AllThingsD » E!

Viral Video: "The Dictator" Oscar-Punks Ryan Seacrest All Over the Red Carpet

Kara Swisher — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:55:29 +0000

This is perhaps my fave moment from the dullish Oscars last night: Sacha Baron Cohen — in character as General Aladeen from the Republic of Wadiya from his upcoming movie, “The Dictator” — spilling the ashes of “my doubles tennis partner, Kim Jong-il,” on “E!” red-carpet host Ryan Seacrest.

“It’s okay,” said Cohen to a clearly irked Seacrest, who could not stop brushing off his fancy tux and looking visibly irked. “Now, if somebody asks you who you are wearing, you can say Kim Jong-il!”

Heh:

The Socialized and Appified Oscars

Liz Gannes — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 23:10:18 +0000

It’s not just that movie about social networking that will be featured at this weekend’s Oscars. There are also social media and mobile app tie-ins up the wazoo. Here’s a sampling of what’s up for the big night:

Fans can tweet and Facebook post their way into the pre-show ABC red-carpet coverage by asking questions of @TheAcademy on Twitter or going to the TheAcademy Facebook page. A start-up called Mass Relevance is helping filter the questions for hosts Robin Roberts, Tim Gunn, Krista Smith and Maria Menounos.

(Facebook itself, which often hosts its own red carpet live chats for similar events, will not have a company presence at the Oscars.)

The official ABC Oscar Backstage Pass app for Apple devices costs $0.99 and gives viewers additional live camera angles from the red carpet, backstage and the after party. For $4.99 you can get additional content on the Web, like a “360 cam” to assess attendees’ ball gowns and tuxes from all angles.

E!’s Live From the Red Carpet for iPhone and Android carries the network’s coverage of special events like the Academy Awards.

If you want to remind yourself of all the contenders, YouTube has compiled the trailers here. The most-watched best picture nominee trailer was “Toy Story 3,” with 15 million views.

If you need some virtual validation on Sunday evening, check-in to receive stickers from GetGlue for tuning into E!, Oscars.com and Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Jimmy Kimmel is also releasing one of his celeb-studded made-to-go-viral videos on his post-Oscars episode. Here’s a preview of “Hottie Body Humpilates”:

Custom Shoe Site Milk & Honey Gets Tripped Up After TV Spot

Tricia Duryee — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 19:20:51 +0000

Recognition–it can be a blessing and a curse.

Dorian Howard found that out the hard way when her small e-commerce start-up, Milk & Honey, crashed after E! reported on Monday night that celebrities–such as Ginnifer Goodwin of the HBO Series “Big Love,” Busy Philipps from ABC’s “Cougar Town” and Disney star Selena Gomez–were using it to design their own shoes.

In the 48 hours after the segment, Milk & Honey’s servers slowed to a crawl as thousands of women tried over and over to order something special that no one else had.

“Our site went bananas,” Howard said. “No one can order shoes because it’s totally crashed….I had no idea how much bandwidth we had. I’m a shoe designer. I don’t speak tech.”

The site, which is back online as of this morning, was founded by Dorian, who lives in Los Angeles, and her older sister, Ilissa, who lives in Hong Kong. It’s Ilissa’s job to manage the cobblers who bring to life the crazy shoe combinations people come up with.

Woman can pick from pumps or flats–round, pointy or peep toe, sling backs and closed backs–and from a variety of colors and textures, from leather to faux snake skin. Metallic studs and bows are optional. Each pair ranges from $200 to $325, depending on complexity.

Popular right now are nude-color shoes “because they go with anything in winter or summer, and they make your legs look really long,” Dorian said. A close second is red glitter.

Over the past six months, the self-funded sisters have flirted with the realities of building a business from scratch.

During slow months, they were convinced they “were the only people in the world that cared about customized shoes,” so when the servers crashed with people actually wanting to buy, Dorian stayed up all night tracking down server administrators on the other side of the globe who were still awake and could recover their site.

