Ryan Naraine

Less than two weeks after ousting head honcho James Dunning from his CEO slot, Ziff Davis Media has parted ways with the president of its Internet division, according to a report in the New York Post. Wenda Harris Millard, the former DoubleClick executive who became president and chief internet officer of the Ziff Davis Internet […]

Looking to drum up fan interest for its newest teenage act, Warner Bros. Records has jumped on the instant messaging promotion train, announcing a deal with Silicon Alley start-up ActiveBuddy, Inc. to unleash the LindsayBuddy IM “bot.” The alliance with Warner Bros. gets ActiveBuddy’s technology through the doors of one of the biggest names in […]

Unable to secure a merger partner and burned by what it described as “dramatic changes in capital markets,” alternative currency play Flooz.com has shut down and plans to file for federal bankruptcy protection by the end of this week. Official word of the company’s demise came just two weeks after Flooz took its online currency […]

Looking to add new sources of revenue in a depressed advertising environment New York-based technology startup Blink.com plans to roll out an ad-free premium version of its bookmarking service. Blink, which builds software that helps to sort lists of “favorite” URLs that surfers keep on their browsers, will unveil a BlinkPro premium product for the […]

Dial-up ISP Juno Online Services and HomeSide Lending, Inc. on Tuesday announced a deal to market residential mortgage financing services from the Juno Web portal. The New York-based Juno, which provides free and paid ISP services in the U.S., said the deal makes HomeSide the exclusive provider of residential mortgages to its 3.3 million active […]

Looking to create a wide-ranging communications portal to attract users to its Internet telephone services, Net2Phone, Inc. on Monday unveiled the Net2Phone CommCenter, complete with a real time instant messaging application. The New Jersey-based Voice-over Internet Protocol (Vo-IP) firm, said the latest version of its PC-calling software would improve sound quality, one of the biggest […]

With online ad revenues down a whopping 65 percent in the second quarter, Playboy Enterprises is moving swiftly to reorganize its New York-based Playboy.com operations, a move that eliminates about a dozen employees. The reorganization, which affects about 10 percent of the workforce, hit the online advertising/marketing sales departments hardest as the men’s lifestyle magazine […]

StarMedia Network Inc. , the Web portal targeting Spanish and Portuguese speakers, on Tuesday announced the departure of CEO and founder Fernando Espuelas. Espuelas, the Uruguay-born entrepreneur who became one of the poster boys for the ‘Net boom in the late 1990s, will retain his role as StarMedia chairman but the day-to-day operations have been […]

In a deal that adds another big-name client to its roster, New York-based online direct marketer Bigfoot Interactive said it would power e-mail campaigns for Clear Channel Radio/New York. The radio group, a division of Clear Channel Communications, Inc. said Bigfoot would help create, implement and refine e-mail communications programs to help it land listeners […]

Locked in a skirmish with Microsoft and Yahoo! in the lucrative instant messaging space, AOL Time Warner launched a new version of its AOL Instant Messenger application designed to promote its own online offerings — yet while it’s touted as “the coolest AIM ever!”, some of AOL’s biggest fans aren’t too happy with the upgrade. […]

Looking for a cheaper call-termination port in Asia, Internet telephony firm Net2Phone, Inc. on Tuesday announced a deal to peer its network through Pan-Asian ISP PowerNet’s network. The Newark, N.J.-based Net2Phone, which is struggling to convert former freeloading users into paid Web telephone subscribers, said the deal to co-locate its gateways at PowerNet’s Hong Kong-based […]

Teen-girl online/offline direct marketing firm Alloy Online has struck a deal to run the Web operations of CosmoGIRL! magazine. New York-based Alloy said it would design and provide technology tools for the CosmoGirl! companion site, using content created by the print magazine’s staff. Additionally, Alloy will sell advertising and marketing services for the site, which […]