Microsoft Zune Killing May Have Been Result of Corporate Shakeup - (It's wonderful)

Microsoft Zune Killing May Have Been Result of Corporate Shakeup

Microsoft may have killed its Zune portable media player, according to reports. However, the company seems reluctant to share details about its future plans for the Zune franchise, whose hardware includes the touch-screen Zune HD and first- and second-generation Zune.  

We have nothing to announce about another Zune device, a Microsoft spokesperson e-mailed to eWEEK late March 14. Our long-term strategy focuses on the strength of the entire Zune ecosystem across Microsoft platforms.

In a March 14 report, Bloomberg reporter Dina Bass suggested that Microsoft would stop introducing new versions of the Zune music and video player because of tepid demand. However, she added, Zune software would maintain a presence on Microsoft platforms such as Windows Phone 7.

Although the Zune HD earned strong reviews in the wake of its September 2009 release, the device failed to break the Apple iPods tight grip on the portable-media market. That market is also undergoing its own seismic shift at the moment, as smartphones and tablets increasingly become the center of peoples mobile digital lives: even Apple has seen sales of its traditional iPod fall over the past several quarters, a phenomenon the company partially attributes to the rise of the iPhone.

But the Zune hardware may also have found itself something of an orphan after Microsofts massive corporate upheaval in 2010, which saw the departure of the executives who had brought the project to life, and a reorientation of the companys approach to consumer products. 

In May 2010, a major shakeup gripped Microsofts now-extinct Entertainment and Devices Division, with rumors that underperforming products and killed projects had led to the departures of its two top executives: Robbie Bach, the divisions president, and J Allard, its senior vice president of design and development. Allard and Bach had each logged about two decades worth of service with Microsoft.

During the first quarter of 2010, the divisions revenues had contributed about 11 percent to Microsofts $14.5 billion bottom line. But the high-profile failure of Microsofts Kin social-networking phones, coupled with continuing problems in its smartphone line and the Zune HDs anemic reception, led analysts to question the divisions ultimate viability.

This has been a vampire division since its inception. A vampire division is one that lives off the value created by the rest of the company and, from a corporate perspective, does more damage than good, Rob Enderle, principal analyst of the Enderle Group, told eWEEK in May 2010. Its profit, which wasnt much, was massively offset by the economic cost it caused to the corporation and it needed to be rethought.

Ballmer later reorganized Microsofts divisions and presidents, breaking the Entertainment & Devices Division into a Mobile Communications Business overseen by Andy Lees and an Interactive Entertainment Business headed by Don Mattrick. By splitting responsibilities for mobile and entertainment to Lees and Mattrick, Ballmer seemed intent on giving those product lines new focus. Part of that focus may have involved killing the Zune hardware, while keeping the software componentand associated media storeas a part of the Windows Phone 7 ecosystem.

 

Japan quake, tsunami 2011: Donate via iTunes and Google Checkout

Two tech giants making Japan quake and tsunami donations easier.

 

Google and Apple are trying their best to donate for Japan victims easier.

Google and Apple, two companies that are rivals when it comes to mobile operating system (Android and iOS), are both trying their very best to help the victims of the recent Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Google, with its popular internet search engine, created a page that is specially designed to feature some of the important things about the 2011 Japan quake and tsunami.

From Japanese emergency dial numbers, to news, Google’s crisis response page created by Google.org is one of the most important page on the internet today. Apparently, Google also included an instant donation field, powered by the Mountain View, California-based company’s Google Checkout.

If you’re planning to help the Japan quake and tsunami victims via Google, you must create a Google Checkout account, or you can also create an account by using your current Google Mail/Gmail account. According to Google, “donation must be at least 100 yen, up to 25,000 yen,” and added that all donations “will go to the Red Cross in Japan.” To donate with the help of Google, click here.

Another California based company, Apple inc, is making donations easy with its iTunes software. iTunes is the place where iOS-powered devices and Mac owners buy apps and music. The minimum donation allowed is $5, while $200 is the maximum. Apparently, you can repeat donating. You can start donating via iTunes by clicking this link. According to Apple, all donations will go to American Red Cross.

We’re praying for you Japan.

Search for more Google and Apple news below:

• Japan earthquake and tsunami 2011: Zynga and Facebook will help


• Japan earthquake and tsunami “buried” iPad 2 in the news and social networking sites


• iTunes challenger à la Google Android soon via iPad 2 killers?


• Google Science Fair 2011: The first global online Sci fair


• Black Friday 2010 of Apple means iOS 4.2 for iPad and Beatles on iTunes

After everything lately about microsoft zune, microsoft zune, microsoft zune and now: Microsoft Developing New Music/Video Service

Microsoft Developing New Music/Video Service

Microsoft is making its third attempt to enter the music and video discovery arena with Ventura.

While Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices (E&D) unit is reportedly cranking up its development team to work on next Xbox console, the company is also hiring developers to work on a project called Ventura. According to sources close to the project, Ventura will focus on "music and video delivery and consumption," and will likely include recommendations, ratings and comments from users.

"The team is a tight group of music and video lovers that create services and experiences revolving around music\video discovery and consumption," reads a job description from a listing uncovered by ZDNet. "We are not afraid to try new things in the name of pushing the bleeding edge of technology."

"Think large scale. Think Azure," the job listing added.

As pointed out by Business Insider, Ventura will be Microsoft's third attempt to establish a successful service in this particular area. The company's first venture was through the acquisition of MongoMusic for $65 million back in 2000. At the time, the studio was building a music recommendation engine similar to the Music Genome Project used by Pandora. However the MSN group reportedly "squandered" the opportunity to compete with Pandora after the acquisition, and the technology "went nowhere."

Microsoft attempted to enter the sector again with the launch of the Zune service and the Zune player in 2006. The service pushed the idea of sharing music you liked with friends also using Zune, allowing them to check out your favorites and to make comments. A Zune Pass subscription added the ability for friends to listen to songs simultaneously. But Microsoft didn't sell enough Zune players for the service to be useful, thus Zune never really caught on.

As of this writing, consumers can download the Zune client and purchase movies, TV shows and music just as they would with Apple's iTunes. The Zune website also provides socialization features, allowing users to tweet on Twitter and "Like" on Facebook from everywhere on Zune.net. "Share the love for all your favorite music and movies beginning with Lady Gaga's latest single, Born This Way," the website reads.

Additionally, the monthly Zune Pass grants unlimited access to music that can be streamed or downloaded on a PC, Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7 smartphone, or Zune HD device. The service also includes ten extra songs that consumers can keep "forever." The actual downloadable Zune client features a social section, but seemingly remains locked to those with a Windows Live and/or Zune account.

Currently it's unknown how or when Microsoft's Ventura service will launch. It's speculated that it may open its doors as a standalone Web site or as downloadable application. It may also become part of another Microsoft product like the current Zune platform, Xbox Live, Games for Windows – LIVE, or the Windows Media Player.

Will Ventura be the next step in Zune's evolution, or a rival to Pandora?

After everything lately about livenation, livenation, livenation and now: Live Nation settles Ticketmaster delivery fees class action

Live Nation settles Ticketmaster delivery fees class action

Live Nation has confirmed that it has settled a long running class action lawsuit against its ticketing company Ticketmaster, and that as a result a one off pay out of $22.3 million will appear in it’s fourth quarter financial results. The case was launched way back in 2003 by two Americans called Curt Schlesinger and Peter Lo Re but was only confirmed as a class action, so that anyone negatively affected could claim damages, last September.

The plaintiffs accused Ticketmaster of misleading customers by implying in its marketing materials that “delivery fees” added to ticket purchases were a simply cost of sale, ie what it cost Ticketmaster to deliver tickets. In fact a profit margin was included so the fee was a revenue stream for the ticketing giant. Given the size of the delivery fees (up to $25) that was probably a given, but the plaintiffs reckoned the ticketing firm was at fault for not explicitly stating so.

Having become a class action lawsuit last year the case was due to go to court this month, but it seems an out of court settlement has been reached. Under the settlement, Live Nation/Ticketmaster will not accept it deliberately misled customers, but will (somehow) make efforts to compensate past ticket-buyers who were confused by their explanations of fees and ensure future communication is clearer. It will also cover all the legal fees related to this dispute. Hence the $22.3 million set aside to clear things up.

As an aside, Live Nation is already suing its insurers Illinois Union Insurance Co in relation to this case after it refused to pay the $4 million in legal fees the live music and ticketing giant has run up fighting the case.

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at long last some positive news - AEG Live Hails Regional Operations

AEG Live Hails Regional Operations Industry News SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | RSS | REPRINTS | Share



AEG Live Hails Regional Operations

August 27, 2010 - Touring



By Ray Waddell, Nashville



Larry Vallon, executive VP North American regional offices for promoter AEG Live, says the various regional offices for the company are doing "pretty good" this summer.



"At some point we figured out that the audience has voted against ridiculously high ticket prices," Vallon tells Billboard.biz.



Vallon says while some superstar bands rate the highest end tickets, including as many as 1,000 or more VIP price levels of $250 or higher in major markets, "with tons of bands you can't even get near that, and in some cases it's a turnoff to even have it in existence. With that in mind, we're starting out with falling in love with the ticket price and basing the guarantee off that."



