While former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson fades from the tech scene — besides getting jacked from the top job at the Silicon Valley Internet giant, he’s also just come off two tech boards he had served on — the investigation over his hiring and how a fake computer science degree got into the company’s regulatory filings continues.

While the quick-fire controversy burned Thompson, as well as now former Yahoo director Patti Hart, the special committee of independent board members is still at work trying to figure out how such a mess was made in the first place.

And, more importantly, who knew what when and told whom.

At the time the committee was announced, Yahoo said it would “conduct a thorough review of CEO Scott Thompson’s academic credentials, as well as the facts and circumstances related to the review and disclosure of those credentials in connection with Thompson’s appointment as CEO.”

The special committee is chaired by Yahoo’s new Chairman Fred Amoroso and includes John Hayes and Thomas McInerney, two independent directors who joined the board in April.

Yahoo also hired independent counsel Terry Bird of the law firm Bird, Marella, Boxer, Wolpert, Nessim, Drooks and Licenberg in Los Angeles to handle the inquiry.

The company also noted at the time that “the special committee and the entire Board appreciate the urgency of the situation and the special committee will therefore conduct the review in an independent, thorough and expeditious manner. The Board intends to make the appropriate disclosures to shareholders promptly upon completion of the review.”

Gripped by urgency myself, I have grown weary waiting by the phone for some official answers, which sources said will not be forthcoming for some time.

But since I am the most curious of cats — uh-oh! — I started dialing around on my own to find out what’s what.

And, according to sources — especially since Thompson has settled with Yahoo and will not get severance due to the academic falsehood — the big focus is now centering on if the company’s staff screwed up the background check of his academic credentials, thus allowing it to get into its official filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and also on Yahoo’s corporate Web site.

When Thompson was hired from eBay, where he was president of its PayPal payments division, the online commerce company had the correct bio information in its SEC filings, although not on its Web site or in its PR materials.

The question is: Did someone from Yahoo simply rely on Web bios and not check eBay filings and did anyone ever re-check Thompson’s college records? (Note: It took me 15 minutes flat to find out he did not have such a degree at Stonehill College in the Boston area.)

If lazy checking was the case, it spells rank incompetence on the part of staffers, as well as Hart, who headed the search after Yahoo fired its previous CEO Carol Bartz last fall.

A much more troubling line of inquiry taking place is aimed at the possibility that someone at Yahoo did discover the discrepancy in Thompson’s resume and either did not report it up the chain of command or did and it was either lost or ignored or, well, worse.

While this certainly ain’t Watergate, such a situation would be very hard for Yahoo to explain away as easily to shareholders, especially potentially litigious ones. As it is always said, the coverup can often be more damaging than the crime itself.

And, if it is determined by the special committee that certain employees knew of Thompson’s resume inaccuracy, it will most certainly result in dismissals of Yahoo employees.

The focus on the committee — which truly cannot sweep this under the rug, if it occurred in this much more serious scenario — is most obviously the legal department of Yahoo, which is responsible for making certain filings are accurate.

Also under scrutiny is the quickness of the hiring of Thompson.

Among the questions is how much vetting was done and whether adequate questions about him were asked among a variety of possible sources.

When he was picked in January, Thompson was a dark-horse candidate for many, including some Yahoo board members.

In fact, he was not on the initial headhunting lists prepared by outside talent search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

That’s because Heidrick had placed Thompson at eBay in mid-2000 and could not then recommend him to Yahoo. As it turned out, Thompson took it upon himself to cold email Yahoo board member and Intuit CEO Brad Smith about the job, who then passed Thompson’s interest to Hart.

Heidrick had no involvement in the checking of Thompson, although he later blamed the firm in a public meeting with Yahoo employees for putting the error in his bio in the first place from when he was hired at eBay. Heidrick quickly called the accusation “verifiably not true” in a memo to its own employees.

Sources said that meant that the firm had a resume that Thompson had submitted to it that also contained the error.

But the central mystery of how that mistake appeared on his bio will likely remain just that without further explanation from Thompson.

In a radio interview in 2009, he did not correct a specific question about the twin degrees he appeared to have held and seemed to even agree with the show’s host, Moira Gunn, about them.

Later, she told me in a video interview that Thompson had clearly indicated to her in the prep for that interview that he indeed had a computer science degree.

Still, it is still not clear — and may never be — who put the faux computer science credential on his resume in the first place.

So, with all apologies to Winston Churchill: It might remain a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

One of Yahoo’s biggest long-term investors, Capital Research and Management, which owns more than 10 percent of the company in two different funds, is leaning toward voting for the slate proposed by activist shareholder Daniel Loeb of Third Point, in the wake of the controversy around the botched bio of its new CEO Scott Thompson.

“Having a CEO with that hanging over his head is really a problem going forward,” said one person with knowledge of the situation. “It’s hard to pretend this is not a problem.”

