NOKIA has signed yet another deal that undermines carrier control over mobile media. News Corp., Sony Pictures, and CNN have signed agreements with the handset maker to distribute videos to Nokia phones. The handsets will ship with Video Center, a program which links directly to video content from the partnering distributors. Videos will include short clips from movies, news updates, and “mobisodes” – short episodes of shows designed for mobile viewing.
TV GUIDE is looking to fully transition to the YouTube era. Today, the company is officially launching a new online guide that highlights a mixture of content from user-generated sources and traditional TV networks. Visitors to the site will be kept informed of the most popular and topical online video content. The guide has been in beta testing since April.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL will use digital-watermarking technology during TV broadcasts of the upcoming American and National League playoffs. TELETRAX will embed imperceptible watermarks into the videos, and track their post-broadcast use via monitoring systems installed in 210 local US markets. MLB will become the first professional sports league to use digital-watermarking. Other Teletrax customers include ABC, NBC, FOX, and CBS.
STARBUCKS begins its partnership with Apple today, offering iPods, iPhones, and laptops WiFi access to the iTunes store in retail locations. Users will be able to view a playlist of current and recent songs being played in the store, and easily click to purchase them. The service will launch in 600 Starbucks in New York and Seattle, and reach most major cities by the end of 2008.
YAHOO has significantly retooled its search engine, in its quest to chip away at Google’s dominance. Yahoo has added “universal search” to its service, which returns blended results in a variety of formats — including books, video, photos, and more. It also added a “search assistant,” which offers searchers suggestions on better ways to phrase a query.