paid

YouTube begins paid subscription pilot

YouTube on Thursday launched a new service for video content makers that lets them charge users to subscribe to their channels.

What Google calls just a "pilot program" for the time being, lets video makers charge users a monthly fee for access to their videos. The subscription plans start at 99 cents a month, but can be set higher. All paid channels offer a 14-day free trial and can be sold at a discount if users subscribe a year at a time, YouTube said in a post announcing the program.

The service is launching with 53 paid channels … Read more

YouTube vice president touts paid subscriptions

YouTube is clearly eyeing paid subscriptions, though it won't reveal if such an option has gotten the green light.

Speaking with reporters in Los Angeles yesterday, Robert Kyncl, a YouTube vice president, said that paid subscription channels are "incredibly important" in order to create "additional revenue streams" for content creators, the Wall Street Journal reported today. YouTube has reportedly already been chatting with producers about offering channels that would require a fee.

Possibly debuting as soon as next quarter, the first of such channels would charge users between $1 and $5 a month and initially … Read more

AOL's twist on e-mail: You've got stacks

Thursday's CNET Update is checking your away message:

Just when you've given up all hope of having an organized inbox, along comes AOL with a new e-mail client called Alto. Today's tech news roundup looks at how Alto manages multiple accounts and sorts messages into stacks. The service is in beta test now (so you have to sign up for an invite to try it), but it could be open to everyone by February.

In other news, Yelp is cracking down on companies that pay for reviews. If Yelp sees that a business is trying to inflate … Read more

Google tops study of best-paid software engineers

Google has been found to be the financial sweet spot for software engineers this year, according to a new report from jobs and careers site Glassdoor.

Based on salary reports shared over the past 12 months by software engineers at 15 various tech companies to compare average base salaries, Google was found to have the highest average base salary among the top dogs in technology.

Here's a glance at the top five:

Google: $128,336 Facebook: $123,626 Apple: $114,413 eBay: $108,809 Zynga: $105,568

Based on more than 5,000 salary reports, Glassdoor cited that the … Read more

Apple, Samsung U.S. smartphone sales jump 43 percent

Apple and Samsung continue to grab smartphone sales from the rest of the industry.

Collectively, the two companies watched their U.S. sales increase by 43 percent from the second quarter of 2011 to the same quarter of 2012, says a new report from NPD Group. Over the same time, combined sales for other companies, such as HTC, Motorola, and LG, fell by 16 percent.

For the quarter, Apple carved out 31 percent of the smartphone market, while Samsung captured 24 percent. That left HTC with 15 percent, Motorola with 12 percent, and LG with just 6 percent.

"By … Read more

Mitt Romney suspiciously gets 116K Twitter followers in one day

In playing catch up with President Obama's social media savvy, Republican nominee Mitt Romney might have cut some corners. A new report by Barracuda Labs shows that more than 15 percent of Romney's Twitter followers may have come from bogus accounts generated by pay-for-followers services.

"We believe most of these recent followers of Romney are not from a general Twitter population but most likely from a paid Twitter follower service," Barracuda Labs research scientist Jason Ding wrote in the report.

It's important to note, however, that it's not clear if the Romney campaign, an … Read more

Ross Levinsohn gets endorsement for permanent Yahoo CEO job

News Corp. digital media head Jon Miller is bullish on the odds of his friend Ross Levinsohn becoming the permanent chief executive at Yahoo.

"I would bet that Ross Levinsohn will be the CEO of Yahoo," he said today during an interview at the PaidContent 2012 conference in New York.

"Ross is as good a person as exists on the planet [to run Yahoo]," he said.

The two were once partners in a venture firm, Velocity Investment Group, which was formed after Levinsohn resigned as president of Fox Interactive Media and Miller left his post … Read more

T-Mobile tempts with no-contract mobile broadband

Having fast 4G access wherever you roam has a particularly sweet and succulent taste all its own. Committing to an onerous monthly contract, though, is a bitter pill to swallow. T-Mobile, with its new prepaid data plans, thinks it has an attractive alternative. … Read more

GigaOm acquires media blog paidContent

GigaOm, one of Silicon Valley's best-known blogs, said today it has acquired the assets from ContentNext Media, parent company of media blog paidContent, from publisher Guardian News & Media.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

"PaidContent is the leading voice covering the evolution of media, an area that is very important to us," said Paul Walborsky, CEO of GigaOM. "Integrating our teams will enrich our editorial coverage and expand our footprint immediately in two markets that are critical to our growth - New York City and the United Kingdom."

In addition to paidContent.org the other … Read more

Top iPhone and iPad apps charts for week of September 19

Last week's top iPhone and iPad apps, according to official numbers from Apple's App Store, include SPY Mouse, Angry Birds, Words With Friends, Pages, and Keynote, among others.

Apple has been releasing official top-10 lists for songs and albums for some time, but now users can check out the charts for iPhone and iPad apps as well. The categories Apple will be reporting include Top Paid iPhone Apps, Top Free iPhone Apps, Top Paid iPad Apps, and Top Free iPad Apps.

For the week ending September 19, SPY Mouse topped the Top Paid iPhone Apps list, followed by … Read more