While sources said Yahoo’s longtime institutional investor — which currently holds large stakes via its Capital Research Global Investors and Capital World Investors funds — is not likely to go public with their voting choice until close to the annual meeting, which will take place sometime this summer.

But its fund managers have told key Yahoo board members of their grave concerns over the situation.

Ironically, in the last proxy fight showdown with Carl Icahn, Capital removed its support of Yahoo’s slate too and was an important influence to many major changes at the company.

Such a move is problematic for Thompson, since the rejection of another big shareholder at its upcoming annual meeting will keep the unusual issue and right in the middle of a noisy proxy fight.

A special committee of the Yahoo board is investigating the situation — in which a fake computer science degree somehow got on the resume of the former president of eBay’s PayPal payments unit and later into official Yahoo regulatory filings.

The problem was uncovered last week — unfortunately for the Silicon Valley Internet giant — by Loeb, who has been banging away on Yahoo since.

A trio of independent Yahoo directors is looking into the mess, with a focus on how that happened, whether anyone at Yahoo knew of the inaccurate bio and how it got there in the first place.

Also of great concern, is how Thompson could have not seen the error in the many years it was on the Web site of eBay and also how he approved a bio that had the inaccuracy in it when he was hired by Yahoo in January.

Worse still, in a 2009 interview, he clearly did not say he did not have such a degree in with a radio show host when directly asked about it.

“It’s a little hard believe an executive of this level would have missed such a thing, when he had so many opportunities to fix it,” said one source. “And, if he did overlook it that many times, that’s a problem too.”

In fact, according to a report earlier today by Business Insider that I also confirmed, Thompson told employees today in two separate meetings that he did miss the error since it was placed there — inexplicably — in 2004. In the meeting, he blamed a low-level headhunting staffer who added it incorrectly, an error that then proliferated.

Thompson also said he did not provide a resume to the company in his hiring process — say whaaaat, but true — although this still does not absolve him from the original error.

As to the interview: Thompson said he did not want to be rude and correct the host of TechNation, Moira Gunn, after she clearly asserted to him he had a computer science degree as part of a question on his qualifications. Others present at the meetings said he said he did not hear the question.

But, in an video interview with me yesterday, though, Gunn said she and Thompson discussed a computer science education in a way that left the clear impression that he had obtained one.

While Thompson’s excuse may beggar the imagination of some, it’s his story and he’s sticking to it. In all seriousness, his complete lack of willingness to take responsibility for the error — even if it was not his fault — itself is a little startling.

Because what’s not clear is how the bio was miraculously correct in eBay’s official filings and also if it is plausible that he never saw the mistake.

Numerous communications execs at Internet companies told me that it was unusual for a high-level exec not to pay close attention to information that went out about them, especially in legal filings. In addition, just as many execs are made to check and swear on their bios that go into such documents.

In fact, it was Thompson’s job to make sure the things written about him were correct at all times. As CEO, as a major Silicon Valley player pointed out, he is required by federal law to personally certify Yahoo’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Violations of these rules carry financial and also potential criminal penalties.

Sources said the board is worried about that credibility issue too and it puts Thompson in an ever-dicier position. Noticeably, the board has yet to make a public statement of support for him on the issue.

Also a major worry for the directors is the mostly negative response to the situation from Yahoo employees, who are deeply upset that Thompson’s error was not caught and that he might not be treated in the same way as anyone else who turned in a false resume, whether it was by accident or not.

A Yahoo spokeswoman told me last week that there was also support internally for Thompson, but in many dozens of interviews I have done with Yahoo employees and a continued monitoring of internal bulletin board, the tone is not in his favor by any means.

Like I said, it’s a dicey time to be Scott Thompson right now.

RELATED POSTS:

