Today’s Scuttlebot: Reflections on Myst, and Understanding the BlackBerry Buyout Move

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On YouTube, ‘Lyrics Videos’ Mark a New Genre

Maroon 5’s lyric video for their song, “Payphone,” is one of the most popular examples of a new, emerging genre on YouTube.

If you had searched for a “lyrics video” on YouTube in 2008, you might have found a touching homegrown tribute from a fan who urgently wanted to share the poetical lyricism of their favorite song with the world.

In one instance, a Guns N’ Roses fan lovingly presented the lyrics to the power ballad, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” over a montage of images of their family dogs.

Now, these handcrafted homages have evolved into more formal offerings from name-brand musicians, who see them as an additional source of views, and revenue.

Since 2011, the number of views for lyrics videos have increased seven times, according to YouTube.  The top 500 lyrics videos pulled in 624 million views this year, compared with 84 million in 2011. Also, the number of lyric videos uploaded to the site have doubled over last year.

“We’ve seen them getting more creative and sort of becoming this other art form,” said Kevin Allocca, YouTube’s head of culture and trends. “It offers artists a lot of things you can take advantage of before you have an official video.”

Lyrics videos are faster and cheaper to produce than standard music videos. They require no sets, costumes, lighting, production design or directors. And they can be made available early in a song’s release cycle to pique the interest of fans.

Lady Gaga, Vampire Weekend, One Direction and even the Rolling Stones are all pumping out official lyrics videos to pair with (or preview) a song’s release.

When Cee Lo Green’s popular song, the sometimes politely titled “Forget You,” was first released as a lyrics video in October 2010, it was an early, bold entrant in the genre. Sharp fluorescent backgrounds and moving block type emphasized the song’s frank dismissal of a former loved one and helped catapult the song on YouTube.

Since then, official lyrics videos have grown as creative exercises in using animated text effects and clever conceits to share a song’s meaning with its fans.

Katy Perry has been a leader in inventively toying with lyrics videos, Mr. Allocca said. When she released the lyrics video for her new summer single, “Roar,” the screen displayed a scroll of animated text-messages matching both words and text-messaging icons to her verses.

The video received 45 million views since it was uploaded, many before her “official” video for the same song was made available. That presented the singer leaping through a faux Technicolor jungle in Tarzanesque drapery, with no lyrics to be seen.

Searches for lyrics videos have also peaked in the last few months, spiking higher along with major song releases, according to YouTube.

Even smaller bands, like the Sydney-based group, “For All Eternity,” are putting out lyrics videos. Some of them have outperformed the band’s traditional music videos, said the band’s lead vocalist, Shane Carroll.

Part of this may be because the band’s songs carry Christian themes that are nearly impossible to decipher over their music, which Mr. Carroll describes as, “a hybrid between post-hardcore and melodic metal-core.” But also, lyrics videos simply make it easier for fans to connect with the music, he said.

“CD sales have declined dramatically,” Mr. Carroll said. “Kids can’t open a physical booklet and read the lyrics anymore.”

“It’s a lot easier to share our music with people that may not listen to our style of music,” he said, “if we can link them up to something like a lyric video.”

Daily Report: Alibaba Is Said to Shift I.P.O. Focus to U.S.

The Chinese Internet company Alibaba has ended talks with the Hong Kong stock exchange over an initial public offering and is now moving forward with plans to list in New York, a person close to Alibaba said on Wednesday.

In its discussions over a potential listing â€" which, at as much as $15 billion, would be a huge victory for any stock exchange â€" Alibaba had proposed to officials in Hong Kong that the company’s 28-member partner committee be allowed to continue to nominate a majority of its board of directors, Neil Gough reports.

Hong Kong discourages companies from organizing in a way that favors dual-class shareholding over individual shareholdings, or gives one shareholder a disproportionate say over how a company is run.

The company has yet to appoint underwriters for an I.P.O. or submit filings to sell shares in any market. Alibaba has, however, hired an American law firm to work on its offering and it plans to “be hiring banks soon,” the person said, declining to be named because the information was not public.

Analysts and investors expect Alibaba’s listing â€" if, when and where it happens â€" to be one of the biggest and most highly anticipated since Facebook raised $16 billion in May 2012.

Alibaba was founded in 1999. Its partner committee was set up in 2010 and includes Jack Ma, the executive chairman. The partners own about 10 percent of the company, and the committee does not include SoftBank, the Japanese telecommunications company that owns 36.7 percent of Alibaba, or Yahoo, which has a 24 percent stake.

Alibaba’s online businesses include Alibaba.com, which links overseas buyers with Chinese exporters; Tmall.com, which lets retailers connect with online shoppers; and the consumer-to-consumer retail Web site Taobao Marketplace.

The company’s profit more than tripled in the first quarter of the year, rising to $668.7 million from $220.5 million in the period a year earlier, according to Yahoo’s stock exchange filings. Quarterly revenue increased 72 percent, to $1.38 billion.

Daily Report: Automating the Search for a Last-Minute Reservation

It can require stamina to land a table at New York’s great restaurants, but what few diners realize is that procrastinators often have access to the best seats.

