News from dookie

CODE.tv is relaunching as LX.tv in a move to brand itself as a broadband lifestyle network. LX.tv has hired MTV News correspondent SuChin Pak to host a show called "Drinks with LX.TV" which will feature in-depth interviews with key media, arts and entertainment figures. A recent press release says they have had over 100,000 visitors to the website. "Our relaunch as LX.TV Lifestyle Television reflects LX Networkt#39;s ability to reach affluent Americans with quality programming fitting their lifestyles," said LX.TV CEO Joseph Varet. Pak comes to LX.TV from MTV News, where she has been since 2001 and remains a correspondent. Over the years, she has interviewed everyone from Mariah Carey and P. Diddy to Mary J. Blige and Fred Durst. "Drinks With" will kick off with interviews with satirist Mo Rocca, Star Magazine editor-in-chief Bonnie Fuller and "Project Runway" personality Tim Gunn. The network will continue to evolve its programming looking to develop additional talk and reality-based segments. "Since our launch four months ago, wee#39;ve been innovators in broadband television. Over 100,000 visitors have come to the site to watch their daily dish of stylish, hip coverage of what is new and exciting," added LX.TV chief creative officer/executive producer Morgan Hertzan. "We pride ourselves in being one-of-a-kind and are at the forefront of broadband programming," Hertzan said. "I canX#39;t think of anyone better to host the first broadband talk show then SuChin Pak. Millions of television viewers see her every day, and we are excited to be producing this internet talk show with her." LX.tv has several channels and the layout of the site makes it very easy to switch between videos. It is probably a smart move for LX.tv to brand itself as a lifestyle network and target a more general audience. The Internet is already quickly filling up with tech-related podcasts and vlogs. ADVERTISEMENT Find the latest Cyber Monday Deals from online retailers at ShoppersShop.com.

The BBC is reporting that a new ICM survey is confirming what many have suspected -- that online video watching will take time away from regular television watching. Some 43% of Britons who watch video from the internet or on a mobile device at least once a week said they watched less normal TV as a result. And online and mobile viewing is rising - three quarters of users said they now watched more than they did a year ago. But online video viewers are still in the minority, with just 9% of the population saying they do it regularly. Another 13% said they watched occasionally, while a further 10% said they expected to start in the coming year. The study found that watching shows, videos or webisodes online was detracting from regular television watching. In the survey, one in five people who watched online or mobile video at least once a week said they watched a lot less TV as a result. Another 23% said they watched a bit less, while just over half said their TV viewing was unchanged. Some 3% said online video inspired them to watch more TV. It is inevitable that television watching will move to broadband or that the two will converge so none of this is a surprise. It is likely to be occuring in the U.S. as well. Since the move to broadband video is inevitable it is smart to be like CBS and become an early adapter and grab marketshare from your competitors by using online video before they do. ADVERTISEMENT Find the latest Cyber Monday Deals from online retailers at ShoppersShop.com.

Marshall Kirkpatrick, who is leaving TechCrunch on good terms, is blogging about ZapTxt, a tool that makes it easier to monitor feeds using specific keywords. Kirkpatrick says ZapTxt is one of the tools that helped him combat "information overload." The single most helpful tool for me in my efforts to blog about news events first has been an RSS to IM/SMS notification tool. I use Zaptxt to subscribe to very high priority feeds. It sends me an IM and SMS whenever a high-profile company blog is updated and in a number of other circomstances. There are quite a few services that offer this functionality now and itr#39;s invaluable. A big part of taking a prominent position in the blogosphere is writing first on a topic. Thatp#39;s a large part of what got me the job at TechCrunch and itn#39;s something that an increasing number of people are clearly trying to do. In sectors where people are already using tools like the above, I expect further developments to emerge that differentiate writersr#39; handling of the huge amount of information available. New tools and new practices. Ite#39;s a very exciting time to be someone who works with information. Using tools like ZapTxt you can monitor blogs or websites (that have an RSS feed) for the use of specific keywords that you provide. ZapTxt will send you an email, IM or mobile device when one of the blogs you are monitoring makes a new post using one of the keywords you provided. Of course, you could quickly suffer from information overload by monitoring too many sources with ZapTxt just like you can get overloaded by trying to read too many feeds in your RSS aggregator.

