Mediagazer: DIRECTV partners with Google TV Ads (Mike Steib/Inside AdWords)

4:25 PM ET, August 11, 2010

Top News:

Alexia Tsotsis / TechCrunch:

Confirmed: HOPA Dry Erase Girl Is A Hoax, Identity Revealed — “Girl quits her job on dry erase board, emails entire office (33 Photos)” is indeed a hoax, say its creators John and Leo Resig. — I'd love to pull out some well-worn meta-media analysis about how memes are increasingly …

Discussion: NevilleHobson.com, The New Republic, The First Post, theCHIVE, The Consumerist, Gizmodo and PE Hub Blog, more at Techmeme »

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Meet the Prankster Brothers Behind “Jenny,” the Whiteboard-Using, Farmville-Exposing, HPOA Girl — Yesterday, everyone on the Internet loved Steve Slater, the Jet Blue flight attendant who quit his job by cursing out his passengers and bolting out of his plane using the emergency slide.

Ryan Tate / Gawker: The Quitting Tale That Suckered the Whole Internet

Sheelah Kolhatkar / The Atlantic Online:

The News Merchant — Interested in booking Joran van der Sloot's ex-girlfriend for the morning news? Want an exclusive? Got a little cash to spend? Larry Garrison's the person to call, though most news networks won't admit they call him. The inside story of how tabloid TV news is made …

Discussion: New York Observer, CJR, TVNewser and Inside Cable News

Claire Atkinson / New York Post:

You've got friends — Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and AOL CEO Tim Armstrong are quietly discussing a strategic alliance aimed at boosting their online ad businesses, The Post has learned. — The two companies have been talking for several months about a partnership …

Discussion: GigaOM, MediaPost, New York Observer and CMO.com, more at Techmeme »

Mike Steib / Inside AdWords:

DIRECTV partners with Google TV Ads — Cross-posted from the Google TV Ads Blog — Today, we're announcing a strategic partnership with DIRECTV through which Google TV Ads will offer inventory on a broad selection of television networks available on DIRECTV.

Discussion: paidContent, MediaPost, TechCrunch, PC Magazine, Fortune, All Things Digital, 901am and L.A. Times Tech Blog, more at Techmeme »

Mike Taylor / FishbowlNY:

Playboy Hits the iPad, Sans Nudity — Playboy, the magazine famous for its photos of naked women, has launched an app for the iPad, with the same Apple-imposed iTunes restrictions (no nudity!) that govern its iPhone app. — minOnline reports: … “Gatefolds of skin”? Sounds worse than it is.

Discussion: The Wrap and New York Magazine

Jeff Rivera / mediabistro.com:
So What Do You Do, Hugh Hefner, Founder of Playboy Enterprises?

Discussion: UnBeige and mediabistro.com

Keith J. Kelly / New York Post:

Newsweek's editor exodus — Pressure is mounting to find a new editor-in-chief of Newsweek, as the staff defections continue in the wake of the sale two weeks ago to stereo mogul Sidney Harman. — Jon Meacham, the current editor-in-chief, is telling staffers he hopes to pack it in by Labor Day.

Discussion: Yahoo! News

Peter Kafka / MediaMemo:

Still Going! As Promised, Viacom Appeals YouTube Copyright Ruling — In June, Google won a huge legal victory in its three-year YouTube copyright fight with Viacom. But that was a battle, not the entire war. As promised, Viacom has appealed the federal court ruling, via a filing today.

Discussion: Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog, Multichannel, The Wrap and Company Town

Guardian:

Channel Five ‘bloodbath’ as Desmond culls seven directors — • Desmond plans to invest £1.5bn over five years — • Up to 80 jobs to go in £20m cost-cutting drive — • Five may return to Project Canvas — Channel Five is to lose seven of its nine executive board directors …

Discussion: Variety, The First Post and Media Week

Joe Pompeo / The Wire:

Peter Lattman Is Leaving The Wall Street Journal For The New York Times — The Wall Street Journal is about to lose another one of its star reporters. — Peter Lattman, who covered law before switching to the private equity beat, is headed to the New York Times, Business Insider has learned.

Discussion: FishbowlNY, New York Observer, mediabistro.com, Company Town and Talking Biz News

Adrianne Jeffries / ReadWriteWeb:

Tribune Co. Hopes Anchorless TV Newscast Will Be Just Like Surfing the Web — From the department of You Just Don't Get It, Do You: Tribune Co. is planning to blow the traditional TV newscast apart in an attempt to imitate the experience of Web browsing on TV.

Discussion: Lost Remote and Making Sense of Media

Tanzina Vega / New York Times:

A Weekly Magazine Meant for Mobile — A small group of former magazine journalists and editors, including the former president of Newsweek, plan to launch a weekly digital magazine this fall that they hope will capitalize on the idea of creating content specifically for mobile technology.

Discussion: New York Observer, Jacket Copy, Poynter Online, eMedia Vitals, Venture Capital Dispatch, Brooks in Beta, Media Buyer Planner, AdPulp, Silicon Alley Insider and Romenesko

Joshua Topolsky / Engadget:

Exclusive: Upcoming Apple TV loses 1080p playback, gains apps... and will be renamed iTV — You might remember that we broke news of an updated Apple TV headed to market just a few months ago. If your brain isn't working right, let us jog it: a trusted Engadget source asserted that the gang …

Discussion: Gizmodo

Dave Itzkoff / New York Times:

Johnny Carson's Online Presence Gets a Boost — In one of his last “Tonight Show” monologues, in 1992, Johnny Carson informed his audience that a virus had struck the program's computers, wiping out “29 years of our writers' material.” — “Three of the best jokes you've ever heard in your life,” he said.

Discussion: WebNewser, TVWeek.com, Variety, The Atlantic Online, The Huffington Post, New York Magazine, Movieline and TV Tattle

Journalism.co.uk:

[TNTJ] Blogging: The skill that begets all others — If you're a young journalist sitting around wondering what you can do right now to make yourself more attractive to potential employers, here it is: blog. Blogging is very much the basis for all web communication and by blogging regularly …

Zeke Turner / New York Observer:

Stefano Shows Off His Very Own Vanity Project … “I think we should have our salad and then we will go fast through the magazine,” said Stefano Tonchi, the editor of W. It was Tuesday afternoon on the fourth floor of 4 Times Square and Mr. Tonchi was wearing a two-button gray suit and an open-collared white shirt.

Discussion: Gawker, New York Magazine and Romenesko