“We’ve had a few people who’ve called or were able to order over live chat, but we haven’t been able to process orders,” she said.

While the site was down, they added 1,500 Facebook fans, so hopefully those fans will come back to buy later. But in the frenzy, Dorian forgot completely about their Twitter community.

The urgency of the matter was heard audibly Tuesday afternoon, as users accessing the server caused a constant pinging in the background. “It’s amazing, it’s great, it’s what we are dreaming of,” Dorian said.

The sisters, who were previously in the film industry and toy business, have learned a lot of lessons. “At least we are consistent,” she joked. “We fuck up everything the first time, and then the second time we knock it out of the park.”

At times, they were close to the brink. “If we didn’t hit our number in December, we might not be in business today. We hit it by one [pair of shoes], but January exploded, and we hit our first-quarter goal in the first month of January.”

Next up, the two are considering talking to investors to help open a boutique so women can design their shoes in person. They also have their eyes on creating a spring collection.

“We wanted to see how long we could get away on our own. We are pretty close to our limit. It’s been tight, but it’s been working. I wash my own car now, and I mow my own lawn.”

Hulu Orders Up a New Bite-Size Show. It's Going to Taste a Lot Like "Talk Soup."

Peter Kafka — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:30:41 +0000

Hulu is a great place to see shows that just ran on TV. Is it a good place to see Internet shows that talk about shows that just ran on TV?

Stay tuned!

Plans are underway for a Hulu-only mini-show slated to run on the video site daily, offering up zippy commentary about TV and pop culture.

Some limited details: The show, which is casting now, will run five minutes an episode Monday through Friday. It’s supposed to offer “a quick and humorous survey of the past 24 hours of Media and pop culture.”

In other words, think of all of the TV shows that do something like this already–pretty much everything that runs on E! and half of what runs on VH-1–and shrink it down to a bite-size Web creation. They’re not reinventing the wheel here.

You can glean a tiny bit more about the show, via a casting call ad, at the bottom of this post. An actress who auditioned last week tells us the sessions were “mobbed.”

(Of course! But note that anyone who does get the gig won’t be hitting the jackpot–$1,000 a week, leave your SAG card at home.)

I’m assuming that “HD Films,” the show’s producer, is the same studio that is already producing “The Jace Hall Show,” a Web show about videogames, which runs on Hulu and other sites. Jace Hall is listed as a producer on this one, too.

Hulu rep Elisa Schreiber declined to discuss the show, telling me via email that “we’re not sharing any details because it’s still in the early stages.”

So why do we care? Because Hulu’s primary purpose in life, for now, is to provide a place for people to watch bona fide TV shows on the Web–and primarily shows from its three broadcast TV owners: News Corp.’s Fox, GE’s NBC and Disney’s ABC. (News Corp. also owns this Web site.)

But it has also been dabbling in Web originals over the past year or so: See “The LXD,” and “If I Can Dream.”

Hulu now has an original show in the works starring Whitney Port (who was on “The Hills,” Google tells me), designed to promote Mattel’s Ken doll (really). And there’s something coming from Ford and the producing team behind “The Amazing Race.”

The through-line behind all of this stuff: Webby takes on reality shows, which are cheap to produce for conventional TV and even more so on the Web (again, note the union-free note on the casting info below).

Nothing revolutionary, but it does point to an interesting question: At what point does the line between the best Web video and mediocre TV disappear?

No one thinks the Web is going to replace TV at its best–expensive original fare like “Lost” or “Glee,” or big-time events like the Super Bowl and the Oscars. But there’s not that much high-end, original stuff on TV.

And lots and lots of your programming grid is filled with repeats, which the Web can do just fine. And then lots of less exciting, and less expensive, fare like “The Biggest Loser” and the like, which the Web hasn’t done. Yet.

But there’s no reason that it couldn’t. And when and if that starts happening with some frequency, there will be even less reason to keep paying for expensive TV packages….

Here’s the text from the casting notice (click to enlarge):

What Do Rush and NPR Have in Common? Internet Talk Radio Hub Stitcher Nabs $6 Million From Benchmark.

