NBCOlympics.com Draws 13.6M Visitors in First 4 Days

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– NBC Universal’s (NYSE:  GE) NBCOlympics.com website drew 13.6 million visitors in the
first four days of the games, an increase of 250% from the traffic seen during
the opening weekend of the 2006 Winter Olympics, NewTeeVee reported.

The site
also served a total of 8.1 million video streams in the first four days,
compared with 1.8 million for the same period back in 2006.

NBC Universal also
reported that its mobile Olympics application has generated 18.1 million page
views.

On television, the Olympics have drawn an average of 27.9 million
viewers each night, a rise of 25% from 2006.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ueefk
(NewTeeVee)

Privacy Group EPIC Asks FTC to Compel Google Buzz Changes

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington
– An online privacy advocacy group on Tuesday filed a complaint with the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission, asking the agency to compel Google (NASD: GOOG) to bolster privacy
protections for Buzz, the new social media features on its Gmail service.

"This
complaint concerns an attempt by Google, Inc., the provider of a widely used
email service, to convert the private, personal information of Gmail
subscribers into public information for the company’s social network service
Google Buzz," reads the complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information
Center (EPIC).

"This change in business practices and service terms
violated user privacy expectations, diminished user privacy, contradicted
Google’s own privacy policy, and may have also violated federal wiretap laws."

Google has already made several changes to the service, following many
complaints on privacy issues.

However, EPIC deemed these changes — such as
moving from an "auto-follow" to "auto-suggest" model for
adding a user’s Gmail contacts to Buzz — to be unsatisfactory.

EPIC believes
that Google should make Buzz completely opt-in, and that Buzz should not have
access to a user’s Gmail contacts.

 

Related Links:
http://epic.org/privacy/ftc/googlebuzz/Google_Buzz_Press_Release.pdf
(PDF)

HBO GO

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

HBO Testing Streaming Film, TV Service for Subscribers

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Time Warner’s (NYSE:  TWX) HBO is preparing to launch an online streaming service for cable,
satellite and telco TV service subscribers to its pay-TV channels, The New York
Times reported. The HBO GO service has launched in beta for Comcast and Verizon
FiOS TV subscribers; HBO counts about 35 million subscribers overall.

Time
Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes recently told analysts that HBO GO "will offer
three times the content of what’s on HBO On Demand today."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uedu1
(N.Y. Times)

http://www.hbogo.com

Wikimedia Foundation Receives $2 Million Grant From Google

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates the Wikipedia online
encyclopedia, announced on Wednesday that it has received a $2 million grant
from the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund of Tides Foundation.

The grant —
Wikimedia’s first from Google — will support investments in technical
infrastructure, and efforts to make Wikipedia easier to use and more
accessible.

Google and Wikimedia recently partnered to translate Wikipedia
content into key languages, using Google’s Translation Toolkit on pilot
projects with speakers of Arabic, Hindi and Swahili.

"Wikipedia is one of
the greatest triumphs of the internet," said Google co-founder Sergey
Brin. "This vast repository of community-generated content is an
invaluable resource to anyone who is online."

The Wikimedia Foundation
said its 2009-10 fundraiser in January also raised more than $8 million, from
240,000 individuals.

 

Related Links:
http://wikimediafoundation.org

Video Ad Network YuMe Lands $25 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Redwood City,
Calif. – YuMe, the operator of a
video advertising network, announced on Wednesday that it has closed a new $25
million round of financing, led by Menlo Ventures.

Previous investors Accel
Partners, Khosla Ventures, BV Capital and DAG Ventures also participated.

Founded in 2004, Redwood City, Calif.-based YuMe
has now raised more than $45 million in venture capital, and is now profitable.

The company’s network includes publishers such as MSNBC, IDG Entertainment and
Glam Media.

 

Related Links:
http://www.yume.com/blog/2010/02/17/yume-raises-25-million/

http://snipurl.com/ueda0
(N.Y.Times)

Australia's Effective Measure Gets $4 Million for Web Metrics

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Melbourne,
Australia – Effective
Measure, a developer of online audience measurement technology, announced on Wednesday
that it has raised $4 million in its first round of funding, from Rho Ventures.

Australia-based Effective Measure provides its online audience measurement
services in 16 countries, in mostly emerging markets.

The company will use the
funds to expand its direct-measurement audience service and related solutions.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uecus

http://www.effectivemeasure.com

Verizon to Permit Skype on 3G Smartphones

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Barcelona
– Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and Skype announced on Tuesday that, beginning in March,
Skype will be available on Verizon 3G smartphones. Skype users will be able to
make unlimited Skype-to-Skype calls using Verizon’s 3G data network, as well as
call international numbers at Skype’s rates, and send and receive instant
messages from other Skype users.


 

Related Links:
http://about.skype.com/press/2010/02/verizon.html

MySpace Real-time Data Launches on Google Search

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace announced on Tuesday that it has launched real-time
integration on Google (NASD: GOOG), meaning that users searching on Google will now see live
updates from MySpace users in their search results. The content will include
anything MySpace users have chosen to publicly publish, including news, photos
and blog posts.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ue1f2

EMI, Australian Telco AAPT Team on Music Service

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Brisbane,
Australia –
Major record label EMI’s Australian unit has partnered with AAPT, the country’s
third-largest telco, on a new music subscription service, Billboard reports. The
AAPT Entertainment Bundle combines home phone, broadband and the music service
with a fee starting at about $89 per month. The fee includes unlimited
streaming and about 30 downloads per month. Existing customers can also add the
music element to their existing bill for an extra $16 per month.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ue236
(Billboard)

http://www.aapt.com.au

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