people got excited. they told us to go off and build that. at the end of 1993, i was part of a team that built "the wall street journal" online. i ran that up until the end of 2002. after that, i spent about three years running yahoo news. and at walter a few years ago at a conference. we started talking. -- i met walter a few years ago at a conference. we started talking. he invited me to come and help build this into a business. eduardo is a venezuelan- american. he most recently ran aol latin america. before that, he ran other media businesses. he is a lawyer by background. he tries to hide that fact. he is a passionate news junkie. he felt like there was a need

online to sort out the things that would be of interest to the user. that is why he started the daily me. >> is this going to be a paid site? >> i think what a loud "the wall street journal" to charge is that it is news with investing information that lends itself to a subscription. people need it for their business and making investment decisions. when we were building that online, we started with the assumption that we wanted to charge for it. i think a lot of people believe that we built it and then decided to charge for it. we started up from wanting to build a subscription service. everything we did along the way was supportive of that. we wanted to create a collection of information on line that people would pay for. we built into it a lot of capabilities.

we included most of the real time dow jones newswires, archival content. all those things were being charged for in other environments. the value, if you add all those things up, was probably $500 per year in value. the initial price was $49 per year. we recognized it would be difficult to get people to pay. we knew we had to create something of substantial value with a lot of information, content, features, and functionality to get them started on that path. i think they're now charging $100, but it is still a valuable product with a water utility to people. >> the current editor of "the wall street journal" has described those who take the content of others as tapeworms. the associated press's had complaints about that. is a daily me an aggregator?

>> we are paying licensing fees to eighap and reuters. we're licensing other content. we think we can create a better news experience online if it is all there and you're not jumping off. with most of the aggregators, you go off to something that looks very different. it is very disjointed. we wanted this to be consistent and easy to use. by licensing the content, it is a much better experience. it also allows us to do things like the print newsletter. we can give output formats that others cannot because they do not have the rights to the content beyond a headline or a snippet of text. we have the full text and create other formats. we have one that is all about the book industry.

we call it the "daily me literati." is very popular. it has news, a variety of sources. if you are interested in books, is a great way to keep up with the industry. >> how is it going to support itself? >> dailyme.com will still be advertising supported. the bulk of the business is about making the technology available to other news sites and publications on the internet. some of these services will be available for free. they can incorporate this into their site and get a certain amount of functionality. to use the technology to personalize their website, there would be fees associated with that. we think that these are very much in line with a value that they will recognize in terms of deeper engagement, users spending more time, coming back.

a personalized news site is a place that people want to make their home for news. if one of these news sites as our capabilities, we think they will see a return for the modest amount of money they will pay us for the technology behind it. >> currently, it is debate up website. when will the new website be on line? >> currently, it is a beta web site. when will the new website be on line? >> it is targeted for some time around the middle of july. it is close to being ready. we have to iron out a number of bugs. we should have that out in the next couple of weeks. >> thank you. many of the panels at the conference dealt with current technology in the marketplace. we also had a chance to talk about technologies and their funding sources.

we're at the northern virginia digital media conference. we have the principal partner with novak-biddle. >> we are a venture capital firm based outside of bethesda, md.. we are about 12 years old. we have about $600 million under management. our focus is purely i.t. we do not do biotech or health care. we have seven partners on the investment side. all we do is i t investments. that incorporates digital media all the way to mobile and telecommunications, semiconductors of materials, software, the whole gamut. >> is it fair to say that most i.t. venture-capital lists are based in california? is it rare to find one in the washington area? >> the mac is obviously silicon

valley. -- the mecca is obviously silicon valley. we do have pockets out here. this region is quite prolific in terms of ideas and talent. we have a lot of government labs. there is a lot of talent in the research and labs here. there are a lot of great universities here like the university of maryland school of engineering and virginia tech. we do get to see a lot of young entrepreneurs. >> what do you look for when you may be recommending an investment in i.t.? >> we are always looking for great ideas, fantastic risk- takers, in high-growth and emerging markets. those are a given. particularly in this time, we look for entrepreneurs who truly understand how to efficiently

use capital and maximize in the most efficient way. it may be the business models, the way the market, or the technology is just very good at scaling without too much effort in marketing and sales. that is probably the differentiation. >> i want to ask you about two products. the flip camera and twitter. >> the jury is still out on twitter in terms of the business model. they are incredibly popular from a user perspective. we still have not figured out how they are making money. if i had to pick one, i would probably pick the flip camera.

