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YouTube Refuses “The Godfather” After All

Peter Kafka in Media on August 24, 2011 at 2:17 pm PT

A weird mid-August mystery gets a tiny bit weirder: “This account has been suspended due to a violation of YouTube’s policy prohibiting content designed to impersonate another person or user.”

Zynga Gets Kung Fu'd Following DreamWorks Board Addition

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on May 20, 2011 at 8:41 am PT

Last month, Zynga added Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO and co-founder of DreamWorks Animation, to its board of directors, hinting at its aspirations to add more entertainment to its social games.

Viral Video: "Paranormal Activity 2″ Looks Sccaarry

Kara Swisher in News on July 2, 2010 at 12:10 am PT

The indie movie that turned into a hit, “Paranormal Activity,” is back again with a sequel. The small film, about a demon-plagued couple with an infrared-equipped videocamera, was acquired by Viacom studio Paramount Pictures as a remake and then performed spectacularly well. Thus, here comes another one to freak you out.

BoomTown's 1998 Rob Glaser Profile: A Web Pioneer Does a Delicate Dance With Microsoft

Kara Swisher in News on January 14, 2010 at 11:48 am PT

BoomTown did an interview last night with outgoing RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser after the announcement yesterday of his departure from the company he founded and led for 16 years. That will be posted later today, but here is a profile I wrote about Glaser when I was covering the Internet for The Wall Street Journal. It’s from Feb. 12, 1998, and focuses on Glaser’s decidedly complicated relationship with his former employer, Microsoft.

Will Facebook and Twitter Keep "Paranormal Activity" From Turning Into "Snakes on a Plane"?

Kara Swisher in News on October 5, 2009 at 3:30 am PT

Four years ago, the movie, “Snakes on a Plane,” became a genuine Internet phenom well before the movie was in theaters. Which, in the end, only showed that online buzz had negligible impact on the viewing public, given that the movie’s box office turned out to be tepid at best. But will another small film, about a demon-plagued couple with an infrared-equipped videocamera, called “Paranormal Activity,” prove that the chatter of Facebook and Twitter has more legs today?

Tribune Files for Chapter 11; Who’s on the Hook?

Peter Kafka in Media on December 8, 2008 at 12:07 pm PT

As predicted, Sam Zell’s Tribune Co. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In the company’s initial filing, it lists assets of $7.6 billion and $12.9 billion in liabilities. Much of that debt belongs to big banks, of course–J.P. Morgan has more than $1 billion by itself. But Tribune owes lots of money to lots of media companies, too.