In New York this summer, Vallon says AEG Live has done well at a site called Williamsburg Waterftont on the East River, presenting in association with the New York parks.



"We've had sensational luck there with things like Nas and Ziggy Marley, Silversun Pickups, and Pavement's coming up, Belle & Sebastian, Modest Mouse," says Vallon, adding that the venue fits well with AEG Live promotions at its Nokia Theatre and Highline Ballroom. Also in the New York market mix are shows AEG promotes at the Jersey arenas, the Garden, Central Park Summerfest, or the Apollo and Beacon Theater.



AEG also promotes at the Wang in Boston and the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia, where Arcade Fire, Passion Pit and Tokyo Police Club drew 4,000 people.



But the regional success extends South to Nashville, where the AEG office under Ali Harnell has a wealth of shows booked, including Natalie Merchant, Pixies, Black Crowes, Sheryl Crow, MGMT and Sara Bareilles at the Ryman Auditorium; Mary Gauthier at Belcourt Theatre, Flyleaf and 30 Seconds to Mars at Rocketown, Guster and Mumford & Sons at War Memorial Aud, and Metric at the Cannery Ballroom. Up I-65 in Louisville, AEG Live's Nashville office will present Eagles opening the market's new KFC Yum Center and later My Morning Jacket.



Nationally, AEG Live is promoting Justin Bieber, Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift and Bon Jovi, along with dates on the Paul McCartney tour, including a sellout at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

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Russian activists defy concert ban - (I'm so happy)

Russian activists defy concert ban

By Antoine Lambroschini (AFP) – 1 day ago

MOSCOW — Russian activists pressed ahead with plans to stage a banned rock concert on Sunday to rally opposition to routing a highway through a forest, despite worries that police would disperse the gathering.

Authorities earlier in the day detained one of the concert's main organisers as several unknown assailants attacked vehicles carrying musical equipment for the event.

Police also said they would not let any music amplifying equipment onto Pushkinskaya Square in the heart of Moscow, activists said.

Mikhail Shneider of the opposition movement Solidarnost was detained during a smaller protest in Moscow earlier in the day, his colleagues said.

"Mikhail Shneider's detention makes one think about a possible provocation," leading rights campaigner Lev Ponomaryov said.

"We know that authorities are very concerned about this rally, they even forbade us to hold a concert there," he said on the popular Echo of Moscow radio station.

Police detained Ponomaryov near the square as the rally was about to begin, the radio said.

Along with former government minister Boris Nemtsov, Shneider was one of around 20 activists detained earlier as they tried to carry a Russian banner along a central street to celebrate the official Flag Day holiday.

Another activist said unknown assailants had sought to prevent the musical equipment from getting to the site of the rally.

"Several bikers in black outfits and motorcycle helmets, their faces hidden, surrounded two Gazelle trucks carrying sound equipment for the event," said Pyotr Verzilov, an activist with art collective Voina, or War.

"They jumped off their motorbikes and started trying to pierce the vehicles' tyres with iron rods," Verzilov said on Echo of Moscow, adding the drivers managed to chase the attackers away.

As of 1045 GMT, Pushkinskaya Square was cordonned off and dozens of buses with OMON riot police were stationed along its perimeter, AFP correspondents reported.

Activist Mikhail Kriger told the radio station that police would not let the organisers bring any sound amplifying equipment except loudspeakers into the square.

"Therefore the very idea of not only the concert but the protest as a whole is being undermined," Kriger said.

Police say the opposition have received permission to stage a three-hour protest set to begin at 1300 GMT, but not a concert and opposition activists say Moscow authorities have told them that they will not allow the concert to go ahead.

Police spokesman Anatoly Lastovetsky told AFP that around 400 policemen were expected to enforce order.

The concert's aim is to buttress efforts by environmental activists to oppose the construction of a highway through Khimki forest outside Moscow, which has become a symbol for Russians fighting for their rights.

Authorities have in the past used force to disperse anti-government protests in Moscow, even though the country's opposition is weak and fragmented and its protests usually do not attract a lot of sympathisers.

Organisers however said they expected that some 1,000 people would turn up at the protest at which several popular musicians, including Yury Shevchuk, lead singer of the popular rock band DDT who is openly critical of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, are expected to perform.

Shevchuk in May openly challenged Vladimir Putin, considered Russia's paramount leader, telling him at a meeting Russia was being ruled by "dukes and princes with sirens on their cars" and demonstrations are broken up by

"repressive" security services.

