Leaders from the 13 unions representing Boston Globe employees say that parent company New York Times Co. is demanding they agree to $20 million in concessions within thirty days — “or else the paper will be shuttered,” according to union officials who met with parent company management.

NYTimes Co. executives met Friday with union leaders in closed session, and discussed cutbacks and concessions that include “pay cuts, the end of pension contributions by the company, and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees now enjoyed by some veteran employees.” Concessions will be negotiated separately with each of the newspapers’ unions.

The Boston Globe has published continuously since the 1870’s, is among the top 20 newspapers in the U.S. (in terms of circulation), and is the largest newspaper in the region.

But the newspaper is on track to lose an estimated $85 million in 2009 “unless serious cutbacks are made,” according to the Globe article on the subject. They also report that, last year, the paper lost an estimated $50 million.

The Times Co., with troubles of its own [related stories here], posted a net loss of $57.8 million last year and no longer has deep-pocket latitude to maintain operating losses at its newspapers.

Other major-market newspapers are facing similar employee pay cuts, furloughs, staff reductions, and more  — or have suffered, as a consequence of not cutting back, the complete shutdown of their operation.

Just in the past six weeks, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer eliminated its paper edition and went online-only. The Rocky Mountain News announced an abrupt shutdown of all operations. Four Michigan papers, including the Ann Arbor News, are scaling back to 3x/week print editions – or firing all their staff and “going digital.” And late last year, the Detroit Free Press scaled back home delivery to three days/week, and the Chicago Tribune declared bankruptcy, shortly after the Christian Science Monitor unveiled plans to shift from paper edition to an all-digital publication.

Advertising revenues for newspapers are “falling off a cliff,” and as both advertisers and readers spread their attention and money among multiple media, newspapers are scrambling to cut costs and find new revenue models, while still providing a breadth and depth of news coverage in their local markets.

Image: Thomas Claveirole

Today, a report from Credit Suisse speculated that Google’s YouTube video sharing site could be on track to lose approximately $470 million in 2009.

Google bought YouTube in late 2006 for what was, at the time, a staggering $1.76 billion, mostly in stock. YouTube snags the lion’s share (41%) of U.S. online video watching, according to ComScore’s 2008 figures, putting it far ahead of second-place Fox Interactive and its MySpace website.

While the CreditSuisse analysis predicts that YouTube will generate $240 million in revenues during 2009, that income will be far outstripped by the estimated $711 million in payouts for operating expenses and licensing costs, etc. during the year. Credit Suisse also projected YouTube will serve 75 billion video streams in 2009, up 38% compared with last year.

“In our view, the issue for YouTube going forward is to increase the percentage of its videos that can be monetized (likely through more deals with content companies) and to drive more advertiser demand through standardization of ad formats and improved ad effectiveness,” the analysts wrote.

Much of YouTube’s traffic comes from user-generated content, which can be a challenge to monetize, but makes up the lion’s share of the video library on the site. It does look as though YouTube is planning a new push to follow the CreditSuisse recommendations. Just earlier this week, ClickZ wrote of widespread rumors that the video site was taking steps to feature more prominently network and professionally-produced videos — and to send user videos to the minor leagues.

Google seems headed for Microsoft’s money-losing-behemoth status. Microsoft, as I’m sure you know, is hugely profitable in the software/operating system business — but consistently loses money with its xBox 360 gaming platform (both with the initial manufacture of the systems, and later, with widespread hardware failures), and with its Zune portable media player.  Deep corporate pockets keep the unprofitable business units afloat.

Google, on the other hand, started out as a search engine, and has been acquiring other tech properties over the last several years, which gives Google added business and a broader base of services to provide — but is a drain on corporate profits. It’ll be interesting to see what they do to try to turn around the YouTube money drain, and turn a profit.

Podcasting network Wizzard yesterday reported a 2008 fourth-quarter loss of $1.8 million, or 10 cents per share.

For all of 2008, the podcasting and speech technology company reported a nearly $7.7 million loss, or 23 cents per share, on revenue of $6.1 million. On the positive side, Wizzard also recently reported a record 307 million download requests during the fourth quarter of 2008, contributing to a record 1.2 billion requests throughout the past calendar year.

Another positive fact to note is that the 2008 $6.1 million revenue figure is also a record amount, and an 18% increase over their Wizzard’s 2007 totals.

CEO Chris Spencer told investors in a conference call Wednesday that the company, which went public in 2008, was “working aggressively to reach profitability.”

