Myspace makes more cheese…..

MySpace ad deal lets members use copyright video

by RACHEL METZ, AP Technology Writer

November 6, 2008, 01:27 PM — Associated Press —

NEW YORK (AP) ? Instead of trying to take down all copyright-protected videos that its members post, MySpace will let certain clips stay ? and give the creators of the original content a cut of the revenue from advertising that will be attached to the snippets.

MySpace and online video ad technology company Auditude planned to announce a partnership Monday with Viacom Inc.-owned MTV Networks that will let ads be placed in clips of the network’s shows that users upload to MySpace. These include Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” and MTV’s reality show “The Hills.”

MySpace generally tries to keep such clips off its social network along with other copyright-protected content that users post. The News Corp.-owned site will remove clips at the request of the videos’ copyright owners. Google Inc.’s YouTube has a similar policy, although Viacom is suing YouTube for allegedly profiting from clips of Viacom shows posted online.

Now MySpace will take a different approach with videos produced by partners it makes in its new ad deal.

Under this first partnership, MySpace users will be allowed to upload videos of MTV Networks shows. Technology from Auditude will detect and identify the clip, and overlay an ad on it. Revenue generated from the ads will be shared by MySpace, Auditude and the content copyright holders.

Auditude’s chief executive, Adam Cahan, said the system will tag videos with a so-called “attribution overlay” ? a semitransparent bar across the bottom of a video that give viewers information like the episode’s original air date and a link to buy the episode.

One of these will appear for about 10 to 15 seconds near the start of a video, and be followed by an ad.

The social network’s plans are similar to moves made by YouTube. The site launched its Video ID content identification system in October 2007, which automatically alerts content owners to unauthorized videos that users post.

Then, the participating content owners ? which include Universal Music, CBS Corp. and Electronic Arts Inc. ? can block the videos from YouTube, leave them alone, or have YouTube run ads with them. In 90 percent of cases, participating content owners choose the third option.

Over on MySpace, the overlays and ads are expected to start showing up in the coming weeks, and MySpace and Auditude predicted that new ad formats and ad partners will soon follow.

But will users be bothered by having ads tacked to videos they post to their MySpace pages?

Jeff Berman, MySpace’s president of marketing and sales, thinks people will prefer that to having copyright-protected content filtered out entirely.

Do you remember Sega? “Say, it… SEGA!”

It’s mighty trendy around these parts to say how much you lament the day when Sega caved to the PS2 and pulled the plug on the Dreamcast, but which side were you on when the Saturn was getting tag-teamed by the OG PlayStation and N64? That poor thing never come close to the sales of even its failed successor, yet still sits fondly in the hearts of a dedicated few arcade-minded gamers. Perhaps that’s why Japanese modders at an Akihabara shop decided to bring one back to life, ripping its 32-bit guts out and replacing them with those required to support a dual-core Atom 330, including 2GB of DDR2-800 RAM and a 160GB HDD. Even the peripherals have been overhauled, the memory cartridge turned into an over-sized USB stick and the four-button Shuttle mouse receiving a laser transplant. If it could still play Virtual On: Cyber Troopers we’d be getting out our passports.

Online Ad Game hits record profit

 

The online ad game is at it’s peak if you arent advertising online then you are very much out of the loop. If you have a website you should be capitalizing on the ad opportunities this can be very lucrative my friends.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) today announced that Internet advertising revenues exceeded $5.2 billion for the third quarter of 2007, representing yet another historic high for a quarter and a $1.1 billion increase, or 25.3 percent, over Q3 2006. The results, published in the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, are nearly 3 percent higher than Q2 2007, itself the last record-setting quarter. All three quarters in 2007 have set new highsQ1 at $4.9 billion, Q2 at $5.1 billion, and now Q3 at $5.2 billon. Revenues for the first nine months of 2007 totaled $15.2 billion, up nearly 26 percent over the $12.1 billion recorded during the first nine months of 2006.