"Today the Khimki forest embodies the fight of ordinary people against bureaucratic genocide which we all feel," Shevchuk said in comments posted on Solidarnost's website.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Another story: 'So You Think You Can Dance' returns to Bradley Center

'So You Think You Can Dance' returns to Bradley Center

Posted: July 26, 2010 11:42 a.m. |(0) Comments

"So You Think You Can Dance," the touring version of the Fox TV show, will return to the Bradley Center for a performance at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27.

Tickets, at $37.50, $47.50 and $55 excluding service charges, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at the box office, www.ticketmaster.com/">www.ticketmaster.com and (800) 745-3000.

The show features dance routines by finalists include Adechiké, Ashley, Billy, Jose, Kent, Lauren and Robert, along with all-stars Ade, Allison, Courtney, Dominic, Kathryn and last season's winner, Russell.

Musical acts' summer tours encounter heavy weather (Surprised?)

Musical acts' summer tours encounter heavy weather This summer, the music industry has been repeatedly rocked — not by big beats, keening vocals and loud guitars, but by lackluster ticket sales and concerts canceled by a growing list of major artists.

This month, pop diva Rihanna postponed six dates on her "Last Girl on Earth" tour. The Lilith Tour was forced by poor attendance to cancel 10 concerts, and Christina Aguilera pulled the plug on her 20-date tour because of "prior commitments" in June. The Eagles scrapped stadium shows with country superstars Keith Urban and the Dixie Chicks because of sluggish ticket sales in May. U2 postponed its North American tour after lead singer Bono underwent emergency back surgery. The Jonas Brothers pulled out of a number of North American dates on their world tour. And "American Idol" producers canceled eight engagements and rescheduled other dates on the "Idols Live!" tour.

FOR THE RECORD:



Concert ticket pricing: An article in Friday's Section A on summer concert woes said that the top ticket price for a Chicago concert featuring the Eagles, Keith Urban and the Dixie Chicks was $895. That price was for a VIP package, which included extras such as a seat in the first 10 rows, a pre-show dinner and cocktail party, and parking. The highest price for a non-VIP ticket was $203. —

"It's brutal out there," said Jordan Kurland, manager of such alternative music acts as Death Cab For Cutie, She & Him and Say Anything. "The economy is still not great and there's a lot of distractions people can choose from. Going to big rock concerts is not one of them."

In particular, the downturn has spelled trouble for Live Nation, the country's biggest promoter of live music, which on Thursday informed investors that the company's adjusted operating income for 2010 is projected to drop by $40 million, or nearly 10% below last year's, despite a merger with Ticketmaster that enhanced Live Nation's market position and required Justice Department approval. U2's tour postponement alone will cost the company $6 million. And Live Nation said it expects a further 15% income drop for the top 100 tours in the second half of 2010. The company's shares fell 11% in trading Thursday.

Rival promoters complain that Live Nation has contributed to the downturn by initially overcharging for tickets, then overcompensating by slashing prices in a last-ditch effort to fill seats. Tickets for the Eagles' tour stop in Chicago, which also featured Urban and the Dixie Chicks, ran as high as $895, and the lowest-priced entry to Aguilera's postponed tour cost $125.

Critics say the high prices were triggered by the company overpaying top artists — in some cases, handing over nearly the entire box office take — in order to secure their touring commitments against competitors. .

"They may well be worried about the amount of money they've promised some acts," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar. "Their bread and butter comes from parking and concessions."

Representatives for Live Nation declined to comment for this story.

With CD sales taking a nose dive over the last decade, the concert business enjoyed unprecedented growth with pop acts relying upon their touring incomes to offset lost revenue. But according to a study released this month by Pollstar, grosses for the top 100 tours in North America this year were down 17% from the same period in 2009, with losses expected to continue through year's end.

According to Randy Phillips, chief executive of concert promotions giant AEG Live, the industry's downturn comes courtesy of a "perfect storm" of factors.

"Artists aren't making enough money on sales of recorded music so they're trying to make money on the road," Phillips said. "The problem is, you've got too many tours, the same acts going through the touring system year in and year out. On top of that, the economy is in a very fragile state of recovery and the Consumer Confidence Index is very low.

"You have years of mismanagement by the concert industry, treating the consumers like they're idiots. All that coming together at one time? It's like one big stop sign," Phillips added. Despite that, he characterized AEG's concert tours as doing "exceedingly well," without offering specifics.

According to Chang Weisberg, founder and head of Guerilla Union, the concert promotion firm behind the successful Rock the Bells hip-hop tour, part of the industry's current woes can be attributed to a glut of artists.

