Consumer Electronics Fueling Online Sales Growth

Sales of consumer electronics are growing at a record pace this year as online sales revenue is expected to reach the trillion dollar threshold by 2012. Online retailers are seeing the largest percentage of growth as Internet shoppers are looking for ways to save money as well as time. More and more buyers are looking to Internet malls for their everyday shopping needs. Online merchants who provide a variety of products, reasonable prices as well as fast and reliable delivery options are best positioned to lead the way now and for years to come.

Leadpile.com says online commerce to pass $1 trillion potential and make up 25 percent of all sales in the United States by 2012. Leadpile.com predicts that new "Younger Super Internet Consumer" will lead the way.

"Consumer electronics products will contribute a large part to the overall growth estimates," says Daniel Arque, President of www.GoodBuy4you.com, "which is why we have added many new products to our Web Store like digital cameras, plasma and HDTV units, computers, home theater systems, car navigation and entertainment and much more."

Growth will not be limited to Internet retailers. The National Retail Federation is forecasting that holiday retail sales will rise 5 percent over last year. That means that registers will ring up more that $435 billion in transactions. Sales last year were up 6.7 percent from 2003 levels. If recent trends continue, it is very likely that shopping centers and stores will be looking a lot like Christmas long before Thanksgiving.

"Consumers won't have to wait until the last minute to get the best deals this year because retailers are expected to be aggressive in their pricing strategies throughout the entire holiday season," said Tracy Mullin, NRF president. "Stores are planning for holiday sales and promotions, so discounted prices won't have a negative effect on profits."

For more information on the trend, check out this press release.

The New York Times and Monster.com Team Up

The New York Times Company and Monster Worldwide Inc. recently announced a strategic alliance, combining the Times Companys market-leading news and local Web sites with Monsters leading online recruitment expertise and services. Under the terms of the deal, 19 of the Times Companys newspaper Web sites, including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and its award-winning newspapers throughout the southeast and California, will co-brand their online recruitment advertising Web sites with Monster. The companies say the alliance will create a new presence with local relevance and broad online reach in the careers market, supported by the combined brand recognition and marketing strength of both companies.

The enhanced and expanded New York Times Company-Monster co-branded career sites will provide job seekers and employers with the features and functionality of the Times Companys existing online job sites, combined with Monsters collection of innovative, market-leading career tools and content. In addition, recruiting professionals will now enjoy both local and national job posting capabilities through Times Company and Monster sites, along with access to the worlds largest resume database, which grows by more than 40,000 resumes each day. The co-branded sites will begin to appear in March.

"The combination of technology, reach and expertise created by this strategic alliance is extraordinary," said Janet L. Robinson, chief executive officer, The New York Times Company. "Together with Monster, The New York Times Company will significantly increase our presence in the online recruitment space as we continue to provide quality solutions and considerable value for employers and job seekers."

"This new relationship between Monster and The New York Times Company combines two world-class brands to jointly deliver greater value for both career-seeking consumers and for employers seeking talent," said William Pastore, president and chief executive officer, Monster Worldwide. "The alliance significantly advances Monsters strategy to provide highly localized online recruitment and career services, allowing Monster to leverage its expertise and full range of solutions in conjunction with the Times Companys award-winning local news outlets and powerful distribution presence."

The alliance will create the overall online recruitment leader in Boston, where Monster will join with BostonWorks.com, the recruitment Web site for Boston.com, New England's leading news site and one of the nation's biggest regional Web sites, with four million unique visitors each month (Source: Nielsen // NetRatings, December 2006). The new BostonWorks.com-Monster site will combine BostonWorks.coms leading 16 percent share of the Boston market's online job postings with Monster's 9 percent share (Source: Wanted Tech). In New York, The New York Times-Monster site will capitalize on NYTimes.com, the number one most-visited newspaper Web site in the U.S. (Source: Nielsen// NetRatings, December 2006). Monsters significant Web traffic will complement the Times Company, which is the ninth most-visited parent company on the Web in the U.S., with 44.2 million unique visitors per month (Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, December 2006).

