TECHNOLOGY CALLS: TV Veterans Launch New Web-based Show

MySpace Launches Celebrity News Site

Social network site MySpace has unveiled a new MySpace Celebrity site devoted to entertainment culture, which is slated to launch in full on the News Corp.-owned social network on Thursday.

The portal will feature news (including gossip aggregated from People magazine's Web site), blogs, and multimedia content pertaining to already-big and fast-rising names in acting, music, comedy, sports, and Page Six notoriety.

MySpace already operates several other 'channels' of aggregated content, including the Impact political channel and an upcoming casual gaming page. The content on the Celebrity site goes beyond gossip, encompassing news about celebrities' charitable endeavors and behind-the-scenes antics on the job. Perhaps most useful, MySpace Celebrity has an index of official celebrity MySpace profiles--more than 300 at launch. As many avid MySpace users know, fake and unofficial celebrity profile pages are a dime a dozen on the social network, and this ideally can create a way to weed those out.

"MySpace Celebrity is Hollywood's new home page," MySpace President and co-founder Tom Anderson said in a statement from the company. "Celebrities have been using MySpace since the site's launch and it's a natural extension for us to now offer them an aggregated channel where they can be in control of their own image...We want MySpace users to connect with celebrities in the same way that they do with musicians."

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http:/wirefan.com

MySpace To Launch Platform For Musicians And Their Videos

MySpace, the social networking site where people create home pages and embellish them as they would a dormitory room, plans to start positioning itself as a top destination for buying exclusive musical performances.

In a program called Transmissions, the social networking site is inviting musicians to choose a studio and select the songs they want to perform. MySpace will show and sell videos of the performance.

It could be perceived as an Internet variation of the popular series “MTV Unplugged,” but with a revenue stream built in. When musicians participate in the MTV series, their work is sometimes released as albums months or years later. On MySpace, the work will be available immediately. “If I like what I see, I can take it with me,” said Josh Brooks, vice president for programming and content of MySpace.

For years MySpace, now owned by the News Corporation, has served as a promotional platform for artists and labels, primarily through the MySpace Music portion of the Web site. Now the company wants to provide a sales component. Unlike Apple’s iTunes music store, which charges a flat rate of 99 cents a song, MySpace will let distributors set their own prices.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://conbuzz.com

Experts Say Social Networks Alter Meaning of Friendship

Steve Latour has lots of friends. Thousands of them. While he values all his friends, with that many he doesn't have time to hang out regularly with most of them. In fact, Latour, 27, has friends he's never even met. "It seems silly to say that many, doesn't it?" said Latour, who is from Carmel.

Welcome to the 21st century definition of friendship, where digital connections are replacing the in-the-flesh kind. It's a world where people use social networking sites such as MySpace (110 million users) and Facebook (50 million) to proclaim who they are through postings, photographs and music -- and find like-minded people to share their lives.

Users, especially teens and 20-somethings, create avatars in virtual landscapes such as Second Life and form real-life bonds with digitized projections of strangers. They use text-messaging, Web chat rooms and e-mail to keep up with pals instead of phone calls and dates.

Instead of buddying up with the kid down the street, young people today are unbound by geography. They can easily communicate across state and national borders. In short, this intersection between youth culture and new technology is altering what it means to say, "We're friends."

The usage of these sites is especially prevalent among teens. A Pew Internet and American Life Project survey earlier this year found that 55 percent of those online ages 12 to 17 use social networking sites.

Although plenty of older people also are using these sites, it's the under-30 crowd that tends to be the heaviest users-logging on hourly, repeatedly changing their profiles and sending updates and messages.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://conbuzz.com

Google To Bid For US Wireless Spectrum

US search engine giant Google recently announced that it will bid on wireless spectrum in the 700MHz band when the US Federal Communications Commission begins auctioning that resource in late January 2008.

Google has previously expressed interest in the spectrum, which is being made available as US television stations move to all-digital broadcasts by February 2009. Get the latest news on the internet at Broadband Advisor.

Earlier this year, Google joined consumer and public-interest groups in calling for the FCC to impose open-access rules on part of the 62MHz of spectrum to be auctioned. In July, the FCC voted to require open-access rules, which would require the winning bidder to allow outside devices and applications on the network.

"We believe it's important to put our money where our principles are," Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman and CEO, said in a statement. "Consumers deserve more competition and innovation than they have in today's wireless world. No matter which bidder ultimately prevails, the real winners of this auction are American consumers who likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."

Google's recently acquired interest in wireless spectrum has led it in several directions. The company launched the Open Handset Alliance, an open-development platform for mobile phones, earlier this month.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://jump2top.com

Monday, February 11, 2008

TV Veterans Launch New Web-based Show

In a bid to find the artistic freedom online that they say is lacking on broadcast networks,the creative minds behind such TV shows as "Thirtysomething" and "My So-Called Life" are launching a Web-based show.

The web show show, called "Quarterlife," debuts Nov. 11 on MySpace.com and will also be paired with its own social networking site that will include story extras as well as career, romance and other information for young audiences. The show is focused on a group of recent college graduates, and started as a pilot for an ABC series called " 1/4 Life." It only aired once in 2005 and was pulled because of creative differences between the network and creators Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick.

With the increase in online video and the migration to the Web of such well-known artists as Will Ferrell, Harry Shearer and Bill Murray, Herskovitz and Zwick decided to resurrect the show and give it a cyber twist. The shows producers were also attracted by the chance to have full creative control of the project and retain ownership, which could produce greater profit for them if the show becomes popular.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor
http://jump2top.com - seo Company

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