MediaBizBuzz for March 10, 2008: No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Week In The Rough & Tumble Worlds of Politics, And Yes, Technology

Life in the Age of the Internet has reimagined not only how we interact with technology but with one another It has democratized the playing field in ways both personal and professional But it39s far from a foregone conclusion that collaboration is the lifehack of the 21st century This week saw very public battles in the realms of hardscrabble politics and technology revisiting the debate Despite recognition of the Wisdom of the Crowds can success accrue by consensus or only by fiat Straight Talk ExpressAfter running the tables last Tuesday night John McCain formally became his party39s nominee After walking back a few baby steps from the implications of Pastor John Hagee39s endorsement he failed to weigh in when Congressmen Steve Kim of Iowa touted that AlQaeda would be quotdancing in the streetsquot with an Obama win Hillary Clinton lived to fight another day with her solid win in Ohio credit to her staff for spinning a Texassized win although Obama won that state39s caucus and therefore a majority of its delegates The War of Words escalated as the week wore on Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson referred to Obama as Ken Starr with zero fallout while Obama foreign policy advisor Samantha Power in an unguarded moment let it slip that Mrs Clinton was a quotmonsterquot The Clinton camp pressed for her dismissal and Obama later accepted her resignation Seems like a game of chicken to me Here39s where it gets meta MSNBC39s Tucker Carlson interrogated the journalist Gerri Peev about her ethicsamp160 It39s debatable whether being called a Monster is a feather in one39s cap Afterall as 30 Rock39s Tina Fey recently opined quotBitch is the new blackquot An especially fraught comment when you consider that the Democratic primary is a headon collision of gender and race Only Patricia Williams39 trenchant analysis in The Nation lays this bareamp160 While the Senators three are missing House votes to get delegate votes a raft of policy issues in Congress won39t wait TechDirt opines why the quotPro IPquot bill is still very problematic the FCC39s Kevin Martin assured an audience at Stanford Law that a ruling over Comcast and its network management practices ie quottraffic shapingquot would be handed down before June 30 How bipartisan is the Senate39s desire to undo the FCC39s recent easing of crossownership in media Both Clinton and Obama are cosponsors of the billWinning Through IntimidationIf Hillary39s new strategy is to wrest the nomination by playing the Happy Warrior she39s in good company Steve Ballmer managed to garner a bit of press at Microsoft39s MIX conference for developers leading TechCrunch to lament how he singlehandedly eclipses any traces of an open standardsembracing quotnew Microsoftquot with his scorched earth policy when queried about the status of the Yahoo merger he jeered quotWe39ve made an offer It39s out there babyquot But no one at least in business outdoes Steve Jobs39 mix of bravura and deadly nightshade resolve Last week saw a tsunami of press for Apple Inc A cover story in Fortune that Valleywag characterized as quotsoftquot despite an exAppler summing up his hotandcold history with Jobs as being a quothero shithead rollercoasterquot to coincide with a week of announcements The release of Apple39s SDK Software Development Kit for thirdparty developers was further sweetened by a 100M fund created by Kleiner Perkins39 John Doerr to incent innovation on the platform In the same breath ATampampT said that it would invest 1 Billion in IP infrastructure Jobs let the rumor of a 3Q 3G iPhone started by a Citi analyst published not only in the blogs but in Barrons stand Icing on the cake The Beatles catalogue on iTunes The sheer volume of the coverage will bury Fortune39s inconclusive findings over stock backdating won39t it TiVo This Online Video ThatAlmost but not quite as beloved a brand as Apple is TiVo Fortune is it striving to be the US Weekly of business magazines has How TiVo Won even as paidContent points out the company39s financial shortcomings The Wall Street Journal pens a belated valentine to the DVR pioneer sort of a Dummies onepager And Omnicom signs onto its Stop Watch ratings serviceamp160 While TiVo seems to be ably navigating the waters as television continues to fragment online video continues to evolve PaidContent parses Bear Stearns39 recently published 70page report on monetizing online video which tags YouTube39s revenues for 2008 at 90 million mostly due to banner ads Optimedia39s Antony Young gives AdAge readers a crash course on his agency39s Content Power Ratings which strives to capture engagement Silicon Alley Investor39s Henry Blodget thinks we39re about to see a DotBomb for online video while on the eve of its launch the economics of Hulu continues to elude both SAI39s Blodget and TechCrunch39s Michael Arrington As The Acquisition TurnsDigg is being courted by both Google and Microsoft look for the dowry to be at least 200M Federated Media39s hoping to raise 2030M Vanity Fair39s Michael Wolff on the ongoing DillerMalone blood feud Everyone39s a skeptic about the CurrentTV IPO call Al Gore39s presence a quotreverse halo effectquot Google may drop a kidney stone say 15 of its stock With no White Knight in sight Yahoo is holding off Microsoft by extending the deadline for board nominations Ladies FirstWhile Diller39s Askcom seems to be backing away from womencentric search Yahoo39s about to launch one and WowoWow Women on the Web think an XX Huffington Post with the likes of Lesley Stahl Sheila Nevins Lily Tomlin and Joni Evans debuted over the weekend It39s off to a roaring start with Peggy Noonan39s column on the quotMonsterquot dustup I39m no fan of Noonan39s but she knows power and politics The column has something to offer both Jobs and candidates Obama and Clintonamp160 Speaking of the Alpha Woman herself Shelly Palmer thoroughly debunks the techsnafu over Oprah39s webinar crash finding much to praise about the future of the endeavorSave your shillings Those 4B plus bids for The Weather Channel are due today

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MediaBizBuzz for March 10, 2008: No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Week In The Rough & Tumble Worlds of Politics, And Yes, Technology

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Jerry Weinstein

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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MediaBizBuzz for March 10, 2008: No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Week In The Rough & Tumble Worlds of Politics, And Yes, Technology

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Jerry Weinstein

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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