There is a growing battle between content engines — which suggest stories for you to “read next” — over access to publishers’ pages. The outcome will matter for publishers, readers and the future of “native advertising.” Read more at paidContent »
Google announced a “patent pledge” in which it will donate 10 patents related to MapReduce to protect the emerging cloud and big data industry from lawsuits. Read more »
A research firm has revised its 2014 revenue predictions for Twitter to nearly $1 billion. The upwards revision partly reflects Twitter’s ability to solve the mobile marketing puzzle. Read more »
Facebook’s ad strategy is rapidly becoming more sophisticated. Marketers and investors are likely to love the results — but will Facebook be able to get it right without alienating users? Read more »
Casinos and social gaming sites have a lot riding on new laws and licenses that will turn on the taps to online gaming revenue. One company is set to finally open shop as soon as May — but its license strictly limits where it can operate and what it can play. Read more »
A popular trick, called NYClean, to get around the New York Times’ article limit no longer works. The development coincides with the Times’ ongoing effort to shut down loopholes around its digital subscription. Read more at paidContent »
Can America’s viral site BuzzFeed succeed in a country where sensationalist journalism already thrives? We’ll soon find out. Read more at paidContent »
A New York court issued a major ruling that limits the amount of content an internet scraping service can take without paying for it. Here’s a plain English explanation. Read more at paidContent »
Do you remember Apple’s rounded rectangles patent? Well, this week Motorola obtained a patent for eight-sided smartphones. Read more »
An investigation this week revealed that major brands are paying at least $6 million a month to serve ads to bots on 202 websites. Here are some more names and details. Read more at paidContent »
Lending firms like Zest and Kabbage are doing a better job than jobs at deciding if a person or small business should receive credit. Their advantage is thousands of data signals that banks don’t even consider. Read more »
The Supreme Court sided with a student textbook seller agains the publisher John Wiley in a major dispute over who can resell copyrighted works. Read more at paidContent »
An analytics firm has uncovered a network of more than 200 sites that appears aimed at defrauding the online ad industry. The network tricks marketers into serving billions of “targeted” ads to bots every month. Read more at paidContent »
NewsCred, a service that syndicates content from more than 2500 publishers, is expanding further with a major new investment and a partnership with the NYT. It plans to use the money to expand globally. Read more at paidContent »
America has joined the rest of the world in switching from a “first-to-invent” system to a “first-to-file” system. Here’s a quick summary of the change and why it will not have a big effect on the patent system. Read more »
The Washington Post, the last remaining paywall holdout among major newspapers, will begin charging for content this summer. The paywall, however, is set to be an extremely leaky one — meaning casual readers will have no trouble accessing the site. Read more at paidContent »
The Financial Times stands out in the news industry for its clever and aggressive switch to a digital revenue model. But while the paper is an inspiration, it’s not an example. Read more at paidContent »
Last years’ gigantic court fight between Apple and Samsung continues to have ripples in the court and the press. This week, an appeals court agreed to let the New York Times and others argue that documents in the case should not be secret. Read more »
Google is continuing its effort to punish sites that manipulate outside links in order to increase their search visibility. The move means websites should be careful that their SEO strategies doesn’t lead to a penalty. Read more at paidContent »
The Justice Department has unsealed a stunning indictment that accuses an editor at international newswire service Reuters of collaborating with the hackers’ collective Anonymous. Read more »
Grumpy Cat is the latest internet meme whose fame is growing by the day. The feline’s fame is valuable and her owners and lawyers have filed trademarks to protect it. Read more at paidContent »
A social gaming site called Fanhood invites players to buy tokens and make sports wagers with their friends. While they may entertain sports fans, sites like this have little hope of being part of recent moves towards legal online gambling. Read more at paidContent »
Google X is a lab where the company hatches big ideas like driverless cars or Google Glasses. The head of the lab told an audience about what the the place does to foster and protect a Peter Pan level of creativity. Read more »
The New York Times offers an ad tool that lets brands use its stories in a unique form of content marketing. The tool, which can provide publishers with a new source of long-tail revenue, will soon be used by other publishers like Forbes and Condé Nast. Read more at paidContent »
Social media and small screens have led to new forms of marketing. In response, the Federal Trade Commission has updated its disclosure rules and provided 22 examples to explains what advertisers must do to avoid confusing consumers. Read more at paidContent »
A report shows that music subscription service Spotify continues to grow at a rapid pace. The growth validates Spotify’s business model but is also inviting a growing cluster of rivals. Read more at paidContent »
A flood of new website addresses with endings like “.book” and “.movie” are set to arrive in coming months. Companies like Amazon and Google are set to control the names but the terms under which they will do so are still undefined. Read more at paidContent »
Companies are running experiments that show employees are happier and more productive when eat in cheerful cafeterias with other people. The catch is that workers may have to hand over some privacy in exchange. Read more »
Many people are familiar with ads that follow them across different websites. Now, one company says it can have the same ads show up on an individual’s smartphone too. Marketers like the idea but does it actually work? And will regulators tolerate it? Read more at paidContent »
The process to add hundreds or thousands of new names to existing suffixes like “.com” and “.org” is chugging onward. Here’s an overview of when we’ll see them and what it means for brand owners. Read more at paidContent »
Back from near-death, AOL feels vindicated that it bet on a content strategy when everyone else was turning to platforms and technology. CEO Tim Armstrong shared some thoughts on content, hyper-local site Patch and whether AOL might buy Time’s magazines. Read more at paidContent »
Time Warner will put its magazine titles, including People and Sports Illustrated, into a separate company later this year. The move is a surprise as the publishing world had expected the company to sell most its publications to Iowa-based Meredith. Read more at paidContent »
Upworthy is attracting attention for its headlines and its viral videos about gay marriage, women’s rights and other social causes. But the site’s real value may be its potential to help the Democrats maintain their lead in social media and big data. Read more at paidContent »
The case accusing Apple of fixing ebook prices is heating up. New court documents show that Steve Jobs’ biographer have been dropped from the case but that Jobs himself is still at the center of it. Read more at paidContent »
More people are streaming music online — leading to more companies vying to be their providers. It looks like YouTube is finally set to enter the market, which could be good news for musicians and studios that crave higher royalties. Read more at paidContent »
Companies like Johnson & Johnson have long encouraged consumers to spread the word about their products. These marketing campaigns are taking on new twists in the age of social media. Read more »
Amazon won a court ruling last week that restrict Apple’s access to its executives and documents. Filings from the case also show that senior Amazon executives are poised to testify for the government in its price-fixing case against Apple. Read more at paidContent »
The government of Malaysia paid 10 media columnists to smear its political opponents on American media sites. It was able to pull this off, in part, because of online publications’ insatiable appetite for content. Read more at paidContent »
Bro videos — crotch shots, beer chugging, cool cars and so on — have long been a staple of the internet. Today, bro vids are also big business thanks to “man research” and big brands pouring money into making them. Read more at paidContent »
The venerable Atlantic is being made the poster child for what happens when native advertising goes wrong. An ad industry event in New York raised the question of whether the Atlantic deserves this blame when many other sites engage in similar practices. Read more at paidContent »