For the fourth quarter of 2008, revenue dipped year-over-year 6 percent to $1.4 million. (One might note that this fall in revenue coincided with a general real estate and stock market meltdown during the last several months of the calendar year.) For the total year, revenue rose 18 percent, from $5.16 million in 2007 to $6.1 million in 2008.

Musikmesse 2009:TASCAM has announced an update for their DR-100 Portable Recorder that supports high-resolution 96kHz/24-bit recording.

The free software update, version 1.10, is being quality tested and will be available for download from the TASCAM website at the end of April. The DR-100 now supports sampling rates from 44.1k to 96kHz, 24-bit or 16-bit WAV recording and MP3 recording.

The TASCAM DR-100 has a pair of XLR mic ins with phantom power for adding pro condenser microphones. In addition, the DR-100 has four built-in electret condenser mics – two cardioid and two omni – and a built-in speaker for playback.

It’s powered either through an included Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery or AA batteries. aAnalog line inputs and outputs are also available, as well as a mic stand mounting hole for recording flexibility.

If you’ve used the TASCAM DR-100, leave a commen with your thoughts!

Apple Insider reports that Stanford University will be publishing a video podcasts and slides from its “iPhone Application Programming” course via iTunes U beginning this week.

Official, for-credit enrollment in the class is limited, but the public may “audit” the class via podcast for free. Required “school supplies” for the class include an Intel-powered Mac, and optional-but-recommended supplies would be an iPhone.

The ten-week podcast series will publish the class lectures on developing for the iPhone and iPod touch within a couple days of the each class meeting.

The Apple Insider’s Prince McLean says of the development class (and its podcast):

“Last summer, Sanford’s announcement that it would begin offering an iPhone development course raised eyebrows among pundits who were busy worrying that Apple would use its iPhone development NDA [non-disclosure agreement] to stop the classes. Instead, Apple assisted Stanford, relaxed its NDA terms, and is now working help the school reach an even broader audience.”

The “iPhone Application Programming” course podcast is available via iTunes U (Apple iTunes link), or at the Stanford on iTunes website. The podcast is free.

Last weekend, we cautioned you against speaking ill of others while using popular microblogging Twitter. Our cautionary tale featured rocker, actress, and famous-for-her-outbursts personality Courtney Love. She is being sued by Austin fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir (aka Boudoir Queen), for calling her “nasty lying hosebag thief” and a drug addict and a prostitute.

Today’s sobering example features Web startup zillionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban is being fined $25,000 for trash talking on Twitter. He was said to be “criticizing the referees and some of the calls, and lack of calls that were or were not made,” during last Friday’s NBA game against the Denver Nuggets.

Granted, Cuban is outspoken. One of the things he is most famous (infamous?) for is speaking colorfully and candidly [see our article about his keynote remarks at the 2007 Blog World Expo here]. But as the owner of a professional basketball team, should he be held to more stringent standards about his public comments? (Esp. when the comments are about the game, during the game?)

The only instances we’ve seen, so far, of fines, or legal action, resulting from offhand criticism vented on Twitter, have involved famous people. So far.

Is it just a matter of time before the trickle-down economics of social media reach non-famous people, and run-of-the-mill folks will start getting sued or fined for ill-considered Tweets?

What expectations should we (and our employers, our neighbors, et al) have for users’ remarks on Twitter? What behavioral code should we set for ourselves?

Odeo, podcasting startup-turned-online “digital media management” company, announced today that it has executed a Software as a Service (SaaS) contract with a(n unnamed) NY-based Fortune 100 financial institution. This is the firm’s first enterprise software customer.

Founded in 2005 by Evan Williams (Blogger, Twitter) as a consumer-focused podcasting portal, Odeo had some ups and downs, and ultimately was acquired by an investor/management team with an enterprise software bent, back in 2007. Odeo shifted its focus to video sharing and publishing for business users.

Odeo President, Rick Arturo, dubs the announcement a pioneering step into “an enormous new market: enterprise video management.”  The company points to the corporate trend to “share knowledge” in the business world via video. They explain that Odeo’s Enterprise Media Platform (EMP) enables companies to organize and manage large and rapidly growing video libraries.

Odeo explains that its SaaS solution “pushes” video content to users and provides the corporate client a range of management analytics. The company is, they say, “in the process of building out its channel partner model.”  On the consumer (not-business) side, www.odeo.com provides a podcast website and directory.

