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May 2003
- Microsoft's top antispam expert said that spam will eventually
be controlled but in the short term it will get worse.
He said almost half of all email today is spam and that
65% of all email will be spam by next year. He also said spam
could cost U.S. businesses a total of $18 billion in 2004.
Source: NetworkWorldFusion 5-30-03
- Video game publisher 3D0 has
filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to sell the company or
its assets. Layoffs are also expected in July.
Source: CNN/Money 5-29-03
- Websites Desperate to Charge Fees
Many websites have already started charging
fees and many, many more plan to add premium
content. Many websites, even though they are
not non-profit organizations, also beg for donations
from readers to help keep them afloat. However,
there is concern web users will eventually suffer
from fee fatigue. Also, people seem willing to pay
for content like personal ads, online games and
downloadable music and movies -- but less likely
to pay for original, written content.
Source: MSNBC.com, WWForums.com 5-29-03
- Another SARS outbreak in Toronto is causing concern among
vendors planning to attend the American Library Association's
annual meeting in Toronto on June 19. The latest outbreak has
caused some vendors to cancel or cut back on the number of
people they send. So far the meeting itself has not been
canceled.
Source: Publisher's Weekly 5-28-03
- Struggling Tower Records has hired Greif & Co., an investment banker, to
help them find a buyer.
Source: Publishers Weekly 5-26-03
- The New York Times has suspended Times reporter and
Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg. Bragg failed to mention a
freelancer who helped him write a story filed from
Apalachicola, Florida. The Times said Bragg should have shared
a byline with the freelance journalist.
The suspension follows on the heels of the Jayson Blair debacle
at the Times. Blair has admitted to making up quotes and
details in many of the stories he wrote for the Times.
Source: The Washington Post 5-24-03
- Country Living
Gardener magazine has laid off about ten employees,
including the Editor in Chief. Frequency will be reduced to
quarterly from bimonthly.
Source: AdAge.com 5-22-03
- Harvard Study Discovers Gator Secrets
A Harvard study on Gator's spyware software has uncovered
that the software does allow a company to place pop-up ads that
will be displayed after or during a user's visit to competing
websites. Gator also targets search engines and shows pop-up ads
when users enter a particular keyword or phrase. Gator's pop-ups
only show for web surfer's that have downloaded its software. However,
not everyone who has Gator downloaded it intentionally -- Gator
has been accused in the past of hiding its software in the
downloads of other software. Experts have also said that Gator's
software can be difficult to remove once it has been installed.
Source: News.com, WWForums Pop-ups Discussion 5-16-03
- Guru.com informed its users that it will be shutting down on
June 30th.
Source: F---edCompany.com 5-17-03
- Idealab, the dot-com incubator of companies like
eToys and Overture, is shutting down its Boston office.
About twenty people work in the Boston offices.
Source: Boston Globe 5-16-03
- The Esplanade is ceasing publication of
The
Arts Magazine, a Singapore art magazine,
with the July/August issue.
Source: Channel NewsAsia 5-16-03
- Wal-Mart Bans Maxim, FHM and Stuff
Wal-Mart Stores has banned
Maxim, FHM and Stuff magazines
from its retail shelves after some customers found the magazines
were offended by the magazines. These magazines do contain
pictures of models and celebrities in skimpy outfits, but do
not contain nude photographs.
Shoppers can also not find Playboy, Playgirl and
occasional swimsuit issues at Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart is a big
retail outlet for books and magazines, but Stephen Colvin,
president of Dennis Publishing USA (Maxim and Stuff
publisher), downplayed the ban by telling CNN/Money that
Wal-Mart only accounted for 3% of his company's newsstand sales.
Source: CNN/Money 5-16-03
- Clinton-Dole Face-offs Could Be Discontinued
USA Today reported the debates between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole
on 60 Minutes might not return this Fall because the debates
have not improved the show's ratings.
Source: USA Today 5-16-03
- United Press International (UPI) announced that it will layoff 16
editorial positions in a restructuring effort.
Source: UPI 5-16-03
- Publishers of the Montreal Gazette have asked employees to
consider a voluntary buyout. The Gazette is looking to
eliminate 16 positions.
Source: Canoe 5-16-03
- Plagiarism at The New York Times
New York Times reporter Jayson Blair resigned after being
accused of multiple acts of plagiarism. MSNBC reports that the
Times is also looking into the work of other New York Times
reporters.
Source: MSNBC,
New York Times,
New York
Daily News, Editor & Publisher 5-14-03
- Publishers Weekly reported that Scholastic plans to announce
layoffs in the near future. These layoffs will occur despite the
release of a new Harry Potter novel this year.
Source: Publishers Weekly 5-14-03
- 3D0, the publisher and developer of the Army Men and
High Heat games,
plans to cut about 1/3 of its workforce.
Source: News.com 5-14-03
- Stephen Glass was once fired for making up news stories
at the New Republic. Now Glass is the author of an upcoming
autobiographical novel, The Fabulist. The novel is about a
reporter who gets caught making up stories -- just like Glass
did. But does a reporter guilty of plagiarism really deserve
a novel contract?
Source: WWForums Discussion, MSNBC.com 5-14-03
- The RIAA has apologized after mailing dozens of
erroneous copyright infringement notices. The RIAA said it sent withdrawal
notices to correct the errors.
Source: News.com 5-13-03
- Primedia has split up its Media Central properties and
laid off around a dozen employees accoring to AdAge.com.
Before being split up, Media Central included business-to-business
titles like American Demographics, Folio, Circulation Management
and Cable World.
Source: AdAge.com 5-8-03
- Struggling Salon.com announced that CFO Robert O'Callahan has
stepped down.
Source: News.com 5-8-03
- Showtime has laid off 70 employees -- about 10% of its workforce.
Source: Variety.com 5-7-03
- Reader's Digest has laid off 60 employees from its Pleasantville, NY
headquarters.
Source: Publisher's Weekly 5-7-03
- Home Box Office (HBO) has laid off twenty employees from its sales
department.
Source: Multichannel News 5-5-03
- Bookspan has cut 55 employees (2% of its workforce).
Source: Publishers Weekly 5-5-03
- The Alameda Newspaper Group has laid off 49 employees -- about
7% of its workforce. ANG publishes the Daily Review, Tri-Valley
Herald, the Oakland Tribune, the Argus in Fremont and the
San Mateo Times.
Source: BayArea.com, Examiner.com 5-2-03
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