YouTube Launches YouTube XL, Console Makers Content With Current Gen and More
YouTube launches YouTube XL -- Only two days after the release of Hulu desktop, YouTube has released YouTube XL, a portal of the site optimized for viewing while on the couch. The site is formatted for big screen viewing with many of the extra features stripped out to simplify the layout and controls. YouTube also released a remote control application to control the player from a Google Android phone much like Apple's Remote application for the iPhone. Yesterday Hulu released a desktop application to make browsing the site from a couch much easier. [Source: Business Insider]
Console makers content with current gen systems -- The current generation of video consoles, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 are the longest cycle of consoles since the Atari. At this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, the console makers have expressed their plans to improve on current technology instead of releasing a new generation of systems. While the current economy is cited as a reason, analysts point to the lack of a new post-BluRay storage medium to necessitate such a move. Consumers are willing to not have the latest and great technology as the technically inferior Wii is the generation's best selling console. [Source: Business Insider]
Time Warner may spin off magazines next -- After deciding to spin off AOL into its own business yesterday , TimeWarner may also spin off its magazine division as well. With magazines facing big questions in the wake of the collapse of the ad market and the proliferation of online distribution, analysts believe it may be easier for the company to sell the publishing properties than to reinvent their business model. If TimeWarner spun off magazines, it would be left with its cable and film entertainment divisions. The move is also in line with the company's recent strategy of focusing on distributing content, rather than creating it. [Source: paidContent]
Detroit papers announce layoffs -- The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News have announced layoffs. According to one executive, 129 positions are set to be cut, 25 from the Free Press. Most of the cuts came on the business side of both papers under The Detroit Media Partnership. The economy was blamed, but the executive said that no further cuts are expected. [Source: Editor & Publisher]
Teamsters considering a strike at Star-Tribune -- A union representing the paper's delivery drivers is threatening to strike if the newspaper follows through with its plan to cut pension expenses. Currently the plan costs more than a $1 million in premiums, and is being labeled as "critically unfunded." If the union strikes, pressmen and mailers are also likely to strike. The Star Tribune filed for bankruptcy in January. If a strike were to go through, the paper said that it would likely have to shut down. [Source: Houston Chronicle]
Ten percent of Twitterers account for 90 percent of Tweets -- A new study by Harvard Unveristy has revealed that the top ten percent of active users on Twitter account for 90 percent of the site's tweets. The study revealed other facts such as men often have 15 percent more followers than women and men are twice as likely to follow another man than a woman. The researchers noted that most social networks are driven by women, men often follow women they do not know and women follow people they do know however Twitter is driven by men. Among Twitter's users, the medium lifetime tweets is one. [Source: Harvard Business Publishing]