I've been thinking a bit about Google and MSN's recent entry into the classifieds space. Not quite long enough to pen a Fourth Estate article yet - but long enough to share a few paragraphs with you.

You have to hand it to Apple. When Steve Jobs sneezes, everyone else falls over themselves to catch pneumonia. Following on from the integration of Disney TV programming with the iTunes store, both CBS and NBC Universal television network announced this week that they would be selling shows a few hours after broadcast at 99 cents an episode through video-on-demand services on cable and satellite. Like Lost and Desperate Housewives on iTunes, the programs
will run commercial free.

The news that Spielberg will be working with leading games developer Electronic Arts to develop three original game properties is confirmation of the broader integration between gaming and the entertainment world that had to happen.

Whether it be chasing online eyeballs or trading for silk and spices, the West has had a long fascination with expanding Eastwards. The lure is part growth fetish, part colonial fervor. But there is a catch. Unlike the Opium Wars of an earlier age, this time round the Orient may have the technology advantage.

Hang out long enough in LA, and you could be forgiven for thinking that Hollywood is an approximation of hell – people without talent chasing people with money without heart. Fortunately, it also happens to be a highly efficient machine for the creation and exploitation of
entertainment franchises. But as many are finding out the hard way – the Web, like love, changes everything. And the film industry will be no exception.