The Best of The New York Times Company and Monster for Both Job Seekers and Employers

The co-branded sites will be designed to help employers and staffing organizations better target and more efficiently place recruitment advertising to reach both local and national talent. Recruiters new to Monster will benefit from its suite of tools designed to streamline and expedite the hiring process. Monsters existing recruiting customers will also have the opportunity to cross-advertise in the Times Companys print properties. To enable this, Monster will introduce a new "click-to-print" feature that will provide current online recruiting clients with a simple method to reverse-publish their job listings as print ads in Times Company newspapers.

On the consumer side, more job candidates will be able to take advantage of Monsters advanced search and match technology, enabling them to identify both local and national opportunities. Monsters new capabilities allow seekers to easily expand their searches using the new "More Jobs Like This" feature, or fine-tune searches based on criteria such as salary range, years of experience or the distance of jobs from a targeted ZIP code. The new co-branded sites will also feature local employment news and information, career advice and guidance, and more.

For more information, check out the New York Times press release.

Netflix to Produce and Distribute New Tony Bennett Documentary

Netflix, in association with its Red Envelope Entertainment division, announced it has acquired worldwide rights to produce and distribute a new documentary exploring and celebrating the life and career of the legendary recording artist and concert performer, Tony Bennett. "Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends" will be directed by Bruce Ricker ("The Last of the Blue Devils," "Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows"), with Clint Eastwood serving as executive producer.

Tony Bennett is beloved as one of the premiere interpreters of the Great American Songbook. The new documentary will follow Bennett's more than 50 years in the music and entertainment industries against the backdrop of a changing America. Weaving seldom seen archival footage with never before seen excerpts of Bennett's recent premier performance at the Monterey Jazz festival -- highlighted by an on-camera interview conducted by Eastwood that explores the essence of Bennett's artistry -- the film will present an exceptional man in a rare way: a living legend through his life, times and music.

This cinematic portrayal of Tony Bennett caps a year-long celebration of a singer who celebrated his 80th birthday last August. Bennett's most recent chart topping CD, "Tony Bennett Duets: An American Classic," has also reached another milestone for the singer, becoming the biggest selling album of his career. "Duets" was awarded three Grammy Awards last Sunday in the categories of "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album," "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals" and "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)."

The documentary project was brought to Netflix and Red Envelope Entertainment by Danny Bennett, president of RPM Productions, on behalf of Tony Bennett and Clint Eastwood. Netflix is committed to providing consumers with access to the widest variety of films available and, in association with Red Envelope Entertainment, will fully finance the production. An innovative release plan will include DVD rental and sale, online and TV distribution, as well as an event-driven premiere and theatrical release this summer. The film is currently in production at locations around the country, including Astoria, Queens in New York City, where Bennett was born, as well as Hollywood, California.

"The coming together of Tony Bennett and Clint Eastwood -- two enduring and iconic figures in the world of American entertainment -- is a cultural flashpoint," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer. "Netflix spearheading this prestigious project showcases our abilities to bring unique content to our subscribers and, in this case, a global audience."

"'Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends' is an historical record of an American icon," said director and producer Bruce Ricker. "We wanted the film to reach the widest audience possible and Netflix achieves that goal."

Read more in the Netflix press release.

Save Energy in 18 Seconds

If you are looking for ways to cut back on the amount of electricity you use to save money and reduce your home's impact on the environment, a new campaign has launched to help. The 18Seconds movement, a network of organizations and individuals committed to a common goal of energy conservation, launched a nationwide effort recently to raise awareness about global warming and demonstrate how one small action—taking 18 seconds to change a conventional incandescent bulb to an ENERGY STAR labeled compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL)— can significantly reduce environmental impact.

"This movement is about empowering the individual—to say to every person in America that with one easy step, they can become part of a movement that will literally change the world," said Lawrence Bender, network member and Academy Award-winning producer of the Oscar-nominated documentary An Inconvenient Truth. "I believe the CFL is the Trojan horse into the minds of the American public. Once you get somebody who feels good about making a difference and at the same time saving money, you have them thinking about what else they can do."

The 18Seconds network is a group of companies, government entities, non-governmental organizations, religious groups, academic institutions and individuals who want to educate Americans about the electric cost-savings and environmental benefits of CFLs, which require 1/3 the energy of traditional bulbs to provide the same amount of light. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a member of the network, if every American swapped just one bulb for an ENERGY STAR labeled CFL, it would collectively save them more than $8 billion in energy costs, prevent burning 30 billion pounds of coal, and keep two million cars worth of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere.