“The continued robust growth of the industry indicates that marketers increasingly understand and appreciate the benefits of interactive advertising,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “Marketers large and small have come to accept digital media as the fulcrum of any marketing strategy.”

“Internet advertising revenues are on an annual run-rate exceeding $20 billion, further demonstrating the industry has truly come into its own,” said Peter Petrusky, director, Entertainment, Media & Communications Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “The emergence of new platforms, including broadband video, rich Internet applications, mobile, and social media promise to deliver new benefits for consumers, and create exciting new venues for marketers to realize value in digital media.”

“The results of the survey continue to underscore the value that interactive advertising brings to the marketplace, as marketers and agencies build on established guidelines and best practices to control costs and maximize returns from their growing interactive budgets,” added David Silverman, partner, Assurance, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Source: PwC/IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report (www.iab.net)

Conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the “IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report” was started by the IAB in 1996, and represents data from all companies that report meaningful online advertising revenues. The results are considered the most accurate measurement of interactive advertising revenues because the data is compiled directly from information supplied by companies selling advertising on the Internet. The survey includes data concerning online advertising revenues from Web sites, commercial online services, free e-mail providers, and all other companies selling online advertising.

First and third quarter revenue reports are estimates, with the actual figures being released along with second and fourth quarter data, respectively. PwC does not audit the information and provides no opinion or other form of assurance with respect to the information.

The IAB sponsors the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, which is conducted independently by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The full report is issued twice yearly for full and half-year data, and top-line quarterly estimates are issued for the first and third quarters.

About PricewaterhouseCoopers:
PricewaterhouseCoopers (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services to build public trust and enhance value for its clients and their stakeholders. More than 140,000 people in 149 countries across our network share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice. “PricewaterhouseCoopers” refers to the network of member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity.

About the IAB:
Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net) represents over 300 leading interactive companies that actively engage in and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB members are responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the continuing growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices, fields interactive effectiveness research, and educates the advertising industry about interactive advertising.

What Happened to Terrorism?

What’s funny, about this crisis…well not that funny but what concerns me is after the bubble burst in Web 1.0 and stocks fell, Furer Bush came in and stated that terrorist are plotting to destroy us because they hate our way of life. The horror of 9/11 happened and we gave up the majority of freedoms we had come to enjoy prior to 9/11. We had less disclosure on the finance industry. You could literally get a loan for 50k with 2 years of tax return.

The political pundits are idiots they don’t understand math, if they did they wouldn’t sell you shit to make you believe in their backwards policies. We gave up our banking privacy because so called terrorists were using our banking system to finance there activities. How much could it cost to buy 25 one way tickets and take over a plane? how much thought came into it? You have to real between the lines don’t just listen to ideas. Why do you think that the markets are failing? are they really? No it’s another way for the Government to destroy are freedom. They are now buying banks, and they say “the american people are buying the banks” I bet you won’t get a check in the mail once the market turns around. I assure you that! They will tell you we are using these profits to increase national security, rebuild schools, roadways, more police!!!  What the fuck do you mean, more police? more Security? We are moving more towards a socialist, fabianistic society. So to answer what happened to Terrorism? Why haven’t these savage musilm’s attacked us? last I checked they had Jihad? lets be clear, the police cant even prevent little kids from being killed in drive bys, how can they stop guerilla warfare? or Terrorism? They can’t my friends!!! Don’t buy into “That One”!!! We must redeem the time because the days are evil! this is a rare political post from me. However, if the terroists wanted us this would be primetime billing because how could we sustain a military attack??? I am considering joining the national gaurd, or starting a militia, because it’s truly scary times….

You tube decides to make some money!

So google isn’t making any bread off the infamous You Tube. I believe this no widget will change all that. You will now be able to click and buy videos you like, and products in videos. Thats awesome for them. Read the blog posted on google. what do you think?

