Gawker
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rumormonger
Intel's Secret Geekfest to Kill the iPhone
Apple's got the iPhone. Google's got Android. Even Amazon has the Kindle. After flirting several times with the ooohs-and-aaaahs gadget business, Intel convened a brain trust last week to work on their own mobile phone. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Figaro: I'm willing to wager that this thing will flop. Intel just doesn't get consumer products and design. Every one of... 3 Responses | Other threads
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timeline
Steve Jobs and the Power of Refusing Reality
While Steve Jobs' famed "reality distortion field" transformed, despite all odds, computers, music, movies and cell phones, it is his own body which has proven resistant to his formidable power to reshape the world. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Mark 2000: What's disturbing is that Jobso, the hippy idiot boy, spent a YEAR not getting treatment for the original cancer and... 3 Responses | Other threads
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explainer
Why Disney's funding Chinese pirates
If Chinese viewers want to watch Disney's Hannah Montana — no accounting for global tastes — they can do so on 56.com, an online-video site akin to YouTube. The show is pirated. But does Disney really mind? Its startup-investment arm, Steamboat Ventures, put money into 56.com two years ago. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by mind_at_large: funny thing is if you link to those videos sitting here in US, Disney will come sue you for copyright... more » | Other threads
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Sandy Litvack
Justice Department's trustbuster a hired gun with Mickey Mouse ears
Who is Sandy Litvack, the lawyer that the Justice Department hired last week, in a move which most believe mean the trustbusters are planning to break up Google's deal to sell ads on Yahoo? Litvack's resume might give Google's lawyers reason to sweat. If it takes a monopolist to catch a monopolist, Litvack's perfect for the job. At Disney, he was CEO Michael Eisner's right-hand man when the company went on its most aggressive acquisition binge ever. He masterminded Disney's purchase of the ABC television network, which was the Google-DoubleClick deal of its day. And Litvack is a guy who likes to take a case to trial. More »
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Comment by macbeach: When David Boise was up against Microsoft he seemed invincible. Later when he represented Al Gore in Florida,... more » | Other threads
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venture capital
Yes, there are "Series F" funding rounds and the Active Network just closed one
The Active Network, which owns sports portal Active.com and also provides Web-based marketing and other services, just raised $80 million closing a round of funding led by Disney's ESPN Networks. It's Active Networks' fifth round since 1999, increasing total investment in the company to $275 million. In 2004, Active filed for a $46 million IPO, but pulled it back due to unfavorable conditions, which of course, have only deteriorated since. Active says it plans to spend the money on infrastructure and more acquisitions. In the past two years, the company's acquired 11 others in total. Nobody will say if the company's profitable — which probably means its not — but PaidContent heard Active pulled $107 million in revenue in 2007. -
politics
Senator Ted Stevens indicted for making "false statements"
Ted Stevens, the Republican Senator from Alaska who has held office for a record 40 years, has been indicted on seven counts of making false statements in connection with illegal influence peddling by the likes of convicted Veco CEO Bill Allen — who says the company dispatched employees to remodel Senator Stevens's Alaskan home and paid former Alaskan State Senator Ben Stevens, Ted Stevens's son, $234,000 in bribes. However, none of the indictments arises from his much-parodied description of Internet infrastructure as a "series of tubes." More »
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By Jackson WestComment by Vulture: So when are they going to indict the rest of the Senate? more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
Comcast buys Movies.com
Comcast subsidiary Fandago will acquire Movies.com from Disney for an undisclosed price. Disney doesn't expect any layoffs as a result of the deal. [paidContent] -
copyfight
Did Apple forget to clear Disney rights for music during WWDC keynote?
When CEO Steve Jobs presented the list of countries where the iPhone will be available in the next few months near the close of Tuesday's keynote address at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, the presentation cued music of "It's a Small World After All" — a song long copyrighted by Disney, on which Jobs sits on the board. However, someone at Disney legal must have asked Apple to excise the music from the copy of the video that's archived online. With the original grabbed from Mahalo Daily's one minute version of the address, we've cut together the two versions for comparison. That saddest part? Now you can't hear the jolly chortle of Apple board member Al Gore!
