San Francisco
- Technology media company CNET, a unit of CBS (NYSE: CBS), said on Tuesday that it has
launched a beta test of the first-ever independent wireless service coverage
map in eight cities.
San Francisco
- While consumer confidence in the overall economy dipped in April, confidence
in technology and consumer electronics climbed sharply, according to new
figures from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and CNET.
San Francisco
- Although consumer confidence in the overall economy increased in March to its
highest level in more than a year, technology spending continued to fall,
according to new figures released on Tuesday by the Consumer Electronics
Association (CEA) and technology publisher CNET.
CNET.com yesterday announced the winners of its fourth annual "Best of CES" 2009 Awards. The "Best in Show" and "People's Voice" awards went to the Palm Pre while ten companies were recognized as having the best products in their respective categories. The 10 category winners include:
1. Car Tech: Gracenote CarStars
2. Cell Phones and smartphones: Palm Pre
3. Computers and hardware: Sony Vaio P-Series Lifestyle PC
4. Digital photo and video: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-G3
5. Gaming: Nyko Wand
6. GPS: TomTom GO 740 Live
7. Home audio: Samsung HT-BD7200
8. Home video: EchoStar SlingLoaded HD DVR?? 922
9. MP3 and portable video players: Samsung P3
10. Televisions: Panasonic G10 series
A detailed summary of the products selected and video embedded above of the winners and finalists showcasing their technology is available online.
Los Angeles
- PaidContent reported on Thursday that CBS (NYSE: CBS), which acquired CNET Networks for
$1.8 billion in May, plans to merge its CBSNews.com and CNET newsrooms, and in
the process lay off an unknown number of staffers.
Launching in beta today is MyCE, a community-driven network that aims to cross swords with the CNETs and GDGTs of this world when it comes to building places on the Web people gather to share news, reviews and knowledge about consumer electronics and gadgets. The site is a new venture from Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based RankOne Media.
Actually, it's not entirely new. MyCE is in fact the rebranded version of CDFreaks.com, an online community founded in 2007 focused solely on optical storage devices. The existing community, which the company claims currently amounts to about 3.5 million unique monthly visitors, will be integrated and rolled over to the new platform it is debuting today.
Big Media's love affair with the Internet ebbs and flows with the markets. When they see money pouring into Web startups, they feel threatened and rush to do the same. They ramp up their digital divisions, which usually are no more than venture arms, and hope to strike it rich. When the markets are down, as they are now, their attention drifts elsewhere—exactly at the time when they can pick up innovation on the cheap.
"M&A is gone," the digital media chief at one of the largest media companies tells me. Other than a few targeted acquisitions to fill out business or technology holes, "you look foolish making any purchases," he says, "especially if prices are still going down."
And those prices are way down. Consider, for example, that CBS's entire market capitalization is now only $2.5 billion, which is not much more than the $2.1 billion its digital division CBS Interactive paid in cash over the past two years for Cnet ($1.8 billion) and Last.fm ($280 million). (It also made a number of other smaller acquisitions and investments). As of December 31, 2008, CBS only had $419 million in cash on its balance sheet.
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Launching in beta today is 
Big Media's love affair with the Internet ebbs and flows with the markets. When they see money pouring into Web startups, they feel threatened and rush to do the same. They ramp up their digital divisions, which usually are no more than venture arms, and hope to strike it rich. When the markets are down, as they are now, their attention drifts elsewhere—exactly at the time when they can pick up innovation on the cheap.
"M&A is gone," the digital media chief at one of the largest media companies tells me. Other than a few targeted acquisitions to fill out business or technology holes, "you look foolish making any purchases," he says, "especially if prices are still going down."
And those prices are way down. Consider, for example, that CBS's entire market capitalization is now only 
