niche

Former AOL Media Exec Marty Moe to Join Engadget Gang of Eight at SB Nation

Kara Swisher in News on April 6, 2011 at 8:49 am PT

Just what is SB Nation’s Jim Bankoff up to? Earlier this week, he hired away eight staffers from AOL’s Engadget in order to create a competing tech news and gadget site. And now, according to sources close to the situation, the former AOL content head is close to hiring another former top AOL media exec, Marty Moe, to manage it and also more niche sites the blog network is contemplating launching.

AsiaD Set for October in Hong Kong–Here’s the Mossberg-Swisher Guided Video Tour

Kara Swisher in News on March 7, 2011 at 10:59 am PT

The D: All Things Digital conference has been mulling going global next. So, my longtime partner in digital crimes, Walt Mossberg, and I headed to China in January to visit some possible locations for our first AsiaD. And now it’s official: We’ll be doing an event October 19 to 21 in Hong Kong.

AOL-HuffPo Deal Officially Closes Today–More Big Media Hires Signal New Content Direction Under Arianna

Kara Swisher in News on March 7, 2011 at 4:01 am PT

AOL will officially close its $315 million acquisition of the Huffington Post today, sources said, only one month after it was struck. To celebrate, the now-official content head Arianna Huffington will be poaching another clutch of big journalists to add to AOL’s new Huffington Post Media Group unit.

Liveblogging Demand Media's (and Richard Rosenblatt's) First Earnings Call: The Avocado Difference!

Kara Swisher in News on February 22, 2011 at 2:08 pm PT

BoomTown always enjoys the maiden voyage of a newly public company, so liveblogging Demand Media’s first quarterly earnings seems like a must-do. It’s also the first public outing for CEO Richard Rosenblatt, who has sold off his previous entrepreneurial efforts. His first point: Where else can you find out how to ripen an avocado?

Kabam Raises Serious Dough to Develop Serious Games for Social

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on January 20, 2011 at 4:30 am PT

Social games developer Kabam has raised a hefty round of funding to develop games for Facebook that appeal to a more traditional gaming demographic–and probably not your mother.

Multitouch Pioneer Jeff Han Starts to Think Small (Devices)

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 13, 2010 at 6:00 am PT

Jeff Han has been a pioneer in multitouch, but he is best known for his work on big screens, such as creating the touch wall used by CNN. Now, he’s beginning to apply some of his talents to the mobile space, with his first mobile efforts likely to surface early next year.

Fitbie: MSN and Rodale Launch Health and Fitness Site

Kara Swisher in News on December 1, 2010 at 1:00 am PT

MSN is launching a new health and fitness site called Fitbie today, in partnership with Rodale. It’s yet another move into niche content sites by the Microsoft portal, similar to those being made by AOL, Yahoo and Demand Media in an effort to dominate key consumer categories. Fitbie will be powered by MSN, which will sell advertising for it. Rodale is providing both original content and also material from its magazines, such as Men’s Health.

Federated Media Makes Another Buy: Foodbuzz

Kara Swisher in News on November 17, 2010 at 6:00 pm PT

Federated Media Publishing, which recently bought a community platform aimed at parents, announced tonight that it was making another buy. This time, it is a food blog community site called Foodbuzz, as FM seeks to create large networks of niche content to better sell premium advertising. According to the site, it has exclusive deals to sell advertising for 4,400 independent food bloggers, making it a top food property.

Saving Myspace: CEO Mike Jones Talks About Rethink, Relaunch and–Fingers Crossed–Resurgence

Kara Swisher in News on October 27, 2010 at 5:24 am PT

Mike Jones is perhaps one of the nicer Internet execs out there. But, after much management turmoil at MySpace, it turns out the CEO is also the last man standing at the News Corp. unit, as it finally rolls out a new version aimed at reviving the troubled site. Jones talked to BoomTown about turning Myspace around with a new “social entertainment” focus.

Whiskey Media's (And Former CNET CEO) Shelby Bonnie Talks Content and More!

Kara Swisher in News on May 20, 2010 at 12:39 am PT

Yesterday, BoomTown caught up with Shelby Bonnie, the former CEO of CNET who is now running Whiskey Media, the social publishing start-up. Sausalito, Calif.-based Whiskey is debuting its latest site today, called Screened, focused on video entertainment, which will combine both professional and user-generated content, much as its other four sites–Anime, Vice, Giant Bomb, Comic Vine and Tested–do. It’s yet another twist on the creation and distribution of content and another example of how quickly the publishing industry is changing.