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By Jackson WestComment by sample032: @OaklandTechie: I know that applies to license fees for cover songs, but I'm not sure about the original. more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
Disney acquires San Francisco green-living site IdealBite
The House of Mouse has swallowed San Francisco-based tips-for-living-green site IdealBite for $15 million. Heather Stephenson and Jennifer Boulden founded the site in 2005 and later took funding from former AOL exec Bob Pittman, who's also known for backing email lists Daily Candy and Thrillist. Expect more similarly small acquisitions from Disney going forward. After its $350 million Club Penguin purchase last year, Disney said it planned to acquire 20 startups in 24 months. -
David Verklin
Meet the man who has to save cable
Ad money is flying onto the Web. While it hasn't hurt cable TV yet — that business is still seeing a migration of ad dollars from the broadcast networks — Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Cablevison, Charter and Brighthouse Networks are worried it could. So together, they've created Canoe Ventures, and hired ad-agency veteran David Verklin as CEO. His mission: Convince cable programmers like Walt Disney's ESPN or Viacom's MTV to adopt advertising technology that will automatically place cable commercials, like Internet ads are targeted today. More »
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Comment by G2GdoB2B: But I'm confused. What they are creating is something that goes against their revenues. Or are they being pressured by... more » | Other threads
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reorgs
How Disney's Steve Wadsworth plays the game
Is there an old-media Internet chieftain with a longer tenure than Steve Wadsworth of Disney? Just a finance guy when he first got involved in Disney's Internet projects in 1995, he survived corporate shakeup after corporate shakeup. He was first named chief of the online group in nine years ago by the long-forgotten Michael Eisner, and held onto that role through spinoff and reorg, bubble and bust and bubble. His latest power grab: seizing control of Disney's videogames unit. A memo from current CEO Bob Iger yammers about synergy between the Internet and mobile content operations Wadsworth oversees and the games unit he's taking over. It all makes a passable amount of sense, as business moves go. But the real explanation for the creation of Wadsworth's new Disney Interactive Media Group? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ugottabekidding: I can't believe what I am reading. How can you characterize games, which are largely moving on line... more » | Other threads
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online video
ABC to test more ads in online shows
For those of you who get your McDreamy fix by watching Gray's Anatomy at ABC.com, you'll soon have to start putting up with more advertisements. Now viewers will simply switch browser tabs instead of changing the channel. [Hollywood Reporter] -
defamer
Why Don't We Feel Better About All These New Movies on ITunes?
The inevitable grouping of the major studios under the iTunes roof finally occurred today, when Apple officially announced it had reached agreements with Universal, Paramount, Fox, Warner Bros., Sony and Lionsgate (along with previous bedfellow Disney) on day-and-date downloads of their new DVD titles. The studios had made most releases available for rental since earlier this year (with catalog titles for sale before that), but this marks the first time users can buy and download new releases on their DVD street dates. More »
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By STVComment by johnnypotatoes: I don't get it. If they want to charge that much, and people are willing to pay for it, how... more » | Other threads
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lawsuits
Google discloses ex-Pixar CFO's legal trouble — but Disney doesn't
The stock-options backdating scandal, which bored Silicon Valley the day the SEC first announced its investigations, continues. The latest to disclose a brush with the law: Google. Google has not been accused of misleading investors by moving up the grant date of stock options, making them more profitable for the executives who received them. But Google board member Ann Mather, the former CFO of animation studio Pixar, has, and the SEC is now initiating legal proceedings against her. More » -
virtual worlds
Disney virtual theme park closing — wait, how do we tell the difference?
If any media concern seemed destined to prosper in the business of virtual worlds, it was surely Disney. Its Virtual Magic Kingdom, created as a one-off to promote Disneyland's 50th anniversary, proved popular enough that Disney kept it open. Now, however, it's closing, with the nonsensical explanation that it was meant to close all along. An online petition predictably failed to sway Disney managers, and the site is closing on April 21. The number of players has dropped from 1 million after launch to roughly 250,000 today, and Disney would just as soon have them join its more successful Toontown. A virtual Magic Kingdom, after all, might substitute for a trip to the actual theme park. A fake real thing threatening a real fake thing? Only on the Internet, folks, only on the Internet.
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By Owen ThomasComment by EnerHax: build it and they will come . . . guess that pooped out on this deal. never been to the... more » | Other threads
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online video
Twee hipsters can now download Juno from iTunes
Everyone's favorite over-allusive Indiewood hit Juno is now available for download at the iTunes Music Store for $14.99. The move marks Fox's first foray into offering new DVD releases as paid downloads through Apple's popular service, with the studio joining Paramount and Disney. Amazon's Unbox already carried the title, where it's also available to rent. Apple TV owners won't be able to rent Juno until May 14.
