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Viral Video: 15-Year-Old Korean Girl Channels Adele

Kara Swisher in Media on January 2 at 12:19 am PT

Just: Wow.

Viral Video: “Titanic” in 3-D Gets Facebook Lift

Kara Swisher in Media on November 18, 2011 at 12:15 am PT

Its heart will go on — except this time in 3-D.

Dancing Queen: After Meeting With Microsoft Last Week, Yahoo Is Next on Hulu’s Sales Card

Kara Swisher in Media on July 5, 2011 at 12:05 pm PT

Here’s a handy helper for those following the fate of the Hulu premium online video service, whose noisy efforts to sell itself have gotten a lot of attention of late: “In preliminary talks” = “hawking itself to one of a half dozen big moneybag tech companies who will visit with Hulu’s bankers and management to see its presentation at Morgan Stanley’s office in Century City in Los Angeles.”

Viral Video: That's Why the Lady Is a Bieber

Kara Swisher in News on April 6, 2011 at 6:02 am PT

As many know, BoomTown is a Belieber. Which, loosely translated, means I love me some Justin Bieber. Which is why this video of a woman who looks exactly like him is so obvi compelling. It’s both disturbing and hilarious.

Don't Rain on Microsoft's Ad Parade (Except It's Raining in Seattle, Natch!)

Kara Swisher in News on March 30, 2011 at 1:10 pm PT

BoomTown scrambled the All Things Digital jet (aka, United Airlines, Seat 7A) late last night to get up to Microsoft’s big event for its online advertising clients today. Called “Imagine 2011: Marketing Leadership Summit” and held at its Redmond, Wa. HQ, the two-day event is designed to wow peeps by trotting out a spate of strategery concepts those who buy advertising on Microsoft’s various digital offerings from its Bing search service to MSN to Xbox to Windows Phone 7.

CityVille Gets 290,000 Residents on First Day

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on December 6, 2010 at 3:03 pm PT

Cities are always more congested. Last week, Zynga proved that even more with the launch of CityVille, its latest social game, which follows other big–and more rural hits–like FrontierVille and FarmVille. In just 24 hours, more than 290,000 people moved over to the big city, besting Zynga’s biggest game launch–FrontierVille.

[UPDATED] The Next Deal in Online Gaming? Sources Say Angry Birds Publisher Chillingo Could Be Next in the Hand.

Kara Swisher in News on October 20, 2010 at 2:46 am PT

The online and mobile gaming sector has been a hotbed of deal activity over the the last year, from Playdom to Playfish to, most recently, Ngmoco. So what’s the next to go? Several sources said that U.K.-based Chillingo, arguably the hottest downloadable game publisher–mostly via apps for the Apple iPhone and iPad–is close to a sale to a bigger company. The likely acquirer: EA.

Is Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 the Bing of Smartphones?

Kara Swisher in News on October 12, 2010 at 9:00 am PT

When Microsoft introduced its refurbished search service called Bing two years ago–at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference, in fact–there were a lot of raised eyebrows about whether it could make any headway into a market in which it was a mere pip-squeak. And, while it has been a costly effort, few can dispute the fact that the innovative, interesting and cleverly marketed Bing is a perceptual and perhaps even actual hit for the software giant. Now, can Microsoft do the same with Windows Phone 7, which was launched yesterday?

Cisco Does Doobies–So What's Next in the Consumer Space?

Kara Swisher in News on September 28, 2010 at 8:15 am PT

Yesterday, BoomTown made a brief stop at what felt like an underground bunker in a hotel in San Francisco to see the Doobie Brothers. Yes, the legendary band of indelible hit songs such as “Black Water” and “China Grove” and misspent youth way, way back in the day. Except the band, which was founded in San Jose, Calif., in 1970, was performing in a Cisco studio down south in Silicon Valley to telepresence-launch its first album in a decade, called “World Gone Crazy.”

Oscar Bouquets for "The Social Network," as Zuckerberg Readies for the Brickbats

Kara Swisher in News on September 17, 2010 at 5:14 am PT

It’s just a post on the popular entertainment blog “Deadline Hollywood.” But it’s a clear indication the makers of the movie about the origins of Facebook are gunning for maximum attention and Oscar buzz with only a few weeks to go before its debut. And they will further gas up the marketing machine for “The Social Network” more, even though it appears it will be devastating to the real-life version of its main subject, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.