Cooking Up Content Readers Pay For

Google Talk debuted today.  It allows instant messaging using its own client software, or can be used with third party products like Trillian that allow you to centralize all of your IM communications.  In addition, it has a voice component that sort of makes it like a light version of Skype.

Today’s recommended reading is a bit all over the map. There’s something here to please communicators, entrepreneurs, consumers, and probably a half dozen other demographics. Don’t get too used to it, though, because I’m just as likely to get hung up on a single topic tomorrow.

Hollywood Reporter looks for Google’s next move.  The item mentions potential acquisition targets: Infospace, AOL, and TiVO.  In addition: Other analysts proposed a combination of public and private firms Google might be eyeing, including emerging search companies like Blinkx, TVEyes and Convera Corp. I’m not an expert on all of these, though I do recall…

PaidContent reports that news parody site The Onion has dropped its premium pay service.

Online Media Daily reports: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said that its aggressive online viral campaign targeting trendy teen apparel retailer Wet Seal has led the company to agree not to carry fur this fall. PETA’s initiative, which leveraged the membership of social networking site MySpace, illustrates marketers’ newfound respect for online opinion,…

TechCrunch reports on an interesting approach by Seth Godin to marketing his new book: As I mentioned in a recent weekly summary (see no. 6), Seth’s new book, The Big Moo, is coming out and he’s eating his own dogfood in promoting it. Seth has started selling batches of 50 galley copies to people if…