ZeroPaid.com » yahoo http://www.zeropaid.com Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:53:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Mark Zuckerberg: Of Rejection, And The $100 Billion Last Laugh http://www.zeropaid.com/news/98551/mark-zuckerbergof-rejection-and-the-100-billion-last-laugh/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/98551/mark-zuckerbergof-rejection-and-the-100-billion-last-laugh/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:37:06 +0000 Liviu Oprescu http://www.zeropaid.com/?p=98551 mark-zuckerberg-050211

How Social Ineptitude And Rejection Brought Mark Zuckerberg To Where He Is Today "Mark, I’m not speaking in code," says an exasperated Erica (Rooney Mara) to a pre-Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, just prior to dumping him.  It’s a priceless line from Mara’s million-dollar opening-scene performance in David Fincher’s Social Network.  And that is precisely the problem.  Fincher’s Zuckerberg played by Jesse Eisenberg, perhaps a bit exaggerated for box office panache, suffers from a machine-like affect, with traces of Asperger’s and a dysfunctional human interface.  Had she been speaking in code, he might have better filtered and organized what she was trying to communicate, namely that the two of them don’t compute.  As the scene ends we see a stone-faced emotionally ill-equipped Zuckerberg dynamically scaling up his mental server space to accommodate and process the endless variables and consequences of rejection.  The central theme of Social Network is that Zuckerburg is driven by his social ineptitude, by a drive to crack the social code one bit at a time, and never again fall victim to rejection. As Facebook plans to announce its IPO and $100 billion valuation - instantly making it one of the biggest ever - it’s important to take a moment and look back at the most significant rejection of Zuckerberg’s life. Realizing that social networking might become the next big thing – possibly even the next AOL - News Corp. announced in July 2005 that it was buying MySpace for $580 million in cash.  In October of that year, MySpace had 24.2 million unique users, was growing aggressively, and was the 4th largest website after Yahoo, AOL/Time Warner, and MSN.  Meanwhile, Facebook had a relatively paltry 5 million users and nowhere near the traffic. The following year, Yahoo tried to buy Facebook for $1 billion – a remarkable sum given that by now MySpace had 100 million users to Facebook’s 9 million.  GigaOm’s Malik Om had criticized Facebook for passing on an earlier offer of $750 million, saying “it would become yet another social network, which would get spanked by MySpace.” But Zuckerberg saw something that others didn’t.  Perhaps because he was newly endowed with the power to do so, perhaps because he wanted to know what it felt like to wield said power; this time it was he who did the rejecting.  Facebook turned down Yahoo’s advance.  Had Yahoo offered $1.1 billion - $100 million more - Facebook’s board planned on forcing Zuckerberg to accept.  Yahoo didn’t offer. We all know how history turned out.  MySpace eventually did become the next AOL, but for all the wrong reasons.  It bled numbers like a lacerated Morpheus (some geek out there will get it).  After years of losses News Corp. finally sold it off in June 2011 for just $35 million.  By that point, it had not only ceded social networking, but it was actually using Facebook’s Connect features to move its content.  Yahoo didn’t fare much better.  After passing on an offer from Google to buy Page and Brin’s innovative search engine tech for only $1 million in 2000 (1/189,000 of it’s current value), and not picking up Facebook for just over a billion, Yahoo also spurned Microsoft’s 2008 buyout offer of $45 billion.  As of today, Yahoo has a $19.3 billion cap, and no legs.   Do you Yahoo?  I certainly don’t.  Analysts speculate that newly appointed CEO Scott Thomson is only there to facilitate a piece-by-piece sell-off of the company. And what of those who rejected Zuckerberg?  The jocks, the Harvard Final Clubs, the cool kids, hot girls, and just about everybody else?  In a poetic Count of Monte Cristo way, by some type of psychological/digital transference, these people now use Facebook to shape their social lives, to stew in feelings of inadequacy and rejection, to define themselves according to the book of Mark. Fincher’s depiction of Zuckerberg was unflattering at best.  It was partly intended as karmic payback.  Five-hundred million people had been exposed using this new medium.  Zuckerberg would be exposed using an old one.  Zuckerberg would learn first-hand the pains of no control over his life’s privacy settings.  The whole world would see and understand Mark Zuckerberg through David Fincher’s narrative.  The film comes full-circle in the final scene, reiterating the theme of rejection.  As the camera is leaving Zuckerberg in an hollow board room, we see him open Erica’s Facebook page on his laptop, still bearing his burden despite major success. But less than a year-and-a-half after its release, the film is becoming less and less relevant, like an old episode of Behind The Music predating a comeback or drug relapse.  Since Social Network came out, Zuckerberg has done everything (maybe not everything) right to retroactively make the film incomplete.  He’s since made another 300 million friends, he’s become a revolutionary freedom fighter in the Arab world, and he’s just days away from running a $100 billion company, because according to Fincher, he learned first-hand the power of rejection.  Even Steve Jobs praised Zuckerberg for his rejection of Yahoo, saying just prior to his death, “I admire him for not selling out, for wanting to make a company”. So the moral of the story is, it takes a social reject to form the way was shape our social lives, just as it takes a Zen Buddhist to hone our love for material possessions. I guess the secret to success is finding something you're terrible at and teaching the world about it.  Funny how things work out. liviu@zeropaid.com | @LivOprescu]]> mark-zuckerberg-050211

