In This Update:
• Obama Used Mobile Advertising to Target Youth and Voters In Key Battleground States
• Google Walks Away From Yahoo Ad Partnership
• FCC OKs Verizon/Alltel and Sprint/ Clearwire Deals
• Record Traffic Day at CNN.com: 27 Million Uniques, 276 Million Page Views
• Microsoft’s BizSpark Initiative Offers Free Servers and Software to Startups
• New Yorker Launches Digital Edition; Free To Print Subscribers
• Nokia Unwraps $32 Phone
• BlackBerry Bold Uptake ‘Strong’, Waiting On Storm (RIMM)
• The Laptop Celebrates 40 Years
• Video Site Brightcove Shuts Down Free Services

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The law firm of new media. Major offices in New York, Boston, Newark, Stamford, and other cities. Advising new media companies from start-up to exit. Venture capital, IP protections and disputes, employment matters, outsourcing, joint ventures, acquisitions, to name just a few.Obama Used Mobile Advertising to Target Youth and Voters In Key Battleground States
MOCONEWS
In the final month leading up to the election, the Obama campaign used mobile advertising to target the youth demographic and voters in key battleground states, according to Quattro Wireless, which helped run the campaign. Called “Vote Early,” the ad campaign was used to encourage voters to cast their ballots early, where polls opened before election day. Banners ran on the operator deck of Boost Mobile, which is known for having a young user base, and included text ads at the bottom of SMS messages sent from ChaCha, the general answer service. Users were given the option of opting-in to those message, by responding “OBAMA” to receive more information on where to vote.
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Google Walks Away From Yahoo Ad Partnership
PAIDCONTENT
It was only a matter of time, after all indications were pointing to the deal not going through in the original or even watered down form: Google has withdrawn from its ad search deals with Yahoo. The main rationale for backing out: Google didn’t want to take on the legal fight with the regulator, and risk alienating its other partners. The full statement by David Drummond, Google’s Chief Legal Officer, is posted below, also on Google’s official blog: “In June we announced an advertising agreement with Yahoo! that gave Yahoo! the option of using Google to provide ads on its websites (and its publisher partners’ sites) in the U.S. and Canada. At the same time, both companies agreed to delay implementation of the agreement to give regulators the chance to review it.
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FCC OKs Verizon/Alltel and Sprint/ Clearwire Deals
REUTERS
The Federal Communications Commission voted on Tuesday to approve a Verizon Wireless plan to buy Alltel Corp for $28.1 billion and Sprint Nextel Corp’s proposed joint venture with Clearwire Corp. After their deal, Verizon Wireless will overtake AT&T Inc as the biggest U.S. mobile service. Sprint and Clearwire plan to combine their resources to build a high-speed wireless network with investments from companies such as Comcast Corp, Intel Corp and Google Inc.
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Record Traffic Day at CNN.com: 27 Million Uniques, 276 Million Page Views
TECHCRUNCH
CNN emails to tell us they brought in 27 million unique visitors to their site on election day yesterday, a record. Comscore says they averaged just 5 million unique daily visitors in September, so this is more than 5x normal traffic. The site also generated an astounding 276 million page views. An average day on CNN is about 35 million page views, according to Comscore worldwide stats. And all that without the Magic Wall and pseudo-holograms that kept people glued to CNN cable channel all day.
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Microsoft’s BizSpark Initiative Offers Free Servers and Software to Startups
VENTUREBEAT
With an initiative called BizSpark, software giant Microsoft is making a new pitch for startups to run their business on Microsoft’s tools. It’s an enticing free upfront three-year package, bundling together software, support and promotion for no upfront cost – requiring merely a $100 payment when you leave the program. It’s an aggressive move by Microsoft to ensure that technology startups at least consider using Microsoft’s tools when they are putting together their initial infrastructure – and comes a time when competitors are bidding for the business of those same startups by offering them low cost, often open source alternatives.
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New Yorker Launches Digital Edition; Free To Print Subscribers
PAIDCONTENT
At first I thought the ad in last week’s New Yorker was a mirage, a promise of a digital edition that would arrive when the magazine was published-not a week later like the print edition. And when the post-registration response was a promise to let me know when the first edition was ready, let’s say I didn’t hold my breath. Turns out the wait was much shorter than expected: the first web-based digital edition arrived in my inbox late yesterday and I finally had the chance to open it today. Exactly as promised, it’s the complete print New Yorker in digital format.
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Nokia Unwraps $32 Phone
RED HERRING
Acting on its goal to explore new opportunities in emerging markets, mobile phone maker Nokia on Tuesday unveiled its least expensive handset ever, priced at $32.The Espoo, Finland-based company said it will introduce a range of Internet-based services geared toward developing economies, along with its first handset with an integrated music player designed for emerging markets.The six handset models will range in price from $32 to $117 with a number of models shipping in 2008. The Internet-based services, which will include email, along with education, and agriculture apps will be available starting in 2009.
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BlackBerry Bold Uptake ‘Strong’, Waiting On Storm (RIMM)
SILICON ALLEY INSIDER
How did Research In Motion’s (RIMM) big, bulky BlackBerry Bold do yesterday in its first day of sales at AT&T (T) stores? Pretty well, it seems, despite a minor distraction. (Election Day.)
Citi analyst Jim Suva says his checks at AT&T stores show “strong initial demand” for the Bold with many stores sold out before noon. He also thinks many buyers were filling pent-up demand — the phone was delayed for months — and were replacing old BlackBerries, not signing up for new service.
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The Laptop Celebrates 40 Years
WIRED
Laptops today vary greatly in size, weight and purpose, but they all have one common origin: Alan Kay’s Dynabook. Kay, a former Xerox PARC computer scientist, drew up the idea of a portable computer in 1968, when computers still weighed over 100 pounds and ate punch cards. His definition of the perfect, portable computer was a very thin, highly dynamic device that weighed no more than two pounds.
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Video Site Brightcove Shuts Down Free Services
READ WRITE WEB
Brightcove was once considered to be a formidable challenger for YouTube. However, just about a year ago, it became clear that the company had given up on this dream when it announced that it would no longer accept direct consumer uploads to its service. Since then, Brightcove only featured content from its roughly 40,000 publishing partners on the Brightcove Network, though its main business has been its white-label video platform. Today, Brightcove announced that it will also close the free Brightcove Network and completely focus on its premium services.
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