Kara Swisher — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:30:25 +0000

Online talk radio aggregator Stitcher nabbed $6 million from Benchmark Capital and will use the money to give radio blabbermouth Rush Limbaugh, as well as the endlessly talking heads of National Public Radio, even more digital distribution.

The San Francisco-based start-up often describes itself as the the Pandora of online talk radio. And like the digital music site, Stitcher lets its users create and customize their own free personalized talk/information/news radio stations.

The site focuses mostly on its apps for a variety of mobile devices, especially increasingly popular smartphones. It offers programs from about a thousand different sources, such as NPR, E! and The Onion.

Stitcher also recommends new programs to users based on their selections.

The infusion of funding in a Series B round led by Benchmark–whose partner, Bob Kagle, will have a seat Stitcher’s board–will allow it to expand its advertising sales force and improve its offerings, said CEO Noah Shanok in an interview with BoomTown last night.

“The hope for everyone in terrestrial radio is to find new audiences, so as we grow, they will too,” said Shanok, who co-founded Stitcher in 2008. “We want to be a part of everyone’s everyday life.”

Shanok said fast-growing usage and engagement–which he declined to give specifics about–was the reason Benchmark was attracted to the company.

The new funding adds to $3 million Stitcher already raised from New Atlantic Ventures and investors Ed Scott and Ron Conway, who also participated in the new round.

While the mobile app on the Apple (AAPL) iPhone is the most popular, Stitcher also offers software for Research in Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry, Palm (PALM) Pre and Google (GOOG) Android devices.

Stitcher is also pushing into other areas, such as being part of Ford’s (F) initiative to make its SYNC-enabled vehicles into Wi-Fi hotspots, allowing people to connect to the Internet everywhere much more seamlessly in a moving car. They will be available later this year.

Here’s the press release on the funding:

Stitcher Secures $6 Million in Series B Venture Funding

Benchmark Capital Leads New Round to Help Transform the Way We Listen to Talk Radio

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. (April 6, 2010)–Today, Stitcher, a service that allows users to customize talk radio programming on their mobile devices, announced that it has completed its Series B round of financing. Led by Benchmark Capital, with participation from previous investor New Atlantic Ventures and tech veterans including Ed Scott and Ron Conway, the funding will be used to further Stitcher’s product and platform development. Bob Kagle of Benchmark will join Stitcher’s board of directors.

“We know that people prefer listening to news, talk and information programming when they’re on-the-go. The rise of smartphones has finally created an opportunity to give people exactly what they want to hear–on their commute, at the gym, on a road-trip–wherever and whenever they want it and that’s exactly what Stitcher does,” said Noah Shanok, CEO of Stitcher. “Benchmark’s funding, combined with Bob’s guidance, will help us continue to take advantage of the growing market for mobile content distribution.”

Stitcher’s free service allows users to create a personalized audio programming experience. With Stitcher, users can listen to the news and talk radio shows they enjoy whenever and wherever they like, using their mobile devices. Users choose their favorite programs from more than a thousand different sources, and Stitcher then delivers the audio feeds to their phone as a single, regularly updating radio station. Stitcher also helps users discover new content on a variety of topics–including business, sports, politics, entertainment, and current events–by recommending additional programs based on the shows users have in their feeds. A single radio station can include programming as diverse as Fox Headline News, NPR’s Fresh Air, TechCrunch Headlines, Onion Radio News, and E!’s Hollywood Rap Up.

“Stitcher is transforming the way we all consume news, talk radio, pod casts,” said Bob Kagle, general partner at Benchmark Capital. “Noah and his team are building a platform that will deliver the personalized experience consumers currently enjoy for music to the broader world of audio programming. We’re thrilled to join the Stitcher revolution.”

Take That E!: Facebook Invades the Golden Globes–The Scandalous Video!

Kara Swisher — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 07:59:38 +0000

Who says Facebook can’t be an online content company too?

