Web Shorts

HBO sponsors NYTimes.com ‘Laramie’ section
The web site of The New York Times has published another sponsored section along the lines of the Tolkein Archives. This time around, HBO is hyping an original movie, "The Laramie Project," that concerns the brutal, homophobic murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard. As with the Tolkein Archives, the Laramie Project Archives are being promoted in a large front-page banner. Visitors who click on the banner are taken to the online archives, where HBO is the sole advertiser. The Tolkein Archives, which was sponsored by New Line Cinema, the company that produced the film "The Fellowship of the Ring," featured links to New York Times stories about J.R.R. Tolkein and his "Lord of the Rings" books. Likewise, the Laramie Project Archives features links to Times stories about Shepard’s death and the trial of his killers. As with the Tolkein Archives, the Times is taking some criticism for offering a too-confusing mix of advertising and editorial. But it dismisses that criticism, arguing that the ads are clearly labeled and that none of the linked stories are about the two movies.

Yahoo cuts another big Hollywood deal
Fulfilling the expectations that sprang from the appointment of former Warner Bros. co-chairman Terry Semel to the top post at Yahoo, the search engine/portal has made a series of moves to tie itself closer to Hollywood while adding to its bottom line. Yahoo will promote the upcoming comedy "National Lampoon's Van Wilder" with exclusive clips and other content as part of its larger alliance with Artisan Pictures. While the two companies have worked together before on movie-related sweepstakes and the sale of movie memorabilia on Yahoo auctions, the new deal is described as more substantial. Yahoo also struck a similar deal with Fox Entertainment Group to market its films on the revamped Yahoo Entertainment, which now features more interactive content and sneak previews. Yahoo has opened a new office in Santa Monica to accommodate staff from its Yahoo Entertainment division and Launch Media music site.

Is AOL out to ditch Microsoft Explorer? Could be.
Leading internet service provider AOL looks like it is on the verge of changing browsers. The company is testing a new browser technology called Netscape Gecko, based on the Netscape browser, and if the tests are successful the giant ISP is expected to offer it to all of its users and phase out Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. AOL, which bought Netscape several years ago, says it has included the new Netscape browser in beta software for CompuServe, AOL’s lower-end net access provider, and that it plans to offer it with its regular internet access package, AOL. Analysts see the move as yet another by AOL to revive the fortunes of Netscape, whose share of the browser market has been steadily whittled down by Microsoft's IE. The most recent edition of Netscape was buggy and flopped with consumers, costing Netscape to lose even more market share.

Google tests site for chasing down news stories
Search site Google has taken yet another step away from its roots as a simple, stripped-down search engine. News.google.com, which launched on this week in test mode, scans 100 news sources an hour and posts the latest headlines, updating them periodically during the day. The headlines come with short digests of the news articles. Additionally, users can search the site for news articles from the previous week. Google, which is gaining in popularity for its quick and accurate search results, has been adding additional services in recent months, such as a web search tool for businesses and a catalog browsing feature.

Je suis chic: French president chats online
French president Jacques Chirac, who is up for re-election, suffers something of an image problem, that of being distinctly not cool, especially when it comes to the internet, and that could cost him the support of the younger set. To try to dispel the notion that he’s web-clueless, Chirac participated in an online chat this week. Whether or not his cyber-foray burnished his image remains to be seen, but it certainly could not have hurt. This is a man who has gained public ridicule for referring to a computer mouse with the French word for "field mouse." In the 45-minute online question and answer session, Chirac dismissed the field mouse story as a fabricaton and claimed that he uses the internet frequently. The chat site drew about 12,000 visitors, more than a recent chat with top soccer player Christophe Dungarry, leading Chirac’s handlers to proclaim it a success.

Printer-Friendly Version | Send to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact Us