Today, OneSpot has formally announced the commerical availability of its OneSpot publishing-as-a-service™ platform. This subscription service allows publishers and businesses to deliver relevant content from across the web to a targeted audience. Think of OneSpot as a white-label Techmeme, Sphere Netvibes and Digg solution.

For instance, if you publish a site about social media, OneSpot will provide related content from relevant sources that you can feature alongside your original content, in sidebars, headline widgets, RSS feeds and more, giving full credit to the original author and source. Thus, instead of having to populate an entire site with news stories and haphazzard links, you can focus on creating quality original content, while still linking to the biggest stories in your particular area.

OneSpot tracks over 200,000 web feeds to find content in a specific area; these feeds are from trusted sources and the user has full control over which stories are featured, approved or blocked. How content is displayed and how frequently it is published is all determined by the user. The net result is something similar to the New York Times BlogRunner service, with the additional ability to have a branded "Meme" tracker and the ability to enable user-voting a la Digg or Reddit.

We think that OneSpot is an interesting approach to content aggregation and syndication. Looking at their site, the way related articles are collected and aggregated appears both efficient and timely -- a problem with many related-content engines is that the sources are sometimes old or out of date.

For businesses or publishers looking to add extra value to their sites, OneSpot might be a viable solution.

YouTube is expanding their partnership with independent video creators who are looking for not only a little more distribution, but also a little extra cash.

The YouTube Partner Program is now opening to anyone within North America. The current 100 high profile partners include Mr Chocolate Rain, the NBA, Universal Music Group, Victoria Secret, National Geographic and many other larger as well as smaller contributors. There are some specific requirements that one must have in order to become a partner. You need to create original videos, have the right to use any copyrighted sound. You also need to be a resident of the US or Canada. In order to get started you must meet the requirements and submit an application available here, and cross your fingers.

Will we see a halt to all the outrageous YouTube content? We doubt it, and we sure hope not! But the serious creators can finally get rewarded for their efforts to expand the community into a serious online television channel.

I haven't met two small business owners in a meeting where one doesn't ask how to get his or her site to the top of the Google search results list. There are transparent reasons for wanting to be first: you get more clicks, your business seems important, clicks convert into business, and your Internet traffic can skyrocket. What's the magic formula for getting to the top?

There is no magic formula
Disappointing as it is, there is no single solution to move your site's rank to #1 in Google. Now that you're over that impractical wish, let's find out how you can increase your page rank and stay away from what will get your Web site tossed from consideration.

Optimize your Web site
Sometimes called SEO, Search Engine Optimization (or SEM, Search Engine Marketing are related but not the same), is a marketing tool more than it is a technology process (so put it in your advertising budget). People type queries (search terms) into search engines and Google delivers results. If your site is optimized for your key product or service, then why isn't it at the top of the results? Common problem: your site hasn't been optimized and search engines cannot find it. You want examples?

HowStuffWorks has gotten Discovered. The nine year old website that basically explains how stuff works, has been bought by Discovery Communications, the company behind the Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet for $250 Million.

This move, combined with the another recent purchase, Treehugger.com pushes Discovery's web strategy by enabling them to bring their large amount of content to the web which includes over 100,000 hours of documentary. Discovery's own array of websites have not been terribly successful in drawing traffic, hence the acquisition of targeted properties that do have a successful online following.

HowStuffWorks founder Marshall Brain has built the site's content primarily around topics that are the results of searches performed in Google.

CNN might have just knocked out one of their major news sources, but Google has hired on a few more.

There is a new feature that's helping Google get on the map for top news sources, and this one will help users quickly and easily find original sources from publishers. Google News has teamed up with some of the world's top news publishers, including the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, UK Press Association and the Canadian Press to get news straight from the source, without all the dribble sometimes associated. Google News has bitten down on duplicate content and now has "duplicate detection". This new process will display better search result sources with materials that have less duplication.

