not getting rid of paid tiers altogether: it’s keeping an ad-free tier, called Ad Free, as well as a tier for power users, doublr, respectively priced at $49.99 and $499.99 for a year of use. The Ad Free service, at $49.99, will do away with the advertising the runs along the right side of the current photo feed — and if today’s discussion of what Yahoo intends to do with ads on Tumblr is any indication, ads that may be appearing soon within your photo streams. The doublr service (again with those dropped vowels… this had to have played some small role in warming the company to buying Tumblr), priced at $499.99, gives users 1 terabyte of extra space, on top of the 1 terabyte that they will already get free as part of a Yahoo account. The Pro tiers — priced at $6.95 for three months, $24.95 for 12 months and $44.95 for two years — included unlimited uploads and storage, as well as no ads, and a particularly mean-spirited allowance: those who did upload pictures could download more than just a smaller version of them. (Meaning: those who didn’t pay up wouldn’t get the full copies until they did. Read more »

Amazon Cloud Player Launches PC App

on May 13, 2013

As part of its mission to bring its music service "everywhere," Amazon announced the release of a dedicated Cloud Player app for desktop PCs Monday. The release comes less than a week after Amazon announced iOS compatibility with Ford Sync-enabled vehicles. PC users could already access Cloud Player through their web browsers, but the primary benefit of the PC application is the ability to store music offline. Users can also scan their hard drives for music files that haven't yet been uploaded to their storage locker. Cloud Player allows users to stream music files they've purchased from Amazon or uploaded to to a cloud-based storage locker. An unlimited number of Amazon songs, plus 250 songs purchased outside of Amazon, can be uploaded to the cloud and streamed wirelessly using one of Amazon's players for free. First launched on Android two years ago, the service is also available on iOS, Mac, Sonos, Roku and (as mentioned) Ford Sync vehicles Read more.. Read more »

Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief Apologizes for Customer Data Access

on May 13, 2013

Bloomberg LP continues to face backlash following last week's revelation that Bloomberg journalists were able to access information about subscriber activity on terminals, Bloomberg's $20,000-per-year financial news and data delivery system. Matthew Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg's 2,300-person global news operation, issued an apology on Bloomberg View Monday. "Our reporters should not have access to any data considered proprietary," Winkler wrote. "I am sorry they did. The error is inexcusable." On Thursday, the New York Post revealed that Goldman Sachs had recently confronted Bloomberg over journalists' access to its employees' terminal use. Journalists — thousands of them — were able to view subscribers' contact information and monitor login activity. According to the Post , a Bloomberg reporter once asked a Goldman exec whether a partner at the bank had departed because he hadn't logged into his Bloomberg terminal recently. Reporters were even able to access conversations between subscribers and Bloomberg's customer service department Read more »

Amazon’s Music Service Is Coming to Ford Vehicles

on May 8, 2013

For the first time, Amazon's streaming music service, Cloud Player , will be making its way into cars. The company announced Wednesday that subscribers can now use the app on their iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad devices to play music in Ford Sync AppLink -enabled vehicles. Those vehicles include the 2013 Ford Fiesta, Mustang, Focus, E-Series, C-Max Hybrid, Expedition, Fusion, F-150 and Super Duty. Music can be operated using voice recognition or dashboard controls. Amazon launched Cloud Player two years ago as a "music everywhere" service. The company has been slow to make that a reality, however: For the year following its release, Cloud Player could only be found on desktops and Android devices. It was only made available on iOS devices last June, arriving on Sonos and Roku later in 2012 Read more »

IFC and Marc Maron Overshare Their Way to Success

on April 26, 2013

Comedian Marc Maron has no problem expressing himself. "Can you hold on a second," he asks me during our phone call. "I have to deal with some bullshit." The "bullshit" Maron is talking about relates to some drama surrounding the promotion of his new show, Maron , which premieres on IFC on May 3, 2013. As with most things in his life, the situation indirectly ties into his social media personality. Maron has more than 200,000 followers on Twitter and a big following with his podcast, " WTF with Marc Maron ." Part of his appeal as a personality is his willingness to put it all out there on the Internet. Read more... More about Twitter , Comedy , Ifc , Marketing , and Media Read more »

How the NFL Is Running a Social Media Empire

on April 26, 2013

As prospect draftees arrived at the 2013 NFL Draft on Thursday night, they were ushered to an iPad station set up to look like a goal post. Players smiled into the tablet's front-facing camera and posed for pictures which were almost simultaneously tweeted out to its Twitter followers. This, along with a series of other digital initiatives surrounding the NFL Draft (including a live Twitter chat surrounding what the prospects were wearing), is a part of the football organization's greater vision to connect fans at home to what's happening behind the scenes and in real-time at the league. (Note: Although the Hollywood-like fashion component of the red carpet was met with mixed reviews , it still got fans talking on Twitter.) Read more... More about Mobile , Social Media , Nfl , Marketing , and Media Read more »

Microsoft Office Ad Turns ‘Forbes’ Magazines Into Wi-Fi Hotspots

on April 25, 2013

Like other tech companies, Microsoft has advertised some of its products in the past by offering free Wi-Fi in public places like subways and park benches. Now, the company is doing something a little more original and promoting a product by offering free Wi-Fi inside a magazine. Yes, you read that right. In a new promotion, Microsoft is advertising Office 365 by installing a T-Mobile router into the latest issue of Forbes magazine, turning the print publication into a Wi-Fi hotspot for two weeks. The promotion was first reported by Engadget and has since been confirmed to Mashable by a Microsoft rep, who noted that it was only to included in a "limited number" of the magazines. Read more... More about Media , Advertising , Microsoft , and Business Read more »

NYT CEO Expects to Sell ‘Boston Globe’ This Year

on April 25, 2013

Despite the warm praise for its Boston Marathon bombings coverage , The New York Times Co.'s plan to sell The Boston Globe is still on. On a Q1 2013 earnings call Thursday, Times Co. CEO Mark Thompson said he expects to see a transaction (i.e., sale) involving The New England Media Group — which includes The Boston Globe , Boston.com and The Worcester Telegram & Gazette — "sometime in the second half of the year." The Times Co.'s plan to sell those properties was first announced in February, following the sale of other properties not part of the flagship brand, including Indeed.com and About.com. Read more... More about Media , Newspapers , New York Times , Paywalls , and Business Read more »