How Social Ineptitude And Rejection Brought Mark Zuckerberg To Where He Is Today "Mark, I’m not speaking in code," says an exasperated Erica (Rooney Mara) to a pre-Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, just prior to dumping him.  It’s a priceless line from Mara’s million-dollar opening-scene performance in David Fincher’s Social Network.  And that is precisely the problem.  Fincher’s Zuckerberg played by Jesse Eisenberg, perhaps a bit exaggerated for box office panache, suffers from a machine-like affect, with traces of Asperger’s and a dysfunctional human interface.  Had she been speaking in code, he might have better filtered and organized what she was trying to communicate, namely that the two of them don’t compute.  As the scene ends we see a stone-faced emotionally ill-equipped Zuckerberg dynamically scaling up his mental server space to accommodate and process the endless variables and consequences of rejection.  The central theme of Social Network is that Zuckerburg is driven by his social ineptitude, by a drive to crack the social code one bit at a time, and never again fall victim to rejection. As Facebook plans to announce its IPO and $100 billion valuation - instantly making it one of the biggest ever - it’s important to take a moment and look back at the most significant rejection of Zuckerberg’s life. Realizing that social networking might become the next big thing – possibly even the next AOL - News Corp. announced in July 2005 that it was buying MySpace for $580 million in cash.  In October of that year, MySpace had 24.2 million unique users, was growing aggressively, and was the 4th largest website after Yahoo, AOL/Time Warner, and MSN.  Meanwhile, Facebook had a relatively paltry 5 million users and nowhere near the traffic. The following year, Yahoo tried to buy Facebook for $1 billion – a remarkable sum given that by now MySpace had 100 million users to Facebook’s 9 million.  GigaOm’s Malik Om had criticized Facebook for passing on an earlier offer of $750 million, saying “it would become yet another social network, which would get spanked by MySpace.” But Zuckerberg saw something that others didn’t.  Perhaps because he was newly endowed with the power to do so, perhaps because he wanted to know what it felt like to wield said power; this time it was he who did the rejecting.  Facebook turned down Yahoo’s advance.  Had Yahoo offered $1.1 billion - $100 million more - Facebook’s board planned on forcing Zuckerberg to accept.  Yahoo didn’t offer. We all know how history turned out.  MySpace eventually did become the next AOL, but for all the wrong reasons.  It bled numbers like a lacerated Morpheus (some geek out there will get it).  After years of losses News Corp. finally sold it off in June 2011 for just $35 million.  By that point, it had not only ceded social networking, but it was actually using Facebook’s Connect features to move its content.  Yahoo didn’t fare much better.  After passing on an offer from Google to buy Page and Brin’s innovative search engine tech for only $1 million in 2000 (1/189,000 of it’s current value), and not picking up Facebook for just over a billion, Yahoo also spurned Microsoft’s 2008 buyout offer of $45 billion.  As of today, Yahoo has a $19.3 billion cap, and no legs.   Do you Yahoo?  I certainly don’t.  Analysts speculate that newly appointed CEO Scott Thomson is only there to facilitate a piece-by-piece sell-off of the company. And what of those who rejected Zuckerberg?  The jocks, the Harvard Final Clubs, the cool kids, hot girls, and just about everybody else?  In a poetic Count of Monte Cristo way, by some type of psychological/digital transference, these people now use Facebook to shape their social lives, to stew in feelings of inadequacy and rejection, to define themselves according to the book of Mark. Fincher’s depiction of Zuckerberg was unflattering at best.  It was partly intended as karmic payback.  Five-hundred million people had been exposed using this new medium.  Zuckerberg would be exposed using an old one.  Zuckerberg would learn first-hand the pains of no control over his life’s privacy settings.  The whole world would see and understand Mark Zuckerberg through David Fincher’s narrative.  The film comes full-circle in the final scene, reiterating the theme of rejection.  As the camera is leaving Zuckerberg in an hollow board room, we see him open Erica’s Facebook page on his laptop, still bearing his burden despite major success. But less than a year-and-a-half after its release, the film is becoming less and less relevant, like an old episode of Behind The Music predating a comeback or drug relapse.  Since Social Network came out, Zuckerberg has done everything (maybe not everything) right to retroactively make the film incomplete.  He’s since made another 300 million friends, he’s become a revolutionary freedom fighter in the Arab world, and he’s just days away from running a $100 billion company, because according to Fincher, he learned first-hand the power of rejection.  Even Steve Jobs praised Zuckerberg for his rejection of Yahoo, saying just prior to his death, “I admire him for not selling out, for wanting to make a company”. So the moral of the story is, it takes a social reject to form the way was shape our social lives, just as it takes a Zen Buddhist to hone our love for material possessions. I guess the secret to success is finding something you're terrible at and teaching the world about it.  Funny how things work out. liviu@zeropaid.com | @LivOprescu]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/98551/mark-zuckerbergof-rejection-and-the-100-billion-last-laugh/feed/ 2 Play by Yahoo! Music Android App Plays, Identifies Music http://www.zeropaid.com/news/93807/play-by-yahoo-music-android-app-plays-identifies-music/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/93807/play-by-yahoo-music-android-app-plays-identifies-music/#comments Mon, 20 Jun 2011 16:25:07 +0000 Jared Moya http://www.zeropaid.com/?p=93807 hi-256-0-a96a871f0e4188b37721d750aa54c8ed78537335_thumb

