Mediagazer: Lyrics site Rap Genius admits to SEO chicanery in an open letter to Google (Nate Ralph/VentureBeat)

8:05 AM ET, December 25, 2013

Top News:

Barton Gellman / Washington Post:

Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission's accomplished — MOSCOW — The familiar voice on the hotel room phone did not waste words. — “What time does your clock say, exactly?” he asked. — He checked the reply against his watch and described a place to meet.

Discussion: Guardian, Forbes, Mediaite, @katrinanation, @csoghoian, @princeton, @bruce_arthur, @kevin2kelly, @johncusack, @rj_gallagher, @ali_gharib, @dhh, @jonathanalter, @pierre, Business Insider, Techdirt, @frankpasquale, DCist, @alexisgoldstein, Mashable, @arusbridger, National Updates, WorldViews, @occupywallstnyc, Hit & Run, WJLA-TV, Boing Boing, CNN, @kgosztola, @jesselynradack, Talking Points Memo, The Week, @petersgoodman, @shaunwalker7, @edbuscaglia, @marklittlenews, @a_greenberg, @glinner, BBC, @joshuahersh, VatorNews, The Wire, @ggreenwald, BillMoyers.com, @tedeschini, TIME, The Raw Story, Associated Press, @rsingel, @newsbreaker, Gawker, @tinyrevolution, @codinghorror, The Verge, Digits, The Next Web, DSLreports, @jayrosen_nyu, @carwinb, @elanazak, @bartongellman, @washingtonpost, @bartongellman, VentureBeat and Engadget

Ken Yeung / The Next Web:

Edward Snowden calls for a restoration of privacy in Channel 4′s Alternative Christmas Message — Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked intelligence about the security agency's surveillance activities, has broadcast a Christmas message to the world.

Discussion: The Register and The Verge

Paul Farhi / Washington Post:

White House's Jay Carney and ABC News' Jon Karl butt heads in press room — It doesn't take long, or take very much, for the Jon and Jay show to get rolling at the daily briefing — the ritual meet-the-media sessions in the White House press room. — “But, Jay,” starts Jonathan Karl …

Discussion: @itsdavidford, @dylanbyers, @laura_nelson, @jimryan015, @tvnewslab, @jayrosen_nyu, TVNewser and TheBlaze.com

Dan Amira / New York Magazine:

How the Media Would Have Covered the Birth of Jesus — Tomorrow, billions of people across the world will commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ 2000-ish years ago. The arrival of the messiah would have been a huge media event at the time had there actually been any media aside from the guy …

Discussion: @keligoff, @bethfertig, @michaelbd, @danamira and Mother Jones

Peter Sterne / Capital New York:

Gawker lease foiled by potential building-mates — Gawker was close to signing a lease on a new office until other tenants in the building objected, Capital has learned. — Some of the tenants in the building were tech start-ups who apparently feared that Gawker reporters would overhear …

Discussion: @petersterne and Capital New York

Nate Ralph / VentureBeat:

Lyrics site Rap Genius admits to SEO chicanery in an open letter to Google — All of the lyrics — but at what cost? — One of the more popular sites for finding lyrics to that song you can't get out of your head is Rap Genius. However, the company came under fire from Google recently …

Discussion: Valleywag, SEO Book and TechCrunch

Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:

Time.com relaunch delayed until New Year — Time.com delay — Time magazine's web relaunch, initially slated for 2013, has been pushed back into the New Year. — Capital has learned that January is the latest target for the highly anticipated revamp of time.com, which has been in the works for much of the past 10 months.

Discussion: @jeffjarvis

Nick Summers / The Next Web:

Wuaki.tv hits 1m users for its on-demand movie and TV streaming service, 125k from the UK alone — Wuaki.tv has surpassed one million subscribers for its on-demand movie and TV streaming service, in part because of 125,000 new users in the UK that have signed on since it launched on the island in September.

Barbara Hollingsworth / CNSNews:

U.S. Will Spend $3.35M to ‘Improve the Quality of Media Content’—In Armenia — (CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is planning to spend $3.35 million to “improve the quality of media content and strengthen the media's capacity to meet professional standards” …

Richard Verrier / Los Angeles Times:

DreamWorks Animation to unveil first original series for Netflix — ‘Turbo FAST,’ a spinoff of DreamWorks' summer movie, is the first of 300 hours of animation programming that DreamWorks is creating as part of its deal with Netflix. — From left, Skidmark, Chet, Whiplash, Turbo, Smoove Move and Burn in Netflix's “Turbo FAST.”

Discussion: Gigaom, Comicbook.com, Indiewire Blogs … and New York Times

Deadline:

Viacom & Time Warner Cable Reach New Carriage Deal; Adds EPIX To Lineup — With mere days to go before their latest deal expired, Time Warner Cable and Viacom announced a new carriage agreement today. Among keeping the channels on for New Year's, the near last minute deal adds premiere cabler EPIX to the lineup for the first time.

Discussion: The Wrap, MarketWatch, New York Times, @brianstelter and Los Angeles Times

Jennifer Saba / Reuters:

Insight: AOL banks on HuffPost to turn profitable next year — (Reuters) - It's the holiday season and Arianna Huffington, the influential woman behind the popular news website that bears her name, is busy buying sweaters - some 700 of them - as gifts to her employees.

Discussion: @skidder, @kirabind, @joepompeo and Capital New York

Lloyd Grove / The Daily Beast:
Is Tim Armstrong the Lazarus of Aol.?

Discussion: @bmorrissey

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:

BSkyB Invests $350,000 In Early-Stage Immersive Video Startup Jaunt — British Sky Broadcasting Group (called BSkyB) has made a $350,000 investment in Jaunt, an early-stage startup that captures and displays 360 degree video content. BSkyB said that the new partnership will give it …

Discussion: Telegraph, Life Style Extra and The Drum

Jay Yarow / Business Insider:

Twitter Cofounder Jack Dorsey Is Joining Disney's Board — Jack Dorsey is joining the board of Disney. — Dorsey is one of the cofounders of Twitter, and the company's chairman. — He's also the CEO of Square, a mobile payments company. — Disney CEO Bob Iger is on the board of Apple, so he's no stranger to tech.