The Wall St. Journal reports today that video podcaster and energetic force of nature Gary Vaynerchuk has signed a “seven-figure, 10-book deal” with publisher Harper Studio. The first of the series, “Crush It! Turn Your Passion into Profits in a Digital World,” will be published in September.

The publishing contract is noteworthy for a couple of reasons: the total dollar amount is large (all those zeroes!), and, outside the rarefied atmosphere of Internet video and Twitter, Vaynerchuk is relatively unknown.

On the Internet, however, “GaryVee” is something of a rock star. He has a legion of fans [80,000 viewers, according to Tech Crunch] who watch his weekday wine video podcast, “Wine Library TV.” He has additional video projects, including Gary Vaynerchuk.com, and a small-but-growing roster of web shows featuring other personalities, like Samantha Ettus’ “Obsessed.” Over 100,000 people follow him on Twitter. He gives keynote addresses to big audiences at geeky conferences like Web 2.0, and South by Southwest.

Although his initial popularity came via his knowledge of wine (he is the owner of the retail store Wine Library), Vaynerchuk quickly expanded his subject matter to include entrepreneurial advice, social media expertise, and general all-around enthusiasm about the things and people he’s crazy about.

This is not the first time a podcaster has landed a lucrative publishing deal. Other content creators, including science/horror author Scott Sigler, have parlayed writing talent and a monster-sized online fan base into book contracts, introducing their new media creations to an old media audience. [See our interview with Sigler here.]

This is not Vaynerchuk’s first foray into writing and publishing, either. His book, “Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines: Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World,” was published by Rodale in summer 2008, and was the centerpiece of a “social media book tour” which was organized and publicized on a shoestring budget via social media.

Our exclusive interview with Vaynerchuk, from the Des Moines stop on his book tour, is here. While we talked, he was smart, funny, kind, and so boundlessly energetic, it was very hard to keep up.

We’ll be interested to see if he can “bring the thunder” (a catch phrase from his Wine Library podcast) of his online popularity into the old-media, book-buying public.

Applications developer Car29 has launched a new iPhone application, GPS StoryRecorder [iPhone App Store link], which allows users to record location-specific “geocasts” to share with others.

GPS StoryRecorder works on both the iPhone and the iPod Touch (2nd generation) to record whatever the user says, and save it to the user’s exact geographic location. The application automatically plays back the recordings whenever the user returns to that location.

The developers suggest that the app would be useful for describing real estate listings, highlighting or reviewing of local attractions or businesses, tellling stories about community history or conducting neighborhood walking tours, and treasure hunts.

Soon, the company plans to release a related networking app which will allow these individual geotagged recordings to be shared globally.  Car29 already has a resource site, GPS Storyteller.com, which features a collection of audio tours from locations around the world.

The iPhone app sells for $1.99.

Sony today unveiled a new high-definition camcorder, the HDR-TG5V Handycam.

The camcorder captures 1920×1080 high-definition video and can snap four-megapixel photos. The model includes 16GB of Flash memory (a portion of which is used for data management), embedded GPS and a new “intuitive” user interface for the touch-panel LCD.

The HDR-TG5V has a built-in GPS antenna and NAVTEQ digital maps, so that photographers can geo-tag their videos and photos, documenting destinations on a map. Geo-tagged content is marked at each shot location, and can be played back on the camcorder map index display on the 2.7-inch (measured diagonally) wide LCD touch panel. This map-browsing feature also works on the computer using the included Picture Motion Browser software.

The 16GB of embedded memory accommodates over six hours of high definition video footage (in LP mode). Users can also capture content onto separately-purchased Memory Stick PRO Duo media to add recording time.

A new graphical user interface helps personalize menus and sort through captured content. “Smile Shutter” technology automatically captures faces when they smile, even while recording video at the same time and “Face Detection” technology recognizes and enhances faces by auto-correcting focus, exposure and color control.

In addition to a BIONZ Image Processor that works with an Exmor CMOS sensor for pristine imaging, the camera features a Carl Zeiss® Vaio-Tessar lens with 10X optical zoom designed specifically for compact camcorders. A built-in flash is provided for still images in low-light situations.

Pricing and Availability

The HDR-TG5V camcorder will ship in May and suggested retail price is around $1,000. An optional travel kit (Sony ACC-TCH5) with a battery, travel charger and pouch will set you back another $100. There is also a wide angle conversion lens (Sony VCL-HGE07TB) accessory costing about $100.

More information is available at www.sonystyle.com.