Archive for the ‘Online’ Category

CNN headlines contradict each other

This screen capture, taken approximately 1:26 p.m. central time, shows just how confused the news media seems to be with the Alaskan plane crash.

Open source WordPress powering CBSNewYork.com

In a major coup for open source software lovers, the newly-launched CBSNewYork.com is powered by popular blogging and content management platform WordPress.

The first hint of a WordPress backbone was the “W” icon that appears in Google Chrome, as shown below.

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WCBS-TV rolls out CBSNewYork.com

WCBS-TV has relaunched its online presence as CBSNewYork.com, following NBC’s trend with WNBC-TV.

The new site combines the online side of WCBS-TV and its CBS owned radio counterparts in New York City.

A search engine has also been rolled out as part of the deal to help locals find “everything New York City.” Branded as CBS Local Search, the search engine uses Google for its backend.

ABC News launches iPad app

ABC News has launched a new app for Apple’s iPad that features a very unique display of news.

Appolicious writes, “ABC News for iPad has got to be one of the most unique ways of browsing for news stories that interest me. Open the free app, and you see a globe covered with photos and headlines. Drag the globe around with your finger, and tap a photo to choose a story.”

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Mediaite Cs go red for ‘The Big C’

Visitors to Mediaite, the media-centric site founded by MSNBC anchor Dan Abrams, are noticing something a bit different this morning — the first “C” in each headline has been turned red. At first I only noticed it in the first headline and thought perhaps it was a code issue.

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Weather.com unveils new site in beta

The Weather Channel has launched a new beta version of Weather.com

The new site is cleaner than the previous and features larger maps and images. The site also does a good job of matching TWC’s new on air branding.

The site also does a better job of ad integration, unlike some competitors.

Too bad the designers of this site couldn’t help sister network MSNBC with its recent redesign.

Nexstar adding celeb gossip channel to station sites

Nexstar has announced it will team up with Mixx on a new offering called “Gossip Hot Spot,” reports Broadcasting & Cable.

The service will allow select Nexstar stations to offer the latest celebrity news and gossip through social media channels. The company also claims popular celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey will “contribute ‘via social media postings’.”

“The Gossip Hot Spot is an innovative one-stop, real time source of gossip and celebrity news and reflects Nexstar’s commitment to providing audiences with additional content and interactive options through our community portals,” said Nexstar eMedia Senior Vice President Marc Montoya. “Beta testing of the Gossip Hot Spot on our Jacksonville portal met with excellent consumer response and we expect the channel to be the go-to source to satiate users’ interest and curiosity in the happenings of the world’s biggest stars.”

BBC launches U.S. news site

The BBC has launched a new site dedicated to U.S. news.

AdAge writes, “The BBC is growing its editorial operations with an original news site aimed at the American audience. Launching Thursday, BBC.com will feature U.S.-focused articles on politics and general news to be produced by a staff of around 10 journalists based in the company’s Washington bureau.”

“We want to build on the momentum of our business,” Miranda Cresswell, senior VP for BBC.com, explained about the enterprise. The BBC operates under a public trust, and its website cannot serve any advertising to computers based in the U.K.; readers outside of the Commonwealth, however, have been seeing ads for the past two years, most of which comes from the U.S. market. “We tripled ad revenue last year from the year before, and we plan on doubling this year,” Ms. Cresswell said.

The BBC previously had news from the US, but not this level of commitment. Users can access the site here.

Fox News launches Android app

Fox News Channel has announced its new app for Android phones, becoming the first of the cable news channels to offer an officially-supported application for the platform.

“The app features Fox News alerts with breaking developments on the day’s most important stories, news from the U.S. and around the world, Fox News talk radio, photos and video. A shows section features highlights from Fox programs,” reads the network’s story on the app release.

The app is free.

NewscastStudio commenters disapprove of MSNBC.com redesign

MSNBC.com’s new story page design isn’t going over well with NewscastStudio readers.

Our June 28 report on the new look has garnered 23 comments — all of them negative. It’s also worth nothing that 23 is a record for number of comments on a NewscastStudio blog post.

Many of the comments also include sentiments about switching to an alternative news site, says as the user “Marco,” who writes: “I dislike the new design because it appears like a cluttered mess and forces me to click more than needed just to read a story. I’ve decided to switch to another news source website instead but will miss MSNBC.”

Other key comments:

• “I liken the new MSNBC layout to that of the Ford Nova. Huge blunder and hopefully short lived. Did they skip the end-user testing?” (”Jasmin”)
• “The whole top of the MSNBC.com page is a waste of unwanted real estate. When I first saw it I reported it as a bug, I couldn’t believe it was intentional.” (”Charlie”)
• “Was my home page won’t be much longer.” (”HPO”)
• “The left-hand major news menu (U.S. News, Business, etc.) and fly-out topic headlines that appeared on every page is gone. I can no longer select a story from another topic quickly; nor can I see all headlines without clicking even one. Another big peeve: the “show/hide more text” story feature requires constant clicking; the greatly enlarged font requires much scrolling back to previous content in a long article.” (”Bajeha”)

Read all comments here or leave your own thoughts. You can also quickly share your opinion of the new design in our live poll.

Vizrt announces Viz Sports Online

Vizrt today announced Viz Sports, a software package that incorporates Vizrt’s creative tools and widgets, that helps create content immerse sports websites right out of the box.

Viz Sports Online is a flexible, modular suite of user-friendly, preconfigured Vizrt tools, providing users with complete creative freedom over the look and feel of web page layouts, image versions and sizes, and overall site structure.

With Viz Sports Online, all video, graphics, text, images, maps, statistics and web publishing tools are available from within a single, user-friendly, drag and drop-based interface. Design-savvy templates let users produce dynamic, branded graphics, maps and web pages that they can fill on the fly with text, images, headers and titles. Viz Sports Online also offers a full video repository with video editing, video playlists, picture-in-picture, and video ad integration capabilities.

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Vote: What do you think of the new MSNBC.com design?