Web Development Live

Even MTV is pushing into the local arena. Through a partnership with Zvents, mtvU has , they feature events, restaurant and bar reviews, local search and campus resources. They’ve also tapped into content from the College Media Network — the college newspapers MTV recently acquired — as well as RatemyProfessor.com, another MTV property. The idea is to bring in both national and local advertisers. “Brands like a Domino’s Pizza might want to advertise in a context that is truly local,” said mtvU’s general manager Steven Friedman. There are 25 sites to start with plans to launch 25 more. Here’s University of Washington…

I think this is a terrific idea — in fact, the best idea I’ve seen from MTV in years — and it makes perfect sense given mtvU’s touchpoints with the college community. The site is well-designed, Zvents is a solid events source, mtvU has plenty of great promotion avenues (college papers and mtvU) and local campus representatives will help with the site at each college. And there are plenty of national and local businesses who want to advertise to college students in their natural habitat.

Another example of for a newspaper company: the New York Times Company announced that online advertising revenue grew .9% in July for its news media group “as more moderate growth in display advertising was partially offset by continued weakness in online recruitment advertising.” But NYTCO says August is trending better.

Watching on TV? Online? What DNC coverage and technology ideas are worth taking to the RNC in Minneapolis? Which are a bust? Comment away…

Updated: Lots of links from Denver for your browsing pleasure. If you have any more you’d like to point out, please leave in comments.

    - Lots of live online coverage from the DNC: (live “in HD”) and I’m sure there are many more I’m missing.
    - CNN spends close to $100,000 for
    - As you might imagine, wiring the DNC is an .

    - The news media and bunches of bloggers are doing their thing from “The Big Tent,” . Hundreds of bloggers + free alcohol = we’ll see…
    - Speaking of Digg, it’s debuting , a new feature that will let people submit and vote up questions for elected officials. The first session is with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi at the convention.
    - Poynter has put together a fast-and-furious feed of the journalists covering the DNC. Maybe I’ll Twitter about it.
    - “Obama Girl” goes at DNC with entertainment-oriented coverage.
    - Google sets up a with lots of tools.
    - bulks up news offerings for conventions.
    - in Denver to cover the coverage of the DNC.
    - And as we wrote about earlier, C-SPAN has launched , too, with live coverage via mobile phones.