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Valley Buzz: Apple, Twitter Hacking and How Video Is Turning Us into Desk Potatoes
Posted Jan 06, 2009 04:05pm EST by Sarah Lacy in Investing, Internet, Products and Trends, Recession, Valley Buzz
Sure, people lined up at 5 a.m. Sure there was more live blogging and live Twittering than any one person could consume. But today’s MacWorld keynote was generally deemed a snore. Live Twitter comments ranged from “Meh” to “I hate this is considered big news” to “I just fell asleep.” There was no Steve Jobs and all about the Mac. In fact, the most buzzed about MacWorld artifact today was this Onion Video on the fictional MacBook “Wheel.” You know it’s boring when fictional product launches are stealing the spotlight.
More exciting—in a bad way—was yesterday’s Twitter hacking. Thirty-three celebrities from CNN’s Rick Sanchez to Britney Spears had their Twitter accounts hacked and at least from a wisecracking hacker’s point of view, hilarity ensued. The celebrities and Twitter didn’t find it so funny. Michael Arrington points the finger at someone called the “DigitalGangster” and expects some arrests to come. It’s unwelcome timing for Twitter, after a New York Times article last weekend trumpeted how many celebrities were embracing the site.
As 2009 gets going, we’re seeing more reports of layoffs and companies getting perilously close to shutting down, and there’s no doubt in my mind, a lot of them will be online video companies started in the wake of YouTube that never broke out in the same way. But the trend of watching videos online is soaring: comScore reported that time spent watching videos online jumped a whopping 40% in one year. The number of videos watched jumped 34%. The number of people watching videos online only rose 6% but that’s partially because it’s already about three-quarters of the entire Internet user base.
Clearly, this is no small trend and no flash in the pan. The question is whether existing players can survive the ad recession long enough to really develop businesses around it, or the next crop of online video companies will be the ones to reap the growing rewards.
10 Comments
Yahoo! Finance User - Tuesday January 06, 2009 05:39PM EST
Boring article. TT's love affair and courtship of Apple continues unabated.
StewartD - Tuesday January 06, 2009 08:01PM EST
So what! Apple is a business, a HIGHLY successful one at that. Steve is in control, outlook is better than should be expected given the (short term) economic outlook. Jeez - APPL is good biz people!!!
Maloogie - Tuesday January 06, 2009 08:19PM EST
Steve Jobs is not god. There are other creative people at the helm. But this year's tech show was a bust, and if you do believe Jobs was the brain behind the company, you're worried. There are more things to worry about other than Jobs having aids or cancer. An economy in the toilet, a what me worry attitude by the few stock traders playing with each other in spite of the economic numbers--hey, go play on the internet if you want music....
Annette K - Tuesday January 06, 2009 09:11PM EST
Lets get serious. First of all we have been in a recession for 3 years. We are now heading for a Depression. 2009 will be the beginning of a Depression. Homeless like you or your parents have ever witnessed, soup kitchens feeding your local college graduate and his young family with every church group asking for more and more donations of monies,etc. The banks that have refused to lend to people of good credit are eventually going to have those same as neighbors in the food kitchens. Banks need to lend in order to survive. Keeping their Banks solvent today by hording the bail out monies will only bring them eventual colapse. The economics don't change. You don't lend, then you die. Dear Mr. Bank, you were at your highest earning ever or in the history of time and you got greedy, you wanted even more no matter what the cost. You deserve to fail. An honest profit was not enough. The old adage. Pigs get fat and Hogs get slaughtered is the same today as it was yesterday. Hogs need to get slaughtered. No Problem for us the American People. Another NEW Bank will open tomorrow on the ashes of the Hogs. History does repeat it self. Same story....different day. Yawn.
__A_YAHOO_USER__ - Wednesday January 07, 2009 01:18AM EST
The best part of this story is online video watching is up. I have a cable running from my LCD tv to my coffee table, and often connect my laptop so I can watch online videos using the big screen. Usually I watch the daily show and Colbert. In the last economic Great Depression, movie theaters provided escape from reality. This time, I think it will be the home theater providing that escape.
__A_YAHOO_USER__ - Wednesday January 07, 2009 01:40AM EST
Be on the market this year.....and make big money........Buy.......I am bullish......
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Reedersong - Tuesday January 06, 2009 04:43PM EST
Hear it, I am eating and sitting right now.