The media sector performed well in 2009, recovering $200 billion of value, or 63 percent of what it lost in 2008, online content providers and distributors made up more than half of these gains, according to a new report by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. The largest gains were in China, where the media sector market value increased by 200 percent.

Earlier this month, Polaroid announced a multi-year strategic partnership with Lada Gaga, which will see the pop superstar serving as the company's creative director for a specialty line of Polaroid Imaging products. This was highlighted at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which WebPronews attended. While we were there, we had the opportunity to speak with Polaroid Chief Marketing Officer John Pollock ,

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas earlier this month, Intel had a lot of things going on. For one, they introduced a whole new family of Intel Core Processors . They also had a cool proof-of-concept device on display. This was something they call the Intel Infoscape. Infoscape is a giant display featuring cubes of information, and users can walk up to it and access all kinds of different content - Google News, Tweets, blogs, Flickr images, etc.

WebCertain has announced that it will host an International Search Summit in Berlin in June. The Summit will be co-located with Localization World and will take place on the pre-conference day, Monday 7th June. There is a great synergy between the two events, as they both focus on the challenges and solutions to globalization and localization . The International Search Summit agenda is yet to be announced however it will cover the key topics of international search,

Whether you're snowed in or enjoying sunny weather this weekend, take some time to read up on these Google updates: Google Custom Search has made some changes to the hosted home page . Google Analytics has made annotations available for all accounts . Google Maps now offers personalized suggestions . Google Image search for mobile has added Popular Image browsing . The Google Research team blogged about building cluster applications .

In honor of yesterday's International Data Privacy Day, Google published its five privacy principles . They are: Use information to provide our users with valuable products and services. Search history informs personalized search , but users can opt-out. Develop products that reflect strong privacy standards and practices. For example, you can chat on Google Talk "off the record" so the conversation isn't saved. Make the collection of personal information transparent.

Social bookmarking site Delicious has updated the ability to filter viewing options - plus added a new way to browse your bookmarks that is very StumbleUpon-like. First up, there's a new display options menu tucked into the top right corner of your bookmarks display. This is for when you're viewing "My Bookmarks" - not on the main page. Here's what it looks like: Delicious also gave the option menu treatement to the tags section on the right sidebar in "My Bookmarks.

With February starting next week, Id like to take a minute to highlight some of the posts weve done over the past month with specific focus on advertisers in industries that typically see a seasonal spike with the new year. If you fall into.

I'm always amazed to hear VCs describe themselves as "value added investors." Not because I am skeptical about their ability to add value. More because I think all investors need to be "value added." If the only thing you do as an investor is hand out money, you are in big trouble. There's a lot of money out there. And it isn't that hard to hand it out. If all you are as a venture investor is a money dispensary, you are as fungible as the money that you are handing out.

Hi Everyone, This week, we have a very special guest blogger! Bob Keating, our editor-in-chief, has prepared some personal thoughts and insights on the directory's next decade. Enjoy! Emily - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The other night I was watching an old episode of the TV show "Six Feet Under," in which the character Ruth is coaxed by a friend to attend a self-help seminar called, "The Plan." The Plan uses the house as a metaphor for examining and re-building one's life.