Blog

CardioFocus has added $11 million in debt financing, the company announced. The credit facility was awarded to CardioFocus from both Oxford Finance and Silicon Valley Bank. CardioFocus is headquartered in Marlborough, Mass.

PRESS RELEASE
Oxford Finance LLC (“Oxford”), a specialty finance firm that provides senior debt to life sciences and healthcare services companies, today announced the closing of an $11 million round of debt financing for CardioFocus. The credit facility was awarded to CardioFocus from both Oxford and Silicon Valley Bank. Funds will be used to increase the company’s available capital to fund growth, while it expands its international commercialization and completes enrollment in its pivotal trial of the CardioFocus HEARTLIGHT Endoscopic Ablation System.

“CardioFocus has had impressive results, treating more than 1,300 patients in Europe and the United States using its cutting-edge technology to treat patients with atrial fibrillation,” said Christopher A. Herr, managing director for Oxford Finance. “We are very pleased to provide an additional round of capital to CardioFocus to support the company’s continued growth and innovative product development.”

“We’re a proud partner of CardioFocus, having been with the team since it was just starting out,” said Christina Zorzi, vice president of healthcare and life sciences for Silicon Valley Bank. “Today, CardioFocus continues to surpass its ambitious goals with a great team and an important mission to restore the quality of heart patients’ lives. We continue to be inspired by their work and are happy to be able to support their efforts.”

“This financing will help us complete patient enrollment in our pivotal U.S. clinical trial, as well as continue to execute on our commercialization efforts in Europe, where we are seeing rapid adoption throughout leading medtech markets,” said Renny Clark, chief financial officer of CardioFocus. “We appreciate the support from our lending partners Oxford Finance and Silicon Valley Bank during this exciting time, as we continue to accelerate sales growth abroad while preparing for an FDA submission in the U.S.”

About Oxford Finance LLC

Oxford Finance is a specialty finance firm providing senior secured loans to public and private life sciences and healthcare services companies worldwide. For over 20 years, Oxford has delivered flexible financing solutions to its clients, enabling these companies to maximize their equity by leveraging their assets. In recent years, Oxford has originated over $2 billion in loans, with lines of credit ranging from $500 thousand to $50 million. Oxford is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, with additional offices in California, Massachusetts, Illinois and North Carolina. For more information visit www.oxfordfinance.com.

About Silicon Valley Bank

Silicon Valley Bank is the premier bank for technology, life sciences, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine businesses. SVB provides industry knowledge and connections, financing, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide through 28 U.S. offices and six international operations. SIVB -2.62% www.svb.com.

Silicon Valley Bank is the California bank subsidiary and the commercial banking operation of SVB Financial Group. Banking services are provided by Silicon Valley Bank, a member of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve System. SVB Financial Group is also a member of the Federal Reserve System.

About CardioFocus, Inc.

CardioFocus, Inc. is a medical device manufacturer dedicated to advancing ablation treatment for cardiac disorders such as atrial fibrillation (AF). Its novel HEARTLIGHT� Endoscopic Ablation System for catheter ablation incorporates an endoscope to provide physicians with the capacity to see within the heart, and for the first time, visually direct the application of laser energy to achieve durable pulmonary vein isolation.

The HeartLight Endoscopic Ablation System is commercially available at leading institutions throughout Europe and in Australia. The device is investigational in the U.S., and currently the focus of a pivotal trial initiated in 2012. CardioFocus is headquartered in Marlborough, MA, USA.

The post CardioFocus Seals $11M in Debt Financing appeared first on peHUB.

It’s no secret that J.C. Penney has been losing customers over the past year.

The company hired Apple exec Ron Johnson as CEO and began turning the department store pricing model on its head. Instead of setting high prices with constant sales and coupons, the company instead decided to price its clothing at moderate to low prices and ditch the coupons. The strategy was a disaster, and J.C. Penney now finds itself with an estimated $3.5 billion in debt.

Even though the company has ousted Ron Johnson and received billions in loans, the company has a long way to go to rebuild its image with customers. To that end, J.C. Penney this week released a new ad that is an explicit apology to customers who have abandoned the store.

The ad, titled “It’s No Secret,” admits that J.C. Penney “changed” recently. It goes on to state that the company has learned from its mistakes, and will now be listening to its customers. It explicitly asks customers to “come back to J.C. Penney.”