• Yahoo’s Parting With Thompson Will Be for “Cause” (a.k.a. CSLie)
• Ross Levinsohn’s Yahoo Plan: Back to the Future
• Here’s New Yahoo CEO’s First Note to Troops! (The Leaking-Internal-Memos-to-ATD Policy Remains in Effect As Usual)
• Yahoo Officially Confirms ATD Report on CEO Changes and Proxy Settlement
• Meet the Man I Call “The Hair”: The Video Stylings of Yahoo’s Newest CEO Ross Levinsohn
• Will Thompson’s Ouster Mean a Yahoo-Facebook Patent Settlement Too?
• Exclusive: Yahoo’s Thompson Out; Levinsohn In; Board Settlement With Loeb Nears Completion
• Heidrick & Struggles Slaps Back at Thompson’s Yahoo in Blame Game Over ResuMess
• Is He In or Is He Out? Crunchtime for Scott Thompson at Yahoo.
• Not So Scott Free? Yahoo’s Other Big Shareholder — Cap Re — Leaning Toward Supporting Loeb Over Thompson ResuMess.
• Tech Nation’s Gunn Says She and Yahoo CEO Discussed Their CS Degrees Before 2009 Show (Video and Audio)
• Loeb Calls Again for Thompson Firing From Yahoo, as Former eBay Boss Supports Him
• Place Your Bets: Will Loeb Drop Another Bomb on Yahoo at Vegas Confab Later Today?
• Exclusive: Yahoo Director in Charge of Botched CEO Vetting to Step Down From Board
• CEO Says Sorry to Yahoos for Borked Bio “Distraction” — But Will Mea Culpa Work Without an Apology for Error? (Memo)
• Buffett Comments on Trust Issue in Yahoo CEO BioGate: “You’ve Got a Problem”
• Loeb Lobs Lawsuit, as Expected, at Yahoo’s Borked Bio Mess
• As Yahoo CEO Reaches Out to Top Staff, Board Meets to Weigh “Options” (I.E., Deciding Who Gets to Take the Borked Bio Blame)
• Yahoo Should Expect Incoming Lawsuit Lobbed by Loeb Tomorrow on CEO Hiring
• They Shoot Yahoo CEOs, Don’t They? But Not Without a Really Smoking Gun and a Much Stronger Board.
• Yahoo’s Thompson Asks Employees to “Stay Focused” — Except Not on Him
• In 2009 Interview, Yahoo CEO Does Not Deny He Has a CS Degree, and Calls Himself an “Engineer” (Audio)
• Yahoo’s Board Will “Review” Resume Discrepancy of CEO
• How Did a Phantom CS Degree Get on CEO’s Bio in SEC Filings? Yahoo’s Not Saying.
• Yahoo’s Response on CEO’s Computer Science ResumeGate: “Inadvertent Error”
• Dan Loeb Alleges “Discrepancies” on Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s Resume Related to Computer Science Degree

The skewering is epic, especially since it is so spot-on.

Enjoy:

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:

Here is a deeply silly video of NBC late-night show host Jimmy Fallon and First Lady Michelle Obama competing in a potato-sack race.

You read that right. Also a push-up battle, a hula-hoop hip-off and a tug-of-war in the White House, all part of Obama’s “Let’s Move” exercise initiatives aimed at improving children’s health.

It’s got a goofy charm, and the kids will love it (mine did):

Here’s a very cute video trailer, titled “Off the Grid,” for the upcoming Academy Awards, the annual movie award show that will feature the return of host Billy Crystal.

It features cameos from a few well-known celebrities. Enjoy:

Yesterday, on WSJ.com’s “Digits” online tech show, host Simon Constable asked me if some parts of my scoop on Apple holding a media-focused event in New York at the end of this month were secretly implying anything.

Simon apparently read “The Da Vinci Code” one too many times! I don’t know from clandestine signals, but here I am talking about the event, along with AllThingsD.com media ace Peter Kafka.

Enjoy:

In it, WSJ.com’s Markets Hub host Paul Vigna asked the (largely offscreen) media mogul some questions about online stuff, as the other two (terrified-looking) panelists watched.

What about buying into online gaming giant Zynga’s upcoming IPO? “No,” gruffed Murdoch. Does he play its flagship game, FarmVille? Of course not.

Murdoch is apparently on Facebook, though. Well, could Vigna be besties with his ultimate boss (News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns The Wall Street Journal, which owns WSJ.com, which also owns AllThingsD.com) on the social networking giant?

“No,” growled Murdoch.

Heh.

The 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards for television excellence are broadcast tonight starting at 5 pm PT, so here are some of the better preshow videos to enjoy.

I particularly enjoy the naughty one up top by host and “Glee” star Jane Lynch, in which she makes up all new names for porn versions of popular TV shows:

Here’s a delicious juxtaposition you don’t get often: Various reports indicate that reality show empress Kim Kardashian’s upcoming wedding to New Jersey Nets basketball player Kris Humphries will be held at the Montecito estate of Google’s Executive Chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt.

And, according to another report, if not there, then at a house owned by one of Silicon Valley’s most famous VC legends.

Schmidt won’t be a guest at what is sure to be a heavily chronicled event — which the New York Post said will have a $20,000 cake, three dresses and 500 guests.

You know, simple nuptials.

Instead, it appears Schmidt rents out the lush house, which he bought from talk show host Ellen DeGeneres in 2007 for $20 million.

Fun fact: It is the same spot where Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck — or Bennifer, as I like to call them — were set to be hitched in 2003, before they called off their engagement.

According to blog site The Real Estalker, who also wrote about the possible rental:

The privately situated and heavily secured luxury compound’s architectural heart and soul is a 5,000-plus square foot main house with 4 bedrooms and 4 full and 2 half bathrooms designed by beloved Santa Barbara architect George Washington Smith. Staff and/or guests can be comfortably accommodated in a detached 1-bedroom guest house with kitchen and an additional studio space tucked into a quiet corner provides private respite from family members and all the full-time staff people required to maintain an estate of this magnitude.