Play by Yahoo! Music combines song identification with music library manbagemnt in a blazing fast Android app package.

Play by Yahoo! Music is likely the music player to end all other Android music players. For the Android app is much more than a standard, simple music player, combining music playback with artist news and the ability to identify a single song or multiple songs at once. While you're listening to a song you can see the latest artist news and album cover art automatically retrieved from Yahoo! news. Play by Yahoo! Music also has a built-in song identification feature much like Shazam or Soundhound, though it's unlimited, free, and you can identify multiple songs in a row. You can leave the app on, for example, and continuously identify songs on the radio. There is built-in scrobbling to Last.fm that automatically scrobbles your listening history to your Last.fm profile to track and analyze your listening history. Lastly, it has a social network component that allows you to send to send status updates on Twitter and Facebook to tell others what you're listening to. The best feature of all might very well be it's blazing fast load and scroll times. It makes the standard music player app seem painfully slow in comparison.

DOWNLOAD PLAY by YAHOO! MUSIC

Stay tuned. jared@zeropaid.com ___________________________________                       ]]> hi-256-0-a96a871f0e4188b37721d750aa54c8ed78537335_thumb

Play by Yahoo! Music combines song identification with music library manbagemnt in a blazing fast Android app package.

Play by Yahoo! Music is likely the music player to end all other Android music players. For the Android app is much more than a standard, simple music player, combining music playback with artist news and the ability to identify a single song or multiple songs at once. While you're listening to a song you can see the latest artist news and album cover art automatically retrieved from Yahoo! news. Play by Yahoo! Music also has a built-in song identification feature much like Shazam or Soundhound, though it's unlimited, free, and you can identify multiple songs in a row. You can leave the app on, for example, and continuously identify songs on the radio. There is built-in scrobbling to Last.fm that automatically scrobbles your listening history to your Last.fm profile to track and analyze your listening history. Lastly, it has a social network component that allows you to send to send status updates on Twitter and Facebook to tell others what you're listening to. The best feature of all might very well be it's blazing fast load and scroll times. It makes the standard music player app seem painfully slow in comparison.