J.C. Penney also appears to be engaging with customers quite a bit more on social network sites such as YouTube and Facebook. The store is acknowledging customer complaints and revealing information such as the fact that the St. John’s Bay brand will be coming back to J.C. Penney stores.

Samsung has been stepping up its game for enterprise security. Their latest offering is KNOX, which will be available on the Galaxy S 4 soon. KNOX not only addresses the security needs for enterprise, but it also addresses the concerns for employees personal privacy. In a nutshell, it keeps work stuff separate from personal stuff by creating two different personas on one phone. It appears the U.S. Department of Defense will grant an approval for Samsung Galaxy smartphones (most likely the Galaxy S 4) as well as Apple iPhones and iPads.

This is really big news for both Samsung and Apple because RIM has always dominated this sector. There’s no question that an approval from the Pentagon would push other businesses to be more accepting of both companies. This is one area that is crucial for continued market share growth and Samsung recognized this long ago. They hired former RIM executives as well as other top security-focused individuals. Recently, Samsung hosted a 2-day meeting in London with other security experts, including the U.S. National Security Agency. The head of Samsung’s enterprise unit, BC Cho said, it’s “a little bit embarrassing” that Samsung phones aren’t being used by government agencies when you consider how many are being sold. Samsung also talked about their more rugged version of the Galaxy S 4, which would open things up for more agencies that require such a device.

If anyone was thinking Samsung was peaking in their market share percentages, you can forget that as this is only going to push those numbers even higher. Who knows, maybe President Obama will get rid of his BlackBerry in favor of a Galaxy S 4.

source: WSJ

Come comment on this article: Samsung KNOX is secure enough for the Pentagon

During the past few months I’ve sat through hundreds of presentations while attending conferences and the company meetings of my clients. Overall, I would rate half of them as being average and a quarter of them as just plain terrible. How can we all work to improve those numbers?

There’s an exciting new area of study called “sales linguistics” that provides key strategies on how to structure language-based interactions that turn skeptics into believers. The goal of sales linguistics is to understand how salespeople and their prospective customers use and interpret language during the meetings and presentations.

From a sales linguistic perspective, every interaction has three stages, and each stage requires different linguistic strategies. The opening stage comprises the few minutes at the beginning of the talk, the main stage is the longest period of interaction where the main messages are delivered, and the closing stage is the time at the end of the speech. For example, if you were making a 30 minute presentation, the opening stage would be about seven minutes, the main stage would be seventeen minutes, and the closing stage six minutes.

Your personal demeanor should vary at each stage, moving from approachability (not overfriendliness or too formal) in the opening to confidence when talking in the main stage. At the close, you want to establish “situational dominance.” Most people mistakenly equate this term negatively to the use of brute force to overwhelm someone. Conversely, situational dominance is when the listener chooses to accept and internalize your words so they follow your advice.

The goal of the first stage is to establish a behavior interruption. Put yourself in the position of the listener for a moment. You’ve sat through thousands of different presentations, and you probably have a lot of other things on your mind. Therefore, the first step should be to perform a behavior interruption to break the listener’s mode of thinking and stand out from previous memories.

The behavior interruption starts the process of building rapport, engages interest, and provokes open-mindedness. It successfully sets the stage for the remainder of the speech. But what exactly is a behavior interruption? Let me explain with the following analogy. An Apple iPod can store thousands of songs. We have several iPods in my household, and I frequently listen to my daughter’s to check out the latest hits. As I thumb through her playlists, each song has just a few seconds to capture my attention. If the introduction isn’t interesting, different, or exciting, I immediately move on to the next song.

Do not equate a behavior interruption to simply telling a joke or funny story at the beginning of your presentation. A behavior interruption is pre-meditated language structure. For example, I worked at a company whose core technology was originally developed by the California Institute of Technology and funded by a grant from NASA. Explaining the origins of the company during presentations — not with one simple slide with a few bullet points, but using highlights of the project and its successful results set against the black backdrop of the space shuttle in outer space — was a great behavior interruption.

You should consider this fact when structuring the main section of your presentation. The average person will hear only seven and a half minutes of a one-hour presentation and remember only half of the words he or she hears. In essence, we don’t listen and our conscious mind rejects far more words than we actually hear. However, the subconscious mind acts as a reservoir for this overflow of information.

