commentary

Viral Video: What Do You Get When You Mash Up Google Glass, FaceTagram and Gosling?

Kara Swisher in Media on April 11 at 9:24 am PT

You get comedy gold!

IBM "Jeopardy" Challenge Day One Ends in a Tie

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on February 14, 2011 at 4:55 pm PT

Day one of the IBM “Jeopardy” challenge ends with a human player and the computer tied, and with some interesting wrong answers from the computer. Plus: “Final Jeopardy” author Stephen Baker fills us in with some first-hand details.

You've Got Arianna: AOL Buys Huffington Post for $315 Million in Cash and Stock, Appoints Huffington Editor in Chief

Kara Swisher in News on February 6, 2011 at 9:01 pm PT

In a bold and definitive move, AOL is paying $315 million, mostly in cash, to buy the Huffington Post, one of the Web’s most prominent news and opinion sites. As part of the deal, Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington–who was derided by some when she co-founded the left-leaning site in 2005 with investor and well-known communications exec Kenneth Lerer–will become editor in chief of a new unit that has purview over all of AOL content properties. The deal was signed just this afternoon.

Facebook Finances Focus of Bloomberg TV Tonight

Liz Gannes in Social on January 5, 2011 at 10:36 am PT

When companies file normal IPOs, they go into quiet periods. But there has been nothing quiet about the latest financing behind Facebook. Tonight, an hour-long special on the topic will air on Bloomberg TV, featuring interview clips from key investor Yuri Milner along with commentary on the controversial Goldman Sachs investment.

Amazon's WikiLeaks Author Explains Why He Yanked His Book–And Why He's Selling It Again

Peter Kafka in Media on December 10, 2010 at 12:45 pm PT

You might think twice about publishing a WikiLeaks e-book if you got threatening emails, too. An odd chapter to a weird story.

Amazon Explains Why It's Okay to Sell Books About the WikiLeaks Stuff It Won't Host

Peter Kafka in Media on December 9, 2010 at 10:52 am PT

Because it’s commentary. Duh. Though Amazon could have made that clearer from the jump.

Daily Beast's Tina Brown Brags About "Interesting Discussions" With Newsweek

Peter Kafka in Media on October 6, 2010 at 7:13 am PT

How are things at the Daily Beast, which turns two today? Awesome, says Tina Brown–so awesome that Barry Diller may end up pawning the thing off to Newsweek and new owner Sidney Harman.

Confirmed! Reddit Users Really, Really Dislike Pop-Up Ads.

Peter Kafka in Media on January 29, 2010 at 3:30 am PT

It is all Apple, all the time in techland this week. Except at Reddit, where the social news site’s users spent most of yesterday obsessing about something else: A rogue ad.

TMZ Sports? Why Not?

Peter Kafka in Media on December 23, 2009 at 5:01 am PT

Is TMZ looking to branch into sports? It’s already there. But a spinoff makes plenty of sense.

Meet Maureen Dowd’s Favorite Writer: Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall

Peter Kafka in Media on May 18, 2009 at 7:05 am PT

Many of you are just hearing Josh Marshall’s name for the first time, following the New York Times’s admission that columnist Maureen Dowd “failed to attribute” some of her column to him. But that’s a shame because Marshall’s site is noteworthy on its own merits: It’s a self-funded, profitable new-media site that does both blogging/aggregation and real reporting.