"When we reach our goal of getting all 300 million Americans to switch to at least one ENERGY STAR CFL, the energy saved would be enough to meet the electricity needs of 1.5 million homes—thats enough electricity for all the residents of Delaware and Vermont combined," Paul Dickerson, chief operating officer, Department of Energy. "With nearly 20 percent of all home electric costs stemming from lighting alone, ENERGY STAR labeled CFLs can have tremendous benefits for any consumer wishing to save on their energy bills, but especially low-income families."

Converting one conventional 60W bulb to a 13W ENERGY STAR labeled CFL can save: $30 or more in electric costs over its lifetime; five or more conventional bulbs from being produced, transported and discarded in a landfill; 110 lbs. of coal from being burned; and 450 lbs. of greenhouse gases from reaching the atmosphere. The average home has more than 30 light fixtures, and since ENERGY STAR labeled CFLs last an average of five to seven years, that means even more potential savings.

In conjunction with the launch of the movement, the network officially unveiled the Web site, www.18seconds.org. Built by Yahoo!, the site is a tool you can use to see updated sales data for CFL purchases nationally and locally. During a visit to the site, you can see the amount of CFLs sold across the country, in your city or state based on per capita purchases. Beyond the sales data, provided by AC Nielsen and received from most grocery store, drug and mass merchandise retailers, the site offers a way to see the impact your purchases are having by showing the amount of money, energy and greenhouse gas emissions saved in your area on a daily basis. As more large retailers submit data over the coming months, the site will improve in accuracy and become more valuable to grassroots organizers.

"The mounting evidence for global warming is so sobering that it may be difficult to imagine how individual actions can make a difference," said David Filo, Yahoo! co-founder. "With 18seconds.org, we're using technology to illustrate that small lifestyle changes can indeed add up to having a tremendous collective impact on our planet—city by city, state by state, nationwide."

The Web site was previewed earlier this year at the U.S. Conference of Mayors 75th Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C. At the meeting, Bender challenged the mayors in attendance to commit their cities to the 18Seconds goal. Currently, 12 mayors have expressed interest in starting their own campaigns with more joining the movement to promote energy-saving CFLs every day.

"Raising awareness about ENERGY STAR labeled CFLs helps consumers be smarter in how they live while helping reduce global warming at the same time," said Kathleen Hogan, director, Climate Protection Partnerships Division, EPA. "The reality is we dont have to wait 10 or 12 years down the road to make changes that have a profound impact on our environment. Every American can do it right now in just 18 seconds."

For more information, check out the press release or visit www.18seconds.org

Covad to Supply High-Speed Wireless Broadband for Renaissance Las Vegas

Covad Communications Group Inc. recently announced that Renaissance Las Vegas, a AAA-rated 4-Diamond hotel in downtown Las Vegas, has selected Covad's wireless broadband service for their business needs.

The Renaissance Las Vegas chose the NextWeb HiCap service—with up to 100 Mbps of bandwidth— which was originally ordered to supply bandwidth to the hotel. Hotel General Manager Tom Xavier, however, was so satisfied with the service that he decided to keep it on a permanent basis.

"We require a large amount of bandwidth on a 24-hour basis for our business to function and meet our guests' needs," said Xavier. "Covad was easy to work with and quickly implemented the successful broadband solution."

"We are pleased the Renaissance Las Vegas chose Covad for its business needs," said Pat Bennett, Covad executive vice president market development. "Our competitively priced service offerings are simple to understand and easy to implement, which can result in immediate cost-savings. Ultimately, our solutions enable business owners to focus on growing their businesses instead of worrying about technology choices."

Covad offers high-speed broadband wireless to over 3500 businesses in five markets nationwide: Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orange County and San Francisco.

For more information, check out the press release Renaissance Las Vegas Chooses Covad High-Speed Wireless Broadband.

Cox Television Selects Harris Corporation to Help Manage Its Business

Cox Television announced recently that it has selected Harris Corporation's OSi-Traffic™ application to manage the traffic, sales, accounting and reporting components of its business. Cox Television owns and operates 15 television stations and one cable news channel, and is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, one of the nation's leading media companies.