New guidelines for the prestigious Pulitzer Prizes allow the submission of a blogs. A press release from the Pulitzer Board discusses the widening of the range of online journalims to include blogs and other online content. The purpose of the new category is to encourage and honor exemplary local journalism, marked by strong reporting across a spectrum of potential subjects. "The Pulitzer Prizes have long valued such reporting," Gissler said, "but this makes our interest much more explicit." While the local category replaces the Beat Reporting category that was created in 1991, the work of beat reporters remains eligible for entry in a wide range of categories that include-depending on the specialty involved-national, investigative, and explanatory reporting, as well as the new local category. With its new rules for online submissions, the Pulitzer Board will require each online element to be a single, discretely designated presentation, such as a database, blog, interactive graphic, slide show, or video presentation. Each designated element will count as one item in the total number of items, print or online, that are permitted in an entry. The How to Submit a Entry PDF File also contains the following Q`A: Q. What is an online element? A. It is a single, unified, discretely designated presentation. For example, it can be an online story, database, blog, interactive graphic, slide show or video presentation. Each designated element will count as one item in the total number permitted in an entry. Q. How much online content can a single element contain? A. There is no absolute limit. However, the burden on a jury should be kept in mind. An online element with multiple parts, such as a blog with manifold postings, should be a cohesive presentation. The conceptual logic tying the parts together should be clear. Most of the language on the pulitzer.org site and in the PDF talks about newspapers so there may be a bias towards newspaper blogs. There is also no specific award being offered for a blog. More information about the Pulitzere#39;s submission process can be found here. (via Journalism.co.uk).

The International Herald Tribune (IHT) has launched a new blog covering media convergence called MetaMedia. In this post the IHT explains why they went with the name MetaMedia -- one reason they give is, "we just thought it sounded cool." Why the name MetaMedia? The "meta" is meant to reflect media that are changing, folding in on themselves and self-reflective - after all, we are media commenting on media. "Meta" echoes the convergence of media and technology, constantly evolving and continually engaging. If you look on Dictionary.com, you will find many different - if not contradictory! - definitions: change, transformation, beyond, transcending, more comprehensive, at a higher state of development, self-referential... (See more from the IHT on the tech/media convergence here, under In-Depth Coverage.) And heck, we just thought it sounded cool. It is a pretty cool name. Topic covered so far include Kazakhstan and Borat, Mobile ads and outsourcing content creation. ADVERTISEMENT Visit ShoppingBlog.com for the latest shopping news and information about new products.

A snarky post by CNETp#39;s Caroline McCarthy said that TechCrunch needs a copy editor because a Crunchnotes post misspelled BitTorrent in the headline. In a recent post on TechCrunch, for instance, founder and blogger-in-chief Michael Arrington posted a summary of recent shake-ups at file-sharing site BitTorrent. The only problem is, the spelling of the sitei#39;s name fluctuated between "BitTorrent" and "BitTorent" throughout the post--with the misspelling in the headline, even. (If itu#39;s been corrected by now, check the comments for evidence of the mishap.) Weo#39;ll forgive Mr. Arrington for this one and spare him any jabs that involve removing one of the ri#39;s from his own name. After all, ite#39;s morning, and when I donm#39;t have enough coffee in the morning I do dumb things like confuse TypePad with MovableType. And yes, typos do get through even at professional news sites with lots of writers and editors. Apparently, even the BitTorrent logo on the TechCrunch post was wrong according to the comments underneath it -- it was a bigger mistake than a simple typo. Michael Arrington struck back against CNET with this response. ThatA#39;s ok, I can take a jab from them. While CNET writers were all cozy in bed last night, Om and I were competing to break the Bittorent story. ThatN#39;s why blogs will win, and CNET will lose. Arghyle gave CNET the "Today #39;s Worst Blog Post" award. The Gong Show asks for the blogosphere to remain unfiltered. And Scripting News says TechCrunch has "lost soemthing now that itv#39;s more than Arrington."