Scoble Interviews Twitter Founders Evan Willams and Biz Stone
Robert Scoble just finished a half hour interview with Twitter Founders Evan Willams and Biz Stone. The two are surprisingly candid about the scaling problems the service has had since, oh, it launched two years ago.
“The fact that people are frustrated is a sign that we built something people care about,” says Williams a few minutes in. I agree, but that’s no way to run a business. Stone also says that Twitter doubled in size in March/April this year.
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Week 5 of rebates: $4 billion sent out
The Treasury Department said Friday it sent out 5.7 million economic stimulus payments this week, totaling more than $4 billion, as part of the government's plan to reinvigorate the nation's sluggish economy.
Chances dim for climate change legislation
An influential coalition of Fortune 500 companies and environmental groups that was formed to support climate-change legislation has splintered over the Lieberman-Warner bill that is headed next week to the Senate floor.
Mötley Crüe Song Sells More on Xbox Than On iTunes
Can video games save the music industry? Probably not. But video games are emerging as a powerful distribution channel for digital music downloads. Players of Grand Theft Auto IV can buy the songs they hear in the game from Amazon by making their characters dial a number on their cell phones.
Now the rock band Mötley Crüe (yes, they are still alive) is getting in on the action as well. They released a single from their latest album, Saints of Los Angeles, both in the video game Rock Band and as download on iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere. In the first week that the digital single was available for sale (the physical album won’t be released until June 24), it was downloaded 47,000 times on the Xbox alone compared to 10,000 times on iTunes and other digital download stores on the Web.
Maybe people who play Rock Band are just naturally drawn to the Crüe. Or maybe video games are just a better way to sell music. You get to hear the whole song as part of a more immersive experience. And if you just scored high in the game, you are probably more receptive to shelling out some cash for the song that helped you get there. All those feel-good endorphins have to be channeled somewhere.
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How to Get Rich—and Notorious
Bad-boy publishing mogul Felix Dennis shares his secrets with us. Or does he?
How to Get Rich—and Notorious
Bad-boy publishing mogul Felix Dennis shares his secrets with us. Or does he?
The end of tax-free e-commerce
One of the great things about shopping on sites like Amazon has been not having to pay a dime in taxes (or shipping, if you've spent enough). Since the dawn of Web commerce, the rule was that as long as a retailer didn't have a physical presence in the shopper's state, the company didn't collect a sales tax.