 

Here’s the Google blog post:

I clicked to buy and I liked it

By Glenn Brown, YouTube Strategic Partner Development Manager, and Thai Tran, YouTube Product Manager

When you view a YouTube video with a great soundtrack, you often see comments from YouTube users asking about the name of the song and where they can download it. Or when users watch the trailer for an upcoming video game, they want to know when it will be released and where they can buy it.

Today, we’re taking our first steps to providing YouTube users with this kind of instant gratification, by adding “click-to-buy” links to the watch pages of thousands of YouTube partner videos. Click-to-buy links are non-obtrusive retail links, placed on the watch page beneath the video with the other community features. Just as YouTube users can share, favorite, comment on, and respond to videos quickly and easily, now users can click-to-buy products — like songs and video games — related to the content they’re watching on the site. We’re getting started by embedding iTunes and Amazon.com links on videos from companies like EMI Music, and providing Amazon.com product links to the newly released video game Spore(TM) on videos from Electronic Arts.

This is just the beginning of building a broad, viable eCommerce platform for users and partners on YouTube. Our vision is to help partners across all industries — from music, to film, to print, to TV — offer useful and relevant products to a large, yet targeted audience, and generate additional revenue from their content on YouTube beyond the advertising we serve against their videos. And those partners who use our content identification and management system can also enable these links on user-generated content, by using Content ID to claim videos and choose to leave them up on the site.

These retail links are being gradually added to our library of music videos and are currently only available to users in the United States, but our goal is to slowly but surely expand the program to additional content and product partners, as well as our international users. We’ll be experimenting with the UI over time to make sure this works for our community, and we’ll continue to innovate based on your feedback. We’re just getting started, so stay tuned for other innovative new features and product options soon.

YouTube partners interested in this program should contact their partner manager.

angel investors

I know what every start-up and most exiting growing business needs……MONEY!!!! BREAD, CAKE, DINERO, DOUGH!!! Well since the banks are bullshiting let’s get you started a list below lists a few Angel networks!

King

Contact:
Tech Valley Angel Network
63 State Street
Albany, NY 12207
518-465-8975
info@techvalleyangels.com

NORTH CENTRAL

Valley Angels Investment Group LL
No Web site

Invests in companies in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Sweet Spot:
Science technologies, other technologies, manufacturing and processing.

Average investment range:
$500,000 to $1 million

Number of angels/investors in the network:
16

Contact:
Valley Angels Investment Group LLC
Richard Leazer
2215 South Oneida St., Suite 500
Green Bay, WI 54303
608-832-6365
contact@vaig.org

The Meyering Corp.
No Web site

Sweet Spot:
Manufacturing technology and new patents.

Average investment range:
$250,000 to $1.5 million

Number of angels/investors in the network:
24

Contact:
The Meyering Corp.
20630 Harper Ave., Suite 103
Harper Woods, MI 48225
313-886-2333
cmeyering@ameritech.net

CALIFORNIA

Fast Angels

Invests primarily in companies in Silicon Valley. Seeks out technology entrepreneurs focused on helping business “act faster, act smarter.”

Sweet Spot:
Seed-round financing in companies with less than a $2.5-million valuation. Submit business ideas via the Web site. Brief executive summaries may be E-mailed.

Average investment range:
$50,000 to $1 million

Number of angels/investors in the network:
12

Contact:
Web site for application. (See link above.)
ideas@fastangels.com

The Angels’ Forum

Invests in companies based in the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area. Portfolio companies have come from a wide variety of industries, including consumer products, enterprise software, industrial products, Internet and E-commerce, medical devices and services, networking technologies, pharmaceutical, semiconductors, telecommunications, and wireless. Most start-up companies come to the group prescreened through professional contacts in the banking, investment, and legal fields.

Sweet Spot:
Companies specializing in disruptive technologies.

Average investment range:
$100,000 to $1 million

Number of angels/investors in the network:
25

Contact:
The Angels’ Forum
PO Box 1605
Los Altos, CA 94023-1605
650-857-0700
inquiries@AngelsForum.com

Tech Coast Angels www.techcoastangels.org

Tech Coast Angels operates three regional networks in Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego. Each network holds a monthly dinner meeting and regular screening sessions to review promising investment opportunities. Since 1997, the group has invested more than $37 million in more than 40 companies. Invests only in companies in southern California.

