Digital Media

Boxee, the open-source software platform that combines Internet media with personal content, announced a slew of updates Tuesday.

Most notably, the company announced that it has made Boxee publicly available to Windows users.

The public alpha version of Boxee for Windows will work with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Users will also be able to run it on Windows Media Center, making it possible to bring Boxee to HDTVs through Microsoft's platform. A beta release of the software should be made available later this year.

MLB comes to Boxee
Boxee has also inked a deal with Major League Baseball that will bring MLB.tv Premium to the platform. According to the company, Boxee users will be able to watch "thousands of baseball games, live and on-demand in HD."

Users will be able to pause and rewind a live game. But in order for them to access those games, they will need to sign up for the MLB.tv Premium service, which costs $89.95 per year or $19.95 per month.

Even more content
Since Digg has a popular video section, it only makes sense that Boxee would sign a deal with the social-news site to bring its videos to the platform.

According to Boxee, users will now be able to watch Digg's most popular videos, as well as upcoming clips. Users will soon be able to Digg videos from within Boxee, but that feature is currently not available.

Boxee also signed on with Tumblr to give that site's users the option to stream music and slideshows to Boxee. The company said more Tumblr features are on the way, but it wouldn't divulge what those are.

As if that's not enough, Boxee also announced that Current TV shows are now available on the platform. Current is home to popular shows, including The Rotten Tomatoes Show, InfoMania, and SuperNews.

New navigation
Since Boxee has made so many content enhancements, the company apparently had to improve its user interface. Boxee now features two new categories: Applications and Local Media. The Applications menu will feature all the Internet content available for the platform. The Local Media menu lists content from the user's computer and local network.

Chas Edwards

(Credit: Federated Media)

The publisher of Federated Media, which sells ads for blogs and social media sites, is leaving to be chief revenue officer at user-based news aggregator Digg.

Chas Edwards, who will officially assume his new role on June 22, had stints in sales and marketing at CNET and TechTV before co-founding Federated Media in 2005 with then-journalist John Battelle of Wired and The Industry Standard renown.

At Digg, Edwards will work on sales and advertising strategy and focus on creating new revenue streams including sponsorships, new ad programs and channels, as well as manage the company's ad relationship with Microsoft, according to a post by Digg Chief Executive Jay Adelson in a company blog post on Friday.

Federated Media used to handle all advertising sales for Digg, but that changed nearly two years ago when Digg switched to Microsoft for display ad sales. Federated Media still handles sponsorships on Digg.

"Maybe it's time to spark up that Digg-FM partnership again!" Edwards wrote in a post on his personal blog. "In the meantime, FM runs in my blood. To my friends at FM: See you at Red's Javahouse and Sala NYC soon and often. I owe you more than I can ever repay."

Battelle said he "knew this day was coming."

"Chas' tireless work ethic and forward-looking philosophy are embedded in FM's DNA," he wrote in a post on the Federated media blog.

"But at heart, Chas is (a) start-up mountain climber. His skills are unmatched in taking a company from zero to significant revenue. He's done that here and more."

The move comes as Battelle searches for "an additional leader" to run Federated Media and "take the company to the next level."

Federated Media, which raised $50 million from Oak Investment Partners a year ago, laid off 7 of 90 employees in January.

The company serves ads on popular sites like Boing Boing and TechCrunch, but lost its contract with GigaOm last year to a new IDG ad network.

(Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Google has launched a Web page plug-in called What's Popular that can give iGoogle home page users a service similar to those offered by Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, and Mixx.

Google's own servers select links from YouTube and Reader and blend them with those submitted by users. The gadget shows users these links along with up and down arrows to vote approval or disapproval of the site.

Lacking in the Google feature is any way users can comment on a Web page, one of the central features of Digg and its rivals.

Rumors of Google's interest in acquiring Digg surfaced in 2008, but so far nothing has come of it.

Social-news site Digg has ended its advertising partnership with Microsoft more than a year before the deal was set to expire. Instead of relying on Microsoft as its exclusive ad partner, Digg will now primarily use the internal sales force it recently began building; Microsoft will handle remnant inventory.

"Starting July 1, Microsoft will sell network inventory for Digg through the Microsoft Media Network, which it has been doing successfully for the last year and a half," a statement from Microsoft read. "Digg has created its own internal sales executive team, and we respect their decision to sell their owned-and-operated site inventory directly to help further accelerate their growth as a company."

Digg's contract with Microsoft, intended to be a three-year deal, started in mid-2007, when the company chose it over Google. At the time, founder Kevin Rose applauded the decision because it would let Digg's employees focus on feature development while leaving ad sales to a more experienced team.