At the time Mister Schmidt snatched up the property, the extensively and meticulously landscaped grounds included a long winding drive, massive motor court, championship grade tennis court, extra-long swimming pool with raised spa area, wide terraces, broad lawns, and a stunning allée with colorful tiled fountain that screams out for a highly stylized celebrity wedding designed — we presume — by an efficient, innovative and extremely well-paid event planner.

[UPDATE:] Later, The Real Estalker changed its report and said the wedding might not be held at Schmidt’s place, but at another over-the-top estate owned by Silicon Valley venture legend Frank Caufield, one of the founders of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

I have a call in to the Kardashians, who are usually so shy with the press, so I will update as soon as I hear or a camera crew arrives at my house.

Until the I-dos are done, below are some pretty pix of Schmidt’s fancy spread from back in 2006:

A Google spokesman had no comment, obviously.

This is a very funny promo for the upcoming Emmy Awards, the annual television fest which is being hosted in September by “Glee” star Jane Lynch.

Lynch, as you recall, declared herself the acting CEO of News Corp. at the ninth D: All Things Digital conference (see that video below, too).

Now, she is apparently impersonating daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to seal her Emmy gig.

But it’s all in good fun, folks:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110809/viral-video-atd-ceo-jane-lynch-is-not-ellen-degeneres/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20110210/gawkers-nick-denton-see-you-ingrates-this-is-what-were-trying-to-do-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20110210/gawkers-nick-denton-see-you-ingrates-this-is-what-were-trying-to-do-video/#comments Fri, 11 Feb 2011 04:44:21 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=29599 Gawker Media’s Nick Denton has spent much of the week responding to whiny readers and armchair Web designers who don’t like his sites’ new look.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think the publishing impresario was feeling just a titch…defensive.

But Thursday night, Denton hosted a gathering of 100-plus chitty-chatty newsish media types at his SoHo loft, and there he seemed quite confident again. Midway through his cocktail party, he dimmed the lights, clambered up on a windowsill and toasted his sales team, his technical team and his writers. As well as former New York congressman Chris Lee.

And then he played us this movie, which shows quite clearly what he’s trying to do with his properties. He wants to morph them from “blogs” into something more ambitious, but also older: He wants them to be like TV.

A Day in the Life of Gawker Media – FINAL from source/record on Vimeo.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110210/gawkers-nick-denton-see-you-ingrates-this-is-what-were-trying-to-do-video/feed/ 12 http://allthingsd.com/20110201/beyond-the-search-box-the-white-pleather-honeypot-smackdown/ http://allthingsd.com/20110201/beyond-the-search-box-the-white-pleather-honeypot-smackdown/#comments Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:53:20 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=40083

Perusing AOL’s leaked damn-the-journalism-full-speed-ahead business plan, BoomTown was a little late to the Microsoft Bing event this morning called “Farsight: Beyond the Search Box.”

But things had certainly been cooking with gas when I walked into the meeting room at the University of San Francisco, which the organizers had decked out in white nubby rugs, white pleather couches and those white egg-shaped chairs found only in 1970s decor.

Schweeet!

First up was well-known investor and entrepreneur Peter Thiel, poo-poohing Microsoft’s prospects of ever making money in search.

“It’s difficult to produce a new search company,” said Thiel, noting that even with a growing market share it’s curtains for Bing, given the huge fixed costs. “As far as I can tell, it’s still not breaking even.”

Ouch!

By the way, Thiel sold semantic search engine Powerset to Microsoft for upward of $100 million in 2008 to help it, you know, get ahead in search.

Way to insult your money-bearing hosts!

Then, moderator Vivek Wadhwa harangued the panelists from Google, Microsoft and Blekko in the session “Who Will Win the Spam Wars?”

And they say I’m a snarky moderator! Wadhwa is snarktastic!

Wadhwa did not like any of it–not crappy content sites that sully Web search, not the efforts the companies were making to fix things, not the vision the trio had of the future.

And, by the way, Microsoft was not ever going to make money off all the company’s efforts.

Way to insult your hosts! I like this event!

Of course, what everyone was interested in was a smackdown between Google and Microsoft, given that the search giant accused the software giant of stealing its results today.

In an excellent, if exhaustive, post by Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan, Google said Bing was cheating by lifting its search results, which Google said it had proved via a “honeypot” sting operation.

“I’ve spent my career in pursuit of a good search engine,” Google’s Amit Singhal told Search Engine Land. “I’ve got no problem with a competitor developing an innovative algorithm. But copying is not innovation, in my book.”

The very presence of the word “honeypot” in any story about search algorithms is superb, in my book, even though this “controversy” is pretty much a he-said-he-said geek-off.

Google’s Matt Cutts kept up the cheater pressure at the Bing event, in a short debate with Microsoft’s Harry Shum, who was not having any of it.

“It’s not like we actually copy anything,” he said.

