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Amazon just bought Zappos, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos decided to get all vlogger-ghetto in his YouTube message to the Zappos people. I’m not complaining, though — if the CEO of a major corporation wants to get down-to-earth and relatable, this is a good way to do it.
In the video, Bezos shares what he claims is everything he knows: [Read more…]
Originally posted on July 23, 2009 @ 5:11 am
Pardon me while I laugh my ass off at Rick Feldman, CEO of the National Association of Television Program Executives. The guy says all free content is doomed. [Read more…]
Originally posted on July 23, 2009 @ 7:36 am
As technology changes media, media starts looking like technology. Silicon Valley has always been fueled by venture capital; now Motown can court investors instead of labels. The New York Times has a great piece today about Polyphonic, a venture capital firm for independent musicians. Their portfolio includes the Toronto alternative band Metric, which has actually rejected multiple offers from big record companies. [Read more…]
Originally posted on July 22, 2009 @ 4:12 am
Social networks are hot. People like to connect, and marketers could potentially make a killing with access to your social graph. Facebook alone is currently valued at $6.5 billion. Even Google’s getting in on the action through Google Friend Connect.
Imagine, then, the value of a service to create your own social networks. Ning, the hosted social network solution from browser inventor Marc Andreessen, just raised $15 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners. This latest investment round values the startup at — get this — $750 million. That’s pretty good for a freemium service without its own advertising platform, especially since only three percent of its network creators actually pay for ad-free service.
Free self-hosted social networking scripts abound on the Internet, but the average community leader has neither the time nor the patience to install and maintain such scripts. Ning could do for social networks what Blogger once did for blogs — idiotproof them for the masses.
Originally posted on July 22, 2009 @ 5:46 am
Sure, it’s 9:01am in your city — but if you’re reading 901am, you probably know that the new media business is global. It might be lunchtime for your audience three timezones east, or evening for your coders in India. That’s why I like the new world clock in Google Calendar Labs. It shows what time any event on your calendar will happen in various timezones — perfect for those teleconferences and timed posts. [Read more…]
Originally posted on July 15, 2009 @ 10:21 am