"The concert industry has seen overall ticket sales grow exponentially year after year," Weisberg said. "But unless you've got a festival or a concert with something unique — a band that has stayed out of the marketplace, a new or unique record — the odds are it's not going to be the hottest ticket in town anymore. There's been a correction. Acts can't just show up and expect to fill seats whenever they want."

Paul Tollett, president of Los Angeles-based concert promotion firm Goldenvoice, said the company chose to "not be aggressive in buying a lot of shows" for 2010 in light of abiding economic concerns, sparing the company, owned by AEG Live, from the concert downturn in the process. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which Tollett founded in 1999, has gone on to become the most successful concert event of the year — an indication that fans may be more interested in an immersive cultural experience lasting several days and spanning more than 100 bands than they are in going out to see one act perform a show on, say, a Thursday night.

"You go back 25 years, the big shows were on the weekends," Tollett said. "Now you could have three shows on a Monday that are good. That's hard for the consumer. There's just so much to choose from."

Lilith Tour co-founder Terry McBride similarly acknowledged the fierce competition. "We are in the midst of one of the most challenging summer concert seasons, with many tours being canceled outright," McBride said in a statement this month announcing the tour's cancellation.

There are exceptions. Gregg Perloff, founder and president of Berkeley-based Another Planet Entertainment, said that summer 2010 has been "very strong" for his company, citing sold-out engagements by Paul McCartney, Neil Young and Tool. Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift also have had strong sales.

While Live Nation resorted to last-minute price cuts and initiatives such as the "No Service Fee Wednesday" to attract customers, Another Planet took a different route. The company worked closely with the acts it booked to keep ticket prices affordable and avoided tacking on surcharges — such as the one charging customers for buying and printing tickets on their home computers — that many fans have come to resent.

"I have not had to discount one show this summer," Perloff said. "You charge a decent, reasonable price from Day One and the public will respond by buying lots of concert tickets."

Tollett feels that at a time of crisis in the music industry, some promoters may have lost track of their primary objective: giving the customer an experience to remember.

"It's not just about selling tickets," Tollett said. "This is a very human business we're in."

chris.lee@latimes.com

Times staff writer Todd Martens contributed to this report.

Mondays worrying story - FP Tech Desk: Apple iTunes user accounts hacked: reports

FP Tech Desk: Apple iTunes user accounts hacked: reports

JOHN D MCHUGH/AFP/Getty Images

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Jameson Berkow  July 5, 2010 – 2:27 pm

If you are an Apple developer having a hard time getting people to purchase your app, one way to convince them would be to hack into their iTunes accounts and make the purchase for them.

That is presumably the strategy of a rogue Vietnamese developer named Thuat Nguyen. According to several blogs, Mr. Nguyen reportedly hacked into an unknown number of iTunes user accounts over the past few weeks in order to facilitate the purchase of his own apps. By Sunday, Engadget reported that Nguyen apps accounted for 42 of the top 50 books by revenue in the Books section of the iTunes App Store.

On Monday, TheNextWeb Apple blog reported the problem was not limited to a single hacker, saying that several Asia-based developers are using similar tactics to force users worldwide to download their apps. The goal of the strategy is not only to boost sales of their own apps, but to increase their popularity rank on the app store in hopes of encouraging other users to purchase their apps legitimately.

Users posting on Twitter and message boards have reported anywhere from under US$100 to over US$1000 being spent through their accounts without their knowledge.

“Yesterday my credit union contacted me saying there was suspicious activity on my debit card. Sure enough over 10 transactions in the $40-$50 area all on iTunes equaling to $558.” reads a recent post on the MacRumors forum.

“Most of the 15 purchases where for items that I don’t even own i.e. iphone (I have a blackberry) and iPod (I’m 47 and I still use a radio for my music). I was able to verify the $70.15 charge via mobile banking and immediately called my bank” reads another.

The breach was first noticed by two competing Apple developers, both of whom grew concerned when the popularity rankings of their own apps started to slip. After being informed of the suspicious activities, Apple has removed all apps authored by Thuat Nguyen and several other developers from the app store. While the tech giant has not released an official statement or responded to media requests for comment (including one from Financial Post), several users have reportedly been told to change their passwords.

News of a possible security breach could not be coming at a worse time for the world’s largest tech firm, already facing one of its worst public relations fiascos ever over reception issues with the new iPhone 4. Without an official statement from Apple, it is impossible to know with any certainty how many of the more than 100 million active iTunes accounts are at risk.

