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The media industry hypercompetition is thy name. A new study suggests that competition for ad dollars is going to be even fiercer in the months ahead. The study, the Media Economy Report, which was released by Advertisers Perceptions, finds that U.S. ad executives are expanding the number of “media brands” they are considering to buy [...]

Looks like Google is sticking to the knitting, at least for now. The search giant has announced that it has shutting down its virtual world Lively  — just four months and a half months after it was launched. The plug gets officially pulled in December. The downward economy, apparently, is the culprit. “It has been a tough decision, [...]

Eight out of ten business-media executives said they were focusing on the end user — content, data, applications and services — with the aim of reducing costs and ramping up productivity amid the weakened economic environment, according to a new study. The study, titled “A Roadmap for Profitable Revenue Growth,” was released this week at [...]

This was inevitable: Ziff Davis, the tech/gaming publisher which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last summer, has folded the print version of PCMag to focus its energy on its growing PCMag online network of Web sites, according to paidcontent.org. Jason Young, CEO of Ziff Davis, tells paidcontent that online revenue for PCMag.com has grown an average of 42% [...]

Were you planning on getting any work done today? Pity. It might be difficult after checking out never-before-seen images from the LIFE photo archive that are now available on Google Image Search. (Be warned that the pictures have an addictive quality.) The images, dating back to the 1750s, include the entire works left to the collection [...]

Some media analysts are taking issue with a recent report by Borrell Associates showing that online ad spending will level off next year (per MediaPost). More specifically, analysts are challenging Borrell’s focus on local online advertising as an overall measure of national ad spending. Next year will be the first year since the start of the [...]

We’ve always said that “Sleeper” (1973), in which robots are the help, is Woody Allen’s most prescient film — now here’s a little proof. A new autonomous device, called the uBOT-5, is already capable of carrying out simple tasks while monitoring the home. The new, noncomplaining robot is being designed to help a graying America, as baby boomers start to retire. [...]

Meet the good people at VoiceofSanDiego.org. The New York Times profiles the Web site, calling it a new kind of Web-based news operation that combines traditional gumshoe reporting with low cost. Similar sites have in the last few years popped up in Chicago, New Haven, the Twin Cities and Seattle, with more of the way. The new, nonprofits [...]

Forbes Media is merging its print and Web operations, Valleywag reports. A memo from CEO Steve Forbes said that print and online sales and marketing will be integrated immediately, reporting up to an “office of the chairman” which includes Forbes.com president-CEO Jim Spanfeller. The editorial side of the business will be integrated in early 2009. As [...]

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang is stepping down as CEO, ending one of the most turbulent periods in the dot-com company’s history. Yang’s tenure was marked by his refusal to sell Yahoo to Microsoft  for $47.5 billion — more than triple Yahoo’s current market value. A backup plan to forge an advertising partnership with Google collapsed [...]