>> do people come to you with a product and ask for money? >> we do both in terms of sourcing deals. we proactively go to universities and laboratories. approximately 40% of our portfolio companies are spinoffs of research labs from universities or government research labs. there is the army research lab, the navy research lab. there are a lot of technologies that we will proactively it seeks. we have built up reputation where people will come to us to seek financing. our typical investment stages -- we do all stages of investment from the very early stages with people in a garage with a great

idea all the way to growth capital. our typical check size can be $500,000 up to $10 million for growth and expansion. >> internationally, it is that where the growth is in i.t. right now? >> our mandate is primarily in the united states. that is particularly on the east coast. we have an investment in israel. we have investment in india. optimistically, when there are great opportunities with technology that is transferable outside of this country and in the mobile arena -- outside the united states, the market is bigger. that is where we spend a lot more time outside the border. >> you have spent a lot of your career in investment and i.t.

you lived in china for a few years working on investment. how does the chinese market compared to the u.s. market? >> that is a conversation that could take hours. i spent quite a bit of time in the united states doing investments as well as overseas. i was the cfo of global internet services for one of the largest telecommunications companies in asia. i did a lot of joint ventures for them in china. i think the entrepreneurial spirit in china is starting to evolve. it was still primarily in the manufacturing and low technology a few decades ago. i see the trend starting to shift. quite a bit more are now into software and the high-tech investing.

there is always a bit of competition between india and china in that regard. india is known for the software technology and china more than hardware. i think that is starting to shift in china, particularly in the last five years. one of the driving forces is that a lot of the u.s. the venture capitalists are moving to asia to invest. we're seeing u.s. venture- capital lists investing in baidu, the google of china. there are a lot of similarities in what is hot here and what will be hot in china. they follow suit in a similar type of technology. >> could you speak about the mobile investments you are looking at now and in the future? >> one of the most exciting areas in mobile is in the al

pps, the applications. we have the social gaming network that is one of the thatop iphone applications. it is a spin out of a local tech company. we're starting to see mobile advertising and marketing. the consumer spending habits are shifting into data. the massive proliferation and growth in applications really proves to us that the consumer as concrete for more and more data -- really. stress that the consumer is hungry -- amass a proliferation and growth in applications shows us that the consumer is eager

for more data. there is a lot of buzz around the iphone. that is still a relatively small market. it is a fast-growing market. i think the jury is still out as to who will take over that. >> janet yang, thank you. >> political campaigns have gone high-tech. at the digital media conference, there was someone there responsible for the obama campaign platform. what is distributed networks? >> we are mobile marketing and technology company. we help brands, political clients, and government organizations to manage text messaging and communications via cell phones. the best known example is the text messaging done during the

presidential campaign. barack obama used it to keep in touch with millions of people by text message to let them know if he was going to be in town, to encourage them to volunteer. you may remember when they were waiting for the vice presidential announcement, people had their cell phones out. he said the announcement would be a text message about joe biden being the vice president. >> union before everyone else? -- you knew before everyone else? >> maybe 10 minutes before. the nice thing about text messaging is that has to be opt anin. you are not receiving messages you do not want. it is tightly policed by the cell phone carriers. it has been very effective. you need to engage people.

if you are a presidential candidate, you ask people to text you to start a dialogue. if you are in marketer, you can have people to enter a sweepstakes and then give permission for continued communications. it makes it more effective than e-mail or other communication. >> is the technology advanced or low-tech? >> i would say it is dirt simple. we receive and send messages. there is a special sauce in there about making sure that things are handled properly and building a relationship. it is actually a simple technology. >> when it comes to using this as a marketing tool, how does it compare to buying an ad on network television? >> the best way to think of it is not as an island on its own, but as being part of integrated media campaigns.

if you are buying an ad, you could include a text sms. you can also include that in print materials. it is a supportive call to action that helps all of the other media. it is not a comparison of which one is more effective. it is about how they work together to achieve better results. >> how much of a growth industry is this? >> despite the economy, we have been growing steadily. i am pretty sure that is indicative that it is a growth industry. >> the mobile market is a growth industry, correct? >> absolutely. there are more people using their cell phones. there are more and interesting ways for people to use them. one exciting thing to see is that people think of text

messaging to be teenagers messaging their friends. that is not true. more people are using their cell phones to communicate. one of the biggest drivers is people with kids, especially in college. they will not answer an e-mail or telephone call, but they will send back a text message. they realize how useful it is. they may send a text message to their spouse. they may get stock quotes sent to their fun. that is not to say that people in their 50s are using it as aggressively as the teenagers, but it is widening out. more and more people are using it. >> what about the privacy concerns with this technology and the distribution system? >> that is the fantastic thing about this. if you text into a program, your telephone number is on that. the organization has to ask if

you want to continue receiving messages. it is completely permission- based. you can stop the messages at any time. you do not have access to the billing data or the home address. the information yourself on carrier has is not shared with marketers. that is a good thing. it is only the information that you want to share that is shared with the organization. i see almost no privacy concerns. >> is this a regulated industry? >> with any new industry, the regulators struggle to keep up. the fcc oversees the carriers. then there is a strong trade association. it is not government regulation.