Not the passel of folks from the social networking behemoth, who plucked, primped and transformed themselves into a pack of glamorous nerds to hit the red carpet at the Golden Globes Awards ceremony in Beverly Hills earlier tonight.

In other words: Silicon Valley meets Silicone Valley!

There, the Facebook team–which included PR honcho Brandee Barker and Randi Zuckerberg, who handles all kinds of media and other partnership initiatives (both pictured above)–asked Hollywood celebrities questions from Facebook users and more.

It was broadcast live, much like television, but you can look at one of Randi’s behind-the-scenes videos here, and see Brandee photographically assault all manner of celebs backstage.

Or you can watch BoomTown’s video below, since I managed to slip into the Beverly Hilton this afternoon right before the action to interview the team:

[ See post to watch video ]

Michael Jackson's Last Performance on the Web: Big, but Not Obama Big

Peter Kafka — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:07:38 +0000

Depending on your perspective, this is either interesting news or heartening news: Michael Jackson’s funeral and memorial were indeed a giant Internet event. But they don’t seem to have been as big as Michael Jackson’s death, and they weren’t as big as Barack Obama’s inauguration.

So let’s call them the third-biggest Web event of the year. To date.

That sounds more like what I was thinking this morning: Everyone had to watch Obama’s inauguration or read about Jackson’s death, but not everyone felt compelled to see his burial or memorial.

It also explains why the Akamai people were so uncomfortable with my earlier reading of their traffic stats this afternoon, when I concluded that the events were responsible for the content delivery service recording more visitors per minute than any other time in the last year. Though I’d still love it if someone could explain why that did happen. (Jennifer? Anyone?)

Statistics are tumbling in from different sites and services (if you’d like to share yours with me, I’m all ears).

Here’s what I’ve got for now:

Akamai (AKAM) says it delivered 2,185,000 “live and on-demand streams” today. If I’m comparing apples to apples here (Jennifer?), that’s much fewer than the seven million simultaneous streams the content delivery network delivered during Obama’s inauguration. Akamai also compares the number of visitors on its “Net Usage Index for News” and says that number peaked at 3,924,370–that’s nearly double average traffic of 2,000,000, but fewer than the 4,247,971 visitors who were looking for Jackson info when he died on June 25.
Facebook, which integrated its service with live video feeds from CNN, E! ABC and MTV (why wasn’t Twitter doing this?), says that one million users posted 800,000 status updates during the event, with the overwhelming majority coming through CNN. There were 1.8 million updates with the word “Obama” in them during the inauguration.
CNN says it served up 781,000 concurrent live streams during the event; during the Inauguration it served up 1.3 million. It served a total of 4.4 million streams during the event, and 10.4 million for the day.
MSNBC claims three million live streams–which are different from concurrent streams–and says that is its second-highest total, after…well you can guess. More if they roll in.

Is the Internet Ready for Michael Jackson's Funeral?

Peter Kafka — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:33:01 +0000

Michael Jackson’s funeral service starts at 1 pm Eastern today and you will have to try very hard not to see it: In addition to wall-to-wall coverage on the news channels, any Web site capable of live-streaming the event will be doing so (list at bottom of this post). Is the Internet ready for the coming traffic jam?

I’m betting it is. Jackson was a global icon and his funeral will purportedly be a star-studded affair. But I just don’t think this will compare to the two events that have already tested the Web’s capacity this year alone: Barack Obama’s inauguration and news of Jackson’s death.

Recall that Obama’s first speech as president managed to get most people to stop using Google (GOOG)–voluntarily. And Jackson’s death was a news event that pretty much everyone wanted to hear more about, at least for a couple seconds.

But on the Web at least, Jackson was old news by last week. And my hunch is that anyone who truly wants to watch today’s event will do so on a TV.

But if do you want to watch it on your laptop, try one of these outlets:

TMZ (of course)

CNN.com (partnering with Facebook again, a la the Obama event).

Want to watch in the company of others? Cinedigm will be screening the event, for free, at the theater chain’s screens in 31 states. Details here.