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DMW Daily, May 5, 2008

Top Stories
o Microsoft Abandons Three-Month Battle, Drops Bid for Yahoo
o WSJ: AOL Could Emerge Winner of Failed Microsoft-Yahoo Deal
o Activision, Vivendi Withdraw from ESA; Won't Attend E3
o NY Attorney General Proposes Tougher Film Piracy Penalties
o Nine Inch Nails Offer Another Free MP3 Album: "The Slip"
o Amazon to Offer Out-of-Print Sony BMG, EMI Albums On-Demand
o Christian Video Site GodTube Raises $30 Million
o AP Launches Mobile News Service Geared Toward iPhone
o Warner Music to Test Digonex Variable Pricing on Digital Albums
o HD Video Streamer Vusion Gets Funds; Signs Island Def Jam
o Desmond Tutu to Help Launch Online Music Discovery Service
o Men's Web Network CraveOnline Acquires Two Hockey Sites
Opinion & Analysis
o Mark Cuban: Will The Ala Carting of Video on the Net Lead to Disaster?
o OSG: The Secret Metric For Measurement Every Marketer Wants
Briefly Noted
o IODA to Debut White Label Storefronts for Indie Labels, Artists
o NBC News Launches iCue Educational Site
o Lycos Adds On-Demand Rentals to Lycos Cinema Service
o Digimarc Licenses Patents to MSI for Pre-Release Music Tracking
o Universal Music Taps Gotuit for Personalized Music Offerings
o AOL Sports to Distribute Electronic Arts Sports Trivia Game
 Top Stories
o Microsoft Abandons Three-Month Battle, Drops Bid for Yahoo 
Redmond, Wash. - Shares of Yahoo fell 15% by late Monday, two days after Microsoft withdrew its $47.5 billion takeover bid for the company. [more..]
o WSJ: AOL Could Emerge Winner of Failed Microsoft-Yahoo Deal 
New York - AOL could emerge as the big winner of this weekend's failed mega-deal between Microsoft and Yahoo, with both companies potentially seeking to acquire the Time Warner unit in their efforts to better compete with Internet ad leader Google, The Wall Street Journal reported. [more..]
o Activision, Vivendi Withdraw from ESA; Won't Attend E3 
Los Angeles - Video game publishers Activision and Vivendi Games have discontinued their memberships in the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) industry trade group, and will also not be attending this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade show, GameDaily reports. [more..]
o NY Attorney General Proposes Tougher Film Piracy Penalties 
New York - New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Monday introduced new legislation, endorsed by leaders of the New York State Senate and Assembly, that would increase penalties on those caught trying to record films in movie theaters for piracy purposes. [more..]
o Nine Inch Nails Offer Another Free MP3 Album: "The Slip" 
New York - Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails on Monday released yet another album of new material online for free, this time providing no paid options at all -- but rather a range of DRM-free download options for "The Slip." [more..]
o Amazon to Offer Out-of-Print Sony BMG, EMI Albums On-Demand 
Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com announced on Monday that it will begin selling out-of-print albums from major labels Sony BMG and EMI on-demand through its CreateSpace service. [more..]
o Christian Video Site GodTube Raises $30 Million 
Dallas - GodTube, a Christian video-sharing site and online social network, has raised $30 million in new financing from GLG Partners, at a valuation of around $150 million, PaidContent.org reported. [more..]
o AP Launches Mobile News Service Geared Toward iPhone 
New York - The Associated Press (AP), the New York-based news wire, on Monday debuted its Mobile News Network, a multimedia news portal targeted at wireless users, particularly those with Apple iPhones. [more..]
o Warner Music to Test Digonex Variable Pricing on Digital Albums 
Indianapolis, Ind. - Digonex Technologies announced on Monday that major label Warner Music Group will use its technology to test variable pricing on select digital album downloads. [more..]
o HD Video Streamer Vusion Gets Funds; Signs Island Def Jam 
San Jose, Calif. - Vusion, a provider of HD-quality streaming video distribution services, on Monday announced its official launch and the signing of Island Def Jam Music Group as its first customer. [more..]
o Desmond Tutu to Help Launch Online Music Discovery Service 
New York - Hedge fund operator and S Records founder Steven Nowack plans to launch a new music discovery and delivery service at a press conference in New York tomorrow, which will be attended by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu. [more..]
o Men's Web Network CraveOnline Acquires Two Hockey Sites 
Los Angeles - CraveOnline, a male-focused network of entertainment sites, announced on Monday that it has acquired two hockey-related sites, HockeysFuture.com and HFBoards.com. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o Mark Cuban: Will The Ala Carting of Video on the Net Lead to Disaster? 
The question is whether the dollars the big TV and media companies are creating online from the streaming of their current TV lineups are sustainable incremental dollars? Or is streaming the video a collateralized video obligation? [more..]
o OSG: The Secret Metric For Measurement Every Marketer Wants 
If a picture is worth a thousand words, OSG can be the difference between proving the effectiveness of a social media effort in a way that people understand, or having lots of numbers in a complex report destined to be ignored by all those who almost read it, blogs Rohit Bhargava. [more..]
 Briefly Noted
o IODA to Debut White Label Storefronts for Indie Labels, Artists 
San Francisco - Digital music distributor IODA is set to announce tomorrow the launch of IODA Label Stores, a white label download storefront that will allow labels and artists to sell digital music directly to consumers. [more..]
o NBC News Launches iCue Educational Site 
New York - NBC News on Monday launched iCue, a free online collaborative learning site that incorporates gaming, discussion and video resources. [more..]
o Lycos Adds On-Demand Rentals to Lycos Cinema Service 
Waltham, Mass. - Lycos on Monday added online video-on-demand rentals to its Lycos Cinema service, which previously offered ad-supported viewing. [more..]
o Digimarc Licenses Patents to MSI for Pre-Release Music Tracking 
Beaverton, Ore. - Digital watermarking technology developer Digimarc said on Monday that it has licensed its patents to Media Sciences International (MSI), which provides forensic tracking services for secure distribution of promotional content to the major record labels. [more..]
o Universal Music Taps Gotuit for Personalized Music Offerings 
Woburn, Mass. - Universal Music Group announced on Monday that it has signed a broad license agreement with Gotuit, a provider of metadata technologies. [more..]
o AOL Sports to Distribute Electronic Arts Sports Trivia Game 
Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts has partnered with AOL Sports to market and promote "EA Sports GameShow," the company's new online sports trivia game. [more..]