archives

o Industry Standard Ceases Publication, Lays Off Most of Staff
o European Commission Ends CD Price-Fixing Investigation
o More Details of Movie Studios' Video-on-Demand Plans Emerge
o CD Copy-Protection Firm SunnComm Settles Patent Royalty Dispute
o Net4Music Resumes Trading on Nasdaq
> DMW Panel Discussion: Microsoft vs. AOL | August 30 | D.C.
> DMW Panel Discussion: iTV | Sept. 5 | New York
o Briefly Noted: Ad-free MP3.com, Gator, Cable video-on-demand, "Doom"
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> Job Postings: Client Service Rep., Jr. Web Designer, Editor at Large

> Events/Services: "SHORTSPAN Film & Video Festival: SF BAY AREA Tour,
August 17th-20th," "Free Web Demonstration"

Full Job/Event/Services descriptions listed below "Briefly Noted" section
or at http://www.digitalmediawire.com/postings.html

To Post a Job: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html
To Post an Event/Service: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html
_____________________________________________

o Industry Standard Ceases Publication, Lays Off Most of Staff

San Francisco -- The Industry Standard, a magazine that covered technology
and "the Internet economy," has ceased publication and laid off most of
its 180 employees. A skeleton crew of six to 20 employees will remain to
run the publication's website while it seeks a buyer, but parent company
Standard Media International is soon expected to file for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection. The company had revenues of $140 million last year,
but since has gone through several rounds of layoffs amidst ad sales that
were down 75 percent this year. The Standard's award-winning Media Grok
newsletter, which critiqued media outlets' coverage of the Internet
industry, will also cease publication. One Industry Standard writer told
the L.A. Times that the publication's rise and fall paralleled the
Internet economy's. "We are the people we write about. We were growing at
this phenomenal rate, growing in every direction at once," said writer
Gary Rivlin. "Success was coming very easily. We had the hubris. We looked
down on the established media. Then when it all turned, we were slow to
trim back our sails, despite articles in our own magazine making fun of
others for not trimming their sails."
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28744,00.html
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28747,00.html
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-081701tech.story
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o European Commission Ends CD Price-Fixing Investigation

Brussels, Belgium -- The European Commission has ended its seven
month-long investigation of the five major record labels that sought to
determine whether or not the companies colluded to set minimum prices on
CDs sold in EU member countries, Reuters reported on Friday. The
investigation uncovered evidence of price-fixing among three of the majors
in Germany, where the companies named minimum advertised prices for CDs as
part of cooperative advertising agreements. The Commission did not say
which companies participated, but indicated that they have ceased the
practice. It also found similar evidence of price-fixing by one of the
majors in Italy. The Commission said it would let Germany and Italy decide
whether or not to launch their own investigations. It also noted that its
investigation into the DVD regional coding system, to determine whether
the system inflates the prices and limits the selection of DVDs available
in EU member countries, will proceed as planned.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6906816.html?tag=cd_mh
http://europa.eu.int/comm/press_room/index_en.cfm
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o More Details of Movie Studios' Video-on-Demand Plans Emerge

Hollywood -- The five major movie studios that announced yesterday the
formation of a joint venture to develop an Internet-based video-on-demand
system -- Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner
Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- sought anti-trust approval from the U.S.
Justice Department before moving forward with the service, according to
published reports. Additionally, studio executives told reporters that
Sony's Moviefly, an in-development video-on-demand service, would serve as
the technology infrastructure for the service. They also revealed that it
will support both Microsoft and RealNetworks media players. Movies
"rented" on the service will remain on users' hard drives for thirty days
after they are paid for, but will not be accessible 24 hours after the
first time they are viewed. Users will be able to pause, fast-forward and
perform other functions available on a VCR while watching the movies on
their computers. The service will launch with somewhere in the
neighborhood of 100 films, and consist of films several months out of
their theatrical releases, in the traditional pay-per-view window, as well
as older films. Two studios not involved in the deal -- Disney and 20th
Century Fox -- are both expected to announce details of their own
video-on-demand services in the next several weeks.
http://news.webnoize.com/item.rs?ID=13944
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,28750,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/17/technology/17STUD.html
http://www.moviefly.com
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o CD Copy-Protection Firm SunnComm Settles Patent Royalty Dispute

