Top News:
New York Times:
The Google Algorithm — Google handles nearly two-thirds of Internet search queries worldwide. Analysts reckon that most Web sites rely on the search engine for half of their traffic. When Google engineers tweak its supersecret algorithm — as they do hundreds of times a year …
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Kevin Allocca / TVNewser:
Letterman Extortionist Nominated for News & Doc Emmy — The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced nominations this morning for the 31st News and Documentary Emmy Awards, and, yes, David Letterman extortionist Joe Halderman was among them.
Discussion:
rbr.com, New York Observer, The Wire, International Media, The Huffington Post, The Wrap, Moraes on TV, Mediaite, Gawker and MediaPost
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Matea Gold / Show Tracker:
PBS dominates News and Documentary Emmy nominations, but CBS also scores big — PBS flexed its usual strength when the News and Documentary Emmy nominations were announced Thursday, racking up 37 nods for its coverage of Taliban youth, the death of Iranian protester Neda Agha-Soltan …
Dylan Stableford / The Wrap:
Penthouse Owner Makes $210M Bid for Playboy — Marc Bell, owner of Penthouse magazine and FriendFinder networks, made his promised bid on Playboy Enterprises on Thursday, offering to pay $210 million for the struggling bunny brand. — Bell's bid is effectively $25 million …
Discussion:
AdAge, FishbowlNY, Folio, MarketWatch, Chicago Breaking Business, Romenesko, MinOnline, Gawker, Globe and Mail, The Wire, Multichannel, Baltimore Sun, AVN, Hollywood Reporter, Stocks To Watch Today and Jezebel
Mathew Ingram / GigaOM:
Blog Networks Try One More Time to Turn Local Journalism Into Cash — Can building a network of local bloggers help turn online journalism into a money-making proposition? Two new media ventures are hoping that it can, and have partnered with a startup called GrowthSpur to try and make that hope become a reality.
Emma Hall / AdAge:
Virgin Plans New Magazine as IPad App if Advertisers Sign Up — Billionaire Branson's Daughter Holly Is in Charge of Project — LONDON (AdAge.com) — Virgin is planning to extend its brand into consumer magazines with the launch of a new title, Maverick, which will be available as an app for the iPad, iPhone and eventually, Android.
Robin Sloan / Snarkmarket:
Why Old Spice matters — So the Old Spice campaign was funny, surprising, and perfectly-calibrated. These would be reasons enough to like it. But I'm not going to let you stop there. Here's how I think the campaign establishes an important new precedent—not for online advertising, but for online storytelling across the board.
Jarvis Coffin / Burst Media Company Blog:
The Washington Post Company Buys iCurrent: Old Media is Dead. Long Live Old Media. — The Washington Post Company reported (see story in Paid Content) that it has acquired iCurrent, a company in the business of helping internet users assemble and organize online information according to their specific interests.
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Michael Calderone / Yahoo! News:
The Daily Caller grabs Olbermann domain name — Tucker Carlson says he's going to start using a new email address: Keith@KeithOlbermann.com. — Carlson, a conservative pundit and editor-in-chief of the Daily Caller site, was in good spirits Thursday after acquiring the domain name …
Discussion:
Mediaite, The Daily Caller, WebNewser, FishbowlDC, Inside Cable News, New York Magazine and The Wire
Ken Doctor / Nieman Journalism Lab:
The Newsonomics of the dead cat bounce — [Each week, our friend Ken Doctor — author of Newsonomics and longtime watcher of the business side of digital news — writes about the economics of the news business for the Lab.] — The season's upon us, as newspaper and media companies announce their second-quarter earnings.
Andy Alexander / Ombudsman Blog:
Post online strategy: Grow audience, and engagement — Quick quiz: Among staff-written stories, what's generated the most page views on The Post's Web site in the past year? Something about the BP oil spill, perhaps? The Haiti earthquake? The health-care reform vote? — The answer: Crocs.
Zeke Turner / New York Observer:
‘Bloomberg BusinessWeek’ Grabs ‘Times’ Tech Correspondent — New York Times technology correspondent and Bits blogger Brad Stone has been scooped up by Bloomberg BusinessWeek editor Josh Tyrangiel. — Mr. Stone launched his career at Newsweek in 1996, taking up coverage of Silicon Velly for the newsweekly two years later.
Lacey Rose / The Biz Blog:
Exclusive: Larry King Weighs In On Potential Replacement Piers Morgan — At a press event to hype his latest venture as a financial partner and spokesperson for The Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Company, departing CNN host Larry King spoke to Forbes about his rumored replacement Piers Morgan …
Shane Richmond / Telegraph:
Spotify ‘growing healthily and on track for US launch’ — Spotify is still on track to launch in the US this year, Daniel Ek has told the Telegraph. — Daniel Ek, the chief executive of the internet music streaming service, said that Spotify now had more than half a million subscribers.
Michael Starr / New York Post:
Worst ‘Oprah’ ever — Oprah's down in the basement, looking for her lost viewers. — “The Oprah Winfrey Show” hit an all-time ratings low for the week of June 28, averaging a 2.9 — the first time in the show's 24-year history it fell below the 3.0 mark.
Michael Learmonth / AdAge:
New Data Shows Hulu Serves More Video Ads Than Google — More Than 566 Million Video Ads in June, According to New Numbers From ComScore — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Hulu is far from the biggest video site on the web; YouTube holds that distinction by a wide margin.
Steve Buttry / Pursuing the Complete Community …:
Academics measure new media (again) by old-media yardstick — For academics studying whether “citizen journalism” is going to “replace” traditional journalism, let me save you some time: It won't. It's not trying to. It shouldn't. — Journalism is not, never has been and should not become a zero-sum game.
Foster Kamer / Runnin' Scared:
Bros Icing Bros: Dear New York Media, Smirnoff Would Like To Thank You For Selling This Stupid Drinking Game — Have you heard of the once-legendary and now-kinda-dead urban terrorism drinking game Bros Icing Bros? It involves the fermented sugarpiss known as Smirnoff Ice, your friends, and casual alcoholism.
Felix Gillette / Business Week:
Twitter, Twitter, Little Stars — As customers make or break brands online, companies rush to hire social media directors...and figure out what they do — Natalie Malaszenko has always loved pets. A 31-year-old resident of San Diego, Calif., she has a dog named Sarge and a cat named Leo.
Jon Friedman / MarketWatch:
Joel Stein makes me feel ‘stomach-sick’ — Commentary: His ‘My Own Private India’ piece is shameful — NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — When Joel Stein issued an apology for his recent Time magazine column, entitled “My Own Private India,” he took pains to point out that he felt “stomach-sick” for hurting so many people's feelings.
Stu Woo / Wall Street Journal:
Newspaper War Rages in West Marin — POINT REYES STATION — This sleepy town of 800 residents is home to west Marin County's two weekly newspapers. A nasty battle will decide whether it is big enough for both of them. — Last month, the upstart West Marin Citizen accused …
Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:
Is There an iPad Premium? Hearst Says Its Popular Mechanics App May Cost More Than the Print Version — Internet axiom: Digital stuff-movies, music, whatever-should cost less than its physical counterparts. Because it costs less to make it. — But don't tell Hearst.