DOWNLOAD PLAY by YAHOO! MUSIC

Stay tuned. jared@zeropaid.com ___________________________________                       ]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/93807/play-by-yahoo-music-android-app-plays-identifies-music/feed/ 3 US Appeals Court: Digital Downloads “Not Public Performance” http://www.zeropaid.com/news/90956/us-appeals-court-digital-downloads-not-public-performance/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/90956/us-appeals-court-digital-downloads-not-public-performance/#comments Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:19:38 +0000 Jared Moya http://www.zeropaid.com/?p=90956 ASCAP_logo_crop

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) had tried to argue that a digital downloads “transmit or otherwise communicate a performance," but the court disagreed, ruling that clearly a download is not a "dance" or "act," nor is it "recited," "played," or "rendered" as stipulated in the Section 101 of the Copyright Act.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has a long history of trying to extract more revenue from the oddest of places, and luckily for all it's had little success. The performance rights organization collects royalties for public performances of the works of members it represents, and has been repeatedly trying to expand the definition of what a "public performance" is. Last June it tried to argue that "when a cellphone ringtone rings in 'public’ it is undeniably a 'public performance' as those terms are defined in the Copyright Act,” even telling the court that "whether the ringtone is set to play, and indeed whether anyone hears it, is of no moment." So even if the phone can't be heard it's still a "public performance" in their mind. NY District Judge Judge Denise Cote eventually disagreed and ruled that a ringtone is exempt being that it normally only occur within ones "normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances" and there is no obvious expectation of profit to be made. Earlier this year it even declared war on free culture, attacking Creative Commons licensing which gives artists "free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof." Apparently free distribution, even if freely chosen by an artist, is anathema to an organization supposedly comprised of creative talent. Fast forward to last week and ASCAP's battle with Yahoo and RealNetworks over digital downloads. ASCAP had tried to argue that digital downloads - get this - “transmit or otherwise communicate a [public] performance.” Thankfully the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit disagreed. The court determined that a download did not qualify as a “dance" or “act” nor in way relate to any of the other words Section 101 of the Copyright Act defines a "public performance" - “recite,” “play” and “render.” From section 101 of the Copyright Act:
To “perform” a work means to recite, render, play, dance, or act it, either directly or by means of any device or process or, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to show its images in any sequence or to make the sounds accompanying it audible.
The court found that if you can't hear then it is clearly not a "public performance," and digital downloads are not “contemporaneously perceived” by a listener. From the ruling:
These definitions comport with our common-sense understandings of these words. Itzakh Perlman gives a “recital” of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major when he performs it aloud before an audience. Jimmy [sic] Hendrix memorably (or not, depending on one’s sensibility) offered a “rendition” of the Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock when he performed it aloud in 1969. Yo-Yo Ma “plays” the Cello Suite No. 1 when he draws the bow across his cello strings to audibly reproduce the notes that Bach inscribed. Music is neither recited, rendered, nor played when a recording (electronic or otherwise) is simply delivered to a potential listener.
Moreover, a download is transmission of data from one server to another and isn't heard at any time in between. ASCAP is, of course, "disappointed" with the ruling. "ASCAP and its songwriter, composer and music publisher members are, of course, disappointed in the Court's decision that there is no public performance in the transmission of certain musical downloads," it said afterwards. "We are studying the decision and will determine what further action is appropriate." Let's hope they use somebody else's definition of what is "appropriate."]]> ASCAP_logo_crop

