ONLINE SERVICES/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg publicly apologized for the Beacon fiasco with a posting on his blog. He promised to go all the way this time and offer users a privacy control option to disable the feature completely – a move critics have been calling for since the system was announced nearly a month ago. (http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/05/technology/kirkpatrick_facebook.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2007120514  12/5)

I am more than impressed with Zuckerberg’s blog post which demonstrates his frustration with the roll-out of Beacon and the subsequent slow response after user backlash. If only every CEO could be quite this candid.  Well done.  See below for the new global opt-out option available on a Facebook page near you.  To Facebook I say, thank you.

Kanye West leads the field for the 2008 Grammy Awards with eight nominations each, followed by Amy Winehouse with six and the Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and T-Pain, each of whom got five nods.  iTunes is partnering with the Grammys this year to provide samples of the nominated songs in a password-protected area, presumably for voters to listen to the songs. Additionally, Delta Airlines is debuting a Grammy-branded plane as part of its fleet for the next three years. The ceremony started with a showing of the commercial celebrating the Grammys’ 50th anniversary. The spot produced by Chiat/Day is part of the Grammys’ marketing campaign for this banner year. The Chiat/Day partnership, said Recording Academy president Neil Portnow, is intended to “disrupt expectations and help establish a fresh, exciting campaign for the Grammys. Indeed, the next 50 is here.”  (http://billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/genre/e3i3743c78b6de09e1ea3fa45d280c8cef3?imw=Y  12/6)

Big THANK YOU to Mary Cunningham from the Grammys for providing the video below.  If she remains so gracious, I’ll have screengrabs of the password-protected iTunes section and pictures of the Grammy-branded plane soon enough.

done

Beliefnet just found a new corporate home with News Corp. But what of the myriad Web 2.0 outfits still rumored to be in acquisition talks? Flixster has been in on-again, off-again discussions with InterActiveCorp; News Corp. has been rumored to be eyeing Digg since November 2006. (http://www.forbes.com/business/media/2007/12/04/news-corp-beliefnet-tech-cx_wt_1204newscorp.html  12/4)

Apple will not be able to dominate the video-distribution industry as it has the music business because the company’s success is limited by what content the movie industry is willing to make available, according to James L. McQuivey of Forrester Research. Media executives “shouldn’t let a lessening Apple threat cause them to slow the pace of innovation. As we know from fickle audiences in the past, if you do not serve them, they will wander,” McQuivey said. (CNET 12/5)

Multiplatform music network Music Choice completed an integration with Tivo, allowing broadband connected Tivo DVRs to access thousands of music videos and original programming via TivoCast. Music Choice also announced it landed on MetroCast’s VOD service.

Lesbian-leaning social networking site OurChart.com will host the online premiere of the 5th season of The L Word on Dec. 30, a week before it premieres on Showtime on Jan. 6.

Brazilian author Adriana Falcao won YouTube’s first ever Project Direct film competition for Lacos. She will spend nine days at a major film festival of her choice courtesy of HP, receive a $5,000 debit card and get her short placed prominently on 7 international YouTube sites.

Teen-focused virtual world Gaia Online signed deals with Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. to offer pay-per-view and free ad supported programming in its virtual online interactive theaters. Sony and Warner Bros. will provide feature films with the former adding TV content, Minisode Network titles and channels sourcing AXN and Funnybones content. Sony Pictures also made an investment in the start-up in a series B round of financing.

From the image below, note that 112 people are watching The Matrix on Gaia right now.  Suffice to say, not a tremendous audience.

Viacom’s MTV, formerly known as a music video channel, is announcing German and Asian partnerships with 10Tacle Studios to create a virtual world. The multi-user 3D online space will give Internet users access to MTV content, as well as a large number of online games. (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2007/12/05/mtv_starts_own_virtual_world.html  12/5)

Mass-market adoption of IPTV hinges on making the technology easy to use, a Microsoft executive said. “If we ever want to get IPTV to a mass market … it (IPTV) has to fundamentally be one of the easiest things to use,” said Sal Arora, Microsoft’s senior director of product management of Microsoft TV. (ZDNet 12/5) 

Nielsen and Digimarc Corp. joined the rush to provide protection against digital piracy. The Digital Media Manager, set to roll out next year, will provide digital fingerprinting to enable studios to monitor usage of their content across social networking sites, user generated video portals and peer-to-peer sharing sites. Nielsen says it has already encoded 95% of national TV shows as part of its new ratings system. It is also in the process of building a huge database of DVDs, movies, games and other licensed content that can be used to authorize online delivery.

Broadband video consumption is on the rise, according to a new Horowitz Associates study. Sixty-one percent of internet users watch online video at least once a week (up from 45% a year ago,) while 86% do so at least once a month. News and user generated content were the most popular genres, followed by movie trailers, music videos and TV clips. However weekly viewing of full TV shows doubled this year with 16% of respondents claiming the habit. Other tidbits:

• NBC.com and ABC.com were mentioned most frequently as destinations
• Grey’s Anatomy was the show most often mentioned
• 70% of users who watched TV online said they did so because they missed it on air

Reelzchannel premiered a new series called Movie Mob, described as “the first user generated TV show powered by video bloggers.” G4 Attack of the Show technologist Layla Kayleigh hosts a collection of cyber reviews submitted by armchair film critics from across the country