A longstanding Harris customer, Cox TV will be able to use OSi Traffic™ to seamlessly integrate other Harris products across multiple business lines. For example, Cox can integrate its Harris® ADC™ Playout Automation solution with OSi-Traffic applications. The tight integration between traffic and automation allows Cox to increase revenue by controlling inventory utilization selling, and optimizing available spots closer to airtime.

The relationship between OSi-Traffic™ and Harris applications like Medialine and Repline also creates integrated local and national sales tools for Cox Television. As one of the top national television advertising sales firms, this integration helps Cox Television develop efficient conduits between stations and agencies—increasing efficiency and decreasing errors.

"The team at Cox feels with OSi-Traffic, we're moving to a provider who understands the demands of the television business today and into the future with an emphasis on greater speed and access to information," said Bruce Baker, executive vice president, Cox Television. "The synergy of Harris systems with our stations is unique and gives us confidence that we'll not only operate better, but also more efficiently—all with a focus on better serving our viewing and advertising customers."

Harris also provides Cox with an organized migration path from its previous Harris® BMS traffic system, giving the company an uninterrupted view of historical data. Cox Television will enjoy a smooth and integrated transition process to an economical and efficient centralized traffic system. The centralized architecture also enables Cox to track broadcast revenue streams from disparate locations.

SIRIUS and XM Announce Merger

XM Satellite Radio and SIRIUS Satellite Radio announced yesterday that they have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in a merger of equals with a combined enterprise value of approximately $13 billion. The companies will continue to operate independently until the transaction is completed and said they will work together to determine the combined company's corporate name and headquarters location prior to closing.

"We are excited for the many opportunities that an XM and SIRIUS combination will provide consumers," said Gary Parsons, Chairman of XM Satellite Radio and Hugh Panero, CEO of XM Satellite Radio, in a joint statement. "The combined company will be better positioned to compete effectively with the continually expanding array of entertainment alternatives that consumers have embraced since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first granted our satellite radio licenses a decade ago."

"This combination is the next logical step in the evolution of audio entertainment," said Mel Karmazin, CEO of SIRIUS Satellite Radio. "Together, our best-in-class management team and programming content will create unprecedented choice for consumers, while creating long-term value for shareholders of both companies. The combined company will be positioned to capitalize on SIRIUS and XM's complementary distribution and licensing agreements to enhance availability of satellite radios, offer expanded content to subscribers, drive increased advertising revenue and reduce expenses. Each of our companies has a strong commitment to providing listeners the broadest range of music, news, sports and entertainment and the best customer service possible. We look forward to sharing the benefits of the exciting new growth opportunities this combination will provide with all of our stakeholders."

The transaction is subject to approval by both companies' shareholders, the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory review and approvals, including antitrust agencies and the FCC. Pending regulatory approval, the companies expect the transaction to be completed by the end of 2007.

Read more in the Houston Chronicle article XM and Sirius to combine; hurdles loom.

Valentine Virus Strikes at email inboxes

Experts at SophosLabs™, a global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have warned of a widespread worm posing as a Valentine's Day greeting which is spreading fast across the Internet

The W32/Dref-AB worm has been deliberately spread via e-mail in readiness for office workers and home computer users to find the malicious Valentine e-mail in their inbox first thing in the morning. Since the beginning of the holiday, the Dref-AB worm has accounted for 76.4 percent of all malware sighted at Sophos's global network of virus monitoring stations.

Subject lines used in the attack are many and varied, but all pose as a romantic message. Some of them include "A Valentine Love Song", "Be My Valentine", "Fly Away Valentine", "For My Valentine", "Happy Valentine's Day", "My Lucky Valentine", "My Valentine", "My Valentine Heart", "My Valentine Sunshine", "Send Love On Valentines", "The Valentine Love Bug", "The Valentines Angel", "Valentine's Love", "Valentine's Night", "Valentine Letter", "Valentine Love Song", "Valentine Sweetie", "Valentines Day Dance", "Valentines Day is here again", and "Your Love on Valentine's".

Attached to the e-mails are files called flash postcard.exe, greeting postcard.exe, greeting card.exe, or postcard.exe which contain the worm.

