Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » CBS Corporation

GDGT Reportedly To Be Acquired By CNET

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:24:22 +0000

CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) subsidiary CNET.com is reportedly in acquisition talks for GDGT.com. GDGT.com was founded by Peter Rojas and Ryan Block. Talks between the CNET and GDGT started two years ago, but a deal fell through. Now the two companies are at it again.

GDGT also recently signed a deal with Engadget to provide widgets that are related to the product that Engadget is writing about.

GDGT was founded in January 2009 and raised $3.72 million in funding. Before GDGT, Rojas was the founder and editorial director of Engadget. He was also the co-founder of Joystiq, Gizmodo, and Hackaday. Ryan Block was also a founding editor of Joystiq and was a writer for Engadget.

Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Interviewed On 60 Minutes About New Book [VIDEO]

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:11:21 +0000

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen was interviewed on 60 Minutes about his new book “Idea Man.” In Idea Man, Allen was very transparent about his relationship with Bill Gates during the start of Microsoft. Allen was highly critical of Gates’ management style. Around the 6:40 minute mark, you will see Gates getting into strong arguments with Microsoft employees. However Allen admitted that Gates was still fair as long as you convinced him that you knew what you were talking about. [BusinessInsider]

CBS Acquires Clicker and Names Jim Lanzon As President Of CBS Interactive

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:36:42 +0000

CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) has bought a TV guide service for Internet video called Clicker. Clicker CEO Jim Lanzone will be named President of CBS Interactive. The details of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition price was rumored to be between $50-$100 million.

CBS indexes over one million full length TV episodes on the web. Lanzone is the former CEO of Ask.com, which IAC acquired in 2005. Lanzone will be replacing CNET CEO Neil Ashe, who is leaving CBS in December 2010. Clicker will be rolled into CBS Interactive. CBS Interactive properties include CNET, TV.com, CBSSports.com, CBSNews.com, Gamespot, and CBS.com.

[TechCrunch]

Julian Assange Interviewed On 60 Minutes [VIDEOS]

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 07:13:48 +0000

This past weekend, CBS aired an episode of 60 Minutes where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was interviewed. In the video, Assange compared himself to one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He said that his actions should be protected by the First Amendment. The U.S. Justice Department and the Pentagon is processing a criminal investigation against Wikileaks and Assange. Check out the videos below:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Kelly Oxford and Jessica Alba Working On CBS Pilot Inspired By A Twitter Feed

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:35:33 +0000

The Twitter feed of Kelly Oxford has inspired a TV pilot based on her life as a parent. CBS has picked up the pilot and the working title for the half-hour sitcom is “The Mother of All Something.” Actress Jessica Alba and Jhoni Marchinko will be producers of the show.

“I know I’m going to be under the microscope for a while, which isn’t the best feeling,” said Oxford in an interview. “But the entire process is really exciting. The possibility of an actual stay-at-home mom writing a family show is pretty cool.”

Alba contacted Oxford through Twitter to get the project off the ground. “She wanted a script written by a woman that was funny, and liked my voice,” said Oxford. “So I told her: ‘I did write something. I wrote this pilot.’” Oxford is going to be the writer.

[Montreal Gazette]

CBS Interactive President Neil Ashe Steps Down From The Company

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:54:53 +0000

CBS Interactive President Neil Ashe is stepping down from the company. Although it is uncertain who will be replacing Ashe, it is believed to be Zander Lurie. Lurie is currently the SVP of strategic development at CBS. Ashe was the CEO of CNET when the company was acquired by CBS.

“Neil has helped make CBSi into the successful and profitable business it is today. Looking out into 2011, we are working on a relaxed timeframe to name a successor to his post, as he embarks on his next great thing,” stated a CBS spokesperson.

[AllThingsD]

ABC, CBS, and NBC Not Allowing TV Shows To Appear On Google TV

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:06:10 +0000

ABC, CBS, and NBC stated that they are not going to allow full length episodes of their shows on Google TV. However they will allow promotional clips when browsing with Google TV. Google TV lets you access the web browser and YouTube from your TV screen.

Logitech and Sony both started selling devices running Google TV this month. “Google TV enables access to all the Web content you already get today on your phone and PC, but it is ultimately the content owners’ choice to restrict their fans from accessing their content on the platform,” stated a Google spokeswoman.

Fox is not blocking Google TV from playing full episodes on their website, but a final decision has not been made yet. Hulu, a video streaming service owned by NBC, Disney, and News Corp. is blocking Google TV too.

[WSJ]

@shhdontellsteve Twitter Account Gets TV Deal

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 04:52:19 +0000

CBS has signed up another Twitter account for a TV deal. The first show was called S#*! My Dad Says. The next Twitter-inspired TV show is for the account @shhdontellsteve. The @shhdontellsteve account has over 13,000 followers.

On this account, a person secretly tweets about what his roommate Steve does. Ashton Kutcher is producing the new show. The CBS show will be called “Don’t Tell Steve.”

CBS TV Studios and Katalyst will both be producing the project. Andrew Waller and Mike Gagerman are the writing-supervising producers. Waller and Gagerman were involved in America Pie Presents Beta House.

Jason Goldberg and Karey Burke will both work with Kutcher as executive producers. Goldberg worked with Kutcher on Punk’d.

[THR]

Behind The Scences Of Twitter-Inspired Show S#*! My Dad Says [VIDEO]

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:18:03 +0000

CBS has released a behind the scenes video of the Twitter-inspired TV show “S#*T My Dad Says.” A lot of the content will be from Justin Halpern’s Twitter account (@shitmydadsays). Check out the video below and let us know what you think in the comments.

CBS Signs Twitter Profile-Inspired Show “$#*! My Dad Says” For A Season

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:50:18 +0000

CBS Corporation has signed up the show “$#*! My Dad Says” for the fall season. The show is based on Justin Halpern’s Twitter profile account @shitmydadsays. Other titles that CBS considered was “Shat My Dad Says” and “Bleep My Dad Says.” The show will star Ryan Devlin as the young lead based on Halpern. William Shatner will star as Halpern’s father in the show. James Burrows directed the pilot. [Hollywood Reporter]