That said, Apple’s original advice is still correct: If you have an iTunes account, change your password and keep a close eye on those banking statements.

jberkow@nationalpost.com

Posted in: FP Posted, FP Tech Desk  Tags: FP Tech Desk, Apple Inc., iTunes, App Store, iPhone 4, Engadget, MacRumors, TheNextWeb

Apple Working On Cloud Capable iTunes

Apple Working On Cloud Capable iTunes

News of iTunes receiving a big upgrade late this summer introducing cloud capability have been running rampant recently. The update isn’t exactly a surprise for anyone as such a development has been widely anticipated for what seems like forever now but there are still doubts about a September rollout. A Boy Genius Report indicates the new cloud capabilities for iTunes will be partitioned into three groups:

1. Streaming music and movies from Apple’s servers to your computers, devices, etc.


2. Streaming music and movies from your home computers to your other computers, remote devices, etc.


3. Wireless iTunes syncing with devices.

Although all these features sound good, getting them up and working might take Apple longer then expected because some of them includes issues beyond Apple’s control that can continue to delay the iTunes update. An example of these issues include, licenses that Apple will need to obtain from a variety of content providers, including the top four music labels in the US. Although the company has been hard at work on the major iTunes tweaks since last Winter, it is possible that Google’s rumored and much discussed iTunes competitor (streaming music, with songs for download) could be released before iTunes gets the cloud capability that everyone has been anticipating.

Coca-Cola Gives Back to New Orleans During the ESSENCE Music Festival

NEW ORLEANS, Jul 01, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Local youth participating in New Orleans' Wilderness Program have 40,000 reasons to be happier this summer. The Coca-Cola Company, the presenting sponsor of the ESSENCE Music Festival, donated $40,000 to the Friends of the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD), to benefit this youth outdoor adventure program. The donation recognizes the 40th anniversary of ESSENCE Magazine, which is being celebrated during this year's Festival.

"Coca-Cola is dedicated to supporting initiatives like the Wilderness Program, which creates opportunities for our youth to engage in fun activities that promote active living, such as swimming, hiking, and canoeing," said Ingrid Saunders Jones, senior vice president of Global Community Connections for The Coca-Cola Company and chair of The Coca-Cola Foundation.

A second donation of $16,000 was donated to Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana, in recognition of the 16th anniversary of the Festival. Second Harvest provides nourishment to the New Orleans community, including those impacted by the Gulf oil spill. The food bank has provided thousands of emergency food boxes to fishermen and families affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. For the past 28 years this food bank has been a steadfast source of support for residents, from the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina to the economy's current recession. This is a continuation of the Company's support of the food bank.

"Coca-Cola is committed to ensuring that those organizations, on which residents rely during emergencies, have the resources to serve those in need," said Ms. Jones. "Both donations represent our sincere thanks and gratitude to all of those who do the heavy lifting in New Orleans to create safe and fun activities for our youth and to sustain our communities in times of need."

The Coca-Cola Foundation has been the presenting sponsor of the Festival for the past 15 years and has donated more than $300,000 to local New Orleans organizations during the three-day Festival.

About The Coca-Cola Foundation

Since its inception, The Coca-Cola Foundation has contributed more than $340 million to help build sustainable communities worldwide through initiatives focused on water stewardship active healthy living, community recycling, education, arts and culture and civic affairs. For more information about The Coca-Cola Foundation, please go to www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/foundation_coke.html.

About The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company /quotes/comstock/13*!ko/quotes/nls/ko (KO 50.03, -0.09, -0.18%) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Along with Coca-Cola, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company's portfolio includes 12 other billion dollar brands, including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply and Georgia Coffee. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate of 1.6 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that protect the environment, conserve resources and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. For more information about our Company, please visit our website a www.thecoca-colacompany.com.

SOURCE: The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company Wanda Yancey Rodwell, 404-676-1068

Copyright Business Wire 2010

OMG - Essence Fest helps sustain New Orleans amid spill

Essence Fest helps sustain New Orleans amid spill

By CHEVEL JOHNSON (AP) – 55 minutes ago

NEW ORLEANS — For all the talk of the BP oil spill scaring tourists away from Louisiana and the beaches of Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida, one city in the region has stayed full of visitors since the crisis began.

New Orleans has seen steady convention traffic and a high volume of visitors virtually throughout the 2 1/2-month spill, normally a slower time of year, and you can hardly find a hotel room for this weekend's Essence Music Festival.

Some 35,000 rooms are booked for the weekend because of the music festival, spill relief workers and the National Education Association's 15,000-delegate conference.

Since the spill began, hotel occupancy in the New Orleans area has hovered around 70 percent, comparable to the same period last year, said Mavis Early, executive director of the Greater New Orleans Hotel Lodging Association.