So you can start saying bye bye to the time wasted reading 10-20 different versions of the same article when searching in Google News, and start getting the original content from the original journalist. And yes, if you so choose, you can also see the results from the additional publishers.

Lots of news on the CNN corporate front this week. First the media giant announced that they were dumping Yahoo in favor of Google ads, now they are saying no more Reuters.

CNN said on Thursday that they would be terminating their 27 year relationship in order to cut costs. The Time Warner owned company said that they had not wanted to rely on outside sources as much as they currently do, and would be focusing their efforts and money saved on investing in their own news gathering staff.

CNN reiterated the fact that there was absolutely nothing wrong with Reuters, the way they operate or their content. CNN just wishes to own the content they serve, and they believe that content ownership is king. Reuters text, photography, and television materials will stop being used as of Friday, today, on CNN.

However, the big question is why will CNN still be using Reuters competition, the Associated Press?

[via Reuters]

What do the NFL and RSS have in common besides three letters? Nothing, except for the fact they have just tackled each other into providing as-it-happens news, headlines, and summaries of NFL action.

The team behind the NFL website has just made grabbing NFL data both faster and easier. Forget about checking out and scanning NFL.com all day waiting for something to happen, just read it via RSS feeds. Users can select teams, events, authors to receive news updates as they happen. Don't feel much like reading? NFL has also dropped in a video RSS reader. Select a team, event and a show and you will get instant notification when a video is uploaded.

Signing up is so simple any armchair quarterback can do it. Almost any that is.

Get ready to watch some new content care of Google and the creator of the Family Guy series pretty soon. The company has just inked a deal with a movie financing company to syndicate video shorts made for internet viewing.

The content will be handed over from the creators behind Family Guy, the fictional family from Quahog Rhode Island, and will feature original content staring Disney's Raven-Symone. The new content is said to include how-to videos in the range of 'Martha Stewart' specialties including cooking, crafts, and decorating. This move will be funded through AdSense, with video as well as banner ads being shown in conjunction with the segments, and targeted at teens and tweens.

This marks one of the first steps into Google's little syndication project.

Should news be free? DLS thinks so, but some major media outlets think not.

News Corp, the new owners of the Wall Street Journal online at WSJ.com, still believe that users should pay for their news. However, a lack of subscribers and a realization that online content is all about the free availability has began investigating plans to turn things around.

Rupert Murdoch, News Corps head honcho said that his staff is looking closely at granting free access to the Wall Street Journals website, citing that it is a very expensive thing to do, but could pay off in the long-term.

Big media outlets still don't get it do they? Great free content online equals happy loyal viewers and more traffic, thus more ad dollars. The pay for content thing doesn't really work in today's world anymore.

Do any DLS readers pay for content online?

Cellfish is a simple online tool that lets PC users store information in a special online locker, then retrieve them later on mobile devices.

When logged into this social network site, you get your own page, like any other social network, and can hook up with friends, so let's just forget about that aspect of the site and get onto the usable part, the Cellfish locker. Users can upload information into their locker and later retrieve them on mobile devices. This includes a giant list of stock photos, music and videos from the Cellfish site.

Getting to your Cellfish locker from your mobile is simple. Visit Cellfish.com from your mobile browser, enter your account information and you will see all items that are stored in your online storage locker. You can choose to download them, send them to friends, save as wallpapers, or store them on your phone.

Users can also send photos and videos from mobile devices using your special Cellfish emaill address. These photos will be stored on your Cellfish user page and can then be placed in other social networks or blogs using a supplied html embed code.

Google has been working hard the past few years to gain the respect of the Chinese government. It looks like that hard work has started to pay off with a recent license they have partially obtained to serve content to the second largest internet market in the world.

What does this mean exactly? It means that first steps have been made in a preliminary approval to potentially supply news to China.

There are still certain procedures which Google has to follow in order to get a full license and final approval; nonetheless Google is slowly on the move to being seen as a viable resource for the Chinese market. There has been no word as of yet as to the steps that Google must make in order to obtain a full license to serve the news content.

