Articles of the Day
Yahoo! launches new travel search engine - Yahoo! is launching FareChase as the default search engine on Yahoo! Travel, as it attempts to address increasing competition and consolidation in the travel search market. Yahoo! acquired travel search engine, FareChase, in 2004, but had not previously integrated its functionalities into Yahoo! Travel. FareChase substitutes Travelocity as the default search option, with Travelocity now available under the ‘classic search’ option.
Watermarks Could Replace DRM for Big Music - The demise of Digital Rights Management is nigh, but the music industry is already experimenting with a new DRM substitute. So-called “watermarking” could offer Big Music the copy protection it craves by letting companies track where digital music files end up–particularly, file-sharing networks. The technology would impart a unique serial number that lets music companies match digital files to the original purchaser.
Netflix Offers Unlimited Streaming - Netflix on Monday lifted restrictions on how long subscribers can watch movies and TV shows streamed over broadband connections. The announcement comes on the same day that Apple’s Macworld conference goes live in San Francisco. On Tuesday, the consumer electronics giant is expected to announce a new online rental service through its iTunes store, which would make Apple a direct competitor to Netflix.
Reach Still Drives Ad Spending - For all the talk of “engagement,” advertisers still covet “eyeballs” as the No. 1 criteria for buying media, according to a recent survey. Throughout media history, advertisers have gone where the eyeballs are, but new media promised new ways to measure how long and how well people interact with ads-also known as “engagement.” Even so, less than half of 2,047 marketers surveyed by Advertiser Perceptions ranked the promising marketing tactic among their top five criteria. Marketers said the most important statistic on the Web is return on investment.
Facebook Tries to Sell Out on “60 Minutes” - On Sunday night, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will appear on “60 Minutes” to tell the world that Facebook is in trouble. He doesn’t say that in so many words, of course, but his participation on the weekly news show, given the unlikelihood that many in Facebook’s existing demographic of 12-to-24-year-olds watch “60 Minutes” on a regular basis, signals that the social networking site is trying to connect with a larger audience.
Countrywide Buyout May Drag Down Online Ad Rev - Bank of America’s announcement that it has agreed to acquire Countrywide for $4 billion in an all-stock deal could be potentially damaging to future ad revenues for Google, Yahoo and MSN. Industry analysts are forecasting the so-called Countrywide “ad gravy train” to derail once the Bank of America buyout is settled.
Gannett Taps PointRoll’s Saridakis As Chief Digital Officer - Gannett Co., the nation’s largest publisher of newspapers, including USA Today, as well as leading operator of broadcast stations and related Web sites, today announced a restructuring of its digital media operations, naming Chris Saridakis senior vice president-chief digital officer.
News Corp-backed Roo in major overhaul - Roo Group, the News Corp-backed video aggregator and ITV provider, plans to lay off staff and close its business solutions unit as part of a wider restructuring plan. The moves are the first by Kaleil Tuzman, the JumpTV executive who took over as CEO of the company after Roo’s four independent board members resigned last month. Tuzman says the company, will now focus on international IPTV and hire new management staff, including three former JumpTV executives.