One sales linguistic persuasion technique that can be used to present information is the metaphor. Metaphors are stories, parables, and analogies that communicate ideas by using examples that people can relate to and identify with. Metaphors enable complex concepts and theories to be explained in an understandable, interesting, and persuasive manner. Using metaphors is a nonthreatening way to present your point of view, facts, and directions you would like your audience to follow.

The power of metaphors lies in their individual interpretation. While the conscious mind is listening to the content of the surface-level story, the subconscious mind is deciphering its own message. For example, every cigarette package contains a factual warning from the surgeon general that smoking causes cancer. However, I highly doubt these warnings are actually preventing people from smoking. Rather, I believe the personal stories you see on television told by previous smokers about their tremendous health problems are far more influential.

The language structures to be employed during the closing section should include commands and presenting foreground and background suggestions. A command is an instructional statement that creates a binary type of yes or no response from the recipient. It is typically associated with a hard close and “take it or leave it” mentality. Foreground suggestions (medium close) are explicit, but they deflect the source of the request from the demander. Background suggestions (soft close) lead recipients to believe they are acting of their free will when in fact they have been directed to follow a message.

Let’s pretend I am a passenger in your car and I feel you are driving too fast. A command would be “Slow down!” A foreground suggestion would be “You know the speed limit is 45 mph and police ticket a lot of speeders here.” A background suggestion would be “A speeder was in a horrible accident last week in this exact spot.” While the background suggestion may be more subtle in its delivery, it can trigger a more profound reaction.

Every presentation is based upon the complex process of communication consisting of verbal and nonverbal messages that the listener receives consciously and subconsciously. However, since we are talking all the time we tend to take the process for granted. Persuasion is not about getting others to acknowledge your arguments; it’s about making them internalize your message because they believe that it is in their best interests. Ultimately, persuasion is the ability to tap into someone’s emotions and reach the deeper subconscious decision maker within that person.

Jon Stewart is set to take a break from “The Daily Show” in order to direct his first feature film, “Rosewater”, and the show already has his replacement lined up.

John Oliver, who has been a contributor on the show for years, will take over hosting duties at the desk starting on June 10th. His first guest will be actor Seth Rogen.

Oliver acknowledges that Stewart’s shoes won’t be easy ones to fill, saying, ”Don’t worry, it’s still going to be everything that you love about The Daily Show, just without the thing that you love the most about it.”

Oliver is an Emmy-winning writer and hosts “John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show” on Comedy Central, which features the best stand-up comedians in the business. Stewart returns to “The Daily Show” on September 3rd.

@tjd6080 don’t you think @iamjohnoliver will be a great and interesting replacement for Jon Stewart?

— Omar Hamoush (@SW3RVH4M) May 1, 2013

The important stuff: who is John Oliver, the man in the unenviable position of replacing Jon Stewart for 3 mos.? buff.ly/13be2TJ

— Jennifer Naylor (@JTNaylor) March 20, 2013

4/5 Jon Stewart is taking a break from the Daily Show to direct a film; BRITAIN’S John Oliver is his replacement vulture.com/2013/03/jon-st…

— The Guardian Guide (@guideguardian) March 6, 2013

On April 30th, while announcing Skype video messaging for the desktop, Microsoft let it be known that the feature would be coming to the Windows 8 app soon, as well. The company did not lie — soon arrives today. The communication app already had video calling, but Skype Video Messaging lets you record and send a video message, as opposed to making a live call. This enables getting your message across, even when the recipient is away from his or her PC or phone — think SMS with video capability.

The new version of the Skype “Metro” app is officially 1.7 and available now from the Windows Store, although the feature is still considered a “preview”.

Microsoft purchased Skype two years ago this month and has been slowly working the functionality into its software, such as Windows and Outlook.com. The company has also made Skype a feature of the Office 365 Home Premium subscription, by adding premium minutes into the package, along with expanded SkyDrive storage.

Microsoft’s Yamin Khan tells us that “as we continue to test Video Messaging in its early release, we’d love to hear your feedback so we can continue to make improvements. Please let us know what you think of this feature by posting in the Skype Support Network”. The company has proven to be much more responsive in recent times, so if you have a comment or suggestion then I recommend following Khan’s advice.

