Taking a Memorial Day weekend break from his day job as "an assistant professor at the Harvard Business School in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets unit,” Ben Edelman devotes hundreds of online words to “a man’s naked buttocks,” all glimpses of Angelina Jolie – gasp!, and prank phone calls by a pair of Canadian disc jockeys.

All of this entertainment content and more is available at Zango.com. That apparently irks Edelman, although the “why” is much less obvious – even after reading his “research.” Here are the facts about our business. Zango licenses and aggregates online entertainment content from approximately 100 different content providers. Edelman does not – thankfully – review our legal agreements relating to the licensing and use of that content. More to the immediate point, however, he does not let that lack of knowledge get in the way of biased, unqualified blogging.

Like all companies our size and larger in the online entertainment space, we make every effort to abide by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provisions regarding copyright infringement claims. We occasionally do receive copyright-related inquiries about content available at Zango.com and via our syndication platform. In each and every instance, we investigate those claims quickly and resolve them on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the DMCA and its safe harbor. That job starts with the hard work of our content licensing specialists, who have secured permission to utilize the content available to Zango users on our site and via our platform.

Edelman does not like our business model or our content. He never has liked our model, and he probably never will. We’re fine with that, in large part because millions of consumers every day, month after month, year after year, accept the value proposition and do enjoy the content. But what are a few million happy folks amongst “friends”?

On that score, one thing can be said for certain: consumers enjoy Zango a lot more than they do Edelman’s content offerings, at least according to a recent comparison of Alexa rankings. In case you can’t see it, the barely visible line in dark red at the bottom of the chart is his traffic; the dark blue line at the top is Zango’s.

A blog entry from Trend Micro implies that Zango is “possibly in cahoots” with Storm.  To which we respond:  Seriously?  (And who uses phrases like “possibly in cahoots” as part of a so-called security alert or communication, anyway?)  The blog entry is woefully deficient in terms of detail, making verification of any aspect of it nearly impossible.  Nevertheless, because we give all reports and inquiries about our security the serious attention they merit, we have reached out to Trend Micro to see if it actually has any detail to share.  Trend Micro did not communicate with us prior to posting its blog entry late last night; indeed, to this point, our inquiries to Trend Micro have yet to be answered.  Surprising?  Perhaps not; there is already a healthy (and justified) skepticism about this “report” even amongst folks with “no love” for Zango.  We encourage Trend Micro to respond to our communications as soon as practicable.  Responses can be directed to Steve Stratz at sstratz@zango.com or via phone at 425.279.1321.

Today we launched the first-ever Zango widget, which provides quick and easy access to Ultimate Arcade Empire’s Extreme Racing 2 game. There are lots of widgets out there, but this one is special – special enough for us to make this our initial foray into the widget world. 

Our inaugural Zango widget, featuring “Extreme Racing 2” from Ultimate Arcade Empire, is free and does not require the download of Zango’s desktop advertising software. Instead, the game is advertising-supported through a Zango text link – “More Cool Games.” That link appears at the start and finish of each game.

If clicked, that link showcases Zango’s library of free online games. Access to Zango’s complete library of games requires the download of Zango’s desktop advertising software, which can only happen if the quid pro quo of access to free online content in exchange for advertising is agree to by the Internet user. Learn more about Zango’s Best Practices here.

The widget can be played and added to a Web site from: http://www.zango.com.

Finalists for the 23rd Annual CODiE Awards were announced today and Zango.com is one of four Web sites up for the Best Video Content Aggregation Service CODiE.

Presented by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the CODiE Awards celebrate achievement and vision in software, education technology and digital content. Zango joined the SIIA as a member in 2007.

The 2008 CODiE winners will be announced at a gala event on May 20 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Win or not, we’re very proud and honored to be selected a finalist.

Zango’s latest video for the iMediaConnectioniMedia Spot was released today. Rip Warendorf, Zango’s senior vice president of sales, provides insights to advertisers trying to adapt to today’s media and reach target audiences through what we call Misfit Content.

Misfit Content is really any niche content produced and/or distributed outside of mainstream channels, and difficult to fit into conventional content categories or even formats. It is often consumer generated, and when it is not, it is often inspired by consumer generated. It is rife with opinion, attitude and often controversy (which in some cases is all the same thing).  And it vigilantly defends candor over accepted standards of appropriateness.

See Rip and hear what he has to say here and read a related article entitled: “Niche content: brand with an attitude,” here.

In follow-up to Friday’s blog post entitled Fortinet’s ‘Facebook Widget’ Advisory False, Zango earlier today issued a formal press release  confirming that the company had no involvement with the “Secret Crush” Facebook widget.

As a result of the press release, as well as a number of other communications, clarifications and corrections are starting to trickle in. Matt Hines of InfoWorld posted a blog this afternoon that disputes the accuracy and/or interpretation of Fortinet’s Advisory – particularly any assertion that the Facebook widget “secretly installed Zango adware.” In a post entitled “ Zango strikes back over reported Facebook hack ,” Mr. Hines graciously admitted that, “upon further review,” there was “at least” a mistake in interpretation of the Fortinet Advisory on InfoWorld’s part. Apologizing for “any confusion,” Mr. Hines cautioned that “we in the security community who picked up on this story so eagerly should also be reminded to look into all the details of any security bulletin before we report on it.”

For InfoWorld, the truth is this: “it does seem based on the reported details that Zango at least served up its EULA before allowing end users to click through and grab its programs, which is all it is required to do really.”