CRAPS! Search giants Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google are ponying up $31.5 million to settle charges they promoted gambling by accepting ads from illegal online gaming companies. As for promoting risky subprime home loans? In the clear! [Bloomberg]
Brandon Holley, former editor of Jane and job candidate with likely zero Internet experience, takes a leadership role at Yahoo, handling their "food, health, astrology, tech and green editorial content." She'll also be responsible for overseeing new launches. [MW]
Good news, Yahoo!: You’re not the only American service provider to cave under the pressure of a foreign government. At the behest of a Spanish internet quality control agency, Microsoft has removed four blogs it hosted that promoted eating disorders.
In the meantime, Spanish girls look to “recovering” anorexics for thinspiration.
From Yahoo!’s Terms of Service number 19, section E, emphasis theirs:
A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF USERS MAY EXPERIENCE EPILEPTIC SEIZURES WHEN EXPOSED TO CERTAIN LIGHT PATTERNS OR BACKGROUNDS ON A COMPUTER SCREEN OR WHILE USING THE SERVICE. CERTAIN CONDITIONS MAY INDUCE PREVIOUSLY UNDETECTED EPILEPTIC SYMPTOMS EVEN IN USERS WHO HAVE NO HISTORY OF PRIOR SEIZURES OR EPILEPSY.
Finally, Google can now capitalize on Yahoo!’s short comings and capture that elusive epileptic demographic.
Great news! Facebook profiles are now indexable by the search engines on Google and Yahoo. Which means it will be that much easier for you to stalk track down that guy who "accidentally" wrong-numbered you* and that much simpler for your potential new employer to promptly reject you solely on the basis of your embarrassingly drunk profile picture and your AIM screenname of "TappaKegga." [Webpronews]
*With the rejection hotline
YouTube isn't the only Web 2.0 outfit getting in on this exciting new thing called "politics." The Washington Post's Slate.com, The Huffington Post, and Yahoo and joining together for a Sept. 12 "cyber-faceoff." Ahem. Essentially, the eight leading Democratic presidential candidates (Republicans are still iffy) are squaring off in what we gather to be an IRC-style, Charlie Rosie-hosted issue-fest. Or, more likely, they'll be copy/pasting from their Microsoft Word talking point docs. [WaPo]
What isn't News Corp. "exploring" these days? They're exploring the purchase of Dow Jones, they're exploring how to get a business channel off the ground … about the only thing they aren't exploring is in the inside of Katie Couric's colon, but probably only because she's done such a good job of that herself.
So when we heard Rupert Murdoch was "exploring" the idea of dumping MySpace in exchange for a chunk of Yahoo, well, there was some yawning. CONTINUED »
• Rosie O'Donnell is suddenly our hero now that she blasted American Idol judges Simon, Paula and Randy as "three millionaires…one probably intoxicated."
• With Art Buchwald gone, so ends the era of civilized humor. [Insert Borat joke *here*].
• If a tree falls in the forest and the mainstream media writes about it, does anybody read it?
• Judge postpones the Scooter Libby trial, citing America's unanimous hatred of President Bush as the primary reason. (Seriously).
• The Camera Phone: the gadget that perverts, vigilantes and celebrity stalkers can all agree on.**
• Yahoo to Google: You haven't won, yet.
**We liked this headline so much we borrowed it verbatim from Slate.
• Anna Wintour might've rebuffed Project Runway, but she's all set for an A&E documentary about how many skinny people are required to produce September Vogue.
• Atoosa Rubenstein incorporates, sets up expense account.
• FHM may be gone, but Maxim is still causing trouble at the hands of Vanity Fair.
• Steven Spielberg offers filmmaking hopefuls the chance to be the next Project Greenlight disaster.
CONTINUED »
• Best Life finds its new publisher at GQ.
• That New York Times is getting awfully lucky with those classified memos.
• Canned ABC News exec producer Shelley Ross won't tell you where she's headed next, but she's "taking meetings." Like Atoosa Rubenstein, Lloyd Grove, Debra Birnbaum, Howard Burns …
• Anna Wintour does as Bee Shaffer tells her.
• Yahoo splitting into three groups with ambigious names.
• Sirius lowers subscriber forecasts by six figures.
• Johnny Apple's funeral at the Kennedy Center last night drew the types of a Tom Brokaw dinner party.
• Rescuers claim to be thisclose to finding missing CNET editor James Kim.
