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DANA POINT, Calif.--When political pundit Arianna Huffington, along with a team of digital-media veterans, launched political news aggregator The Huffington Post in 2005, critics were skeptical of the left-leaning site. But it's turned out to be one of political journalism's great recent success stories, even amid controversy over the charismatic and opinionated Huffington and the site's business model, which utilizes thousands of unpaid bloggers in addition to full-time reporters.

Just over a year ago, The Huffington Post hired Betsy Morgan, head of CBSNews.com, to serve as its CEO, taking over from co-founder and former AOL … Read more

DANA POINT, Calif.--For an event populated with digital media's self-styled futurists, there is a whole lot of talk at the WebbyConnect conference about a defunct television network.

Marketers, ad gurus, and production types alike showed a notable level of interest in TheWB.com, a video site launched by Warner Bros. this summer as a digital replacement for the youth-oriented television network that it shut down in 2006. Available on the new site are archived Warner Bros. shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's Creek, as well as new just-for-the-Web series like Sorority Forever, which stars Jessica … Read more

DANA POINT, Calif.--Could the Information Age's fast-paced news overload be a boon to the old-media companies that it was supposedly going to force out of business?

That was one of the suggestions brought forth by Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman and publisher of The New York Times Company, at his keynote address at the WebbyConnect conference here Wednesday morning.

"Our 21st-century news cycle, with its trials and tribulations, feels even more immediate because of our access," he said. "It is reasonable to ask: Do we need all this news and information? Do we want all this … Read more

DANA POINT, Calif.--Jason Hirschhorn said negotiating with Hollywood has been "a soul-killing, ego-destroying experience."

But Hirschhorn, president of Sling Media Entertainment Group, also said it's been worth it. Sling is getting ready to roll out some big new projects that he hopes will make it more than the company that made the Slingbox.

In a panel called "A Hard Reset for Hollywood" at the beachfront WebbyConnect conference, Hirschhorn, the former chief digital officer at MTV Networks, talked about Sling.com, a video hub that's is currently in private beta and promises to deliver … Read more

NEW YORK--The inaugural Internet Week New York was eight days of open bars and missed opportunities.

On the red carpet at the 12th Annual Webby Awards on Tuesday night, the final event of the week-long city-sanctioned festival, I called out to Internet Week executive director David-Michel Davies and asked him what he'd do next year to change it. "We'd like to do a better job with the schedule," he said to me after hesitating for a moment. He added a few more words about how a better calendar could help Internet Week-goers connect, before publicists snagged … Read more

NEW YORK--The 12th annual Webby Awards Gala on Tuesday night was, unsurprisingly, an evening devoted to all things Internet. "Without the Internet, someone like Tila Tequila would have five or six friends, max," host Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live quipped about the Web's ability to roll out cult micro-celebrities. "Without the Internet, only Ron Paul would know who Ron Paul is."

The glitzy ceremony, held at a Greek Revival building that once housed the New York Stock Exchange and New York Merchants Exchange and now houses the upscale Cipriani Wall Street event space, celebrated … Read more

He might not get to fulfill his presidential dreams, but comic pundit Stephen Colbert will still end 2008 with at least one, uh, honor: Person of the Year at the 12th Annual Webby Awards.

The "Oscars of the Internet," presented by a consortium of technology, media, and entertainment hotshots known as the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, announced their winners and honorees on Tuesday. This year's Webbys will be presented next month as part of Internet Week New York.

Colbert received the Person of the Year accolade for his reputation as a digital buccaneer of … Read more

NEW YORK--On Tuesday night, Webby Awards executive director David-Michel Davies welcomed a crowd of media and tech enthusiasts to the nightclub-like Nokia flagship store in midtown Manhattan for a pre-Webby cocktail hour.

The specific purpose was to draw attention to the "Peoples' Voice" division of the awards, which take place on June 10; many nominees were present to drum up support, and the massive video screens lining the walls of the posh Nokia store were playing Webby video contenders on repeat.

But the party chatter didn't necessarily have anything to do with the awards ceremony. I asked … Read more

It might not be Austin's South by Southwest Interactive, but New York City will be getting its own digital-culture festival.

Called Internet Week New York (OK, they could have picked a better name), it will span June 3 to 10 and encompass several existing events like Federated Media Publishing's Conversational Marketing Summit, Advertising Age's Advertising 2.0 conference, and the 12th annual Webby Awards.

In addition, a number of tech and media companies--PaidContent, Flavorpill, The Onion, Thrillist, and Nokia, to name a few--have announced preliminary plans to host events in conjunction.

The office of New York … Read more