Still, tourism officials say they have to overcome the perception that the Crescent City has been fouled by the massive oil spill.

"Our challenge is the future because we're getting more calls from people asking about the spill and its effect on New Orleans. We're dealing with perception," she said.

Though New Orleans has no beaches, the city shares the perception that oil is everywhere. Mayor Mitch Landrieu said it's critical to erase that notion as soon as possible.

"We need a lot of help with damage control," said Landrieu, who also served as the state's lieutenant governor and chief tourism advocate.

For the holiday weekend, though, most visitors' minds are on the music. Essence Festival performers include Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Gladys Knight and Earth, Wind and Fire.

Raphael Saadiq, whose hits include "Never Give You Up" and "Anniversary," said he's pleased that the festival invited him to return.

"I have family in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana, in Monroe and Shreveport. So I love coming down here for the food and the people. The people who come for this all come to celebrate music," Saadiq said.

Chrisette Michele, who brings her neo soul-rock-jazz fusion sounds Friday to one of the festival's Superlounges, said the atmosphere at the Essence festival is electric and one of the venues she always looks forward to.

"The reception I received last year, meant so much to me," said the singer, whose song, "Be OK" won a Grammy last year. "I was performing in the lounge and I told my mom I don't think anybody's going to show because Mary J. Blige was performing at the same time and I was literally scared. But when I saw that the space was full, that people couldn't even get in, I was so overjoyed."

In a normal year, Essence alone would more than triple the number of tourists in the city. In 2009, a record-breaking 428,000 people participated in the three-day event that mixes nightly ticketed concerts in the Louisiana Superdome with free daily seminars in the convention center. Its economic impact is at least $200 million, Essence has said.

The festival is helping to boost New Orleans businesses even as the perception that oil has soiled beaches and fishing areas from Louisiana to Florida threatens to harm the region's tourism at the height of the summer season.

"July 4th is extremely weak in traditional urban environments all over the United States because people usually go visit relatives in the country or go to the beach," said Stephen Perry, president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. "But when you have Essence in the mix, it has an absolutely incredible impact on the city's summer economy."

Michelle Ebanks, president of Essence Communications Inc., said the festival is thrilled to return to "help bolster the economy of this city and this region."

Landrieu said the city has asked BP for $75 million for a national tourism campaign. That's on top of the $15 million each already provided to the state, Mississippi and Alabama and $25 million for Florida.

Landrieu said TV reports on the spill give viewers the sense the city is under siege by tar balls and oil when in fact the impact is along the state's coastline many miles away. Concerns over seafood safety also are hurting, even though 70 percent of Gulf waters are open to fishermen and there have been no reports of oil-related illnesses stemming from seafood, the mayor said.

Perry said visitors shouldn't worry about finding restaurant menus depleted by the oil spill. "There is an abundance of fresh, safe seafood," he said. "Our fish supply is good. Our crab and shrimp supply is strong."

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Finally some good news - Is Apple poised to launch cloud-based iTunes service?

Is Apple poised to launch cloud-based iTunes service?

Apple is poised to launch a cloud version of its iTunes software, possibly providing a host of new services for the company’s dedicated users, according to Boy Genius Report.

Boy Genius said it believes the cloud-based service is coming soon. The rumor of the cloud version of iTunes has been around for a while and was fueled after Apple bought the Lala streaming music service. With cloud computing, the software for iTunes would reside in centralized servers in data centers, rather than on a specific user computer.

The advantage is that Apple would be able to use the cloud to stream music to a user, regardless of which device the user happens to be using. As long as the connectivity is decent, Apple could stream the music to an iPhone, iPad, Mac, PC, or any other web-connected device.

For users, cloud-based software could liberate them from having their music collections tied to a single computer. Boy Genius also said that you will be able to wirelessly sync iTunes to mobile devices, presumably via Wi-Fi connections. That gets rid of the hassle of tying your iPod or iPhone to a computer every day. Rdio has already launched a cloud-based music service, as have others (Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody), and Apple should do the same just to stay competitive. Fans have been asking for it for a long time.

We have sent a query to Apple for comment.

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Tags: itunes

Companies: Apple, lala

Puzzling itunes rumors: iTunes U Reaches 250 Million Downloads

iTunes U Reaches 250 Million Downloads

Note: This is a Page 2 News Item

The Loop reports that Apple's iTunes U channel for distributing educational content via the iTunes Store has surpassed 250 million downloads since its inception.

Everyone knows about the success of the iTunes Store and the amount of of music, video and apps that are downloaded, but there is a lesser known part of iTunes that is equally successful in its market.

