2008 04-01 MediaBytes: Google - Virgle - Rick Astley - Gmail

GOOGLE is using April 1st to roll out a number of exciting new initiatives. The company has unveiled a joint venture with Virgin called Virgle, the first human settlement on Mars. Users can sign up online to be a Virgle pioneer. Gmail users received a useful Custom Time upgrade today, allowing them to send email yesterday. And, lastly, all Featured Videos on YouTube.com now redirect users to Rick Astley's hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up," complete with 80's dance moves and a stylish trench coat. Enjoy.

COMCAST is facing an increasing online backlash for re-compressing HD channels so that it can increase its channel offerings. Users began noticing degraded HD quality and posted screenshots in forums comparing the Comcast images with Verizon's FiOS HD images. Comcast's HD showed increased pixillation and distortion. A company spokesperson confirmed the practice, saying "Compression is a reality." Perhaps, but this is certainly a poor time for a cable company to offer lower video quality than a telco TV service.

SONY has launched C-Spot, a new online comedy channel. C-Spot features short-form comedies, including "Hot Hot Los Angeles" and "The Roadents," an animated show about traveling guinea pigs. Actor Kevin Pollack will be featured in a C-Spot series called The Writer's Room, a look behind the scenes of a sitcom. New episodes will be posted on a daily schedule and distributed trough AOL Video, Hulu, YouTube, Crackle and more.

NICKELODEON is seeing increased online traffic due to iCarly, a network show that incorporates user-generated material. The show now accounts for a staggering 20% of all visitors to Nick.com. iCarly urges viewers to visit Nick.com to upload their own videos, offering them the chance to be seen on TV. This clearly works.

NIELSEN reports that Internet ad spending jumped 18.9% in 2007, while all ad spending combined only increased .6%. National cable ads were up 2.2% but network TV fell 1.5%.

Read more at http://www.ShellyPalmer.com

Category:

Science & Technology

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• shelly
• palmer
• mediabytes
• media
• news
• google
• gmail
• virgle
• rick
• astley
• youtube
• comcast
• hdtv
• high-def
• sony
• c-spot
• roadents

[tannerf99]

i fell for the gmail custom time joke for months. i needed to email a late paper to a teacher today, and i was intending on using the feature (that i now know doesn't exist) to get it to him "on time." Now im fucked. shiiiit

[Gameboygenius]

ಠ_ಠ