Media

How to retweet without needing a lawyer

Ah, the retweet.

In the realm of communications, there are few things that one can do that can convey so much meaning, yet require so little effort. Add a simple "RT" to a tweet, or hit the little retweet button in any Twitter client, and you elevate 140 characters that might otherwise slip by unnoticed to another level, a level that, at the very least, you're saying is worth your followers' attention.

Retweeting is so easy that many people hardly think about what it means, and barely recognize that what they're doing, quite literally, is republishing … Read more

Facebook ranking would climb with new ComScore system

ComScore has an early Christmas gift for Facebook -- a slight boost in its Internet audience ranking thanks to a change in its measurement system.

ComScore, which tracks Web site visitors and other information, today unveiled its new digital audience measurement and media planning tool dubbed the "Media Metrix Multi-Platform."

Currently in beta in the U.S., the technology tracks audience size and demographics on traditional desktop browsers as well as mobile devices. And it does so in such a way that accounts for people using multiple devices to access the sites.

Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of … Read more

New Microsoft ad Scroogles on the Surface

Since yesterday, you might have already changed your online shopping search methods.

You may have been so moved by your fear of being Scroogled that you immediately decided to Bing every little thing.

No, I am taking an excessively early tipple.

Yesterday, Microsoft launched a site called Scroogle. It informs you that all Google's shopping searches are paid for by companies. It tells you the only honest searches are on Bing.

And now I have bumped into what appears to be a TV spot that tells you the same thing in an even more dramatic way.

Here we have … Read more

Bonus! Sony 'loans' Ultra HD video player to buyers of $25K TV

Those lucky folks who can afford a $25,000 4K Ultra High Definition TV from Sony now have something else to cheer about.

The Japanese electronics giant said today that it's now bundling an Ultra HD video player with the TV, giving users access to high-resolution content. And purchasers of the "4K Ultra HD Home Experience" also will receive an Xperia Tablet S that serves as a remote control.

In case that's not enough, Sony also is preloading the video player -- a hard-disk server -- with a gallery of 4K video shorts and 10 full-length … Read more

Microsoft to IE haters: You're sad

If you despise Internet Explorer, you are a twerp.

You are a sad, lonely doofus who sits alone, night after night, posting stupid, negative comments about a browser that is simply above your station.

You are so truly, irredeemably pathetic that your greatest achievement is to have won a karaoke competition at your local bar in 2008.

No, these are not my harsh words. We never bathe in harshness here.

These are the thoughts and sentiments that emerge from a rather touching new ad produced by Microsoft.

In hyping IE10, the company has decided to confront its critics in the … Read more

Weatherman's fiancee stages naked coup of his Twitter feed

There are some people to whom things just happen.

It may well be that John Bolaris is one of those people.

Last year, he was suspended from his job at WTXF-TV in Philadelphia (he was subsequently fired) after Playboy wrote that he had been the alleged victim of "bottle girls" in a Miami club.

These women, it seems, had the bottle to wring $43,000 from his credit card.

Now, more woman trouble.

As the New York Daily News reports, Bolaris appears to have been asleep when his girlfriend wrestled her way onto his Twitter account and began … Read more

Time Warner CEO wants Apple to make a TV

NEW YORK--Bring on the new TV, Apple, the chief executive of Time Warner said today.

Jeff Bewkes, speaking during a Business Insider conference in New York, said he hopes Apple makes an innovative TV. And he expects other companies to create similar products as well.

"I think Apple's a great device company," with the ability to take products that were called commodities, create differentiation, charge premium prices, build ecosystems, and create loyalty, he said.

"If they bring good interface navigation skills to the interface of TV and devices, when we're talking about 200 channels of … Read more

Could Yahoo's move away from media be AOL's big chance?

NEW YORK--Yahoo's new direction under CEO Marissa Mayer could be the big chance for AOL, a couple of former tech execs said today.

Ross Levinsohn, who served as interim Yahoo chief executive before Mayer's appointment, and Jon Miller, AOL's former CEO, said during a Business Insider conference in New York that Yahoo's shift away from becoming a media company in favor of focusing on its core tech offerings could be really lucky for AOL.

"It creates an opportunity for AOL I haven't seen for them in a number of years," said Miller, who … Read more

Microsoft calls Google 'Scroogle'

It's hard not to associate Christmas with Bing.

However, Bing would like you to associate Christmas with Scrooge. The Scrooge that is Google.

The Bing I refer to is not the deceased Crosby with whom Christmas is synonymous, but Microsoft's fine and slightly underused search engine.

The Bingers would like you to know that Google is, in fact, Scroogle. How so? Well, according to Microsoft, "all of their shopping results are now paid ads."

At least, that's what the Bingers bong on a new site called Scroogled.com.

<A href="http://www.bing.… Read more