"This new Valentine attack is spreading hard and fast across the Web, accounting for over three quarters of all the malware we've seen at e-mail gateways around the globe since Feb. 14 began," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant. "People will be truly love sick if they let the virus run on their PC."

Opening the attached files on a PC activates the worm, which then sends itself to other e-mail addresses found on the now infected computer. Sophos analysts believe that the worm code is designed to attempt to download further malicious code from the Internet designed to take over the PC, convert it into part of a zombie network, and use it to send spam on behalf of hacking gangs.

"Cynical hackers are using the theme of Valentine's Day to conquer innocent people's computers and use them for their own money-making purposes," continued Cluley. "Your PC and the data on it is precious, and it needs to be protected. No-one should be blinded by the excitement of Valentine's Day into opening unsolicited attachments or clicking on links to unknown websites, as you could be falling deep into a hacker's trap. The best defense is common sense, combined with up-to-date anti-virus software and e-mail filtering at your gateway."

For more information, check out the Sophos press release.

Blockbuster Offers Netflix Renters Presidents' Day Pardon

Since Presidents' Day is one of the 62 days in the year when online movie renters can't receive movies by mail, Blockbuster is celebrating the upcoming holiday weekend by extending to Netflix subscribers the in-store benefits of BLOCKBUSTER Total Access™. When there's no mail, BLOCKBUSTER Total Access gives its online subscribers the option of exchanging their DVDs at a participating BLOCKBUSTER® store for free in-store movie rentals.

From Feb. 15 through Feb. 21, including two days when post offices are closed, current Netflix members can bring the tear-off address flaps of their Netflix rental envelopes to any of the more than 5,000 participating U.S. BLOCKBUSTER stores. In exchange for every flap they present, they will receive an on-the-spot free movie rental.

"With this Presidents' Day offer, we're celebrating freedom of choice for American movie lovers, who no longer have to wait for the mail to get DVDs," said Nick Shepherd, president, Blockbuster North America. "Tens of thousands of customers are joining BLOCKBUSTER Total Access every day because no one else provides the convenience of online rentals backed by in-store services which enables consumers to access the movies they want 365 days a year."

Netflix subscribers who wish to participate in the program can tear off the address flaps they normally discard when mailing back their DVDs and turn them in at any participating BLOCKBUSTER store to receive a free in-store movie rental. They can continue to bring in their envelope flaps and exchange them for free in-store rentals for the duration of the promotion, which runs from Thursday, Feb. 15 through Wednesday, Feb. 21. Netflix customers do not need to subscribe to Blockbuster's online program to participate. To utilize the free store rentals, Netflix customers need to have a Blockbuster store membership, which they can sign up for on the spot. Store membership is free.

The name on the Netflix tear-off flaps must match the name on the holder's Blockbuster membership account. In-store movie rentals are subject to store rental terms, including due dates, and must be returned to the store from which they were rented.

For more on this promotion, check out the Blockbuster press release.

Online Newspaper Blogs Experience Traffic Boom in 2006

According to a recent Nielsen//NetRatings survey, Web traffic to the blog pages of the top 10 online newspapers grew 210 percent in 2006, while the the overall unique audience growth to these online newspapers was only 9 percent for the same time period. Unique visitors to blog pages accounted for 13 percent of their Dec. 2006 Web traffic, up 9 percentage points from 4 percent in Dec. 2005.

"As Web 2.0 becomes a predominant online consumer model, traditional publishers are adopting interactive forums like blogs," said Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings. "It makes perfect sense for online newspapers, where responding to a blog posting is like writing an instant letter to the editor," she continued.

The overall unique audience to the top 10 online newspapers skewed male, with 60 percent men and 40 percent women. Among newspaper blog pages, this skew intensified, with 66 percent men and 34 percent women. But both men and women are contributing to the unique audience growth, with men increasing 226 percent and women increasing 183 percent.

"Men tend to be both early adopters of new technologies and avid consumers of news," said Creekmore. "That having been said, women make up slightly more than half of the active Internet universe and we can expect them to play an increasingly significant role in blog consumption."

For more on this trend, check out the press release Online Newspaper Blog Traffic Grows 210 Percent Year Over Year, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.