Consumer content

TheStreet.com names Jim Cramer chairman

TheStreet.com named co-founder and high-profile market commentator Jim Cramer as its chairman, in a move to separate the dual role of its Chief Executive Thomas Clarke.

The investor Web site noted that the separation of duties will allow Clarke to focus more on his efforts as CEO, during a period when the company is moving through a difficult economic environment.

The move by TheStreet.com to separate the positions is one that corporate America has increasingly embraced, though mainly to address corporate governance issues that have become a hot button in the era of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Netflix streaming comes to TiVo

Netflix streaming will be coming to TiVo DVRs by the end of 2008.

The ability to stream Netflix movies and TV shows will begin beta testing for select TiVo owners immediately, with an official roll-out scheduled for early December. It will be available on TiVo HD, HD XL, and Series3 DVRs (not Series2 or DirecTV models).

The service will effectively be identical to the Netflix feature available on the LG BD300, Samsung BD-P2500, and BD-P2550, Roku Player, and--as of mid-November--the Xbox 360. That means that existing Netflix subscribers can stream more than 12,000 movies and TV shows directly to … Read more

Amazon's Kindle obsession: Bury the printed book

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos loves to talk about the Kindle e-book reader. He's even got media mogul Oprah Winfrey pitching the device: "I'm telling you, it is absolutely my new favorite thing in the world," she recently said.

The Oprah endorsement is just the latest marketing scheme Bezos has applied to making the Kindle the next iPod. He has been relentless in promoting the Kindle at the expense of maximizing Amazon.com revenue on the virtual storefront.

Every time I go to Amazon I am greeted with a huge Kindle ad that takes up … Read more

Third Eye Blind singer: A Web site can be your album

Stephan Jenkins, lead singer of the band Third Eye Blind, digital music fan, and former beau of Charlize Theron, wants to clear up a few things. He wants people to know that contrary to what some have been saying about him, he doesn't hate the album format.

On Monday, Jenkins gave the keynote address at the SanFran MusicTech Summit. He said he was in favor of releasing singles and suggested that this would help avoid "album filler," the term used to describe the placing of so-so tracks on albums in order to meet the required number of … Read more

Dell PCs get preloaded with DRM-free UMG music

In a bid to help novice downloaders jump-start their digital-music collections, Universal Music Group is offering "curated" playlists to Dell PC buyers.

Starting at $25, selected bundles 50 or 100 DRM-free songs can be added while building a custom PC on Dell's Web site. The songs will come preloaded on the computer, ready to play as soon as it's booted up.

The music option is available only on the Inspiron 1525, Studio 15, and XPS 1535 laptops and Inspiron 530, 530s, Studio Desktop, and XPS 420 desktops. The XPS One and Dell Mini 9 netbook are … Read more

Video site Break.com lays off 11

Video site Break.com has laid off about 11 workers, according to CEO Keith Richman.

The Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company, which was once considered a YouTube competitor in video sharing, now bills itself as an online "entertainment destination for guys." It's planning to hire the same number of people in the future, just "with different skill sets," Richman said.

"Essentially, we are profitable," Richman said in an e-mail Wednesday night. "We have 80 people, are growing 100 percent year over year and still actively hiring for a bunch of jobs." … Read more

LinkedIn raises another $22.7 million

LinkedIn has raised an additional $22.7 million in funding, giving the business-networking site a little cushion in difficult economic times.

The strategic investment, announced Wednesday, comes from Goldman Sachs, SAP, McGraw-Hill, and longtime investor Bessemer Venture Partners. The money arrives on the heels of a $53 million Series D funding round in June that gave LinkedIn a valuation of $1 billion. The latest funding round brings the total funds raised to just more than $100 million.

LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye announced the funding in a blog posting on his company's site:

I'd like to reiterate our commitment … Read more

MySpace Music signs IODA, but where's Merlin?

Correction: The headline of this story incorrectly identified IODA as a label.

MySpace Music has signed a deal that will bring independent music artists to the site. And boy does Rupert Murdoch's upstart music service want to ballyhoo this announcement.

IODA, a company that aggregates and distributes digital music for indie artists, said Wednesday that it has agreed to supply more than a 1 million tracks to MySpace Music. Terms of the deal were not released.

In the month since MySpace Music launched, the indie community has bashed the service for not offering the same kind of favorable terms … Read more

After long, hard trip, Sling.com's almost ready

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 Lala.com may be (too) ahead of its time

Lala.com is finished helping users swap CDs and no longer is it interested in just being a Web radio station.

Stick with me here because Lala.com's new business model, as well as its history, is kind of convoluted and that's part of the problem.

The music service--on its third incarnation--is offering a way for consumers to store songs in digital storage lockers and access them from any Web-enabled device. For those of you who have been around a while, this may sound a lot like MP3.com or even MP3tunes.com, companies started by Michael Robertson, … Read more