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N.Y. Times

N.Y. Times: "The iPod Ecosystem"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 3, 2006 - 6:30am.
New York - The New York Times on Friday reported on "The iPod Ecosystem," or the accessories market for Apple's line of portable digital music and video players. NPD Group estimates that iPod owners generally buy three or four accessories -- such as cases, car chargers, docking stations and speakers -- making for an aftermarket of $850 million in 2005 that's expected to surpass $1 billion this year.
tags: The iPod Ecosystem | N.Y. Times |

N.Y. Times: Walkman Inventor Finally Gets Credit, Royalties from Sony

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 20, 2005 - 6:58am.
New York - The New York Times recently reported on Andreas Pavel, a Brazilian who has finally won his claim to be the inventor of the Walkman. Pavel patented his idea for a portable tape player with headphones in several countries during the late 70's, and shopped his idea to electronics firms including Grundig, Philips and Yamaha, before Sony came out with its Walkman in 1979. Pavel eventually sued Sony, but lawsuits and negotiations dragged out for 25 years before he reached a reported eight-figure settlement with the company, which now also pays Pavel royalties on several Walkman models.
tags: Deals | Sony | Walkman | Credit | N.Y. Times | Royalties |

N.Y. Times: Disney to Distribute Media Players in McDonald's Happy Meals

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 12, 2005 - 2:56am.
New York - The New York Times on Monday reported on Disney's plans to offer portable media players in McDonald's Happy Meals, as detailed in a recent patent application. Customers could then download segments of movies, cartoons or games over Wi-Fi within the restaurants to the media players. "The reward for eating at a restaurant, for example, could be the automatic downloading of a segment of a movie or the like, or a short animated clip or cartoon," according to the patent application. Since 2003, McDonald's has installed Wi-Fi Internet access points in 6,200 of its restaurants worldwide.
tags: Deals | Disney | N.Y. Times | McDonald | Happy Meals | Media Players |

N.Y. Times: Deadheads Protest Band's Closure of Free Downloads Site

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 30, 2005 - 8:26am.
New York - The New York Times reported on Wednesday on the backlash from the decision of the Grateful Dead, which had always allowed fans to record live shows and trade recordings freely with others, to remove the ability to download live concert recordings from a website called the Live Music Archive. The site's recordings will now be available only in streaming format. Fans of the band, known as Deadheads, have threatened to boycott the band's own merchandise -- which now includes an online store where fans can purchase downloads of many of the same recordings -- if the decision is not reversed. "One-to-one community building, tape trading, is something we've always been about," the band's spokesman, Dennis McNally, told The Times. "The idea of a massive one-stop Web site that does not build community is not what we had in mind…Our conclusion has been that it doesn't represent Grateful Dead values."
tags: Website | N.Y. Times | Free Downloads |

N.Y. Times: Microsoft Is Front-Runner For Stake in AOL

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 7, 2005 - 2:56am.
Dulles, Va. - The New York Times reported on Monday that Microsoft "has emerged as the front-runner" in talks for a potential stake in America Online. Google and Yahoo are also reportedly interested in a stake -- and the formation of a far-reaching partnership with America Online. However, the article said that America Online parent Time Warner has discovered that reaching such a deal is more difficult than it expected. "Behind the scenes, a number of questions remain that could hold up or even derail a potential transaction," the article said. "One is whether such an alliance would represent yet another new and unproven partnership for Time Warner, a company that has spent much of its energy in recent years trying to simplify its business."
tags: Microsoft | AOL | N.Y. Times | Front-Runner |

N.Y. Times: "'King Kong' Blurs Line Between Films and Games"

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 24, 2005 - 7:12am.
Los Angeles - The New York Times recently reported on the hands-on role director Peter Jackson has taken in the creation of the video game based on his upcoming remake of "King Kong." In development at France's Ubisoft, with a budget of over $20 million, "Peter Jackson's King Kong" will feature elements created by Jackson specifically for the game, in addition to the voice talent of actors from the movie including Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody and Jack Black.
tags: Games | Films | N.Y. Times | King Kong |

N.Y. Times: Networks Experimenting With "Mobisode" Cell Phone Format

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 17, 2005 - 2:14am.
Los Angeles - The New York Times recently reported on "mobisodes," the one-minute mobile TV shows for cell phones, that network TV producers including Fox, MTV, Disney and Warner Bros. are currently experimenting with. Fox commissioned 24 mobisodes of a spin-off for its popular drama "24," which used non-union actors to cut production costs, and has also produced serials based on its "The Simple Life" and two original properties. "This is going to be a situation where we all try a bunch of different things because we are trying to figure out what is the right business model," Kevin Tsujihara, an executive vice president of Warner Brothers Entertainment, told The Times. "It will take time to evolve."
tags: Mobile | N.Y. Times | Mobisode | Networks |

N.Y. Times: Even the Toy Industry is Worried about the iPod

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 13, 2005 - 4:07am.
New York - The New York Times on Thursday published an overview of how the latest offerings in consumer electronics are influencing the toy industry. One challenge facing toy manufacturers and merchants is the trend that children are becoming captivated by the digital “toys” of their adult parents, like the iPod. Thus toy companies are aggressively partnering with consumer electronics vendors to provide a wide range of digital toys in time for the holiday season, such as: cell phones; digital video cameras; MP3 players; and DVD video projectors. "This is the year when we will see what works and what fails," said Anita Frazier, of the NPD Group. Her research firm reported that sales of children's electronics rose 40 percent in 2004, to $694 million, which may be a leading indicator that offerings from toy stores and consumer electronics retailers will soon overlap.
tags: iPod | N.Y. Times | Toy Industry |

N.Y. Times: File-Sharing Thrives on Invitation-Only "Darknet" Groups

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 7, 2005 - 7:21am.
New York - The New York Times reported on Friday on "darknets," or exclusive peer-to-peer networks where users are more concerned with privacy for their actions, and membership is by invitation only. Over 100,000 darknets have been created by users of Grouper, one company offering users the ability to create the private file-sharing groups; to address copyright concerns, the company limits music sharing to FM-quality MP3 streaming, and also limits group sizes to 50 members. However, some users have found ways to get around limitations on some darknets, and share everything from music to movies to games and software. "If I were an investor, I'd think strongly about whether to invest in a company that could facilitate this sharing," Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig told The Times.
tags: File-Sharing | N.Y. Times | Darknet | Groups |

N.Y. Times: MarketWatch Could be Sold for Up to $400 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 29, 2004 - 4:21am.
San Francisco -- The New York Times reports that MarketWatch, a San Francisco-based provider of online business news, financial information and analytical tools, could be sold for as much as $400 million. According to the report, the company, which operates the popular CBS MarketWatch.com site, has been actively seeking bids, though company officials declined to comment. Possible suitors may include The New York Times, the CBS unit of Viacom and Dow Jones & Co, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
tags: N.Y. Times | MarketWatch | Sold |