In my job and many jobs like it, stock photography is one of those necessary evils. Sure, the images are corny and contrived, but sometimes you just gotta use them.

Often, we will spend time browsing stock photo services, simply looking for the most ridiculous images available. Seriously, if you have access to any stock photo service, it’s worth your time. See how many dude-in-a-suit-with-his-legs-propped-up-on-his-desk-talking-on-the-phone photos you can find. Then, work your way to photos of women happily eating salad. Be careful, though – it’s a timesuck.

That’s why this song is so hilarious to me. Hopefully, you’ll find it just as funny.

[Bob Sleigh via BuzzFeed]

Naming a child is a difficult decision for expecting parents, but some don’t take it as seriously as others.

Take, for instance, the New Zealand parents who lost custody of their daughter after naming her Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii. In light of that incident and others, the country has now expanded its banned names list to include a wide variety of strange names.

According to an AFP report, the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs has issued a list of 77 banned names. The list reportedly includes the names Anal, 4Real, V8, Queen Victoria, Lucifer, Mafia No Fear, and 2nd.

The department also bans names such as King, Duke, Princess, and Justice that could convey a title. In particular, the AFP reports that Justice and intentional misspellings such as Justus or Juztice have been rejected numerous times.

The country also bans names that contain numbers or characters, such as a period. A New Zealand Herald report states that parents attempting to use a backslash between two names have been denied in the past. Parents attempting to name their child using initials have also been turned down by New Zealand officials.

Final Book Now Available

Over the course of several decades, copyright protection has been expanded and extended through legislative changes occasioned by national and international developments. The content and technology industries affected by copyright and its exceptions, and in some cases balancing the two, have become increasingly important as sources of economic growth, relatively high-paying jobs, and exports. Since the expansion of digital technology in the mid-1990s, they have undergone a technological revolution that has disrupted long-established modes of creating, distributing, and using works ranging from literature and news to film and music to scientific publications and computer software.

In the United States and internationally, these disruptive changes have given rise to a strident debate over copyright’s proper scope and terms and means of its enforcement–a debate between those who believe the digital revolution is progressively undermining the copyright protection essential to encourage the funding, creation, and distribution of new works and those who believe that enhancements to copyright are inhibiting technological innovation and free expression.

Copyright in the Digital Era: Building Evidence for Policy examines a range of questions regarding copyright policy by using a variety of methods, such as case studies, international and sectoral comparisons, and experiments and surveys. This report is especially critical in light of digital age developments that may, for example, change the incentive calculus for various actors in the copyright system, impact the costs of voluntary copyright transactions, pose new enforcement challenges, and change the optimal balance between copyright protection and exceptions.

[Read the full report]

Topics: Engineering and Technology | Computers and Information Technology

I just can’t help it. Every time I hear or see the word “Targus” I’m taken back to the mid-1990′s. I worked in a large IT shop and carried a bulky laptop in an even bulkier bag made by Targus. Let’s just say the ladies weren’t following me and my Targus bag around. They still don’t, but that’s more likely a reflection on me and not my bag of choice!

So when I heard about a new line of smartphone and tablet cases from Targus that offered “understated sexiness,” I was intrigued. Truth be told: they do look quite nice. And Targus is smartly focusing on the newest Samsung phone and tablet, the Galaxy S 4 and Galaxy Note 8.0; the former is expected to sell 10 million units a month.

Here’s how the Melissa Chapman, VP of Tablet and Phone Products for Targus, describes the new Midnight Collection of cases:

“The new cases demonstrate the modern, yet sophisticated style that the Midnight Collection represents. With a soft-to-touch design and on-trend color scheme, the Midnight Collection combines style with protection in a sleek refined package — the ultimate night-out case experience.”

Three of the new cases are for phones: the Slim Laser ($24.99), Snap-On Shell (24.99) and Slim Wave Case ($19.99) fit the Galaxy S 4 and become available this month. Galaxy Note 8.0 owners can pick up the new Kickstand Case for $29.99 in June. Targus says that other cases in the collection will roll out later this year for various mobile devices.

