Wednesday, 08 September 2010 02:49

Norwegian Cruise Line said today it is working with YouTube to launch “YouTube Vacationer,” a travel specific channel.

YouTube Vacationer features travel advice and ideas from Lonely Planet, National Geographic and the Travel Channel.

"From a marketing perspective, this opportunity is compelling because it provides a truly organic user experience and represents another great way for brands to work with YouTube,” said Maria Miller, Norwegian Cruise Line's senior vice president of marketing. 

 

 

The YouTube Vacationer channel allows users to create their own “Vacation You” video focused on their ideal cruising vacations. Users can share their Vacation You video with friends and family via Facebook...

Read more: YouTube Launches Travel Channel With Norwegian Cruise Line

Wednesday, 08 September 2010 02:46

Amazon has acquired music startup Amie Street, which the company actually helped fund. Unfortunately for Amie Street users, the service will be shut down.

Amie Street has an interesting business model, which lets musicians upload music, which starts out free to users. The more downloads the songs get, the more the price goes up (up to a $1). Interesting as it may be, it apparently didn't work. 

According to Michael Arrington, the Amie Street team will focus on Amazon's Songza, a custom playlist-based music service.  He says, "While the users and the brand are being acquired, Amazon will most likely ditch the business model, say the founders (stressing that they don’t know for sure)."


Peter Kafka shares a letter from Amie...

Read more: Amazon Acquires Amie Street Music Startup

Wednesday, 08 September 2010 01:54

Google is holding an even later today in which it is expected to unveil some new search-related product. Yesterday's highly publicized Google doodle, which had the Google logo turning into a bunch of balls flying around as your mouse got closer to it, is presumed to be a clue to the new product launch. 

Google has another logo change today. It simply displays the Google logo in a a gray hue, which turns into the standard Google colors as you type. This is thought to be another clue. 

Yesterday, a mysterious Google Labs experiment appeared, called Google Scribe, which gives you suggestions for your next words and phrases as you type, based on several factors. This may also be a clue, because another Google experiment was recently...

Read more: Is Google About to Give Results While You Type Your Query?