Phoenix, Az. -- SunnComm, a developer of technology that can prevent users
from making digital copies of CDs, announced on Friday that it has ended a
patent royalty dispute with Designer Products regarding its digital rights
management technology. Arizona-based Designer Products originally
developed and then sold the rights to technology now used by SunnComm in
return for anticipated royalty payments from licensing of the technology.
Under the terms of the settlement, Designer Products releases all claims
to the technology and SunnComm will receive all revenues generated by the
technology. Major record label BMG Entertainment recently announced that
it will test SunnComm's CD copy-protection technology on certain
undisclosed CDs released in the European market, to be pressed at
Bertelsmann's Guetersloh, Germany-based Sonopress manufacturing plant.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010817/170055.html
http://www.secinfo.com/d1157k.43b.htm
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o Net4Music Resumes Trading on Nasdaq

Minneapolis -- The Nasdaq National Market announced on Friday that it has
resumed trading in shares of Net4Music, a digital sheet music and music
education software provider. The Nasdaq halted trading of the company's
stock recently while the SEC investigated the company's recent report of
year-end and first quarter results. Due to "accounting complexities"
associated with Net4Music's reverse acquisition of Coda Music Technology,
the company was compelled to restate downgraded financial results,
increasing its net loss for both last year and the first quarter of 2001.
Minneapolis-based Net4Music recently announced it would close most of its
digital sheet music engraving operations, laying off 30 employees in the
process, and focus on marketing its music education software.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010816/dcth040.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/010816/162451.html 
http://www.net4music.com
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> Digital Media Wire Presents a Panel Discussion:
"Microsoft vs. AOL: The Battle of the Internet Titans"

McLean, VA | Thursday, August 30th at The Ritz-Carlton, Tysons Corner

This panel of journalists, policymakers and others will discuss the
increasing rivalry between these two monolithic companies -- and how their
competition will affect the development of the Internet for years to come.
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/DCbattle.html

MODERATOR:
Paul Sherman - Editor | Potomac Tech Wire

SPEAKERS:
Declan McCullagh - Washington Bureau Chief | Wired News
Edmund Sanders - Staff Writer | Los Angeles Times
***Additional Panelists TBA***

MEDIA SPONSOR: Potomac Tech Wire

For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/DCbattle.html
_____________________________________________

> Digital Media Wire & iLounge Present a Panel Discussion:
"iTV: Defining the New Face of Television"

NYC | Wednesday, September 5th at the Verizon Headquarters

This panel of players ranging from content providers to middleware
developers will discuss the new face of television, which will include an
amalgam of services like email, IPGs (interactive program guides), PVRs
(personal video recorders), enhanced TV, etc., and what it means for
Hollywood, the tech industry and most importantly, the consumer.
For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCitv.html

MODERATOR:
Lydia Loizides - Senior Analyst | Jupiter Media Metrix

SPEAKERS:
Sean Bratches - EVP, Affiliate Sales & Marketing | ESPN
Tim Larcombe - Regional President iTV, North America | AGENCY.com
David Nathanson - VP, Broadband Strategy & Channel Development | FOX
***Additional Panelists TBA***

SPONSOR: Verizon

For more information and to register:
http://www.digitalmediawire.com/NYCitv.html
_____________________________________________

o Briefly Noted:

(San Diego) MP3.com is now offering users the ability to navigate a
version of its music entertainment site "virtually" free of advertising
for a monthly fee of $3 per month or $30 per year. The service eliminates
both audio and visual ads on the site, which provides over one million
streaming and downloadable songs from major label, indie label and
unsigned acts. The ad-free subscription also includes the company's
Premium Listener Service, with features like the ability to burn custom
CDs in .wav or .mp3 formats.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010815/law055.html
http://www.mp3.com

(San Francisco) CNET reported Friday on Gator, a company that provides
advertising software companies can use to cover up the existing banner ads
on websites with their own ads. The pop-up ads are the exact same size as
the already-existing ads, and consumers are not likely to know that any
substitution has occurred at all. The software can also track users'
surfing habits, and target ads based on sites they visit. Legal experts
question whether Gator's technology presents unfair competition and said
it could in fact be illegal.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6897620.html?tag=tp_pr
http://www.gator.com

