Media

Urbis: 'Creative Republic' shows potential, faces threat of 'Myspaceyness'

I have a background in creative writing, so I was very excited to hear that one of the presentations at last night's NY Tech Meetup would be a demonstration of a new kind of Web community for writers (and eventually artists, musicians, and filmmakers). Indeed, the first presentation was of Urbis, which is a new review community founded by local New Yorker Steve Spurgat. Meetup founder Scott Heiferman described Spurgat, with his background as a playwright, as "the most unlikely Internet entrepreneur."

Here's the central concept of Urbis, which according to Spurgat has 12,000 members … Read more

MySpace gets into Apple patch pickle

MySpace.com and Apple Computer are demonstrating how not to deliver security fixes.

In response to a worm attack that hit the social-networking site over the weekend, MySpace has made available a security update to Apple Computer's QuickTime media player. Users who might need the fix are being told to go to a special MySpace.com page via a message that appears on their MySpace home page from Tom, the company's co-founder and everybody's first "friend" on the site.

On that special page, MySpace instructs its users to ignore an Internet Explorer security warning and … Read more

Is EZTakes a movie download service or a DVD rental company?

At the Digital Living Room conference today, several entrepreneurs pitched their home entertainment and networking products.

First up was EZTakes, a movie download service. It's unique because its pitch is based on archaic technology: DVDs. Like a few other services, it has a few content deals with studios and will let you download movies to your PC. Its library of 1,400 movies is not terrible, but certainly not comprehensive either.

EZTakes' difference is that its interface makes it easy for you to press your own DVDs, so you can then play them in your living room. The company … Read more

Yahoo, Current TV end partnership

As expected, Yahoo and Current TV have ended their distribution partnership, the companies said on Tuesday.

"As we approach the end of the initial ramp-up period built into the partnership with CurrentTV, both parties have determined that our respective goals and objectives were diverging and mutually decided to pursue other opportunities independently," Yahoo said in a statement.

A Current TV representative said the Yahoo statement was accurate "and we're not inclined to add to it right now."

It was unclear what would happen to the co-branded Yahoo Current Network that was launched in September. San … Read more

Iran blocks video sharing site YouTube

Iran is preventing its citizens from accessing video-sharing site YouTube, according to a report by the Associated Press.

YouTube is just the latest Web site to be blocked by a government operated by Shiite clerics over the past year. Iran has tried to cut off access to porn sites, those controlled by people critical of the government, and any that present Iranian pop music videos, which are unwelcome by the government, the AP reported.

Reporters Without Borders, an International group, told the AP that YouTube had been blocked for the past five days. The group has listed Iran as among … Read more

Site traffic stats can make pretty, pretty pictures

Web site traffic statistics are usually pretty dull. Pie charts. Bar graphs. Line charts. Maybe, if you're lucky, there's a colorful gradient fill in there somewhere. But it doesn't have to be that way anymore, as digital designer James Spahr has figured out a creative way to turn Web traffic data into pretty patterns.

Here's how it works, in simplistic terms: Traffic spirals clockwise. A thick line represents more traffic than a thin line. The colors represent categories of Web sites, like generic pages as opposed to "hubs" or random links (like a shopping … Read more

Correction: SimplyHeadlines does support RSS

Correction: My previous post about SimplyHeadlines stated that the product did not allow users to add their own RSS feeds. I was mistaken, as this TalkBack post explains. Sorry for the error.

Guess who's crashing your holiday party?

"I'm so tired of people talking about Web 2.0," says Sarah Meyers with a forced sigh. That's a lie, judging by her on-camera bouncing--platinum wig and bustier and all--as an unwelcome guest at a fete full of venture capitalists. Clearly she's relishing the access, the attention, and the ability to mock the scene while quaffing free cocktails and climbing into the cockpit of a parked miniplane.

You can watch Meyers's silly, party-crashing adventures at D7TV.com, a start-up that serves original micromovies to a Web browser or mobile phone. You can even hang … Read more

A brand-new, old-fashioned news reader: SimplyHeadlines

I thought maybe this pitch had been stuck in my email since 1999 and just got jiggled loose: "Receive your personalized SimplyHeadlines customized newspaper via email."

SimplyHeadlines, launching today, lets you select from a variety of news sources, and it will deliver you a nice-looking "newspaper" in your email every day at the time of your choosing. Nice, I suppose, if you've never heard of personal start pages like My Yahoo, Google homepage, Microsoft Live, NetVibes, etc. And it's even better if you don't like real customization: While you can select from a … Read more

CNBC retools Web site for video

On Monday, CNBC is expected to launch a revamped Web site that will offer three to eight hours of daily live broadcasts and more than 13,000 hours of video from the station's library.

Subscribers to CNBC Plus, a premium service that allows people to watch the entire CNBC broadcast over the Net, will cost $9.95 monthly.

People at work can follow the market by placing CNBC's new video player in the corner of their PC screen and watch while they complete tasks. Some of the CNBC's new tools include a personalized ticker that will allow … Read more