Friday, July 30, 1999

Bits & Bytes -and- Shakers & Stirrers 7/30/99

SHAKERS & STIRRERS ________________________

Gary Welz is leaving Rare Medium and will be working at Think New Ideas as Director of Corporate Business Development http://www.thinkinc.com as of August 9th.
Razorfish, Inc. announced the appointment of Julia Goldberg as Global Information Systems (IS) Director. In her new role, Ms. Goldberg will oversee company-wide IS initiatives, including maintaining Razorfish's corporate network, providing end-user training and support, and enhancing its vendor partner program and strategic technology relationships.
Albert F. Barber, a former President of CNBC and CEO of Stuart Entertainment, has joined emerging Internet player e-Media as Vice Chairman. He will be responsible for developing strategic alliances and refining corporate strategy and infrastructure in collaboration with e-Media’s President and CEO, John Engel, to whom he will report.
Chris Darner has recently joined Concrete Media as a producer after a tenure as General Manager at Chopping Block.
Karyn Exilus joins the busy Lisa Swayne of The Swayne Agency as as an editorial assistant. Prior to coming this appointment she was at Shakespeare & Co., a local Manhattan bookstore, where she worked as a merchandising assistant.
ScreamingMedia (www.screamingmedia.net) a provider of syndication services and specialized content for corporate, special-interest and vertical Web sites, announced today that the company has formed the ScreamingMedia Content Network to cultivate stronger relationships between its customers and content providers. In addition, the company has named Marianne Howatson, former publishing executive from Emap, Condé Nast and Gruner + Jahr USA Publishing, as Senior Managing Director to oversee the Content Network and the company's foray into e-commerce services.
The NetSlaves book guys--Steve Baldwin and Bill Lessard had a small soiree a few weeks ago as a pre-launch for their book release "NetSlaves." One thing that emerged from the party was a spirited Slogan Competition for the batch of (union-made) T-shirts that we'll be trading for drinks (D-Commerce?) at the next party. Listmember Steve Gilliard wrote most of the slogans, one of which will adorn the NetSlaves icon.
There's hope for swinging single-ones yet! A little more than a year ago Eric Targen of The Humor Network introduced Larry Chase of Web Digest for Marketers and Chase Online to Heidi Conen, director of specialty clubs at Doubleday Direct book clubs at a NYNMA event in Irving Plaza. After a year of seeing each other at industry events and a chance meeting in Fire Island, the two marvelous characters are getting married. Congratulations!

NEWS BITS AND BYTES ________________________
Seems NYNMA might have need a little positive PR campaign after its recent invite confusion for its upcoming Cyber Splash cruise. Apparently many members never received the email with information about this anticipated event, and by the time the print postcards arrived, the event was sold out. Hmph! Popular indeed!

Bolt (www.bolt.com), has landed its third feature in three weeks with the release of Digital Diaries, which will enable Bolt's nearly 1 million registered users to maintain and personalize a record of their daily activities directly on the site.

Law.com, a leading Web law resource for information, e-commerce and e-services, and American Lawyer Media, Inc. (ALM), the nation's leading legal journalism and information company, announced a strategic alliance, aimed at creating a single, comprehensive destination for legal information and e-law services on the Web, under the law.com brand.

Razorfish Studios, Inc. announced that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, Inc., the independent publishing and distribution service headquartered in Minnesota. Under the terms of the agreement, Consortium will become the exclusive US and Canadian distributor for Razorfish Studios, effective as of June 1, 1999.

Heynetwork.com debuted on June 21 and will be formally launching the free consumer service on August 31. Families will soon have the ability to communicate, shop and share information online in a private, safe, and secure setting. The service, will foster the newly emerging concept of K-commerce ™, or kids' commerce, enabling the fastest growing segment of the Internet audience, children and teenagers, to complete purchases online, with parental authorization and approval.

Bikini.com is making waves -- they announced on July 15th of a deal with Madacy Entertainment for a musical CD series based on their brand and then on July 19th of an exclusive deal of swimwear.