Reading List: Hulu on the Block?

Each day we collect the five top stories from around the Web.

Hulu on the Block?: The Wall Street Journal has an intriguing, vague story that Hulu has a suitor wanting to buy the popular premium video hub. The Journal confirms this story with multiple sources, yet it doesn’t produce a name. That of course leads to a parlor game of guessing not just who would want to buy Hulu but who would possibly be acceptable to its media company owners. That would seem to rule out Google. Apple? It does have plenty of cash, although media companies are leery of it as a gatekeeper. Maybe Yahoo is making a stab at regaining its momentum? WSJ

Culture of Code: Everyone wants to know the future of the agency model. AKQA chief creative officer Rei Inamoto puts forth that it’s time agencies start to think like tech companies. He writes in Fast Company how agencies should embrace the “culture of code.” There’s little doubt that ad agencies need to get more comfortable with technology, but there is the risk that they’ll just become mediocre tech outfits, since the best coders aren’t likely to work at ad agencies. But tech is still an afterthought at many agencies, according to Inamoto, where it’s relegated to an execution role. There’s little doubt that wherever the future of the agency ends up, it will always take a stop off the idea vs. execution debate. Fast Company

Harsh Words for Digital: Despite what Inamoto writes, the days are long past when ad agency types turn their noses up at digital. Nowadays everyone is falling all over themselves to pay homage to the Web’s awesome powers. ClickZ’s Zach Rodgers notes an interesting counter movement at the Cannes ad festival — it’s calling itself a “creativity” festival now — to put digital in its place. Ali Ali, creative director at indie agency Elephant Cairo, thinks its time to move on from obsessing about social media and all things interactive. ClickZ

The End of Anonymity: The Web for a long time was defined by a New Yorker cartoon that showed a dog at a computer. “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog,” the caption read. Not so anymore. The NYT checks in with a story by Brian Stelter on how the Web nowadays means pretty much the end of anonymity, whether people want it or not. He cites the recent example of a young woman who berated a train conductor, only to have her cringe-worthy spiel — “Do you know how educated I am?” — posted online and her identity revealed. Overall, however, the end of Internet anonymity should lead to much more civility online. NYT

Turntable.fm Gains Fans: The latest “it” startup seems to be Turntable.fm, a spinout from the founders of Stickybits. The site lets people enter into listening rooms, where they compete to be DJs. There are also avatars and it’s not as weird and Second Life as it sounds. Peter Kafka at All Things D pronounces the service “awesome,” only to rain on the parade by wondering about its legality. But Kafka writes that while his instincts are to skip out on startup up hype, “this one feels pretty special.” All Things D

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