Cancellations and V.I.P. tables are often released into the reservation system at the last minute, for those prepared to call or search online. A handful of new services are finding ways to eliminate that step altogether, automating the process so that people don’t even need to search for open seats. Instead, diners are alerted to those openings â€" in some cases, in real time, Tejal Rao reports.

In July, Jason Davis, a New York entrepreneur and software engineer, started Last Minute Eatin’, an automated Twitter account that alerts diners to available reservations on OpenTable. The idea sprang from his own reluctance to plan ahead.

“I love New York City restaurants and I hate keeping a schedule,” he said. Every few minutes, the program runs through the 1,000 listings with the greatest number of user reviews (regardless of whether they are positive or negative), along with listings for new restaurants that he picks. It then sends alerts on a few good finds (like a 7:30 p.m. table for two at the Dutch in SoHo) every 20 minutes, along with a link to book the table.

Mr. Davis is not the only entrepreneur who sees potential hidden in OpenTable’s vast trove of data. Reed Kavner, a product manager at the crowdfunding Web site Piggybackr in San Francisco, began Rezhound in January after several unsuccessful attempts to eat at Nopa. The free service allows users to choose specific restaurants and dates of interest across the country, then alerts them by text or e-mail the moment a table opens up. (In Chicago, Mr. Kavner said, requests for Stephanie Izard’s restaurant Girl & the Goat account for almost all use.)

Amazon Updates Kindle Fire Line

In the dark of night, very late on Tuesday, Amazon.com announced a refresh of its Kindle Fire tablet line: lighter, faster, cheaper. The Fires were introduced two years ago, and this is their second update in a tablet environment that is brutally competitive.

Microsoft, for instance, announced the new generation of its struggling Surface tablets earlier this week. And the devices are getting more proprietary. Tesco, a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, introduced a tablet this week for its customers.

Amazon said the Kindle Fire HDX, at 8.9 inches, would be 34 percent lighter than the previous version. It would have a faster memory and a faster processor, and 11 hours of battery time for mixed use. If you did nothing but read, it would be 17 hours.

In its announcement, Amazon trumpeted the Fire’s new “Mayday” button, which it will be touting in television commercials. Tap the button and you will be connected to an Amazon expert “24/7, 265 days a year.”

Which brings up the question: Why is this feature needed? Were the previous Fires so complicated they were beset by confused customers?

Alas, the Amazon public relations team is not as voluble as the Mayday squad, and no answer was forthcoming Tuesday night.

The cheapest Fire will sell for $139, a substantial discount from the previous version. But it is hard to tell how the Fire is doing because Amazon does not release sales figures. This is clear: It is very far behind the iPad. Apple sold about $33 billion worth of iPads in the last year. Amazon’s total revenue in 2012 was less than twice that, and Amazon sells many, many other things besides Kindles.

“The challenge for Amazon is expanding its appeal beyond Amazon’s super fans,” said Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forester analyst. “They’re not the market leader, or anywhere near it. The risk is they fall by the wayside like Barnes & Noble â€" max out their base and then have nowhere to go.”

Next up, according to the rumors: Kindle TV, a set-top device that will feed Amazon’s burgeoning selection of video content directly into living rooms. Stay tuned.

Amazon Updates Kindle Fire Line

In the dark of night, very late on Tuesday, Amazon.com announced a refresh of its Kindle Fire tablet line: lighter, faster, cheaper. The Fires were introduced two years ago, and this is their second update in a tablet environment that is brutally competitive.

Microsoft, for instance, announced the new generation of its struggling Surface tablets earlier this week. And the devices are getting more proprietary. Tesco, a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, introduced a tablet this week for its customers.

Amazon said the Kindle Fire HDX, at 8.9 inches, would be 34 percent lighter than the previous version. It would have a faster memory and a faster processor, and 11 hours of battery time for mixed use. If you did nothing but read, it would be 17 hours.

In its announcement, Amazon trumpeted the Fire’s new “Mayday” button, which it will be touting in television commercials. Tap the button and you will be connected to an Amazon expert “24/7, 265 days a year.”

Which brings up the question: Why is this feature needed? Were the previous Fires so complicated they were beset by confused customers?

Alas, the Amazon public relations team is not as voluble as the Mayday squad, and no answer was forthcoming Tuesday night.

The cheapest Fire will sell for $139, a substantial discount from the previous version. But it is hard to tell how the Fire is doing because Amazon does not release sales figures. This is clear: It is very far behind the iPad. Apple sold about $33 billion worth of iPads in the last year. Amazon’s total revenue in 2012 was less than twice that, and Amazon sells many, many other things besides Kindles.

“The challenge for Amazon is expanding its appeal beyond Amazon’s super fans,” said Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forester analyst. “They’re not the market leader, or anywhere near it. The risk is they fall by the wayside like Barnes & Noble â€" max out their base and then have nowhere to go.”

Next up, according to the rumors: Kindle TV, a set-top device that will feed Amazon’s burgeoning selection of video content directly into living rooms. Stay tuned.