Apple told me on Tuesday that iTunes U, the part of iTunes dedicated to educational content, has just surpassed 250 million downloads from users around the world.

The milestone appears to represent a significant acceleration in usage for iTunes U, as it was only six months ago that the service passed 100 million downloads.

iTunes U debuted in October 2005 as a partnership with Stanford University before officially launching in an expanded form in mid-2007. A number of prominent colleges and universities have joined the program to offer content over the years, with Harvard University notably coming on board in March of this year.

About time we heard some great news: Best Coast, “Boyfriend” MP3

Best Coast, “Boyfriend” MP3 Best Coast, “Boyfriend” MP3

• story Matthew Schnipper


• photo Beth Rooney (F68)

We love Bethany Cosentino aka Best Coast. BCBC! “Boyfriend” is the first jam from her new album Crazy For You. Judging by the cover, she is crazy only for California and cats, but boys clearly fit into that schema somewhere. Best Coast is in our new issue and you can read that story for free right here and you can download “Boyfriend” below.

• posted on Jun 29, 2010 in MP3 / STREAMS, MUSIC


• tags Best Coast, rock

Makes my day to see something new to say about concert

Alabama concert strikes the wrong note

Alabama is spending up to $1.5m of BP's money next week on a beachside music concert and the main beneficiaries so far are touts accused of cornering the market in 35,000 "free" tickets.

Both local residents and out-of-state fans are in uproar after failing to get tickets to an event that was meant to provide an interlude of cheer in the Gulf of Mexico oil crisis and give a boost to Alabama's struggling tourism industry.

HP buys mobile music company Melodeo: Does anyone else feel worried

HP buys mobile music company Melodeo

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard has acquired Melodeo, a Seattle-based start-up that specializes in music applications and services for mobile devices, the companies confirmed on Wednesday.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but an anonymous source told TechCrunch that the price was around $30 million. The acquisition vaults HP into the battle for mobile music services.

Shown here, Melodeo's Nutsie for Android lets users access iTunes playlists on their mobile phone. HP has acquired the company, and now could bring the service to its WebOS mobile platform.

(Credit: Melodeo)

I've written about Melodeo's products a couple of times, most recently in January, when I got a demo of a forthcoming update to Melodeo's Nutsie app for Android phones. Nutsie (the name is an anagram of iTunes) runs on several mobile platforms, and gives users a way to get music from the iTunes library on their computer to a mobile device over the air. Unfortunately, the current version of Nutsie only allows users to transfer iTunes playlists, not full libraries, and users can't navigate to single songs. It's more like Internet radio based on each user's personal iTunes library than true portability.

This was supposed to be fixed in the update I saw, which would let users upload their entire iTunes libraries to Nutsie's servers, then let Android phones access those full libraries over the air. Basically, Melodeo was building an online music locker, like what MP3Tunes offers. It sounded like a great solution for Android's weak spot in music, and I even speculated that Google might acquire Melodeo. But the updated Nutsie app hasn't come out yet, and when I contacted a spokesman about two weeks ago, he told me that Melodeo had some big news coming up that was delaying its product plans. This was it.

So what's HP going to do with Melodeo? My guess: it's going to build a music streaming service for the WebOS mobile device platform, which HP gained in its acquisition of Palm earlier this year.

All of the big mobile players are positioning themselves for a world in which consumers stream music from the cloud rather than downloading it directly to their devices. Apple bought streaming music company Lala in 2009 and shut the standalone service down in May, and it's reportedly in negotiations with record companies about using Lala's technology to build some sort of online music service. Google announced big music ambitions for Android at its I/O conference in May, including the acquisition of Simplify Media (which had an application for users to stream iTunes libraries directly from their computer to a mobile phone, with no online service in between), as well as plans to build an online iTunes competitor. Microsoft's Zune Pass subscription service is coming to Windows Phone 7 later this year, and the company could build a music locker service on top of SkyDrive, which offers 25GB of free online storage.

HP has technology called iStream for streaming music from its MediaSmart Server (based on Microsoft's Windows Home Server technology) to an iPhone. HP also teamed up with U.K.-based Omnifone in January to offer a subscription-based music service to PC users in Europe. But Melodeo ups the ante: HP now has the technology and people to help build its own online music service, competing with whatever the other big mobile players come up with.

The acquisition also has implications for smaller companies trying to come up with similar solutions, like HomePipe, which lets users stream music from their home computers to various mobile devices, and ParkVu, which just today announced its Music WithMe BlackBerry app that lets users upload iTunes music directly to their BlackBerry phones. Consolidation is underway, and companies like these may have to find a big benefactor to thrive in the coming mobile music battle.