Translation: Actually, we do borrow, just like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg did to the Winklevii, resulting in a social networking behemoth that will soon take over all search and make this whole debate moot.

Microsoft is rubber, Google is glue. And Facebook, which was not present at the search event, is the real sticky honeypot.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110201/beyond-the-search-box-the-white-pleather-honeypot-smackdown/feed/ 3 http://allthingsd.com/20101209/amazon-explains-why-its-ok-to-sell-books-about-the-wikileaks-stuff-it-wont-host/ http://allthingsd.com/20101209/amazon-explains-why-its-ok-to-sell-books-about-the-wikileaks-stuff-it-wont-host/#comments Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:52:23 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=26861
UPDATE: Amazon UK is no longer selling the WikiLeaks book; a note on the site says the self-published title “has been removed by author.” Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener says he doesn’t know why author Heinz Duthel pulled the book, and says Amazon has had no contact with him. UPDATE 2: And now it appears to be back. Here’s an interview with Duthel explaining why he pulled the book, and why he asked Amazon to start selling it again.
————————-
EARLIER:

Last week Amazon pulled the plug on WikiLeaks by refusing to host the group’s data on its server. But Amazon is now profiting from some of that data, via a Kindle e-book title now available through its U.K. outlet.

Hypocrisy! says the Internet.

Not at all! says Amazon. But it can understand why you might think that.

When reports about the book first surfaced today, the title on Amazon’s site sure made it look as if the e-book were simply a bundled version of WikiLeaks’ documents: “WikiLeaks documents expose US foreign policy conspiracies. All cables with tags from 1- 5000.”

Since then, though, Amazon has added this wording: “[DOES NOT CONTAIN TEXT OF CABLES].”

Adds Amazon PR guy Drew Herdener, via email: “This book contains commentary and analysis regarding recent WikiLeaks disclosures, not the original material disclosed via the WikiLeaks website.”

But that’s still confusing, since the book does indeed contain the text of cables–but in excerpt form, according to the AP.

So let me try to make Amazon’s case for them. Here’s what they might say if they were allowed to speak freely: Sorry about the confusion. But of course it’s okay for us to sell books about WikiLeaks that contain WikiLeaks data we don’t want to host ourselves. There’s a big difference between a data dump and writing that incorporates and comments on that data. See, for instance, the New York Times and every other news outlet that have written about WikiLeaks while using information supplied by WikiLeaks. We sell the Times and other periodicals that report on the topic, and we’re going to sell this book, too.

You’re welcome, Amazon! No need to send a check–I do this kind of thing gratis.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101209/amazon-explains-why-its-ok-to-sell-books-about-the-wikileaks-stuff-it-wont-host/feed/ 20 http://allthingsd.com/20101201/wikileaks-leaves-amazon-returns-to-sweden/ http://allthingsd.com/20101201/wikileaks-leaves-amazon-returns-to-sweden/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:12:39 +0000 Beth Callaghan http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=33341 WikiLeaks has left its U.S. host, Amazon Web Services, and moved its operations back to Sweden. The whistleblowing site had left Bahnhof, its Swedish host, and sought refuge with Amazon after Sunday’s leak of U.S. State Department documents left it besieged by almost constant DDOS attacks. The site reported another DDOS attack early yesterday, and was down earlier today. Neither WikiLeaks nor Amazon has officially commented on their relationship or why it ended.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101201/wikileaks-leaves-amazon-returns-to-sweden/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20101110/viral-video-keith-olbermanns-non-apologetic-apology/ http://allthingsd.com/20101110/viral-video-keith-olbermanns-non-apologetic-apology/#comments Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:40:39 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=37093

MSNBC cable television host Keith Olbermann was back on the air last night after a short suspension and chatting up a storm–as usual, almost entirely about himself.

This time it was supposedly to apologize for handing over some dough in support of a trio of Democratic candidates, which is against NBC’s ethical rules for its news folk.

Or is it?

In any case, that’s how Olbermann decided to play it–all jokey and look-at-me-I’m-so-naughty, including adding in all the television comics’ jokes about him, getting all gooey about fan support and, of course, dinging his critics on the right.

In other words: Same old, same old.

Sigh:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101110/viral-video-keith-olbermanns-non-apologetic-apology/feed/ 3 http://allthingsd.com/20101015/index-union-square-like-soundclouds-web-based-tune/ http://allthingsd.com/20101015/index-union-square-like-soundclouds-web-based-tune/#comments Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:25:17 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=24601 Here’s another bet on Web-based music: SoundCloud, a start-up that makes it easy to share streaming music, is about to land a funding round from high-profile investors.

Sources tell me that Index Ventures and Union Square Ventures are leading a “significant” new round for the Berlin-based company. I don’t have a dollar amount, but I’m told that VCs were competing fiercely to get into the three-year-old company, which raised a $3.3 million round from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures in 2009. The round hasn’t closed yet.