The revised contract is a blow to Microsoft, which touted the Digg deal as a big victory at its debut. But it also is yet another signal that advertising on the Web is changing significantly.

According to a ClickZ report, Digg's internal sales team will focus on "custom, non-IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) inventory combined with standardized banner ads." This strategic decision--to move away from a reliance on the traditional IAB display units that have defined digital advertising for years--comes at a time when the best way to advertise on a social-media site is a matter of debate and uncertainty.

Social network Facebook also has a display ad contract with Microsoft (in addition to a $240 million investment) but has been putting more emphasis on the experimental "Engagement Ads" product that it packages and markets in-house. The News Corp.-owned MySpace, meanwhile, relies more heavily on traditional display ads.

By most accounts, MySpace is ahead of Facebook in the monetization game. It has a bigger foothold in the United States, where ad dollars are easier to come by than overseas, and it's willing to make advertising significantly more pervasive with full-page "wrap" campaigns--not to mention the fact that it has News Corp.'s media connections.

But with Digg choosing to go the Facebook route (sort of), especially given the bleak advertising climate, this could be a sign that more players in the tech industry have started to regard the next generation of digital ads as a more profitable route.

"It's not unusual for someone in the social media space to have a lot of custom units, because they're forging new territory," said Debra Williamson, a senior analyst at eMarketer. "A lot of people say that by the time the IAB comes out with a standard, the ad format is, (while) not necessarily passe, certainly not the cutting edge."

Williamson noted that not only is Digg changing its ad focus, it's looking to make new hires to expand its team. "That does put a stake in the ground, and it does say that a company like Digg is serious about looking beyond the banner, so as to speak, that they're really looking to develop new ways of advertising and that they're looking to bring on new people to help them do that."

Whether or not Madison Avenue will agree is a different story.

This post was expanded at 1:15 p.m. PT.

Conference attendance may be in a recession-fueled funk, but this week's South by Southwest Interactive in Austin, Texas, seems primed for a steep boost in turnout, one that will dwarf even last year's record numbers and challenge the throngs who stream into packed keynotes, panels, and parties.

If you were among the 9,000 people who crammed into the 2008 SXSWi, which had grown a rumored 80 percent over the 2007 edition, there's a good chance your experience included a series of over-capacity talks, endless lines for parties, and sardine-can hallways.

The 2009 edition of SXSWi may lack a marquee name like last year's headliner, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg--though notable FiveThirtyEight.com blogger Nate Silver is keynoting this year--and may be taking place amid an economy in meltdown, but it still is expected to grow between 20 percent and 30 percent. And while some may be tempted to freak out at the promise of teeming crowds, those in charge of the conference and many of its satellite events say the best bet is to just relax and go with the flow.

"Panels (and other sessions) will be overcrowded, and that's a fact of life," said Hugh Forrest, the director of SXSWi. "But to annoyed people, at SXSW, there are always five or six or seven things going on at once, and...inevitably, the most interesting, the most intellectually stimulating thing is something you never planned on, the party you just stumbled into. So we encourage people to be flexible."

Photos: Scenes on the eve of SXSW

Still, while gridlock is almost certain at many of the conference's panels, keynotes, parties and other associated events, organizers say plans are afoot to handle much of that human onslaught, spreading it out to more venues. And that's important for those hoping for the maximum amount of immersion into innovative discussions about the latest interactive technologies and long evenings socializing with the digerati at Austin's leading clubs and bars.

That SXSWi could be growing at all may shock some, given the state of the economy and the bloodletting at other conferences. But for those familiar with the annual five-day geek bacchanalia, there's no mystery in the promised crowd increases.

"It's always been about emergent technology, but now, with the social media explosion, it's only natural that SXSWi would grow in popularity," said Julia Gregory, a Web administrator for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in Austin and an eight-time SXSWi attendee. "And it's still a good deal even for those coming from out of town if you compare the price to other conferences."

Forrest agreed.

"I think the formula of our success in recent years is that we have been better able to tap into this vibrant and creative and inspiring community," Forrest said, "and the more we have learned to listen to and work with this community," the better the event has done.

Indeed, it looks like "South-by," as many people call it, may well be a must-attend event on many geeks' 2009 calendars.

"Every year is bigger, but...I can name so many more people who are going for the first time than (veterans) who are not going anymore," said popular Laughing Squid blogger Scott Beale. "I haven't talked to a single person who says they're not going 'because my company's not paying.' It's, 'I'm going to take time off and go on my own.' This year, there's so many people who've been saying they're going to go for years and they're finally going."