Sweet Spot:
Early-stage technology and life sciences companies in southern California.

Average investment range:
$250,000 to $2 million

Number of angels/investors in the network:
200+

Contact:
Tech Coast Angels
23011 Moulton Parkway
Suite F-2
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
949-859-8445

Economy taking a toll on everyone!

I’m sure there are a million posts about the economy, but come on dawg, killing your entire family isn’t the answer to your money problems. America has built up this counterfiet kingdom to the point that when the bottom falls out people turn to the brute carnality of their caveman origins….read below:

6 die in family murder-suicide in Los Angeles

By CHRISTINA HOAG – 4 hours ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The only hints of trouble in the big beige house on Como Lane were the newspapers in the driveway and the lack of any activity behind the front door.

But when police summoned by worried friends of the residents got inside Monday, they found a horror — six members of a family fatally shot in a murder-suicide committed by an unemployed man in financial crisis.

The body of 45-year-old Karthik Rajaram, a gun clutched in one hand, was found by officers who followed a trail of carnage through the home in a gated community in the Porter Ranch area of the San Fernando Valley.

His victims, most slain in their beds, were his wife, three sons and his mother-in-law.

“Absolute devastation,” Deputy Chief Michel Moore told reporters outside the home.

Investigators quickly found two suicide letters and a will, and determined that the man once worked for a major accounting firm and was at least the part-owner of a financial holding company.

“The source of it appears to be a financial state, a crisis if you will, that this man became embroiled in that has unfolded over the past weeks,” Moore said.

The man wrote in his suicide letter that he felt he had two options — to just kill himself or to kill himself and his family — and decided the second option was more honorable, Moore said.

The bodies were found when officers were sent to make a check on the home Monday morning after the wife failed to show up at a neighbor’s home to go to work as a pharmacy bookkeeper, Moore said.

Officers found the mother-in-law, Indra Ramasesham, 69, dead in bed on the first floor. Upstairs, they found a 19-year-old son, Krishna Rajaram, dead in bed in the master bedroom.

The gunman’s 39-year-old wife, Subasri, was found in another room, also apparently shot while sleeping, Moore said.

In an adjoining room, a 12-year-old son, Ganesha, was dead on the floor, and his 7-year-old brother, Arjuna, was dead in bed. Their father’s body also was found there with a handgun “in his grasp,” Moore said. The gun was purchased Sept. 16.

Coroner’s assistant chief Ed Winter said the victims were shot multiple times.

The killings occurred some time between midnight Saturday and early Monday morning, Winter said.

The father had a business degree and formerly worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers and Sony Pictures, but had been unemployed for several months, Moore said. The deputy chief did not identify the financial holding company, though Nevada records show an incorporation there.

Moore did not specify what financial trouble the man had been in. He noted that the family did not own the home.

The man had no record of mental disabilities or contacts with mental health professionals in Los Angeles County, Moore said.

PricewaterhouseCoopers spokesman Steven Silber said Karthik Rajaram last worked for the company in 1999, but declined to offer any further information about him.

Sony Pictures Entertainment spokesman Steve Elzer did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Karthik Rajaram is listed as a co-manager of a corporation called SKGL LLC, which is incorporated in Nevada, according to state records. He formed the corporation for his family’s assets and used his family members’ initials to form the name, said Las Vegas attorney Christopher R. Grobl.

SKGL was incorporated in 1999 and renewed its annual business license in December 2007. Grobl did not know what sort of business SKGL was or why Rajaram incorporated in Nevada.

Krishna Rajaram was enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, as a junior majoring in business economics, spokesman Phil Hampton said.