Online music has been a black hole for investors for a very long time. So what’s the attraction here?

In large part, it’s because SoundCloud isn’t dependent on deals with the major music labels. It’s designed to let professional and amateur musicians share their own music with each other and the public, via cloud-based files that the company hosts.

Once the tunes are on SoundCloud’s servers, the service makes it easy to move the stuff around the Web, via its own widget and an API that’s showing up on lots of interesting sites, apps, services and devices, including Facebook and Apple’s iPad. You can load SoundCloud files into Spotify, the streaming music company that Index has also invested in.

The service uses the freemium model, offering most of its capabilities for free, and charging up to $700 a year for more storage and extra features.

You can also use SoundCloud to share music you didn’t create and don’t own–and a “private sharing” option makes it easy to do so discretely. That could leave the service open, theoretically, to copyright claims, a la YouTube.

But so far the company has signed up a million users without attracting the ire of the big labels. And recent court decisions in the Veoh/Universal Music and Google/Viacom cases seem to give user-uploaded services like SoundCloud a lot of legal leeway, at least in the U.S.

I’m told that the company also plans on using Audible Magic’s “fingerprinting” technology, which will make it easier for copyright owners to pull content off the service.

SoundCloud, Index and Union Square all declined to comment.

Here’s an example of SoundCloud at work–a 43-minute (!) mix that Beck has posted to his Web site, which we can also embed here:

Melted Lemons by planned_obsolescence

SoundCloud: The Tour from SoundCloud on Vimeo.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101015/index-union-square-like-soundclouds-web-based-tune/feed/ 4 http://allthingsd.com/20101001/boomtown-on-twit-you-cant-say-no-to-oprah/ http://allthingsd.com/20101001/boomtown-on-twit-you-cant-say-no-to-oprah/#comments Fri, 01 Oct 2010 17:29:59 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=34685

No, you may not, and that’s what I said on Leo Laporte’s terrific “This Week in Tech” online show last Sunday about why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his recent $100 million donation to schools in Newark, New Jersey, on the same day as the splashy Hollywood movie–”The Social Network”–eviscerating him premiered.

Because the powerful television talk show host wanted him on that week, since she was focusing on education reform! And what Oprah Winfrey wants, Oprah Winfrey gets–which is pretty much my motto for life.

Bad timing? Good timing? Whatev–kids in need get a piece of the Silicon Valley wunderkind’s pile of moolah, so I am good with it no matter when Zuckerberg announced it.

Also joining Laporte as guests on the program were tech super-couple Veronica Belmont of Tekzilla and gdgt’s Ryan Block. The show is a lively one.

Topics included were: TechCrunch’s Angelgate (I really have to ignore this faux-controversy now), the alleged Facebook smartphone, China spying on Gmail, making room for new set-top boxes, Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt’s Bing FUD, Zynga’s Farmville panic, brodown throwdown and, of course, the Facebook Movie.

Here’s the full video:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20101001/boomtown-on-twit-you-cant-say-no-to-oprah/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20100928/viral-video-katy-perry-defiles-elmo/ http://allthingsd.com/20100928/viral-video-katy-perry-defiles-elmo/#comments Tue, 28 Sep 2010 07:14:08 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=34213

Okay, it’s admittedly a very funny mock skit from this weekend’s season premiere of “Saturday Night Live,” featuring singer Katy Perry and her problems related to a canceled appearance on “Sesame Street.”

But must poor Elmo suffer? You’ll figure out why right away.

One big plus: The genius of former SNL cast members Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler, who was also host of the NBC television comedy show. Perry was the musical guest too.

Here’s the video:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100928/viral-video-katy-perry-defiles-elmo/feed/ 2 http://allthingsd.com/20100903/viral-video-its-co-nan/ http://allthingsd.com/20100903/viral-video-its-co-nan/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:50:35 +0000 Kara Swisher http://kara.allthingsd.com/?p=33381

Earlier this year, the travails of late-night television talk show host Conan O’Brien and his epic battle with the inept suits at NBC became a gold mine of Internet-fueled comedy mayhem.

Well, Team Coco is back in November on TBS, and it has a name.

And it’s a good one, as you will see in the video below.

Enjoy:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100903/viral-video-its-co-nan/feed/ 1 http://allthingsd.com/20100121/stern-empty-threats/ http://allthingsd.com/20100121/stern-empty-threats/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:00:13 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=33179 Is Howard Stern going to return to terrestrial radio? That seems highly unlikely given his obvious affinity for the…permissiveness of satellite. But the radio show host isn’t above threatening to return to earth as part of his contract negotiations.

Stern said today that he has been approached by several “regular” radio execs about returning to his original turf when his five-year $500 million contract with Sirius XM (SIRI) expires.

“I actually have an offer,” Stern said, according to a report on The Wrap. “Well, not a bona fide offer, but people have been making them.”