To Forrest, one of the reasons that attendance will be up is that airfares to Austin are cheap right now. He said it's possible to score $200 tickets from Los Angeles and similar prices from the Bay Area, two of the most common home bases for SXSWi participants. Add the fact that a conference pass is relatively cheap--they started at $375 and are now $495--and that many attendees save money by crashing on friends' couches and eating and drinking free at parties, and the event definitely seems like a good deal, even for the unemployed.

In fact, said Beale, some without jobs, and even many with current employment, see SXSWi as key to their next gig.

"If you're out of work," Beale said, "what a great place to meet your future employer."

Dealing with the crowds
There seem to be many ways that organizers are going to deal with the large crowds, even if those efforts won't alleviate all the overcrowding.

One way, Forrest said, that the conference plans to move some of the masses out of the Austin Convention Center is by locating a number of panels, discussions and even a day-long track of premium programming for "platinum" passholders--those who bought more expensive badges that grant admittance not just to the Interactive festival, but also to the adjoining Film and Music festivals--to the Hilton hotel across the street. Also, for the first time, the conference registration desk will open up Thursday, the day before the official opening, to help alleviate one of the more frustrating lines.

In addition, he explained, there are more planned parties this year than ever before, gatherings that can serve as de facto networking sessions. There are also multiple approaches for attempting to get everyone who tries to go to specific parties past the gatekeepers.

For Beale, who is a co-sponsor and organizer of the so-called 32bit party, the key to attracting a manageable crowd is not to release the name of the venue until the evening of the shindig.

That's important to Beale because last year's version of the party was already at capacity when the doors officially opened. In part, that was because the venue was smaller than expected, and in part because there was no secret about the location. This time, while Beale has been promoting the date of 32bit--it is scheduled for Monday night--he will only release details about the venue that night, and only on Twitter.

"When we're ready to go," Beale said, "then we will slowly introduce information on it. No Web site, no Facebook, no Upcoming.org. Only on Twitter."

Beale is also likely to host at least one informal meetup, and that, too, is likely to be announced solely on Twitter.

Another approach is the one Digg is using for its widely promoted Saturday night blowout at Austin's famous Stubb's bar.

The party, which should get going around 8 p.m. local time that day, is open to the public and doesn't even require a conference badge, as do many others. In the past, this has ensured horrendous lines, but Beth Murphy, Digg's senior director of marketing and communications, said the company has ways to make life easier for those standing and waiting and waiting.

"We've developed a couple of ways to communicate with our crowd and keep them posted," said Murphy. "We use everything from Twitter to Facebook to Digg when we announce (information and) to suggest that folks get there early. We give them real-time line update status from our Twitter account."

In addition, she said that Digg will have someone answering questions about the party on Twitter, in real time, in order to give people even more data on their chances to get in. Plus, Stubb's is three times as large as the venue Digg employed for the 2008 version of its party.

Even more unusual, Murphy said, Digg will also be using its top executives, founder Kevin Rose and CEO Jay Adelson, to help out. "It's kind of first come, first served, for folks in the line," Murphy said, "so we often send Kevin or Jay out to work the crowd and hand out swag."

Go with the flow
Despite all that, there are still likely to be times when even those who get somewhere early are going to find themselves locked out of an event they want to go to, or where hallways are too crowded to find the friend they're looking for.

For those moments, the best advice of veteran SXSWi attendees to the first-timers sure to be a little overwhelmed by it all, is to chill out.

"I think it's important to pick your spots--there's always so much to do and so many things going on at once that if you try to do it all you're only setting yourself up for disappointment," said Mike Barash, marketing communications director for on-demand book publisher Blurb.

"Attend the things you really want to attend, and don't try to be everywhere or do everything," Barash said. "You're also going to need to know when to cut the cord--if you're committed to the Facebook party but you've been in line for an hour, do you stay in line, or do you bail for an alleged second-tier spot that may end up being a better time?"

Photos: Scenes on the eve of SXSW

Digg has hired one of Yahoo's top salesmen as its new head of sales, the social-media site said Tuesday.

Tom Shin, who had been at the Internet pioneer for seven years, will be responsible for developing Digg's advertising sales strategy and managing strategic relationships, including with Microsoft, the company said. At Yahoo, Shin oversaw product marketing for My Yahoo and Messenger, and was credited with helping Yahoo Mail's annual revenue grow from $20 million to more than $300 million.