SAP, COBOL and Power Builder

Jeremy Chone wrote this but it’s very applicable, I wish I would have accquired COBOL into my repitoire or at least kept dating Nalida “Turk” Wilson!lol Enjoy

Commentary–Was anybody else not surprised by the recent Foote Partners finding that the ongoing demand for workers skilled in SAP technologies grew dramatically stronger in recent months? In an economy governed by the principles of supply and demand, we can expect to see heightened interest and opportunities in what is viewed as more traditional application knowledge such as SAP, Oracle and PowerBuilder along with–dare I predict it–COBOL.

 

As enterprise Web 2.0 makes its way into organizations, there is a misconception held among a pocket in the industry that the new technologies will replace the old; eliminating the need to fill the gaps left by the previous generation who built careers around managing enterprise applications. There are three primary reasons why this misconception is just that.

The first is the fact that existing applications don’t die, they simply evolve. Companies have invested technology and intellectual resources to track every aspect of their business from human resources files to customer databases to inventory management. To abandon these vast amounts of knowledge would be foolhardy.

However, the Achilles heel for many companies was the lack of documentation as these enterprise applications were tweaked and customized to meet the businesses’ needs. This wasn’t as big an issue when there were plenty of candidates to fill the lucrative jobs in application development and management. Today, however, these candidates are retiring and taking their intellectual knowledge with them. When lacking an aerial view of the infrastructure, redundancies and bad code proliferate.

The second issue is the growing interest in enterprise Web 2.0. Taking a page or two from consumer-oriented sites, businesses are embracing enterprise Web 2.0 capabilities to get closer to customers, create a more flexible infrastructure and boost productivity.

Yet adding on new capabilities to a website or empowering employees with social media tools won’t be enough to justify the investments in these emerging technologies. The real value of enterprise 2.0 comes from linking up-to-the-minute information with what we already know about our business. To realize this value requires in-depth knowledge of the underlying applications.

The third issue is the health of the mainframe and the exaggerated reports of its death. There are millions of lines of COBOL still being developed and used today. However, less and less IT professionals are inclined to learn it.

Of course, we as an industry are to blame to some degree for the impending dearth of IT pros. Colleges and universities have scaled back or eliminated teaching traditional programming languages for more current disciplines. As business leaders, we didn’t predict the potential negative implications when we set out to customize our applications. And when we first heard about the potential IT skills drought, we said we’d worry about it later.

Now is later.

As companies look to make the most of what they already have while using the latest enterprise Web 2.0 technologies, it’s in their best interest to invest in attracting and retaining what were once deemed legacy skill sets. And for those folks who are looking to maximize their market value in today’s challenging economy, you can likely expect an upswing in workshops and seminars dedicated to managing traditional enterprise applications. We will continue to see a steady demand along with a steady rise in salaries of IT pros skilled in enterprise applications.

biography
Jeremy Chone is chief technology officer for Nexaweb Technologies.

SEO/SEM is it worth it?