Obviously, there’s no guarantee that carrying a device in one of these new cases out on the town will help you on the singles scene, but it’s nice to see Targus get more in line with the times.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Podcast: Mobile winners and losers in 2012 and what to expect in 2013
• Analyzing the wearable computing market
• LTE-Advanced: what it is and isn’t

Poker Night at the Inventory was a bold experiment for Telltale Games, as it combined a regular poker simulator with different characters from other franchises or properties.

Now, after making some very successful titles like The Walking Dead, Telltale is back with Poker Night 2, a sequel that once again tasks players with competing in poker tournaments against… (read more)

Apparently, no one told Beyonce that there was royalty at her show in London last night.

Princess Eugenie, the daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, was in attendance right down in front, and Beyonce just happened to throw the mic to her for help in singing the “to the left, to the left” part of “Irreplaceable”. It’s something she does at almost every show, but this time around the fan she chose wasn’t too keen on singing for an audience. Reportedly, Eugenie ducked down in embarrassment and took some ribbing from her friends for the rest of the night.

The princess was there with several pals, including James Middleton, brother of Duchess Kate. The Mirror reports that, until the incident, she was having a grand old time.

“[She] was really excitable and filming the whole thing on her iPhone like any other fan.”

By Damon Brown

The morning of our wedding, my wife and I only had one major discussion: Should we bring our cell phones? She loved Facebook as much as I loved Twitter, and since we’ve lived and made friends all across the country, the social networks made it easier to stay connected to our loved ones far away. We wanted those who couldn’t make it to the wedding to feel connected, too. But we decided to put the smartphones away. Our decision turned out to be the right one: I can honestly still remember every single moment of the ceremony. I was fully present.

A few months later, my favorite uncle shared some good news: He had pictures — hundreds of pictures — from our wedding day. He’d gotten some gorgeous shots, he said, and he couldn’t wait to send them to us. He also told me that he couldn’t wait to get the official video, since he’d been distracted and missed a lot. He was excited to watch a recap of what had happened because he had been busy trying to capture the beautiful moments as they were actually happening.

At this point, the discussion usually veers into our overly plugged-in society — the subsidized cell phone industry makes photo-ready smartphones really cheap, the prevalence of phones encourages everyone to take more pictures, our phones encourage us to use them every time they buzz, etc. But let’s throw that red herring back into the digital river. Our need to capture our memories certainly didn’t start with Instagram.

The decisions I, my wife, and my uncle faced are part of the same conflict humans have had throughout time: how do we capture and save a potentially significant moment? It is the prehistoric caveman making images on the wall, the elementary-school class creating a time capsule, every man in an army platoon getting the same tattoo right before a battle. Each moldy Polaroid, FourSquare check-in, and uploaded YouTube video creates a breadcrumb trail back through our lives. We want these archives, whether digital or physical, to point back to the very real experience we had, or, just as importantly, to give us insight into someone else’s experience. Silicon Valley tech culture expert Paul Philleo calls these mementos anchors of memory.

If you picture all the experiences in our lifetimes as drops in the ocean, anchors of memory are those manmade landmarks reminding us that something of note is located there. Without them, we risk forgetting our most important moments in a sea of mundane recollections. For instance, the first time you visit the Statue of Liberty, you may create an anchor of memory that is physical, like writing a passage in your diary, or an anchor of memory that is virtual, like checking into the location on an app. The physical anchor of memory takes up physical space and requires physical maintenance: keeping your diary dry, finding a safe place to store it, etc. A virtual anchor of memory takes up virtual space and requires time maintenance: making sure your account is active, managing relationships on the check-in service, etc. The physical anchors of memory represent the stuff we make the space to own, which constitute our possessions; our virtual anchors of memory represent the stuff we make the time to upload, which create our virtual shadow. In both cases, we’ve reserved a spot for a particular symbolic gesture in our life.

To better understand the anchors of memory, let’s look at them as what a programmer would call them: pointers. A pointer is an empty object whose sole purpose is to represent something else with actual content. The Polaroid doesn’t contain your 1978 family reunion, but it points to the memory of that event in your mind. A Twitter status is 140 organized symbols that, for you, trigger a particular idea. Or, in more physical terms, a city mile marker is merely metal with scribbles on it, but it shows you where you have to go to get to that particular place.

But what happens if the pointer, this empty piece of symbolism, aims at something that is inaccurate, incomplete, or, worse, not of value at all?