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By Jackson WestComment by Widget Economist: Lol, $15.00 Just go to wikipedia and read the spoilers to see what happens. Save the money, time. Just imagine a woman... more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
Yahoo's bankers drum up AOL merger talk
Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers advisers have CEO Jerry Yang and the Yahoo board of directors talking a merger with AOL, according to the Times of London. Last week, new Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes announced plans to formally split AOL from its ISP business, in a move that he said would "increase AOL's strategic options." The Times also reports Yang and company plan to test interest from Disney. More »
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Comment by Tiltawhorl: Word on the street is Yahoo wants a merger with GNN, Webcrawler, Intercon, Stratus, Redgate, and Medior. more » | Other threads
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disney
Disney reported a 9 percent increase in revenues year-over-year but a 20 percent drop in earnings per share in the most recent quarter. In a strong showing, Disney's cable and broadcasting division — which includes ABC and ESPN — showed a 28 percent rise in profit, making $908 million on $4.2 billion in sales. Nope, TV isn't dead yet.Disney press release] -
movies
Oscar Screener Piracy Less Of A Problem, Thanks To Regular Piracy
Since the MPAA tried to ban screeners of Oscar-nominated films over piracy fears in 2003, the risk of those screeners leaking to the Internet has actually fallen, according to research by journalist/programmer/dot-com founder Andy Baio. But a month before the ceremony, all but six of this year's 34 nominated films have been leaked online. Below, how movie studios' fear of piracy (okay, "stealing") was the best thing that happened to pirates. Plus, how a studio's fear of piracy kills a movie's Oscar chances. More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by X on the MTA: i use handbrake to rip every movie netflix sends to me so i can watch them later. Sometimes i download... more » | Other threads
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oscars
If a rat can do it, so can San Carlos mayor Brad Lewis
In Los Angeles, everyone goes to the Oscars. But Silicon Valley remains so starstruck that a local dignitary's attendance at the ceremony makes news. Brad Lewis, San Carlos's newly installed mayor, is going to the Academy Awards. When not out furthering his political career, Lewis moonlights as a Hollywood producer. His most recent flick, Pixar's Ratatouille, is up for four awards, including best animated film. At last, he can regain the dignity he lost while working as "a dancing monster" in the national stage production of Sesame Street Live! -
disney
The American Kids Didn't Want It, Let's Try Japanese Women
Disney is pitching a mobile phone service (Disney web sites, games, videos and ring tones on phones covered with the Mickey Mouse head) to Japanese women, says the WSJ, a year after the entertainment company shut down a similar U.S. service. More has changed than the target demographic; the new program gives more of the grunt work to carrier Softbank Mobile than Disney's failed partnership with Sprint. But Disney is also encouraged by its popularity among women over 20; the Journal notes that 75% of Disney sites' subscribers are this demographic, and that Tokyo Disney is popular for dates. What will the Japanese schoolgirls do to set themselves apart from their older sisters? More »
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By Nick DouglasComment by SidAndFinancy: @Auntie_Meme: If I had only known! You couldn't imagine the disappointment when some costumed attendant was happy to point the... more » | Other threads
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pixar
Steve Jobs nearly killed "Toy Story" sequel — and a baby
According to a new book titled The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company, excerpted today in the New York Post, Apple CEO and Pixar founder Steve Jobs didn't want his studio to make Toy Story 3. His reluctance stemmed from a distrust of Pixar partner Disney and its CEO Michael Eisner. In the book, Jobs says he felt "sick about Disney doing sequels [to Pixar films] because if you look at the quality of their sequels, like The Lion King 1 1/2 and their Peter Pan sequels and stuff, it's pretty embarrassing." More »
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Comment by Davey D. David: I was lucky/unlucky enough to have worked at Disney's "Circle Seven Animation Studio", while they were doing Toy Story 3.... more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Get the kids before they develop a first life
Virtual worlds and big tobacco hold one strategy in common: hook 'em young. It's estimated some 20 million kids will congregate in virtual playgrounds by 2011. To capitalize on their addiction, a growing percentage of virtual architects are focusing on kiddie fare modeled after Webkinz and Club Penguin. Disney, Warner Bros., Viacom's Nickelodeon, as well as Lego, Mattel, and Hasbro are milking cartoon and toy franchises for the stuff of kids' virtual dreams. Disney's launching Pixie Hollow, a fairy-themed world, in time for the release of Tinker Bell this fall. Disney, we have the perfect beta tester for you. -
apple
Disney signs up for iTunes digital movie rentals
As expected, Disney has signed a deal with Apple to provide digital movie rentals over iTunes. The terms are similar to last week's deal with Fox. While this isn't particularly surprising — Steve Jobs owns a huge chunk of Disney from when the company bought his Pixar animation studio — it is good news for Apple. Can you name any Fox movies off the top of your head? Neither can I. But I know a ton of Disney flicks that are worth watching. Among them, Pixar's small but universally brilliant library of family movies, which will help iTunes appeal to moms and dads. OK, so that's two studios down. What about the rest? Variety reports that Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. are unlikely to sign on for "various competitive reasons." More »
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Comment by kfury: Sure Fox doesn't have as much brand recognition in any given film as Disney does, but think about how often... more » | Other threads
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rumormonger
Google replacing ski mountain with Space Mountain?
