Clearwire, Sprint Partner for WiMax Venture; Telecoms Tag Along

Clearwire and Sprint Nextel are combining wireless broadband units, reports The Associated Press. The duo will operate under the Clearwire label and focus on the development and implementation of WiMax high-speed internet technology. WiMax is faster than standard Wi-Fi. Clearwire and Sprint believe this liaison will expedite its mainstream availability. Sprint Nextel will own about 51 percent […]

Posted: Thursday, May 8th, 2008

Industry Buzz & Snippets: 5/6/08

Ad Networks and Analytics: Rise in revenue from its ad network were just enough to offset drops elsewhere at AOL. Analytics platform Media6Degrees raised $2 million in financing from Coriolis Ventures. Blinkx is licensing a toolset called Advanced Media Platform to publishers. The platform lets users manage video search ad inventory. New deals with both BlueLithium and Marchex will […]

Posted: Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Lackluster Teen Spend Indicates 'Discretionary Recession'

Though fashion still accounts for 41 percent of the total teen budget, teen spend in the category declined nearly 20 percent year over year, pointing to a "discretionary recession," according to the 15th semi-annual "Taking Stock With Teens" study by Piper Jaffray, MarketingCharts reports. "We're currently in the 'transition phase' of the fashion cycle and […]

Posted: Friday, May 2nd, 2008

'Most Creative Media Agency' Wins $300M Intel Account

Intel Corp. has passed its $300 million media buying and planning account to OMD, a subsidiary of Omnicom Group. Publicis Groupe's Starcom and Universal McCann, owned by Interpublic Group, were also courting the account. Last week OMD poached its new CEO Alan Cohen from Initiative, also owned by Interpublic. Universal McCann has served the Intel account since […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Yahoo, CNET Partner for Ads, Content

CNET has agreed to provide content to Yahoo in exchange for assistance with ad sales. The parties signed a three-year deal whereby CNET provides technology news and reviews to Yahoo properties. This will increase tech coverage offered by Yahoo, replacing Yahoo's own (largely unsuccessful) attempt to create a competitive tech content destination. Under the terms of the […]

Posted: Friday, April 25th, 2008

Consumers Use Social Media to Vent about Customer Service

To make purchasing decisions, affluent online consumers use social media channels to share customer-service experiences and learn about others', according to a new study from the Society for New Communications Research, MarketingCharts reports. Some 59% of survey respondents use social media to "vent" about customer-care experiences. Over 300 active internet users participated in the survey, sponsored […]

Posted: Thursday, April 24th, 2008

WOM Research: Moms Buzz about Brands

New and expecting mothers have over 109 word-of-mouth conversations per week about products, services and brands. Most brands are discussed in a positive context and are considered highly credible by other moms, according to a Keller Fay study conducted for BabyCenter, MarketingCharts writes. Per day, the group engages in one-third more word-of-mouth (WOM) conversation than the […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

BayTSP, NTT to Launch DIY Copyright Protection Technology for Online Video

BayTSP has formed a partnership with NTT that enables publishers to use video and audio fingerprinting technologies to learn whether their content is misused online, particularly on sites like Google Video, YouTube or Daily Motion. BayTSP provides content authentication technology; NTT's content recognition platform has not, up until this point, debuted in the US. NTT has provided […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

Spammers Crack CAPTCHA; ReCAPTCHA to the Rescue?