This essay has been excerpted from the new TED Book Our Virtual Shadow: Why We Are Obsessed with Documenting Our Lives Online, by culture writer Damon Brown, creator of the app Quote Unquote and author of more than a dozen books, including Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture. His new TED Book takes a look at what happens to us as individuals in a world of infinite status updates, constant tweeting, obsessive Instagraming. It answers the question: Does documenting our lives keep us from living them? And more important: How can we use social media tools, which satisfy a real need to be heard and remembered, to help us stay present in actual life?

“Our Virtual Shadow” is available for the Kindle, Nook, or through the iBookstore. Or download the TED Books app for your iPad or iPhone. Read more »

Larry Page met with LG Electronics CEO Koo Bon-joon in Seoul last week to discuss ways to improve their partnership and how to form an alliance in futuristic projects. When it comes to mobile market share, it’s dominated by Samsung and Apple, but LG wants a bigger piece of the pie. Word is that LG is already working on the next Nexus phone, but it appears that LG wants to extend their partnership in TVs and Google Glass as well. As to TVs, LG is looking to implement Google TV in their OLED TVs. Nothing was mentioned regarding Glass, but it has me intrigued.

LG is definitely in the upswing as their sales have been strong for both smartphones and TVs, and they are now in the third position behind Samsung and Apple for mobile market share. I will say that LG seems to be doing it right with building the Optimus brand as well as investing heavily in proprietary features such as the Value Pack for the Optimus G Pro. If LG plays its cards right, they just might be able to steal more market share from both Apple and Samsung. Could we be looking at a three way race this time next year?

source: Korea Times

Come comment on this article: LG CEO meets with Larry Page to improve partnership, confirms another Nexus phone is in the works

Two famous print brands offered up glitz and booze in New York City this week to persuade advertisers to invest in their growing vats of video content. The hoopla was part of Newfronts, a week-long push by media companies of all stripes to recast themselves as mini TV studios — and to grab a piece of television’s massive ad budget.

In the case of the Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast, the companies are borrowing the language of the TV industry and inviting advertisers to sponsor “documentaries,” “shows” and “original programming slates.” The actual content, however, is typically a collection of 2-4 minute web clips and the marketing pitch often invites a single brand to slap their name on the entire package.

Will it work? Both the Journal and Conde Nast are relying on their historic brand power to attract video sponsors and, like everyone in media, are serving up their wares on all screens. But the two companies are also taking different approaches to scale and strategy. Here’s a look at their offerings, and how the companies are framing their new video identities.

A video start-up inside 100-year-old magazines

Conde Nast wields considerable cultural and political power through titles like Vogue and Vanity Fair and GQ — but that doesn’t mean the company and its famous editors Anna Wintour and Graydon Carter, who were on an hand at Conde’s ad event, know much about making video. Many readers, meanwhile, may not even know the videos exist.

Appearing to recognize that print prowess doesn’t automatically transfer to video, Conde Nast went on a hiring spree, bringing in “video natives” from companies like the Huffington Post and CW Networks, and giving them rein to create content in a hands-off environment. The “start-up” (that’s Conde Nast’s word for the venture) is known as CN Entertainment and is also working with TV veterans who produced fare like Mad Men and Project Runway.

CN Entertainment’s output has been trickling out for a while, and includes video series like GQ‘s “10 Essentials” and Glamour’s “Elevator Runway.” On Wednesday, the company announced over 30 new “original programming slates” that include Wired’s “Angry Nerd” and programs tied to titles like Teen Vogue, Epicurious and Vanity Fair.

The new offerings represent a big expansion for Conde Nast’s video efforts. But they but also come at a time that other companies are rushing to offer original programming too — AOL, Yahoo and the Weather Company were just some of sites who made similar announcements this week.

To avoid being over looked in this flood of content, Conde Nast is relying on syndication deals with sites like Twitter and YouTube. The company is also promising to spend heavily on marketing in order to assure advertisers that someone will actually watch the videos.

“It’s on us to make people know the brands are in the business to create video. A lot of people fall down with the philosophy of ‘build it and they will come’” Fred Santarpia, Chief Digital of CN Entertainment, told me at the event. He said the company might, for instance target GQ magazine readers with Facebook ads to make sure they’re aware of the brand’s videos.

