The Business

Things to look for at Adobe MAX – The Society of Digital Agencies

Matthew Hendershot — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:55:07 -0600

When the Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) formed in March of 2007, a long and rocky road was laid out before them. Now, in their first full year of existence they are well on their path of, “ … advanc[ing] the industry through best practices, education and advocacy.”

McDonald's Goes Viral, Opens Non-Branded Quarter Pounder Restaurant

Simon Yuen — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:50:57 -0600

McDonald's has recently opened a restaurant in Japan named Quarter Pounder. The interior reveals a modern design with a simple black and red theme. You will not find any French Fry Kids, golden arches, or clowns here. Once you get to the counter you will have two choices: A Quarter Pounder with fries and drink, or a Double Quarter Pounder with fries and drinks. That's it.

AFTRA Deal Spurs SAG to Resume Negotiations

Zoom In Online — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:04:02 -0500

At 3:30 am on Wednesday morning, The American Federation of Television & Radio Arts finally sealed the deal in their negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Variety reports that the good news is this deal has now put pressure on the SAG to finalize a plan with the AMPTP. On the other hand, the deal has perhaps further soured the relationship between the SAG and AFTRA and SAG leaders have insisted that it's unlikely they will accept the terms AFTRA reached in regards to consent for the use of clips online.

The Beet: VideoEgg Focuses on Ad Network

Zoom In Online — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:54:19 -0500

This week on Beet.TV, Andy Plesser interviews VideoEgg CEO Matt Sanchez about the company's plans going forward, after taking down consumer content this weekend.

Apple Announces and Ships 8-Core Mac Pros!

Todd Howard — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:37:40 -0500

Have you been to Apple's website yet today? They have officially announced the arrival of the long-awaited 8-core 3GHz Mac Pro.

They have added the new machine to the top of the line, keeping the current quads where they were:

The Apple Mac Pro Product Line - April 4, 2007
• Two 2.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon ("Woodcrest") at $2,200
• Two 2.66GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon at $2,499
• Two 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon at $3,298

DRM-Free iTunes Music Store Downloads: May 2007

Todd Howard — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:08:17 -0500

Is the first wave of legal, DRM free music downloads swelling at last?

Adobe's Official CS3 Announcement Today: Via Webcast

Todd Howard — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 13:27:05 -0500

Adobe is announcing the official release of their brand new Creative Suite 3 offerings this afternoon, and the announcement can be seen by anyone with an internet connection via the live webcast from New York City -- Today, Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 3:30 PM eastern time -- just a reminder to tune in and see all the cool new features with live demos by Adobe gurus and all that good stuff.

HBO Launches Final Season of Sopranos using VOD, Internet video

Megan Cunningham — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:21:07 -0500

David Kaplan at PaidContent.org put together a nice summary of how HBO is leveraging cable partners (including both Comcast and Cox in addition to Time Warner Cable, its sister company). The strategy includes everything from broadband trivia, to free VOD offering short form original films as well as other internet video strategies.

NBC/News Corp Launch the "Largest Internet Video Distribution Network Ever," and Why It Might Work

Megan Cunningham — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 21:21:39 -0500

Everyone's talking about the NBC deal with News Corp, touting it as the "largest Internet video distribution network ever assembled."

AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! are the partners, under the theory the enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend, they've pooled their resources to form an alternative distribution network to YouTube/Google.

Premiere Goes Offline by Going Online

annie — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 12:22:49 -0600

The news today that Hachette Filipacchi is shutting down Premiere Magazine after its April issue struck a bit of a personal chord for me. Not because I like the magazine--haven't read it in years--but because my very first industry job was an internship at Premiere in fall 1996.