We hear that Google has discontinued its traditional midwinter Googler ski vacation. No more mandatory trips to Squaw Valley and all-night parties with '80s cover bands. Instead? Look forward to a company trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. (No, not Tijuana.) More »
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Comment by waynelambright: What about the club 33, is that on the menu? more » | Other threads
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spaceship earth
Only one greasy-haired hippie named Steve built the first Apple
Walt Disney's monument to international culture and technology, Epcot, was stunningly advanced when it opened in 1982, but many of its original attractions became horribly dated over the last quarter-century. Particularly its centerpiece, Spaceship Earth. The ride within the iconic, giant silver golf ball documents the advances of human communications and technology. Recent renovations have brought Spaceship Earth into the Internet age, but when it emerged that the ride would include only one Steve toiling away in a garage to create the historic first Apple computer, controversy ensued. Which Steve? More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by Davidkevin: That cardboard(?) box certainly doesn't look like anything the Steves built or sold in the early days, but more like... more » | Other threads
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acquisitions
The Mouse traps more baby websites
1 down, 19 to go. Last week, Disney execs Leigh Zarelli and Matt Pillar promised they'd acquire 20 startups in the consumer space over the next 24 months. Today the House of Mouse announced it had acquired iParenting Media, an advice and community site for parents and soon-to-be parents. What can loyal users expect? More » -
disney
Timeline of a startup bought by Mickey Mouse
Disney's buying 20 Internet startups in the next two years, and suddenly startuppers have a whole new world to imagine. They know about selling out to the same old tech giants: At Google, get rich and leave for another startup; at Yahoo, get bogged down in bureaucracy; at Microsoft, disappear like Haley Joel Osment. But what happens to a startup at Disney? Here's an inside look. More » -
disney
This rodent is on the prowl
Hey founders, if you're worried about getting roped onto Google's kindergarten campus wait 'til you hear about the latest acquisition predator. The Mouse. More » -
vuguru
Michael Eisner still good at losing money on the Internet
Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner maintains Hollywood writers are stupid for striking over how much they should be compensated for Internet video. Over the weekend, he told the New York Times there isn't any money in Internet video. At least not any money in Internet video he has a hand in. "The shows that I made for [the Internet] cost like $3,000 for 90 seconds," Eisner explained, referring to his failed made-for-Internet efforts "Prom Queen" and "Prom Queen: Summer Heat." Of course, Eisner, whose exit from Disney was hastened by irate shareholders, is no stranger to failure. More »
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Comment by mandarin: Prom Queen : Summer Heat? Sounds like a porn video... Maybe it sounds better in a different language... more » | Other threads
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math is hard
Mouse House hits back at striking writers
Writers are striking in Hollywood because they want a bigger piece — in fact, any piece — of revenue studios earn when they put content online. The studios like to claim the content is "promotional" — a use for which writers don't get paid — and that the promise of the Internet isn't fully understood yet. The World Wide Web might still be a fad. Nonsense, say writers, who have distributed fliers claiming Disney will pull in $1.5 billion in digital revenue this year. More »
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Comment by tolles: If that was a legitmate loss, the studios could write it off. What a crock. Now, the fact that the entertainment... more » | Other threads
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followup
MerchantCircle gets new funding to continue spam campaign
MerchantCircle has secured an additional $10 million in series B funding from past investors Rustic Canyon Partners, Scale Venture Partners, and Steamboat Ventures (Disney's VC arm), as well as new investors including Barry Diller's IAC and Square 1 Bank. The press release claims, "the investment validates the company's 'merchant-first' business model." I'd say, rather, it confirms that investors who should know better will sink cash into a disreputable business. More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by LoLo: Just got a call at my office gig. Before hanging up and Googling their name I heard something along the... more » | Other threads
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online video
What ABC News can learn from YouTube
"ABC is the only major broadcast network that is using the staff of its evening newscast to produce a separate and distinct daily program for a Web audience," a New York Times feature reports today. Among the differences from the broadcast show: More casual correspondents, plus longer back-and-forths between anchor and reporter that would be cut to seven seconds on cable. But ABC's online clips are shackled by two Web video blunders. More » -
wireless
Virgin Mobile IPO fails to pop
Some IPOs — like Google and VMWare—are impressive from the start. Others — like Vonage, which has fallen 85 percent since going public — fall flat. Virgin Mobile, with its cherry brand name and backers, should have had a sparkling debut. And yet it didn't. More »
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Comment by Owen Thomas: @David E. Weekly: I disagree. The notion of a perfectly priced IPO, leaving money on the table, is good in... more » | Other threads
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club penguin
Did Disney buy a $350 million dud?