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) had tried to argue that a digital downloads “transmit or otherwise communicate a performance," but the court disagreed, ruling that clearly a download is not a "dance" or "act," nor is it "recited," "played," or "rendered" as stipulated in the Section 101 of the Copyright Act.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has a long history of trying to extract more revenue from the oddest of places, and luckily for all it's had little success. The performance rights organization collects royalties for public performances of the works of members it represents, and has been repeatedly trying to expand the definition of what a "public performance" is. Last June it tried to argue that "when a cellphone ringtone rings in 'public’ it is undeniably a 'public performance' as those terms are defined in the Copyright Act,” even telling the court that "whether the ringtone is set to play, and indeed whether anyone hears it, is of no moment." So even if the phone can't be heard it's still a "public performance" in their mind. NY District Judge Judge Denise Cote eventually disagreed and ruled that a ringtone is exempt being that it normally only occur within ones "normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances" and there is no obvious expectation of profit to be made. Earlier this year it even declared war on free culture, attacking Creative Commons licensing which gives artists "free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof." Apparently free distribution, even if freely chosen by an artist, is anathema to an organization supposedly comprised of creative talent. Fast forward to last week and ASCAP's battle with Yahoo and RealNetworks over digital downloads. ASCAP had tried to argue that digital downloads - get this - “transmit or otherwise communicate a [public] performance.” Thankfully the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit disagreed. The court determined that a download did not qualify as a “dance" or “act” nor in way relate to any of the other words Section 101 of the Copyright Act defines a "public performance" - “recite,” “play” and “render.” From section 101 of the Copyright Act:
To “perform” a work means to recite, render, play, dance, or act it, either directly or by means of any device or process or, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to show its images in any sequence or to make the sounds accompanying it audible.
The court found that if you can't hear then it is clearly not a "public performance," and digital downloads are not “contemporaneously perceived” by a listener. From the ruling:
These definitions comport with our common-sense understandings of these words. Itzakh Perlman gives a “recital” of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major when he performs it aloud before an audience. Jimmy [sic] Hendrix memorably (or not, depending on one’s sensibility) offered a “rendition” of the Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock when he performed it aloud in 1969. Yo-Yo Ma “plays” the Cello Suite No. 1 when he draws the bow across his cello strings to audibly reproduce the notes that Bach inscribed. Music is neither recited, rendered, nor played when a recording (electronic or otherwise) is simply delivered to a potential listener.
Moreover, a download is transmission of data from one server to another and isn't heard at any time in between. ASCAP is, of course, "disappointed" with the ruling. "ASCAP and its songwriter, composer and music publisher members are, of course, disappointed in the Court's decision that there is no public performance in the transmission of certain musical downloads," it said afterwards. "We are studying the decision and will determine what further action is appropriate." Let's hope they use somebody else's definition of what is "appropriate."]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/90956/us-appeals-court-digital-downloads-not-public-performance/feed/ 2 Yahoo puts instant-messaging inside Web browsers http://www.zeropaid.com/news/8721/yahoo_puts_instantmessaging_inside_web_browsers/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/8721/yahoo_puts_instantmessaging_inside_web_browsers/#comments Thu, 03 May 2007 14:38:48 +0000 Jared Moya Yahoo Inc, the world’s second-largest supplier of instant-messaging, has begun offering a new version that works inside a Web browser rather than requiring users to download a separate piece of software.

By dispensing with the need to install and run a separate IM program, Yahoo is looking to reach out to tens of millions of consumers around the world who use the Web in Internet cafes instead of on personal computers at work or at home.

The move also appeals to travelers, business professionals on the go and office workers whose companies block IM software downloads on their internal networks for security reasons.

“Too many people have been restricted from benefiting from this type of communication,” Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo’s senior vice president in charge of communications, said in an interview.

]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/8721/yahoo_puts_instantmessaging_inside_web_browsers/feed/ 0 Yahoo! to Offer Ads to Cellular Customers http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7965/yahoo_to_offer_ads_to_cellular_customers/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7965/yahoo_to_offer_ads_to_cellular_customers/#comments Tue, 07 Nov 2006 16:53:40 +0000 Yahoo is set to begin showing ads to cellular customers. We have long felt safe from marketing while using our cellphones to browse pages, but now Yahoo, who has offered free viewing of search pages and other areas, is pushing ads to your phone that will take into account bandwidth and screen size. Bringing the Yahoo Go service will certainly be a first step to this very concept.

Advertisers know that the cellular world has increased traffic to some sites and that consumers are there using the services and are prime targets for marketing. Advertisers, it is reported, have already spent $104.4 million dollars in mobile advertising in 2005. A popular thing has been to design sites primarily for the smaller screens, making it easier to serve mobile clients. This move will bring a new marketing window to many…and will probably annoy users.

Yahoo has partnered, already, with over 50 mobile phone manufacturers to get this going. Watch for it very soon to hit your wireless phone. Also, many expect that it will evolve just like web ads have, and speed and graphics will load faster, increasing opportunities for advertisers in the future.

]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7965/yahoo_to_offer_ads_to_cellular_customers/feed/ 0 Yahoo Takes YouTube Idea and Expands On It http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7878/yahoo_takes_youtube_idea_and_expands_on_it/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7878/yahoo_takes_youtube_idea_and_expands_on_it/#comments Fri, 27 Oct 2006 03:19:17 +0000 Yahoo might have missed out on buying YouTube as Google sits atop the purchase successfully, but they won’t let that get them down. Yahoo is exploring the amateur video popularity but stepping in with TV-style programming.

After lower than expected third-quarter earnings, a newly introduced program entitled “The 9″ has quietly raised eyebrows in the sdelines of video addicted users and features sites and videos from across the web. Around 6 million viewers watch Maria Sansone’s each month as she does a countdown of sites and videos.

This has spurred the Yahoo Talent Show to take place and introduce someone to this show of entertainment that can help Yahoo gain some ground. Claims currently are that the show is profitable as it stands and any improvements will only help them gain in both popularity and financially.