(Redmond, Wash.) MSNBC.com is currently running a feature story on cable
TV-delivered video-on-demand, currently available to only about 300,000
U.S. households participating in trial deployments. Digital cable, which
is and add-on prerequisite for receiving video-on-demand systems, will be
installed in between 12 and 13 million homes by the end of the year.
However, one concern is the additional $10 or so that consumers must pay
for the service. Cox Communications has reportedly lost as many digital
cable subscribers as it has gained in the past two years. The article goes
on to point out other threats to the technology, namely DVDs, studios
holding out on providing content and satellite-delivered digital TV.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/614187.asp?0dm=C16QT

(San Francisco) RedHerring.com is featuring a story on QuakeCon 2001, a
convention in Texas where hardcore gamers compete for $50,000 in prizes
playing the multiplayer video game "Quake." At the convention, the
upcoming edition of the hit multiplayer shooter game from Id software --
"Doom" -- was previewed. The game's new technology utilizes more polygons
to depict characters than do most video games -- closer to the number used
to create the digital characters in films like "Shrek" and "Final
Fantasy." Current "Quake" characters are composed of 10,000 polygons. Some
of the characters in the new "Doom" will consist of 250,000 polygons; for
comparison, the Shrek character from the film of the same name was made up
of some 1.5 million polygons.
http://www.redherring.com/index.asp?layout=story&channel=10000001&doc_id=
1840019984&rh_special_report_id=
http://www.idsoftware.com

===================================================
Job Postings:
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To Post Jobs: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/jobs.html

> Verance, Client Service Rep. (Western Region) - Los Angeles

Responsible for the day-to-day servicing of the advertiser/agency client
base, which includes training clients in all aspects of utilizing the
various Media Information Group systems and product offerings, encoding
content, utilizing the website for registering content, producing and
understanding reports and utilizing these reports to further their
respective business. Minimum 3 years advertising industry-related
experience.
Send resumes to: jobs@verance.com
http://www.verance.com
______________________

> Maxim Online, Jr. Web Designer - New York City

Must have experience with Photoshop, Illustrator, HTML, Fireworks, and
understand multiple browser and platform issues. Responsibilities include:
designing marketing contests and advertorial projects; designing party
pages to promote magazine events; designing banners to promote marketing
and editorial projects; and maintaining subscription pages throughout the
Maxim website.
Send resumes & URLs to: maximonlinejobs@hotmail.com
http://www.maximonline.com
______________________

> CNET Networks, Editor at Large - San Francisco

This newsroom leader is expected to write an average of 1-3 stories per
day if needed, and on a more analytical & exclusive basis than the average
reporter's assignment. Other duties include proposing and writing Special
Reports, news analyses, features and investigative stories. This position
also plays a key role at budget meetings, performs editing functions as
needed and serves as a mentor for less experienced reporters.
Send resumes to: careers@cnet.com and seanl@cnet.com
http://www.cnet.com

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Events/Services Postings:
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To Post Events/Services: http://www.digitalmediawire.com/events.html

> SHORTSPAN Film & Video Festival, SF Bay Area Tour, August 17th- 20th

SHORT MOVIES! Dreamspan presents the 9TH Annual Short Attention Span Film & Video Festival. Shortspan is a non-stop two-hour program of ALL NEW
two-minute-or-shorter films, including from Tokyo: a flying,
spinach-eating, ultra-modern woman in "Lady-GO!", the mixed up antics of a
cartoon character gone sinister in "Butchu-Kan" and 57 more shorts! The
tour will travel to 30 North American cities. SF Bay Area tour dates
include:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The Castro Theatre - August 17th -8PM & 10PM
SAN RAFAEL, CA: The Rafael Film Center -August 18th - 7PM and 9:15PM
OAKLAND, CA: The Parkway Theatre - August 19th - 9PM
BERKELEY, CA: The Jupiter Outdoor Cinema - August 20th - 9PM

More info: http://www.dreamspan.com/shortspan
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> Free Web Demonstration: Learn How A Federal Agency Saved $36 Million

Leading organizations are saving millions by more effectively managing
their company's diversified operations and scarce resources. With Pacific
Edge Software's project portfolio management solution, you'll get a clear
snapshot of your business, enabling you to balance strategic and tactical
requirements, so you can make informed business decisions. For more
information on how you can better manage your business, please visit
http://www.pacificedge.com/campaigns/digitalmedia
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Copyright 2001 Digital Media Wire