Santarpia said he could not disclose revenue figures, only saying they were “healthy.”

Not your father’s Wall Street Journal

For the last year, the Wall Street Journal has been pursuing its “WSJ Everywhere” strategy that involves producing a lot of content and putting it in as many places as possible — from the iPhone to the X-box and more.

Unlike Conde Nast, the Journal has been relying heavily on its existing print teams to crank out the content. This typically means pulling reporters before a makeshift studio in the Journal offices or even recording them via Skype from their homes and hotel rooms. The result has been plenty of video but a mixed bag in terms of quality.

Now, the Journal appears to be increasing its efforts to pluck out the best stuff and package it as discrete channels. At a splashy event on Monday morning, executives touted the Journal’s proximity to power brokers and invited advertisers to become exclusive sponsors of fare like “Seib & Wessel,” a senior journalist chat fest.

“This isn’t your father’s Wall Street Journal,” war reporter Michael Phillips told the crowd. Perhaps to drive home the point, the event also featured appearances by rapper MC Hammer and a Bloody Mary stand to help ad and media executives start the week off right.

The Journal also announced a new documentary series “WSJ Startup of the Year,” sponsored by the NYSE, that will feature famous entrepreneurs like Richard Branson kicking the tires of upcoming companies. The paper is also betting on lifestyle video content like “WSJ Cafe” and clips from popular sports writer Jason Gay.

According to Chief Revenue Officer, Michael Rooney, people are watching the videos because they are attached not just to the paper but to the Journal name.

“They want to follow this brand anywhere and anyhow they can get the content,” Rooney told me at the event, adding that advertisers understand the viewers are high income people and will pay top dollar to reach them. WSJ is now streaming 20-25 million videos a month with premium cost-per-thousand view rates coming in at $40-$60 a month.

Early innings for old brands and new video tricks

This week’s ad outreach by Conde Nast and the Journal comes at a time when digital display dollars are proving insufficient to offset the inexorable decline of their legacy print products. The turn to video promises higher ad income as online viewing takes off, and big brands contemplate moving more of their TV budgets to the web.

The video strategy seems obvious but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. To actually pull this off, the print companies will have to persuade advertisers that their videos can reach a wide enough audience to be worth their time (this is likely the reason the New York Times pulled down its paywall for online video last week).

At the same time, they will have to compete with a host of other media outlets suddenly jostling for video dollars too, as well as newer outfits like PopSugar and Break Media who have already figured out how to produce compelling videos on the cheap.

This flood of content from all corners could also depress the high rates that are attracting brands like Conde and the Journal to video in the first place. And while a tilt of ad dollars from cable to online video seems inevitable, no one knows when this will actually occur.

“The market is growing. Everything points to more money moving into space,” said CN Entertainment’s Santarpia. ”It’s early —  only time will tell.”

Asked to frame it in baseball terms, Santarpia said it’s only the second inning for the online video industry — and the first for companies like Conde Nast.

(Image by Yuri Arcurs via Shutterstock)

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Managing infinite choice: the new era of TV user interfaces
• Report: The Live-Stream Video Market
• How consumer media will change in 2013

The popular U.S. version of TV comedy The Office is finally ending its eight-year run.

The Office, which is the American spin-off of the British Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant comedy of the same name, caught on with American viewers largely due to Carell’s Michael Scott character. Carell left the show in 2011, and ratings have been falling ever since.

So, when it comes to the big finale, the question on everyone’s mind is whether Carell will be making a guest appearance as Scott. Unfortunately for long-time fans, it doesn’t appear that Carell will even be making a cameo in the final episode.

A Reuters report on a conference call with The Office Executive Producer Greg Daniels states definitively that Carell will not be a part of the finale. Daniels stated that Carell felt his final episode on the show was a good end for his character.

The final episode of The Office will air on May 16 and will be an hour long. Daniels revealed that the finale will be patterned after the the finale of the British series, in which the characters meet again after becoming famous.

Man, I love The Matrix. Remember when Leo and his girlfriend go to the computer whatever to rescue Moshimo? Ah man, that part was classic.

“My mom hadn’t seen (or heard of) the Wachowski’s classic sci-fi film The Matrix. We watched the entire movie together and right after she told me what it was all about,” says creator pixelspersecond.

[via reddit]