‘Mesh’ digital media conference begins next week in Toronto
On May 25 and 26, Toronto will host the annual Web conference known as mesh, featuring speakers from companies such as Mozilla, the Citizen Lab, Topix, and more. Media outlets with reps at mesh include the Guardian, Al Jazeera and HuffPost Media Group.
Canada’s web-connected community annually clamour to mesh, a conference featuring leading entrepreneurs, CEOs, media executives, authors and thinkers. mesh builds its two-day conference based on four “pillars” – society, marketing, media, and start-up financing, mainly from a Canadian perspective.
The event takes place the Allstream Centre at Exhibition Place.
As a media sponsor of this year’s event, Digital Journal will be covering the mesh programming beginning May 25. We’ll report on, among others, a session on social media’s role at HuffPost Media Group, led by social media editor Ron Fishman.
We’ll also cover a panel on how to handle online communities by the Globe & Mail’s Jennifer MacMillan and how companies can drive collaboration and creative thinking. We’ll also be on the prowl for one-on-ones with high profile individuals who are changing the face of media and the Internet.
Representatives from many well-known online brands will be participating at mesh, including Topix, Rypple, Torstar Digital, Storyify and more. Other companies invited to present include WWF Canada, the Red Cross, Microsoft, IDC Canada and KPMG.
A complete schedule of events can be seen here. A speaker list can be viewed here.
Some liveblogs and reports will also appear on this blog. We’ll also be live-tweeting certain sessions via @digitaljournal and @futureofmedia.
Check out some of Digital Journal’s previous coverage of mesh events here and here and here.
Photo courtesy of mesh/Kaz Ehara
Google’s Eric Schmidt: Proposed anti-piracy laws in UK could hurt free speech
Google CEO Eric Schmidt had some harsh words for the UK government’s plans to block access to illicit filesharing websites, the Guardian reports. Speaking at Google’s Big Tent conference in London, Schmidt compared this kind of website blocking to China’s censorship-heavy online policies.
“I would be very, very careful if I were a government about arbitrarily [implementing] simple solutions to complex problems,” he said, according to the Guardian. “So, ‘let’s whack off the DNS’. Okay, that seems like an appealing solution but it sets a very bad precedent because now another country will say ‘I don’t like free speech so I’ll whack off all those DNSs’ – that country would be China.”
He added, “I would be very, very careful about that stuff. If [the UK government] do it the wrong way it could have disastrous precedent setting in other areas.”
Earlier this year, the UK government revealed it planned to block certain filesharing websites known for spreading illegal content, such as copyright songs and movies. A voluntary code “would govern how and which filesharing sites are censored.”
Schmidt added Google would do everything in its power to challenge the UK proposals, although he didn’t elaborate how Google would fight back if the laws were passed.
Photo courtesy of @Photo
Google News adding “News Near You” feature for mobile
The English US version of Google News for smartphone is adding a new personalized feature: News Near You will list “news relevant to the city you’re in and surrounding areas,” a Google blog post states.
Using geo-location technology, Google can tell that you are in, say, Manhattan and when you visit Google News on your cellphone, it will aggregate the news relating to your area. Visit Toronto the next day and Google News will update in real-time stories relevant to the region.
The blog post explains how to enable News For You: “If this is the first time you are visiting Google News on your phone since this feature became available, a pop-up will ask you if you want to share your location. If you say yes, news relevant to your location will appear in a new section called ‘News near you’ which will be added at the bottom of the homepage. You can reorganize the sections later via the personalization page.”
There is no indication of when this feature will be rolled out to countries outside the US.
Google News is the leading player in the news aggregation landscape with 14.4 million unique visitors in April according to Comscore, TechCrunch reports.
Photo courtesy of Google
New York Times online traffic dips since paywall debut
New figures released this week found NYTimes.com traffic dropping since the company introduced a paywall on March 28. Its share of American pageviews for all newspaper websites decreased from 13 percent in March to 10.6 percent in April, its lowest share in 12 months, according to a study from ComScore, as reported by AdAge.
The study discovered pageviews on NYTimes.com from March to April declined 24.4 percent.
The ComScore study supports analysis by Hitwise, which announced in early April that traffic to NYTimes.com slowed by up 15 percent “most days during the 12 days following the paywall’s launch, compared to days during the previous period,” PaidContent reports.
A New York Times Co. spokeswoman was quick to point how many news sites saw a traffic decline this month due to the high volume of news traffic in March, due to major events such as the tsunami in Japan. “Despite that, and given that this is the first month where you can see the traffic patterns post-digital subscription launch, these are actually better numbers than our internal projections,” she told AdAge.
Also, Times execs said during its first-quarter conference call in late April 1 that it had already added 100,000 subscribers. What has yet to be determined is if those subscribers will continue their membership after the 99-cent introductory rate soon ends.
Microsoft acquires Skype in $8.5-billion deal
By Chris Hogg
In a press release issued this morning, Microsoft confirmed rumours it will buy Skype for $8.5 billion in cash. The acquisition is the largest in Microsoft’s history.
Rumours about the acquisition started leaking out online late last night, and this morning Microsoft confirmed it is acquiring Skype Global S.à r.l. from the investor group led by Silver Lake.
“Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in a news release. “Together we will create the future of real-time communications so people can easily stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.”
The deal has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype, and Microsoft says the acquisition will “increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications.”
The company says the deal will also generate new business and revenue opportunities.According to filings, Skype posted $859.8 million in revenue in 2010, but lost $7 million. Under the acquition, Microsoft will also assume the $686 million in debt which Skype posted as of Dec. 31, the Wall Street Journal reports.
From an organizational standpoint, Skype will become a new business division within Microsoft. Current Skype CEO, Tony Bates, will become President of the Microsoft Skype Division and he will report directly to Ballmer.
“Microsoft and Skype share the vision of bringing software innovation and products to our customers,” said Tony Bates in a news release. “Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype’s plans to extend our global community and introduce new ways for everyone to communicate and collaborate,” Bates said.
Microsoft eyes this deal as a way to enhance its portfolio of real-time communication products and services, as Skype boasts 660 million users worldwide (170 million of whom are “connected users” according to the press release) and more than 207 billion minutes of voice and video conversations last year.
Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft says it will continue to support and invest in Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms. Skype will also support Microsoft devices such as Xbox, Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices. It will also connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities.
“We are thrilled with Skype’s transformation during the period of our ownership and grateful for the extraordinary commitment of its management team and employees,” said Egon Durban, managing director of Silver Lake, the investor group that sold Skype to Microsoft. “We are excited about Skype’s long-term future with Microsoft, as it is poised to become one of the world’s most dynamic and comprehensive communications platforms.”
Not everyone is excited about Microsoft’s acquisition, however. Analysts were reportedly shocked by the the deal, and concerned Microsoft overpaid for the company.
Skype has a long history in voice-over-IP services and is a widely known name in the industry. The company was founded in 2003 and was acquired by eBay in 2005 for $2.6 billion. It was sold again in 2009 to several investors including Silver Lake, eBay International AG, CPP Investment Board, Joltid Limited in partnership with Europlay Capital Advisors, and Andreessen Horowitz.
Microsoft says in the 18 months since Skype was bought from eBay, calling minutes have increased by 150 percent and the company has developed new revenue streams and strategic partnerships.
The acquisition will now be subject to regulatory approvals, which both companies hope will happen by the end of this calendar year.