Stern’s remarks today follow a public call-and-response negotiation with Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin that began last fall. “It will start with Howard feeling that he is working too hard and doing too many shows and not making enough money,” Karmazin told attendees of the Reuters Media Summit in November. “Our side would say, ‘We want you to do more, and get less money.’ The hope would be that we would come out with Howard staying with our service.”

Stern, of course, is angling for the exact opposite. “I don’t think I’m going to be re-signing. I know exactly what I want to do here,” he said last year, referring to a less busy schedule. “And I don’t know if it would interest [Sirius.]“

Given the size of Stern’s audience and the availability of much of Sirius’s other content on the Internet, my guess is that it would.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20100121/stern-empty-threats/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20090915/former-cbs-dj-adam-carolla-gets-a-new-gig-cbs-podcast-host/ http://allthingsd.com/20090915/former-cbs-dj-adam-carolla-gets-a-new-gig-cbs-podcast-host/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:45:31 +0000 Peter Kafka http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/?p=10994 Earlier this year, I wrote about Adam Carolla, who used to be a popular DJ for CBS Radio and now hosts his own popular podcast. My take: Carolla is even better on the Web than he is on the air, but I worried that he’d have a hard time turning his talent and Internet audience into money.

Turns out he’s figured out how to do it: By going back to work for CBS.

The broadcaster, which canned Carolla from his radio job earlier in the year, is now going to sponsor his podcast. It will promote the show, handle ad sales and let Carolla program his own Web radio station.

The press release announcing the deal describes it as a “partnership.” I’m trying to figure out if that means Carolla will become an employee again or if it’s a real partnership, whereby, say, he retains ownership of his show and shares revenue with CBS (CBS).

I’m guessing it’s the former, since selling ads for podcasts still requires a lot of work and not that much return. It’s much easier for CBS to sell ads against a local radio station with an audience of a million or more than for Carolla’s show, which reaches an average of 130,000 people at a time.

Still, Carolla’s show is frequently in Apple (AAPL) iTunes’s Top 10 podcast list, and someday, someone will figure out how to take advantage of its (relatively) small but dedicated audience. And the show already has one sponsor–Carolla has started doing a “live read” for Adam & Eve Stores, the “the nation’s number one source for all things erotic.”

Here’s an interview I conducted with Carolla in March, where he explains his not-entirely voluntary move to the Web and his attempts to turn it into a money-making venture.

And here’s the release:

CBS RADIO FORGES ONLINE PARTNERSHIP WITH ADAM CAROLLA

Popular Entertainer’s Podcast To Be Featured Across CBS RADIO Properties;
Carolla To Also Program His Own Streaming Radio Station, K-ACE

CBS RADIO today announced it has partnered with Adam Carolla, comedian, TV star, radio host, actor and entertainer to present his successful podcast to legions of listeners and fans nationwide.  “THE ADAM CAROLLA PODCAST” can be heard for free on-demand at www.adamcarolla.com and is additionally available for download on iTunes.

Promotion for Adam Carolla will appear across CBS RADIO’s portfolio of station properties with direct links to the entertainer’s dedicated website.  Once there, fans can listen to the latest audio rant from Adam, as well as sample archived podcasts.  Ad sales for the podcast will be handled by CBS RADIO.  Pre-roll, in-stream audio and live reads are available for local and national clients looking to reach Adam’s target audience of Men 18-49, among others.

In addition, an Adam Carolla focused radio station, called K-ACE, debuts on Monday, September 28, and will offer fans segments from Carolla’s popular podcasts interspersed with rock music and programming selected by Carolla, “The Aceman,” himself.  K-ACE can be heard via CBS RADIO’s streaming platform, Yahoo! Music Radio, AOL Radio, and on select mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and the Blackberry.

“THE ADAM CAROLLA PODCAST” began in February 2009 and currently reaches over 130,000 listeners per show.  The podcast remains a constant in the Top 10 of iTunes’ Top Podcasts chart.  Carolla, famous for his rants on various outrageous topics, uses his podcast to broadcast his opinions, while hosting an assortment of influential and popular celebrities and friends, as he charms guests and listeners alike with his witty sense of humor and biting sarcasm.

“I’m thrilled to be back in business with my friends at CBS RADIO and feel like I’m at the vanguard of an exciting new technology,” says Carolla.  ”Now, if somebody could just tell me what the hell a POD is!”

“We are excited to once again be working with Adam Carolla providing our listeners with the same Adam that so many fans have come to know and love over the years,” says Chris Oliviero, Vice President of Programming, CBS RADIO.  “Adam has an uncanny ability to relate to everyday people in a funny and engaging manner, and the popularity of his podcast is a testament to that.

“This distinctive partnership showcases CBS RADIO’s commitment to growth in the digital space and highlights the accessibility, portability and cutting edge programming available on radio.”

