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TechPresident.com Launches "10Questions" Presidential Video Forum

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 22, 2007 - 2:57pm.

New York - TechPresident.com, a group blog on the use of the Web by presidential candidates, announced on Monday that it has partnered with the editorial board of The New York Times and MSNBC.com on 10Question.com, a video forum that will solicit video questions from users and responses in video form from candidates. Users can post question videos to all candidates on sites including YouTube, MySpace, Yahoo and Blip.tv tagged as "10Questions." The public will then vote on the ten best questions, with the NYTimes.com opinion page and MSNBC.com directing users to the videos, and candidates will have four weeks to submit video responses to those questions.

tags: Video | NY Times | MSNBC | Politics | User-Generated | TechPresident.com | 10Questions.com |

Report: NY Times to Shutter TimesSelect Subscription Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 7, 2007 - 3:13pm.

New York - The New York Post reported on Tuesday that The New York Times plans to abandon TimesSelect, its subscription service that includes archived stories and opinion pieces, in favor of offering free access to the content.

tags: Advertising | Newspapers | NY Times | Publishing | TimesSelect |

N.Y. Times: "Why the World Doesn't Need Hi-Def DVD's"

Authored by dmw on May 11, 2006 - 12:22pm.
New York - The New York Times on Thursday posted a review of the first HD DVD player from Toshiba to hit the market, the $500 HD-A1, in a column entitled, "Why the World Doesn't Need Hi-Def DVD's". The review concludes that one shouldn't purchase an HD-A1 "unless you're an early-adopter masochist with money to burn," adding that "the public may well decide that regular DVD's are just fine as they are."
tags: Video | Tech | TV | CE | DVD | Toshiba | HD DVD | Reviews | NY Times |

NY Times: "Brokeback Mountain" Parodied in Online Video Mashups

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 3, 2006 - 6:43am.
New York - The New York Times recently reported on the proliferation of online video "mashups" that parody the Oscar-nominated film "Brokeback Mountain," appearing on video-sharing sites including YouTube.com, GorillaMask.net and DailySixer.com. Produced by amateurs or comedy troupes and design shops, the mashups pair the music, themes and slow-motion cuts from the trailer for "Brokeback Mountain" with clips from other films, including "Back to the Future," "The Empire Strikes Back," "Heat," "The Lord of the Rings," "Titanic," "Fight Club" and "Point Break." The combinations are then posted on the video-sharing sites with titles like "Brokeback to the Future," "The Empire Brokes Back" and "Point Brokeback."
tags: Movies | NY Times | Websites | Brokeback Mountain | Mashups |

NY Times: Microsoft in Tentative Movie Deal for "Halo" Xbox Game

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 10, 2005 - 10:08am.
New York -- The New York Times on Friday provided a detailed inside look at Microsoft's pitch to Hollywood movie producers to create a movie version of its popular "Halo" video game for Xbox -- which in its first weekend of sales generated more money than the top-grossing opening weekend for a movie ("Spider-Man 2"). The company's offer -- delivered to the major studios on Monday with a 24-hour deadline -- demanded $10 million for the movie rights, 15% of box office, a budget of at least $75 million, all merchandising rights, create control over script, cast and director, and other lavish extras. Five studios immediately rejected the offer, which included a script penned by "28 Days Later" writer Alex Garland, but Microsoft has reached a tentative deal to make the film with Universal Pictures, with additional financing from Fox. Reported terms of their deal give Microsoft $5 million for the rights to "Halo," in addition to 10% of box office sales; Universal would oversee production and distribute the movie in the U.S., while Fox would also provide input into production and retain foreign distribution rights.
tags: Deals | Microsoft | Movies | NY Times | Halo | Xbox Game |

NY Times: RealNetworks Seeks Music Pact with Apple Against Microsoft

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 15, 2004 - 5:04am.
New York -- The New York Times reported on Thursday that media delivery technology firm RealNetworks made an appeal to Apple Computer to join forces against Microsoft in the digital music business. RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser reportedly sent an email to Apple chairman Steve Jobs on April 9, offering a "tactical alliance" that would necessarily compel Apple to open its closely guarded music technology and service to RealNetworks. The email further "strongly hinted" that if Apple did not partner with RealNetworks, the company would seek a possible alliance with archrival Microsoft -- even as RealNetworks has a pending $1 billion antitrust suit against the company over media player software. The proposed alliance with Apple would make songs from RealNetworks' music services playable on Apple's iPod, with the player then becoming the primary device used with RealNetworks' music services. "Why is Steve afraid of opening up the iPod?" Glaser asked in an interview with The Times. "Steve is showing a high level of fear that I don't understand."
tags: Apple | Microsoft | RealNetworks | NY Times | Deal | Music Pact |

NY Times: AOL Developing "Mystro TV" Service to Compete With TiVo

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 10, 2003 - 6:19am.
New York -- The New York Times on Monday reported on a secretive new service being developed by AOL Time Warner that would compete with TiVo in the market for personal video recorder services, which let viewers pause and record live television. Unlike TiVo, which uses a hard drive to record programs onto a set-top box in a viewer's home, the AOL service -- called Mystro TV -- would send individual, interactive streams from cable companies to each TV household, so that no content could be stored or copied. The device also would not support the ad-skipping features of TiVo and ReplayTV that have wrangled studio and network executives. Two senior AOL executives told The Times that the company hopes to begin rolling out Mystro TV within two years, initiating the service on its own Time Warner Cable operations and then selling the service to rival cable operators.
tags: TiVo | AOL | NY Times | Mystro TV |

NY Times: SBC Emerges as News Corp. Competitor for DirecTV

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 7, 2003 - 3:48am.
New York -- The New York Times on Friday reported that telephone and Internet giant SBC Communications has entered "serious negotiations" to acquire General Motors' DirecTV satellite TV operations in a deal reportedly worth $10 billion. The Times cited "people close to the talks" in its story, but neither SBC nor General Motors would specifically comment on the matter. Following the failed merger of DirecTV and satellite TV rival EchoStar, which did not pass regulatory antitrust approval, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch emerged as the leading suitor for DirecTV. Those close to the talks told The Times that General Motors approached SBC early this year about challenging Murdoch's bid, and that the two companies have been in talks ever since.
tags: DirecTV | NY Times | News Corp | SBC |