It's only Monday and already we've got a slew of media congloms teaming up for this week's stab at synergy.
Reuters and Yahoo paired up to let citizen journalists pollute the Internet with their Razr photos that are better suited for CollegeHumor.com. Comedy Central hops into bed with Amp'd Mobile to take an animated series built for cell phones to the broadcast airwaves. And Fox News is rubbing crotches with, uh, Yahoo's finance unit to syndicate Fox's business programming and deliver web-only clips. It'll be called Fox Business Now, which is like Disney-owned subscription-only broadband video news network ABC News Now, except it'll be seen by more than just the newsroom staff.
All of which is very excited, for the 16 people who carry Blackberrys, Treos, Sidekicks, Razrs, iPods, tablet PCs with EVDO broadband cards, and crack.
• Page Six calls ABC News anchor Charlie Gibson's successor post-2008 presidential election to be Diane Sawyer, who will get her chance to shine when network news is beyond irrelevancy.
• Screw Google News. Yahoo is teaming up with 176 newspapers to bring you content you didn't want to read.
• Of course newspapers screw its shareholders, silly.
• NBC manages to beat up CBS to land in the No. 2 ratings spot, just one slot away from its former glory.
• Esquire readers' checking accounts are fatter than GQ's, nah nah, nah nah nah!
• Congratulations, Tom Costello, on your finely honed talent to be in the right place at the right time.
• MTV finds young people worldwide are unhappy. With MTV programming, perhaps.
Just on the heels of YouTube grabbing Paris Hilton for their gimmicky promotions, Yahoo! Music is snagging Jessica Simpson as their next advertising whore.
For just two bucks, the busty star will sing your name in the second verse of her song "Public Affair." But only if you download through Yahoo! And what could be better than having Jessica Simpson pronounce your name wrong?
In what might be termed a first in "addressable" music marketing, Ms. Simpson and her backup singers have sung 500 first names to be selected by fans buying her latest song "Public Affair." Selling at $1.99, Ms. Simpson's "Custom Cuts" is the first of its kind for Yahoo's digital music download service.
Damn! 500 names! No wonder the girl has laryngitis.
Jessica Simpson Song Promotion Taps Into User-Created Media Space [Ad Age]
Yahoo! has found a brilliant way to promote their new redesigned website — through ads that use "Yahoo" as a fill-in for "penis" and "vagina."
But, uh, what about transgendered or transsexual members of society? Why are they always marginalized from marketing schemes? Yahoo! should definitely add a few slogans to help even out this completely biased and narrow minded ad campaign.
What about, "I just Love My New Yahoo!" Or "Two Yahoo's Are Better Than One."
If the incessant coverage of Sundance – and, more specifically, incessant coverage of blog coverage of Sundance .. thanks Reuters! – hasn't caused you to yack with such force that even Lindsay Lohan would have to own up to it, perhaps Yahoo's shameless (and shameful) attempts at reminding you how hip, urban, and celeb-friendly its brand is will manage such a feat.
Over the weekend, Yahoo's PR camp blitzed off a release about its Yahoo! Cafe, a makeshift tented enclave in the Park City snow where the B-list and well-connected grips come to sip hot cocoa and pick up free swag. Actually, we're not sure if it's "Yahoo! Cafe" or "Cafe Yahoo!" — the press release doesn't match up with other coverage or the photos.
Shannon Elizabeth was seen enjoying the french toast while Lance Bass tried the scrambled eggs. It seems that David Krumholtz is a mac and cheese man and Joe Pantoliano likes a side order of sausage with his oatmeal. When they're not eating, many stars are taking the time to talk with Yahoo! about their Sundance experiences.
Okay, fine, they've got their big breasted and flamboyant clientele covered, but where are the celebs that have earned more than $2 million last year? From the Yahoo tip sheet, the following "celebrities" have been spotted:
Robert Downey Jr.
James Van Der Beek
Good Charlotte
Scott Caan
Giancarlo Esposito
Marlee Matlin
Tommy Lee
DB Sweeney
Sam Jaeger
Justin Long
Ben Foster
Robin Tunney
Melonie Diaz
Gregory Smith
Marvin Scott Jarrett
Donovan Leitch
Jack Osbourne
Astra Heights
Jordan Eubanks
Chris Masterson
Richard Titus
Cady Huffman
Ellen Muth
Vivian Wu
Amanda Demme
Beth Stolarczyk
Jason Wahler
Uh, yeah — after Robert Downey Jr., James Van Der Beek, and Good Charlotte, we didn't really know any of the other names either. Perhaps the Internet giant should stick to what they know best: sending bloggers to war zones.