They are seeking to expand into International markets next but this talent show is on the search for someone that can win $50,000 US and a job on Yahoo’s scheduled show. Anyone interested?

]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7878/yahoo_takes_youtube_idea_and_expands_on_it/feed/ 0 Yahoo makes Internet bookmarks ready to share http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7875/yahoo_makes_internet_bookmarks_ready_to_share/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7875/yahoo_makes_internet_bookmarks_ready_to_share/#comments Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:09:49 +0000 Jared Moya Bookmarks have become the cluttered closets of Web surfers.

Internet media company Yahoo Inc. is looking to give users an easier way to organize, search for and share favorite sites or Web pages, the company said on Tuesday.

It is also introducing a simplified version of the Yahoo toolbar that features a one-click way to bookmark Web pages. The toolbar is a menu of key Yahoo services that is embedded along the top border of Web browser software programs.

The moves are part of a careful, go-slow plan by Yahoo to convince millions more of its users to embrace the new generation of Web surfing tools that allow consumers to share what they learn with friends or colleagues.

]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7875/yahoo_makes_internet_bookmarks_ready_to_share/feed/ 0 Yahoo, CBS in local video news deal http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7769/yahoo_cbs_in_local_video_news_deal/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7769/yahoo_cbs_in_local_video_news_deal/#comments Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:20:25 +0000 Jared Moya Local news video from 16 CBS-owned television stations will be available on online portal Yahoo Inc., the companies said on Monday.

The companies will share revenue from advertising from the video clips. The deal was scheduled to begin Tuesday, the companies said.

The deal comes amid booming interest in watching video clips online and follows rival Google Inc.’s deal last week to buy popular online video service YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion.

The stations owned by CBS Corp. will make about 10 to 20 breaking news clips and features from big markets such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago available to Yahoo viewers.

]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7769/yahoo_cbs_in_local_video_news_deal/feed/ 0 Is Yahoo! now under the gun after losing YouTube? http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7715/is_yahoo_now_under_the_gun_after_losing_youtube/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7715/is_yahoo_now_under_the_gun_after_losing_youtube/#comments Tue, 10 Oct 2006 17:07:32 +0000 Jared Moya It’s Google against Mark Cuban after all, in a rather unique twist on celebrity deathmatch. Well, it’s not that far gone yet, but yesterday afternoon’s announcement that Google would be purchasing #1 video-sharing site YouTube.com in an all-stock transaction was not entirely unexpected. Google will now be the largest provider of online video with its Google Video service and now YouTube.com, although it will be keeping YouTube operating as an independent site with the same content it has now.

Although YouTube sounds like one of the early-day P2P file sharing websites/directories according to Cuban, the company *may* have a bright future in recouping money from advertising, a potential main reason Google bought it. But, what does this linkup have to do with Yahoo? Well, Yahoo! has also been trying to build up its video offerings and has done a great job at that — after all, Yahoo! likes to build customer relationships that make the customer “stick” to the Yahoo! property.

So, this YouTube.com buy is a little like pulling the rug out from under that company’s video efforts in a way. Rumor has it already that Yahoo! and Google fought a close battle all the way to the end to take home the YouTube.com prize, and Google finally prevailed. Now Google has to prove, over time, that this relatively meager all-stock transaction (at today’s prices) will somehow help pad its coffers while not opening Google up to a litany of copyright issues due to all the pirated videos that are up for viewing right now on YouTube.

]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7715/is_yahoo_now_under_the_gun_after_losing_youtube/feed/ 0 Yahoo, Current TV unveil new video service http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7585/yahoo_current_tv_unveil_new_video_service/ http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7585/yahoo_current_tv_unveil_new_video_service/#comments Wed, 20 Sep 2006 13:30:16 +0000 Jared Moya Internet media company Yahoo Inc and Current TV, a television channel founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, on Wednesday said they had teamed up on a Web video service aimed at young adults.

The service, named the Yahoo Current Network, will feature both professionally produced video and material from viewers. No financial terms were disclosed.

The companies said the service’s revenue would be derived from advertising. The move comes amid the exploding popularity of video sharing services, such as YouTube.com, and builds on Yahoo’s strategy of creating Internet communities around specific areas of interest.

The Yahoo Current Network will launch four Internet channels tracking buzz-generating trends, sports news, hot cars and exotic vacations. It plans to offer a total of eight channels by the end of 2007.

]]> http://www.zeropaid.com/news/7585/yahoo_current_tv_unveil_new_video_service/feed/ 0