If word on the playground is to be believed, Disney spent $350 million (or maybe twice that) on Club Penguin, a fad fading faster than hypercolor. Apparently children are fickle beasts, happy to glom onto the newest igloo-decorating simulator. Penguins have fallen out of favor, according to our preteen correspondents. "Do you use Club Penguin anymore?" asked one 8-year-old. The response: "No, it's too old school." At least they're learning to cynically identify fads when they're young. More »
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Comment by ResearchZilla: dude, can you feel the breeze from a silent heads nodding in agreement with you? my kids were all over... more » | Other threads
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wireless
World too small for Disney Mobile
Disney has learned a harrowing lesson: Breaking into the wireless business is no Mickey-Mouse affair. Since it's too expensive to compete with the big carriers, Disney Mobile is shutting down. Instead, it will focus its efforts on licensing its Family Center suite, which provides services like child tracking and phone disabling, to other carriers. You'd think Disney would have already learned this lesson with its ESPN subsidiary's defunct wireless service, which found last year that it was too late to get into the game.
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Comment by JonCK: I think Disney missed the point. Its goofy to think someone will buy a phone specially to track someone when... more » | Other threads
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online video
ESPN continues to make sure no one can see its broadband website
ESPN is relaunching ESPN360, its sports-video broadband website, but it still hasn't figured out that new media require new business models. The Disney-owned channel has tried to use the same moneymaking scheme that worked so well on cable companies: Instead of charging consumers, charge the distributor. But few Internet service providers bit, limiting the site's reach to fewer than 16 million homes, and failures during the 2006 FIFA World Cup soccer games turned off the few viewers who actually logged on.The Wall Street Journal predicts that ESPN is poised to announce plans to relaunch the channel next month. But instead of addressing the basic problem of access, ESPN is refocusing 360 on live, second-tier events like polo, rugby and lacrosse. Way to make it even more niche. -
acquisitions
eBaum's World gets a buyout with strings attached
How much would you pay for a viral-video site which some have charged with stealing clips? Depends on who you ask. eBaum's World has just sold for $15 million. Or is it $17 million? Or $67.5 million? HandHeld Entertainment, the San Francisco-based developer of the ZVUE portable media player, has agreed to shell out $15 million in cash and $2.5 million in stock for the Rochester, N.Y.-based website. The rest will come over the next three years, if eBaum's World meets traffic targets and other conditions. The conditional nature of the deal reflects the buyer's shaky finances — and also, a growing hesitancy to splash cash on websites with uncertain futures. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by burdine: If anyone wants to know the story about why people hate eBaum's World, here's the story, in song! [www.ebaumsworldsucks.com] more » | Other threads
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virtual worlds
Why Disney's spending real money to buy Club Penguin
Forget Second Life. It turns out that kids, not adults, are the ones whose virtual worlds translate into real bucks. On Wednesday, Disney bought New Horizon Interactive's Club Penguin, a website where kids pretend to be penguins and decorate digital igloos. The price tag for putting mouse ears on the penguins? $350 million, and Disney's willing to double that if Club Penguin hits earnings goals in 2008 and 2009. Unlike the wasted budgets of corporate marketers setting up empty shops in Second Life, Disney's money seems well spent. Here's why. More » -
bubble 1.0
Not everyone from the dotcom era suffered through the bust. The former CEO of Disney-bought search engine Infoseek now spends all his time sculpting, painting, and playing tennis. [San Jose Mercury News]
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Comment by googoobaby: Speaking of Infoseek, whatever happened to Patrick "Short Eyes" Naughton? I remember the Feds cut his sentence post 9/11... more » | Other threads
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Thu Jul 9
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