It's nearly Christmas, and that means the big shopping rush has started. More and more people are buying their gifts from the comfort of their own home. It was 'Cyber Monday' this week, the busiest day of the year for online retailers, and it turned out to be a big one. Ellie takes a break from her Christmas shopping to tell us more.

Also this week, I take a look at Google's plans to address the issue of pay-per-view content and James shares his scepticism about a new service that looks to do for music videos what Hulu has done for TV shows.

Plus: Dave takes a close look at a special scientific snowman. He has to take a close look - it's tiny. And watch our latest video featuring thoughts from attendees at the 12th Annual MIT Venture Capital Conference in Cambridge, MA.

I hope you enjoy the issue. When you're done, why not visit our blog? And be sure to visit us on Twitter: @PromptLondon and @PromptBoston.

Hazel Butters
CEO
Prompt Communications

Click! It's Christmas

By Ellie Turner

'Cyber Monday' came and went on 7 December here in the UK, with a flurry of mouse clicks and keyboard taps. The first Monday of December is usually the busiest online retail day in the calendar and this year it broke all records. With Christmas now just two weeks away, it's not hard to see why.

More of us are choosing to buy online than ever before. I, for one, love the ability to compare prices and save the pennies from the comfort of my own home. Clearly, I'm not the only one. Last year, it was estimated that 29 million people in the UK used the internet to buy Christmas presents, spending a whopping £13.6 billion. This year, over £350 million was spent on 'Cyber Monday', beating last year's total of £320 million.

A number of records have been set this year already, with Amazon announcing a couple of weeks ago that the debut album of Britain's Got Talent contestant, Susan Boyle, had become the biggest CD pre-order in the history of the global online retailer. The new Harry Potter DVD is expected to be another strong seller.

Retailer John Lewis said that by 6pm on 'Cyber Monday' this year, page views for its website were up by 20 percent on the same day last year. Between the hours of 1pm and 2pm alone, Brits spent a combined total of £33 million, a year-on-year increase of 21 percent.

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What's more newsworthy than news providers making the news?

By Hazel Butters

All eyes have been on the news media industry for the better part of 2009. The vast decline in print subscription sales has been affecting just about every print title, from the New York Times and Washington Post to localized, home-grown papers. Resulting debates over pay-for-play options and the waves of controversy surrounding news media mogul Rupert Murdoch's personal lobbying for more regulated distribution of content on the internet have everyone on alert - including the US Federal Trade Commission.

Given that the internet and Google are virtually synonymous these days, Google has found itself in the center of many of the consequent discussions.

The company is now putting safeguards in place to prevent readers from what was nearly unlimited access to news content from pay-to-view publishes. The search engine will now limit user views to up to five articles before re-routing readers to a subscription landing page, allowing publishers greater control over content.

Google has been hard at work changing the ways in which we consume news - and even searching. Google Labs introduced the 'living story page', which will simplify developing news and stories by grouping similar or related topics within a publication on one page. A collaboration between Google, the Washington Post and the New York Times, experimental pages will be limited to pre-agreed subjects and areas of interest from each of the two news powerhouses.

If all goes well, the living pages will be moved to the sites of each respective organization. For now, readers can expect to find 'living stories' for two to three months on the Google Labs Living Stories landing page, which has been designated for the experimental launch

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Viva Vevo?

By James Gerber

Ever since MTV essentially stopped playing music videos (and no, occasional 15-second clips don't count), there has been a void waiting to be filled for the artform that it popularized. A new service called Vevo has launched, and it attempts to do just that.

Vevo began as an idea by Universal Music Group, after it noticed the TV industry's success with Hulu. Soon after, it attracted other major labels such as Sony Music and EMI. Many independent labels and Warner Music Group have not signed up yet, indicating there is some hesitance in the industry about this model.

The service will be available in North America, with 30,000 music videos, interviews, performances and artist profiles available for view on demand. Major advertisers are already on-board and paying high prices compared to YouTube. From the sounds of it, the service is going to make the majority of its content exclusive to the site (i.e. not on YouTube). Even MTV is expected to syndicate content from it.

Vevo might be a good idea, but I'm not certain it will succeed. Major labels are fading away. Artists are starting to become popular because of social platforms and viral videos (such as OK Go, Soulja Boy), and the music industry is becoming one where indie artists are winning out. Indie artists will use the platforms their fanbase uses (i.e. Facebook, MySpace), and they won't want to share revenue with a site like Vevo.

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The smallest snowman ever built

By Dave Wilby

Shameless seasonal indulgence this week, with a nanotech twist. Sentimental scientists at the National Physical Laboratory have created the smallest snowman the world has ever seen. At just 10 micrometre (µm) diameter, the little fella is just 1/5th the width of an average human hair.

