In your finally Friday media column: Twitter is the worst, an online newspaper alternative folds (valiantly), "Apple buying Barnes & Noble" rumors, Current's CEO is out, and NBC poaches from ABC.
Pathologically self-destructive ego-vessel Keith Olbermann is launching a new show on Al Gore's Current cable network in two weeks, so it's time to start the passive aggressive media tour!
It's official: As had been rumored for hours, Keith Olbermann is bringing his special brand of self-righteous haranguing to Current TV, Al Gore's weird TV thingie that no one watches. On a phone conference call today, Olbermann revealed that he will host an hour-long newscast five nights a week for Current and will serve as the network's "Chief News Officer."
While most kids are busy playing with G.I. Joes and Barbies, these future Sarah Palin enthusiasts have gladly sacrificed their hopes for a normal childhood for the sake of our amusement. The good folks at Current put together this compilation.
In your bone-chilling Monday media column: magazine prices going up, newspapers just giving up and letting you do it, Rahm Emanuel charms reporters, and big Hollywood tragedy!
This just in: Current TV's director of public relations sent us an email designed to be printed in its entirety. (Thanks for that. Since Valleywag fired everyone else, I spend way too much time editing.) Current didn't just cut staff, they reshuffled a couple dozen employees. Instead of the economy, Current blames "a new, innovative programming strategy." That's gotta make everyone feel better. A tipster tells us, "The few spared [in San Francisco] are being made to choose between unemployment or a move to L.A." Here's the statement:
Current, the cable channel and user-generated-video website backed by Joel Hyatt and Al Gore, is laying people off. "My wife works in the LA office (at least for now!)," emails a tipster. "At least 10 gone from there...." No word from Current's San Francisco headquarters yet, but you know where to send it. Update: A tipster says 32 have been cut from the San Francisco office. "'Bloodbath' is the word being used!" he adds.
60 Minutes did a segment on Chinese people who live and work among "e-waste," the recyclable-yet-toxic remains of discarded consumer electronics devices. An Engadget reader dug up this longer, more yucky Current documentary. I'm going to get a sandwich, so I can fall to my knees and thank God for it.
It only takes hearing so many jokes about Al Gore inventing Twitter to figure out that the former vice president has signed up for the microblogging service. Wisely, he's not really participating in the site, just using it to market his websites and announce his interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose, which airs tonight on Current, the Gore-backed cable channel. Current and Digg have been teaming up for a series of election-related events, including a party on election night. But Rose and Gore's acquaintance goes back almost two years.In late 2006, Gore's Current made an offer for Digg which valued the social-news startup at $100 milion or more. Wonder if Rose and Gore discussed business at all in this interview. As VentureBeat recently pointed out, Digg's traffic is flat, and it hasn't significantly increased its valuation since Rose and Gore's 2006 chat.
Want to watch North Carolina gyrate to a hip-hop beat? Tune into Current, Al Gore's user-generated cable channel. I don't mean people dancing in the streets; I mean an outline of North Carolina pulsating. The channel is carrying, on live TV, headlines you could read on Digg and messages you could read on Twitter, along with video snippets from current viewers. Other than that, it's offering the same kind of exit-poll projections you could get on CNN, but in hot pink and cyan instead of the traditional red-blue-gold color scheme. Digg founder Kevin Rose pops up occasionally with live updates from a San Francisco night club where Current, Digg, and Twitter are hosting an election-night party. It's Web 2.0 in your living room — and it makes me wish I could Brillo-pad the "vision" out of "television."