Adam Carolla, who is best known for his work in television and radio, has previously hosted CBS RADIO’s “The Adam Carolla Show,” was co-host of the nationally syndicated radio call-in show “Loveline,” co-created, and executive produced and co-hosted Comedy Central’s ”The Man Show,” co-created, executive produced and was a character on “Crank Yankers,” as well as was a contestant on ABC’s popular series “Dancing With The Stars.” Carolla also starred, wrote and produced the award-winning indie film “The Hammer.”  He is currently writing his first book to be published by Crown in Fall 2010.  In addition to “THE ADAM CAROLLA PODCAST,” Carolla is host of “Carcast,” a podcast devoted to those who share Carolla’s passion and pastime of all things automobiles.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20090915/former-cbs-dj-adam-carolla-gets-a-new-gig-cbs-podcast-host/feed/ 0 http://allthingsd.com/20081008/dell-remote-access-keeps-your-files-at-your-disposal/ http://allthingsd.com/20081008/dell-remote-access-keeps-your-files-at-your-disposal/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:06:02 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20081008/dell-remote-access-keeps-your-files-at-your-disposal/ Say you’re on the road and you need to look at a file that’s on your main computer back at your office or house. Or say you’re using a device with limited storage, like a smart phone or one of the tiny new “netbook” portable PCs, and you want access to a file that isn’t on the device at hand.

You might be able to get at the desired file if you have previously uploaded it to an online storage or photo-sharing service, or emailed it to yourself. But, in many cases, you could be stuck.

Now Dell (DELL), the big computer maker, is aiming to solve that problem with a new service called Dell Remote Access. Despite the name, the service can be installed on any brand of Windows PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista to make its files remotely accessible, as long as it has a broadband connection. You can transfer, or stream, or share these files with others. You can even remotely use the host computer’s Web camera.

And some of the service’s functions also work even if your remote device is one of Apple’s (AAPL) Macintosh computers or iPhones, or a computer powered by the Linux operating system, like Dell’s own Mini netbook.

For basic functionality — making the files on one Windows PC remotely accessible from other devices — Dell Remote Access is free. If you want to use its advanced functions, like the ability to remotely control the host PC or to access other devices on your home network, it costs $9.95 a month, or $99 a year. This paid version of the service also includes the ability to share with others access to files or to devices on your network, such as stand-alone Web cameras.

You only need to install special software on the host PC whose files are to be remotely accessed. For basic file access, the remote devices require just a Web browser and a password to tap into the host computer. You can download the software, and get started with the service, at dellremoteaccess.com.

I’ve been testing Dell Remote Access for a few days, at home and on the road, and found that it works well, despite a few glitches and limitations. It’s not revolutionary — many other services and software programs do part or all of what it does, with varying degrees of technical difficulty and at varying fees — but Dell Remote Access combines a wide variety of functions into a fairly simple package. It will be available as a preinstalled option on Dell’s PCs later this year.

Dell also is hoping it will give a boost to sales of its Mini line of very small machines with limited internal storage for files.

For my tests, I installed Dell Remote Access on my home Dell desktop, an XPS One model running Windows Vista. The installation was easy and quick, except for one oddity: To use the new service, you have to uninstall a network diagnostic utility Dell installs on its machines, called Dell Network Assistant. Since I had little or no use for the utility, this was no big loss, but if you rely on it, this conflict could pose a problem.

Next, I used the Remote Access software to select folders I wanted to make remotely accessible. By default, the program assumes you want to share your documents, music and pictures folders, but I added some others. The software tests your network connection to let you know how well it’s likely to work.

I used a variety of remote devices to access this home Dell. These included a Sony (SNE) Vaio laptop running Vista, a Mac laptop and an Apple iPhone. I even tried accessing the Dell machine from a virtual Windows XP installation running on the Mac.

Some of these tests were conducted from within my home network and others were conducted from across the country.

In general, the tests went well. With the Sony laptop, and within Windows XP running on the Mac, I was able to view photos and slide shows, and stream music and videos, from the Dell in all locations. I opened Microsoft Office (MSFT) files and PDF files remotely and transferred files to the remote machines. I was even able to remotely control the Dell at decent speeds and use the Dell’s built-in camera.

The only annoyance was that every time you want to remotely control the host machine, you must download and install a small utility. You also have to leave on your home computer.

Dell’s system provides more limited functionality if your remote machine is a Mac using Apple’s operating system, or a Linux machine or a mobile phone. With these setups, you can only view, stream or transfer files only from the main host computer. You can’t do remote control or view cameras.

But these limited functions did work pretty well on the Mac and the iPhone, although in some cases I had to first download a song to the Mac before it would play, rather than simply streaming it directly from the Dell.

But Microsoft Word documents stored on the Dell opened right up on the Mac. It was particularly impressive to be able to view a document or photo stored on the Dell from an iPhone thousands of miles away.

Dell Remote Access is a worthy service that’s worth a try.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

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