I guess I want to discuss tech trends and marketing/advertising since this is my expertise. The trend over the past year has been SEO. Search Engine Optimization everybody in the WEB 2.0 industry says they can do it. You will even hear some say they can get you on the front page of Google. Either way if I am a small business does this guarantee sales? which that’s really all that matters when you are in business.  Some companies charge $500-$40,000 a month for these White label Services. But how many clients  does this guarantee?  The point is it doesn’t guarantee many at all! In certain instances for particular industries being on the front page matters but, if you don’t have that appeal or a terrible website then you can expect to garner returns on your marketing efforts. There are several industry experts who I recommend, for marketing and web services. One is an INC Magazine 500 company called Pop Labs. Pop Labs in my opinion is too expensive but they offer a great service not good support, but the result is expensive prices run from 1500 per month to 3000 per month. I would cut the direct mail all together if I needed it that bad. The other company is Web Chef Designs the owner is Charles Coyle, he is great visionary and started similar to the owner of Pop Labs, he wants every small business owner to have their own website. He also helps with lead generation and the development of business credit. Sounds like alot consider him your online consultant. Drawbacks to Webchef is that they can’t handle a lot of work load. However, they are effective in building a hot website that will attract customers who are looking for your services. My final Suggestion is Sublime Tactics. They are a multi-disciplinary Marketing and Advertising firm.  The Principal Dan Gould and his team are marketing revolutionaries. Mr. Gould has developed a marketing and scale able advertising model that allows a entrepreneur who sells shirts out of the garage to compete with boutiques and mid size stores. V. P. of Business Development David Calloway will guide the helm of the small business portfolio he has created a viral expansion sales force. Sublime Tactics specializes in Product launches, Product placement on films and in television, additionally they handles Social Media Marketing, podcasts/videocast. They handle Public relation, they are currently working with Worlds Fastest Woman Muna Lee Drawbacks- They have so many services they may upsell you on every side. Benefits- the Owner (Daniel Gould) is sharp and doesn’t miss when it comes to providing his clients with results you can see. I worked with him on the Grammy’s last year and he did fail to make a presence, he threw a private event for Sky Vodka which included old School artist Warren G and young hollywood actors and new School Artist Soldier Boy.

In short if you plan on using a SEO/SEM firm you have plenty of options, you can find a kid on a classified ad charging $200 bux or you can go with a big firm who us going to charge premium either way you analyze your needs. To grow organically, pay per click campaigns, or other means of growing business. If you have questions on marketing and need contact info email me utopiatalent@gmail.com

Forever I love Atlanta

Forever I love Atlanta   The greatest place for me!!!! I love ATL!!!! I moved to Atlanta, back in 99. It was a much different place then. During the 90’s Atlanta was a “Mecca” for blacks. It was even wrote into movie scripts, BOYZ N THE HOOD, MENACE TO SOCIETY!!! With 1 consistent theme if you can’t make it your town, move to ATL!!! I knew cats who didnt even go to college and were making $50k a year. It if you had a passion for the fast life, you could come there and come up quick, it was like Vegas, I had never experienced anything like it. I remember the first girl I kut in the Atown. I remember when Raheem the Dream had his run, “the most beautiful girl in the world….” 559, the last Freak-nik, 1996 my first Freak-nik!!!, I remember Studio Central, Morris Brown, Jaguar, Plush, Cobalt, Liquid Assets, the Original Esso’s!!!, The old buckhead strip (before niggas got stabbed and Shot!!!) I mean the city had everything. Morehouse and Spelman Homecoming!!! I mean If I had the energy to write a book, on the past 8 years of my life, in the Atown, it still wouldnt show you, how progressive minded the people, are. If it were a woman she would be my wife, not my hoe, my down ass ride or die chick!! She is what I dreamed of my whole life, her love was consistent and held me down, whether I was stressed or losing my mind, she was there to lift me up, when I was happy she made me feel like a King!!! I paid my dues in the city, I ran with the best, did my best and made it work. I will always love my lady cause she was so willing to be there when I didnt appreciate her!! I grew closer to Yah in ATL, I established my church home at New Birth. I rememeber sitting on the wall at Morris Brown. I preached the gospel to all who i encountered. I put my life on the line many nights to make dreams happen, I bought my first legal gun in that city. I remember Stegals on the AUC Strip, I would order wings on wheat! (back when I ate meat) I learned how to be a man there, how to survive! If you can make it in ATL you can make it anywhere!!! I miss her so much, but I will come back and visit, and I hope she takes care of the other children the way she took care of me. ATL I love you!!! I will never forget Buckhead, Decatur, Beer Bash at Washington Park, old Twist on Fridays, Bucket Shop, C’est bon (back when the food was Fresh), the Beautiful Soul Food, Arnold Hennings, Darp, Rare Footage, CastleBerry, Clark Fashion Show, Austell, GK, HK, Pi, Bloody BD, CUE, I’m not naming everybody cause its too many names, if I know you and we cool, then you know I love hard and I love you!!! When ya’ll in LA holla at me.