The once fearless leader of Weblogs Inc has been working hard with his team to develop the Mahalo human based search engine. His team of professional surfers scowers the web searching for the best and most relevant information, without all of the spammy, or non important results.

It takes time to build out the pages, and his team has so far managed to build out an average of 500 pages per week. In an effort to increase the database of top level terms Mahalo supplies to the end user, they are asking for your help, and have started the Mahalo Greenhouse. The Greenhouse has been designed to be where part time talented guides can help to create results based on their specialties. It's open for anyone that wants to contribute, and yes, there is cash involved. (only for US residents however.) Submit an application and cross your fingers, this little part time gig will not only help people find the information they are searching for, but net people anywhere from $10-$15 per search result. Of course the search results submitted will be monitored and approved before it is added to the directory.

LeapTag is a new way to discover all of the content you are interested in. Its way to read RSS feeds that enables users to locate news, blogs, books and other sources of material that match personal interests. However, it is not an RSS feed reader.

Users can sign up and download a browser toolbar. Through this toolbar you subscribe to tags and topics. LeapTag then scowers the web and finds links that you might like. The system learns by how much you like the items, and improves the results it lays out.

The download for this application is quite heavy, and it is still in beta form so things could change. Not only does LeapTag require a browser based toolbar with a new sidebar, but it also requires a Windows or Mac application to keep things running. For an alternative check out StumbleUpon or Del.icio.us.

AudioDizer wants to pack our iPods and portable devices with more content than we can handle.

This text to speech company is aiming at creating a new distribution channel for traditional media companies, creating high quality MP3 podcasts for newspapers, magazines, websites, and advertisers. AudioDizer uses multiple voices, speech patterns and accents to enhance listening experience while trying to improve the content that is stored on devices.

The whole text to speech does seem creepy when heard, and can be a little distracting if the timing is off or when words don't flow together properly. Technology Review uses AudioDizer for every article they publish online and it has been working great for their users. The process is simple for the user, choose an article, then choose whether you want to listen to the article, or download an mp3. I have to say, it is high quality, but still has that creepy distracting feel to it. Mind you it has the potential to be very beneficial when you are in a rush, or on your way to work and want to catch up on your favorite sites content.

What do you think? Click here for an mp3 sample.

Hot off the presses; Yahoo keeps trucking along with its mobile announcements, this time they take aim at publishers wanting to enter the mobile market.

In continuing its mobile success streak, Yahoo is now looking for Publishers interested in providing mobile content. The newly launched Yahoo! Mobile Publisher Services is a suite of services that helps publishers increases the distribution and monetization of their content on mobile devices. The goal of this service is to deliver tools to advertisers and publishers that help them enable the growth of the mobile internet to benefit consumers. By joining, publishers will have access to the Yahoo! Mobile Ad Network, Mobile Content Engine, Mobile Media Directory and the Mobile Site Submit.

• The Yahoo! Mobile Ad Network will enable publishers to serve syndicated advertising in mobile content, in a variety of formats including video, in game placements and sponsored links.
• An innovative tool that Yahoo has come up with is the Yahoo! Mobile Content Engine. This will allow publishers who do not have a mobile site, the ability to create mobile content to distribute on mobile devices efficiently and effectively.
• The Mobile Media Directory will make it easy for publishers to make their mobile media accessible through Yahoo's oneSearch, by submitting their list of products for review by Yahoo, who will then rank and review it.
• Mobile Site Submit, like a regular web site submit, will allow mobile publishers the ability to provide information on their mobile site with a description and tags to ensure proper indexing in Yahoo oneSearch.

Talk about growth, Yahoo has been taking the mobile application world by storm lately. We will be following this one closely to see how Yahoo!'s Mobile Publisher Services really does help out publishers.

UPDATE: I took out the underlines, and replaced with bold. Sorry Jeffrey, my bad.