Robert Andrews

Russian retailer's defiance riles British music biz

The British music industry has reacted angrily to a show of defiance from a Russian online music retailer that has been accused of selling singles and albums illegally.

by Robert Andrews 18 October 2006 14:49pm 2 comments

California sun to power third of Googleplex

The world's biggest search engine is set to become America's biggest solar energy-producing office space when it begins converting its headquarters into a massive solar electricity park next month.

by Robert Andrews 17 October 2006 12:53pm 0 comments

MySpace trumpets video in GooTube wake

MySpace has improved its low-key video sharing offering in what has been interpreted as a tactical response to Google $1.65bn purchase of YouTube last week.

by Robert Andrews 16 October 2006 12:59pm 0 comments

Internet buoys UK marketing spend, says IPA

Increasing outlay on internet advertising saw UK companies' marketing budgets rise slightly in the third quarter of 2006, according to the Institute for Practitioners in Advertising.

Although budgets have now declined for eight consecutive quarters, the IPA's latest Bellwether Report found the rate of decline had slowed for the third time in a row.

by Robert Andrews 16 October 2006 13:28pm 1 comment

Five hot new visual metrics make analytics for humans

E-consultancy analyst Linus Gregoriadis last week solicited suggestions on a sexier name for "web analytics". But five new Web 2.0 services currently brewing in beta are threatening to take the whole online marketing measuring practice into a more sexy paradigm entirely.

All these new products ask is that you place some Javascript in your header - but they promise to serve up juicy thermal imaging, in-page indicators or movable feasts that produce easy-to-use visual metrics for left-brain webmasters.

So what are these new tools? Let's take a look...

by Robert Andrews 12 July 2006 16:08pm 1 comment

What MySpace means to Murdoch's space

It will come as news to few that MySpace is the social media phenomenon du jour . Picked up by News Corp for $580m, 90m members, and that oh-so juicy teen demographic to market to when no-one under 30 is buying newspapers anymore? Strewth, Rupert Murdoch's got a fair dinkum bet there.

So you may be perplexed by this suggestion Rupert should spin MySpace off on its own, from MarketWatch's wonderfully named Bambi Francisco:

"Clearly, MySpace -- if it were a standalone company -- would be the hottest kind of stock, one that every sell-side analyst would gladly hawk. It's very likely the thought has crossed the minds of executives as well as MySpace founders. Prior to the sale to News Corp., MySpace founders had considered an IPO, according to someone close to the company."

by Robert Andrews 06 July 2006 17:28pm 0 comments

Videoblogging star makes acrimonious exit from show

The nearest thing the videoblogging arena has to a superstar has quit her show in a move that leaves its future uncertain.

Amanda Congdon has cut a dash at the anchor desk of Rocketboom, helping make the snarky, daily net culture news roundup amongst the highest-profile video blogs in the world with around 300,000 downloads per episode.

by Robert Andrews 06 July 2006 13:53pm 0 comments

Pay-for-blogging market faces questions on disclosure

PayPerPost, a new service that helps advertisers pay bloggers for writing about their products, launched a few days ago to a predictable cacophony of protest.

"Get Paid to Blog", reads the blurb on the latest blog advertising network's front page. "Advertisers are willing to pay you to post on topics - search through a list of topics, make a blog posting, get your content approved, and get paid. It’s that simple.”

And PayPerPost tells its affiliated advertisers: "You provide the topic, our network of bloggers create the stories and post them on their individual blogs." Bloggers can earn $5 to $10 per post, writing about anything from loan sharks to bubble wrap.

by Robert Andrews 03 July 2006 15:25pm 1 comment

Fans and bands collide - grassroots lessons

Want another example of how your customers can communicate your message for you? Check out upcoming new Australian band Wolfmother, which is asking fans to snap and send mobile video clips that will form the basis of the act's next promo.

It's supported by a moblog powered by the London-based moblogUK service, which was popularised when survivors of the city's 7/7 bombings posted camera phone pictures to the site last summer.

by Robert Andrews 28 June 2006 17:08pm 0 comments

MetaWeather aims to build a better forecast

Have you ever checked the weather online, only to find competing forecasts from different sites? Did Michael Fish's 1987 reassurance that a hurricane was not on the way leave you with a mistrust of meteorologists? If so, MetaWeather may be worth a shot.

Developed by two producers at British games content agency Ferrago, the site combines forecast data from multiple sources to round up the predictions to an average - and supposedly more trustworthy - outlook.

by Robert Andrews 23 June 2006 16:06pm 1 comment