SecurityLabs has written an analysis on how spammers increasingly evade Captcha to impersonate humans with bots. CAPTCHA, or "the Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart," is a common line of defense against comment spam and false registrations on websites. Last year CAPTCHA released a means to correct digitized books while checking for […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Top 10 in 'Brand Power' for Computers, Peripherals, Software Ranked

IBM retained No.1 status on the CoreBrand 2007 "Computers, Peripherals and Computer Software Industries Brand Power" list, and No. 18 on the overall Corporate Branding Index of 1,200 companies, according to CoreBrand CEO James Gregory, MarketingCharts reports. (The top 2 positions in the annual CoreBrand Corporate Branding Index were taken (PDF) by the Coca-Cola Company […]

Posted: Friday, April 11th, 2008

Microsoft Loses Cool, Gives Yahoo Three-Week Ultimatum

Microsoft has sent Yahoo a letter stating it has three weeks to move on its $44.6 billion buyout offer. If the companies fail to form a pact by then, "we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors," […]

Posted: Monday, April 7th, 2008

American Airlines Wi-Fi Provider Gets the Go-Ahead for In-Flight Internet

The FAA has granted Aircell, the in-flight internet access provider for American Airlines and Virgin America, the permits necessary to launch online wi-fi service in the sky. According to Ars Technica, Aircell may deploy its technology on any aircraft deemed fit to use it, including American Airlines' Boeing 767-200 transcontinental fleet and certain crafts operated by […]

Posted: Friday, April 4th, 2008

How To: Understanding - and Leveraging - Your Tech Team

With different backgrounds, approaches to business and equally porky superiority complexes, it may seem impossible to get exactly what you want from a team of web developers and designers. But with web 2.0 technologies a growing priority among businesses, interactive marketers must find a way to work well with tech — and more importantly, coax them […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

Social Media Marketing Still Lacks Strong Metrics

Companies adopt social media as a marketing tool but struggle to find effective metrics, writes Paul Gillin (author of The New Influencers) in a report issued by the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR), MarketingCharts writes. "New Media, New Influencers, and Implications for the Public Relations Profession" is based on findings from a survey of […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

Virgin Media Considers Three-Strikes Policy for UK Piracy

UK ISP Virgin Media and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) are discussing the possibility of a "three-strikes" copyright policy, reports Ars Technica. The policy would boot copyright infringers offline after three infractions. BPI enforcement agents would detect IP numbers for users on illegal P2P networks, then alert Virgin, which will warn violators multiple times before resorting […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

eBay's Robert Kagle Relinquishes Directorship in June

Robert Kagle, an early VC backer of eBay and longtime board member, will step down from his board directorship at the next annual shareholder meeting, reports ZDNet. Kagle was one of the premier funders of eBay. His initial investment of between $5 and $7 million was worth over $5 billion at its peak. At the time, […]

Posted: Monday, March 31st, 2008

AT&T to Launch Much-Improved Mobile TV in May

This May AT&T will debut mobile TV services powered by MediaFlo, a unit of Qualcomm. The service will be available on LG's Vu phone and Samsung's Access. AT&T also plans to create two exclusive (currently unnamed) channels, according to Reuters. The MediaFlo liaison will improve upon AT&T's existing mobile TV offering on the connection-fussy MobiTV. The service […]

Posted: Monday, March 31st, 2008

Google Sells Servers to US Intelligence Agencies

In a contract valued at $2 million, Google has sold some of its servers to US intelligence agencies, which will use them to search documents and share information, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Google's government sales team previously sold servers to the US Coast Guard, the NHTSA, the state of Alabama, and Washington, DC. Intelligence […]

Posted: Monday, March 31st, 2008

Motorola Cuts Handsets Away from Fold

Motorola is separating its handset business from its other operations, converting one turmoil-ridden firm into two publicly-traded companies. The move is also expected to be tax-free, enabling shareholders to own stock in both companies. "The creation of the two independent publicly traded companies provides improved management focus and a capital structure that's more tailored to the individual […]

Posted: Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Microsoft Gives OpenSocial the Cold Shoulder; Ties Deals with Five Social Networks

On the same day Yahoo declared plans to join OpenSocial, Microsoft announced interoperability deals with five social networks. Yesterday Microsoft signed five separate agreements with social networks that will allow users to share contact data with its Windows Live platform. The networks are: Facebook, Bebo, Hi5, Tagged and LinkedIn. Contact sharing between Facebook, Windows Live and Bebo […]

Posted: Wednesday, March 26th, 2008