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New Media News Every Morning

BuddyTV raises $2.8M in funding

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BuddyTVBuddyTV, online TV informational network, gets $2.8M in a round of funding lead by Gemstar-TV Guide International.

Based in Seattle, BuddyTV aims to bring entertainment and fan-based articles, news, spoilers and interviews on a broad range of TV content. Also a social network, BuddyTV provides s forum for fans all over the world to come together and trade gossips and information, and connect with people about their favorite TV shows and other similar interests.

Originally posted on July 30, 2007 @ 12:05 pm

Grandparents.com launches social network for, you got it, grand parents

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Grandparents.comSo there’s a recently launched social network for baby boomers, one for the bereaved, and well, look around and there’s more networks targeting specific and minority groups.

Set to be launched this fall, Grandparents.com is the newest community that touches a unique market — uniting grandparents and grandchildren online.

This social network allows grandparents to get and exchange information on worthwhile activities they can do with their grand kids; read articles by experts from various fun stuff to family concerns; share experiences with other grandparents from around the web; and mostly, to provide a means of connection between grand parents and their grand children.

While the site is not yet live, you can sign up for its newsletter for the meantime to get to know the latest updates about the launch.

Originally posted on July 28, 2007 @ 2:39 am

Major media companies, global brands deploy online communities with Akamai and KickApps

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kickapps.jpgKickApps Corporation and Akamai Technologies, Inc. announced significant industry momentum and adoption by media & entertainment companies and global brands for the Akamai-powered KickApps solution that is designed to allow companies to create and cultivate social media communities.
Companies including BET Networks, Scripps, HBO-Cinemax, and VIBE Magazine adopted the social media offering. The KickApps platform enables customers to rapidly deploy community functionalities, such as, user-generated content, social networking, editorial video, syndication of content using Widgets, and media and community management capabilities, on their own websites. These companies add to the over 4,000 organizations that have deployed the Akamai-supported KickApps solution.

The advanced media moderation capabilities of the KickApps platform make it easy to manage the massive amount of content being contributed by communities. Akamai’s flexible and powerful social media capabilities are uniquely equipped to handle the needs of both site owners as well as technology providers through a blend of media management, content and rich media application acceleration capabilities, as well as the ability to optimize the ‘wide footprint’ of social media content. Community and site owners can now focus on what they do best: create highly engaged, active and rewarding communities.

Originally posted on July 27, 2007 @ 8:45 am

Userplane unveils Minichat

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webchat.jpgUserplane, the application platform for online communities and a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL, unveiled Minichat, now available through the new Webchat 2, an upgrade to the company’s popular chat application.

Minichat is an embeddable tool that provides a preview pane of live chat activity taking place within Userplane Webchat 2. It’s a simple chat output pane, configurable to display either a single line of text or an entire conversation block – able to be skinned, sized and placed within virtually any online environment. Website visitors immediately see the live conversation and can join directly from the preview pane – there’s no need to launch a separate application or to enter a chat room.

Like all Userplane applications, Webchat 2 with Minichat is offered as a free, ad-supported app. In addition, publishers/webmasters can choose to allow embedded text ads and share the ad revenue with Userplane. Webchat 2 is available now for clients using an Integrated API, and will be extended to those using the Instant Install script option later this year.

Originally posted on July 26, 2007 @ 10:13 am

GeoBeats launches travel industry video player

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geobeats.jpgGeoBeats announced the launch of the GeoBeats Travel Player, a video player that allows web visitors to watch multiple destination videos at their favorite travel sites. It also enables them to simultaneously access maps and obtain travel information about points of interest.

The GeoBeats video-player technology was designed exclusively to make watching travel videos not only enjoyable, but also intuitive. The debut of this GeoBeats Travel Player marks the first time maps, contact information and additional travel information about specific destinations have been built into an online video player.

With over 500 video travel guides in 30 countries already produced, travel sites can customize the GeoBeats Travel Player for their destinations of focus.

Originally posted on July 27, 2007 @ 9:10 am