Sundance Film Festival Coverage [Yahoo!]
To coincide with its much touted Paris Hilton Q&A (because there's so much about Paris yet to be revealed), Yahoo also offers up this cute little poll to quiz her fanbase on the heiress' best options to continue appearing in Us Weekly.
We were hoping for a write in option, since "CPA" just has so much more glam factor than any of these options.
As Yahoo! starts incorporating some 750,000 blogs into its news pages, some media critics are worried visitors won't be able to tell the difference between real news outlets and the blogs. Granted, blog search results will be physically distinguished on the page from MSM news items, but still: The potential that the two could be confused exists, so it's time to worry.
Yahoo, meanwhile, just wants to provide readers with a full, 360-degree experience. (Get it? Yahoo 360? No? Okay.)
In a prepared statement, Neil Budde, general manager of Yahoo! News, says the company wants to fuse professional journalism with so-called citizen journalism to provide a fuller spectrum of content to its members. Still, Yahoo! is clearly sensitive to the dangers of blurring the lines between professional and amateur journalism.
But it's simple to tell mainstream news from blogs, really: One publishes sensationalized stories, titillating headlines and racy photos — the other fact-checks.
Can You Tell Blogs From 'Real' News? [Forbes]
• Soho House got exciting again, in only for a brief moment. The members-only clubhouse played home to the New York Post's editor Col Allan breaking up a fight between his managing editor Colin Myler and an unnamed Australian journo. Someone must've mentioned the New York Daily News got So Duku.
• It's only been out for three weeks, but the buzz behind Men's Vogue is loud enough that Conde Nast is already looking for a full-time publisher. Not that they've even given the mag a full production schedule thumbs up just yet.
• Between America's Next Top Model and Everybody Hates Chris, UPN might be ready to take on NBC. The Peacock lost the ratings race to Chris Rock's new comedy, which trumped stumbling Joey.
• Martha Stewart threw two screening parties for her Apprentice and, like a good host, attended the shittier (staff) one so daughter Alexis and MSLO CEO Charles Koppelman could attend the luxe Bryant Park display.
• Yahoo continues bolstering its journalist staff, adding full-time financial scribes just after announcing it'd pay Kevin Sites to blog from war zones. And you thought Google was a big media company player.
• As Disney says goodbye to its chief of two decades Michael Eisner, staffers might not even notice unless they read the company newsletter.
• Rick Kaplan may have problems with his male staffers, but at least his female anchors are getting raves. Joe Pantoliano has fallen for Natalie Morales and proclaims "the girls are better on MSNBC," compared to FNC's blonde army.
• Vanity Fair's Michael Wolff asks whether the days of the broadsheet newspaper are numbered, which begs the question: Are the days of Paris Hilton magazine covers numbered?
• And don't forget folks, it's Ad Week here in NYC, which means gift bags will be padded with small tschotkes, not stainless steel grills.
• NYT Boldface Names scribe Campbell Robertson takes a holiday from social hob nobbing to – gasp! – do some actual reporting. Please, don't expect any of that coming from this space anytime soon.
• With Hurricane Katrina's exposure of government misconduct, Brian Williams promises the media is going to get back to actually reporting hard news, though they'll have to look back a few decades to remember how to do that.
• From CNN to Details, to Esquire and to Maxim, Anderson Cooper now lands in the New York Times, but only because he cries on camera.
• Miami Herald columnist Jim DeFede, who illegally recorded politico Arthur Teele just before he killed himself in the newspaper's lobby, will not be charged with any crime.
• Yahoo is adopting its role of media company (Wall Street must be cheering) with the hiring of Kevin Sites to report on three dozen war zones over the next year.
• We hear mildly disgraced former amNew York editor Alex Storozynski has found new work as the city editor of the New York Sun.
• Penthouse raised $48 million in stocks in bonds with hopes of launching a pay TV network to compete with Playboy's. Whatever, more porn is always good news.
• New Disney chief Bob Iger is quietly lobbying Comcast to help close the gap on "windowing," or the interval between a film's theatrical release and its DVD and small screen appearances.
Editorial Director