Digg CEO Jay Adelson announced last week that the company would be hiring a new direct sales force and head of sales to drive the company to profitability this year. He also said that the partnership Digg has with Microsoft to sell standard advertising units will continue. Digg will also be launching higher-profile advertising programs--and features on the site to support them.

The company, which raised new capital and doubled in size in 2008, also announced layoffs last week, but Adelson said Digg's engineering and core development group wouldn't be affected. The cuts will come in areas "not core to our function. We'll be shifting some of that cost to a sales force," he said.

Shin is expected to join Digg in mid-February.

Digg CEO Jay Adelson on Thursday morning is announcing that the social media site is laying off a "very small" portion of its workforce, but will also be hiring a new direct sales force and head of sales to drive the company to profitability this year.

The overall job cuts at the 75-person company will be "microscopic in size," Adelson said to me, later confirming a figure of "about 10 percent." He reiterated that Digg this year is focusing on profitability and growth, and for the first time is building out its own advertising support structure, "which we've never really focused on before." Adelson posted a brief item about the news on the Digg blog.

The partnership Digg has with Microsoft to sell standard advertising units will continue. But Digg will be rolling out higher-profile advertising programs, and features on the site to support them, that his internal sales force will be pitching. He pointed to Digg Dialogg as an example of a vehicle that could be sponsored by a higher-profile advertising program.

It's a difficult time for all media companies, of course, but Adelson says that Digg has not seen any CPM erosion--the price they get for the ads on the site--and that the Microsoft is doing well for the company.

Even though Digg has "multiple years" of cash on hand for operating expenses at the current burn rate, Adelson said, it's a brutal economy today. "It's true we have cash in the bank, but getting to profitability makes more sense to us." Sounding like almost every other Web start-up CEO on the state of his business today, he continued, "If things don't get worse this year, if we get to the second or third quarter and things look good, I can bring some of that talent back in. But if we go in the other direction, that's not a burn rate we can maintain. I'd rather be in front."

The company raised new capital and doubled in size in 2008.

Adelson says Digg's engineering and core development group won't be hit by the layoffs. The cuts will come in areas "not core to our function. We'll be shifting some of that cost to a sales force."

Could the odd confluence of a US Airways jet crash-landing in the Hudson River and Barack Obama's presidential inauguration finally push Twitter over the top and into the broad mainstream consciousness?

That could be the case, according to statistics released Tuesday by Hitwise, an Internet analysis firm.

Hitwise reported that as of Tuesday, Twitter, the popular microblogging service, had for the first time surpassed the market share of visits of the hit content aggregation site, Digg.

According to Hitwise.com, the market share of the microblogging site Twitter has now caught up to that of the aggregator Digg.

(Credit: Hitwise.com)

According to Hitwise, Twitter now stands at number 84 in its Computers and Internet category, one space up the chart from Digg.

A glance at a chart tracking the share of both services reveals that Twitter has been slowly, but steadily, gaining on Digg over the last few months, finally matching--and even passing--Digg last week. Hitwise said that as of the end of last week, Twitter was netting 0.021 percent of traffic in its Computers and Internets category, just a touch up from Digg's own 0.021 percent.

Perhaps a driver that allowed Twitter to overtake Digg was the tremendous interest last week in Twitter users' reports of the US Airways crash in the Hudson. One photograph of the plane, posted to TwitPic.com, a service that allows mobile Twitter users to append photos to their tweets, was viewed so many times that it took TwitPic's servers down for a while.

Hitwise noted that the general rise of social media has fueled Twitter's recent success, with many users of the site coming from services like Facebook, or MySpace, whereas Digg's traffic comes in large part--38.8 percent last week--from Google.

But in another report issued recently, Digg still far outweighs Twitter when it comes to total users, according to Compete, a site analytics service. Compete reported that Digg had 34.4 million users as of December, while Twitter lagged far behind at 4.4 million.

Google has ended negotiations to buy social-news site Digg.com, according to TechCrunch.

The two companies had reportedly been in the final stage of talks to bring Digg into the Google News group for $200 million. Some sources said the trouble was due to technological incompatibilities, while another said it was more about a clash of personalities. Digg was informed of Google's decision late this week, according to the report.

Rumors of a bidding war between Microsoft, Google, and two unidentified media companies began in March, sending some Digg users into a panic about what a new corporate overlord might mean for the site. With a no-go on the Google deal, Digg could either pursue other offers or go after another round of funding and keep chugging along on its own.

Neither company responded immediately to a request for comment.