it is self-regulation by the industry. in between the fcc and the self- regulation, it is regulated. >> how would you compare your industry to a twitter? >> twitter is great but has nothing to do with mobile. it is high volume. you get overloaded. it is a great blogging tool but is not allow for back-and- forth communication. it is a broadcast to many. with text messaging, you can be more selective. you may only want to send text messages to people in virginia that like ice cream. i see text messaging as more of a scalpel.

twitter is more of allow broadcast. it is fun, but not as mobile. if you are at a sporting event, you probably do not have your laptop there. >> can you send video? >> you can send video. the handsets in the united states are behind where they are in other parts of the world. it depends on your telephone. the networks get clogged. it is one of those things that is next year. it has been next year for a couple of years. we will see when it really takes off. >> are other political campaigns picking up on this? >> i cannot disclose our client list. i know that the government -- governor races in new jersey and virginia, both sides have in their campaigns. the maryland race for 2009 is using mobile.

the 2010 races, everyone who wants to win is using mobile. >> most are familiar with fox broadcasting's tv business. we had a chance to hear from the person responsible for bringing the programming to the web. you are the senior vice presidents of fox broadcasting. one of your areas of responsibility includes digital media properties. what does that mean? >> it means being responsible for the digital components of the fox broadcasting co., the television networks. that means our screen service, our show sites, the various shows. anything having to digital, including the outbound marketing, the outbound marketing brings viewers back to the shows. >> how you get the eyeballs on your screen? >> the consumers are fragmented

across the internet. we reach out and touch them using twitter, facebook, myspace for all of our shows. we syndicate content via hulu. >> are more people watching on computer screens and mobile devices than on tv screens? >> no, about 90% of video viewing was on a television set last year. >> why all the attention? >> the field is growing. we still see the tv as the primary source for our content. it is growing. that 1% is significant. we do see growth in the digital space. we see it as complementary or additive to our viewership instead of cannibalistic.

at the end of the day, tv is about great storytelling. the consumers are still going to want that. it may be more fragmented as to where they get the stories. but we see the tv industry as strong. we're out there touching consumers every day. it is a great place to be, especially as digital continues to grow. we see it as a growing business. >> how do you protect your product? >> digital rights management? we make sure the product as well secured for our studios so it does not get pirated. when it does happen, we try to stop it as fast as we can. intellectual property is very important to the networks and studios. >> is that a major problem for fox? >> by being proactive and providing the content in a licensed way, the piracy in the united states does not seem to be a big issue for us.

overseas, the product is not necessarily available in some markets. in the united states, it has not been a big issue for us. >> is advertising still an effective way for people to get free tv? >> absolutely. we have partnerships with a lot of advertisers. we have very good relationships with them. we see digital as a way to complement that relationship so that is not just in that time slot when the advertiser gets to reach out to the consumer. we see it as 24/7. we have created dimensional products to add to the experience. >> what is your reaction to the cable companies? >> it is an interesting concept. there are a lot of moving parts. there's news about every single day. it is the ultimate principle of making sure that the

distributors and the studios and networks to properly compensated for the content that they are taking the time and investment to produce. i think it is a good thing. >> bill bradford, the senior executive of fox. we have an interview with the person involved in making sure that you get to know about the friends involved in the site. he is the co-founder and c.e.o. of living social. >> it is the place that people go to share and communicate and brown the things they care about and are passionate about. >> what is your role in face book or my sspace? >> we are predominately in books, movies, and all sorts of things. we're the place that people do that. >> how have you developed those

platforms? >> it all started on facebook about two years ago. they told third parties that they could build there. we saw it as a unique opportunity to add value to these places. >> how do you build -- how do you figure out the algorithms to get into those places? >> it is probably simpler than it seems. you really look at what the user experience is on facebook. they give you a couple of different areas where the users comedy. we, as the company, can plug into that. there is the stream or feet that is the first page when someone walks in.

they let us know if someone wrote a review that we may want to publish. >> where is the growth in this industry right now? >> i think that facebook is really killing it. they have had a bit of turmoil . i have done -- i think they've done a great job of growing. i think that will continue. another great area of growth is from a mobile social standpoint. the platforms are out and doing well. as apple continues to make new features, it will become a more social experience. >> is twitter included in this group? >> it is an interesting play. they have achieved great press and growth. you have seen the value from breaking news standpoint and coverage standpoint. one interesting thing is that there have been reports published that a lot of users that start to use it do not go

back. i think will be interesting to see if they can build a sustainable user base off the momentum. >> when you approach facebook, what do you say that living social can do for them? >> we provide value to your overall site and experience. people will come to facebook just to use living social. that is great for them. >> one legislative issue being talked about in the coming session of congress is privacy. is that an issue that concerns you? how you deal with that? >> it is something we think about every day. one of the reasons facebook has gotten where they are is that they gave privacy controls to their users. we have tried to follow that model. to some