The Economy is Back! (according to Google)

From Paidcontent.org:

With Google (NSDQ: GOOG) set to report its quarterly earnings next Thursday, its top executives seem almost giddy about the the state of the economic recovery. During a chat with reporters in New York City, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said he had seen a bounce back in both the U.S. and Europe. “I thought it was going to be US first, Europe second, Asia we never saw a hit,” he said, according to transcripts of the conversation on both TechCrunch and AllThingsD. “We are increasing our hiring rate and investment rate in anticipation of a recovery.” Later on, Schmidt said that “from our perspective, the low point was somewhere in the spring.” Schmidt had already said late last month that because the “worst is behind us” the company was ready to start buying companies again. He provided a little more color today—saying that acquisitions will likely be small—involving startups with “5,10 people.”

YouTube to make money (finally)?

I saw this in the New York Times and find it interesting

"YouTube has promoted its two-year-old video identification service, called Content ID, as a solution to the piracy problem that plagued the site in its early days.

YouTube, which is still unprofitable, will not disclose how much revenue it earns for itself or for its partners from Content ID. But it said that media companies that choose to monetize clips uploaded by users, rather than take them down, tended to double the number of video streams from which they earn money"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/technology/internet/07youtube.html?_r=1

Music Mix

Friends asked me to throw a mix together for their wedding reception. and so here is Part 1 of that mix! Get down.

http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/12/22/1657410/FlipScribbDJ%202009.mp3

Comcast to buy NBC! (No, don't worry, not happening)

Here's what the other JZ (aka Jeff Zucker) wrote to his employees about the swirling speculation that the beloved Peacock and its parent company, Shineheart Wig Company, will be plucked up by Comcast. Vivendi owns 20% of the company. If it sells this off, then the question is what will happen to NBC?

“[Vivendi] have not yet made us aware of any final decisions about their future with us; should they choose to exit, there are a number of possible things that could happen.”

-JZ

Is it going to happen? Remember, Comcast tried unsucessfully to buy Disney for $50B back in the day.

Empire State of Mind - Jam of the Month!

This track is so hot right now!

Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind. Who needs Alicia Keys when you have Bridget Kelly?

Dogs get it on! The Today Show

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Surrogates - Bruce Willis's Face

What is up with Bruce Willis's face in his latest movie, Surrogates?


(BTW, only made $15M in the opening weekend. Ouch.)


Here's how they did it -


""We started out with makeup," Stetson said. Makeup supervisor Jeff Dawn oversaw the application of straightforward cosmetic makeup, which was enhanced by cinematographer Oliver Wood's lighting. Then the digital-effects artists went in to the roughly 200 shots of Willis' surrogate and removed the creases of the actor's face frame by frame."





I remember back when Waterworld came out, that Kevin Costner supposedly had people go back and retouch every scene with him to remove his receding hairline. No wonder the budget for that movie was over $300m! (or at least seemed that way)