There was a degree of scientific value in its creation - a project which enabled a practical demonstration of the lab's nanomanipulation system, atomic force microscope and SQUID manufacturing capabilities - but basically, it was blatant festive showing off and we love it!

The snowman was built from two tin beads usually used in the calibration of electron microscope astigmatism. The eyes and mouth were cut using a focused ion beam, and the 1 µm button nose is a little pile of platinum deposited by ion beam. The whole thing lives on a silicon cantilever from an atomic force microscope.

To get a clearer idea of the scale of this snowman, how it was created and why it looks blue, please watch this fantastic video. Just ridiculously clever.

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Latest Video

By Prompt Productions

Last Friday was a busy day for Prompt Boston as we attended the 12th Annual MIT Venture Capital Conference and tweeted throughout the Cambridge Innovation Center's (the home of our Boston office) 10th anniversary celebration of the decade, all on the same day.

With all the excitement going on, we set out to take a video snapshot of the day, focusing on Boston as a hub of innovation. Take a look at what some MIT VC conference attendees had to say about this wonderful city and its affect on technological innovation.

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11th December 2009

Welcome

Technology News

Click! It's Christmas

What's more newsworthy than news providers making the news?

Viva Vevo?

The smallest snowman ever built

Latest Video

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By Vicki Kim

With Nokia recently announcing the release of its Nokia 6700 Gold Edition cell phone, complete with 18-carat gold finish and 8GB microSD card (€370), we decided to look into the world's most expensive cell phones. Thanks to Technology.am for this list of amazingly extravagant phones.

1. Goldvish 'Le million': $1,000,000
2. Vertu Signature Cobra: $310,000
3. Sony Ericsson Black Diamond: $300,000
4. Vertu Diamond: $88,000
5. GResso luxury phone with Black Diamonds: $42, 213
6. Motorola V220 Special Edition: $51,800
7. Gold Edition Nokia 8800 Phone: $2,700
8. Mobiado Professional EM (wood): $1,900
9. Bang & Olufsen (Samsung) Serene: $1,275
10. Lamborghini 8800 Sirocco from Nokia: (Price unlisted)

Bonus: Austrian jeweler Peter Aloisson announced the creation of the Apple iPhone 3G 'Kings Button'. Price? A whopping $2,517,345.

US

By Laurie Santalucia

Saul Hansell, reporter for The New York Times, has left the publication. During his 17 years with the Times, Hansell covered telecommunications, consumer electronics and the internet, and contributed to and served as editor of the Bits blog. Additionally, as a result of a buyout offer from the Times, other staff changes for the publication include the exit of reporter Alex Berenson, business reporters Geraldine Fabrikant and Jonathan Glater, economics reporter Louis Uchitelle, sports reporter Jack Curry and finance reporter Leslie Wayne.

At the end of 2009, InformationWeek will lose Mitch Wagner, online community executive editor, and Marin Perez, associate editor. Their replacements have not yet been named.

Following the recent merger of gaming websites Green Pixels and What They Play, Nicole Tanner, formerly a contributing editor for Green Pixels, has switched publications to become an associate editor of the expanded audience initiative at What They Play.

Lifehacker has welcomed Lisa Hoover to the publication as a contributing editor. Previously, Hoover has worked as a reporter for Linux.com and as an editor for IT Manager's Journal. She also writes for Ostatic, a blog focusing on trends, technologies and best practices in open source software, and continues to work as a freelance writer.

Jim Erickson will end his tenure as senior editor of Time in January 2010. Additionally, Daniel Eisenberg, formerly a staff writer for the print version, has moved to the online edition as executive editor for Time.com, where he also served as a features editor.

Source: navigator.cision.com

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UK

By Ellie Turner

Subeditors are facing redundancy at the London Evening Standard, with eight jobs expected to go at the free paper. Five subs are expected to go from the sport desk, two from the city desk and one from the photography department. The London Evening Standard will be cutting 20 jobs in total as it reshapes the paper's news operation, and dropping its midday News Extra edition from early next year.

Andrew Pierce is leaving the Daily Telegraph after three years. He will become consultant editor at the Daily Mail, taking on a writing and reporting role and a column. Pierce was previously at the Times for nearly twenty years before leaving to join the Daily Telegraph.

The Press Association (PA) is axing its New York correspondent. Its current reporter based in the US city is Matt Williams. Williams is returning to the UK in 2010 and PA has decided not to replace him. PA announced earlier this year that seven posts from its regional reporting team will be going, along with 50 jobs as a result of Teletext's decision to cease news coverage from January.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk/media

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