Archive - Feb 24, 2009 | Digital Media Wire

Depeche Mode Offer iTunes Store "Season Pass" for New Album

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 2:30pm.

Denver - Depeche Mode is the first musical artist to take advantage of the "Season Pass" option at Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store, and will offer a $19 "subscription" to its forthcoming album "Sounds of the Universe" on the service. The subscription will include an instant download of the single "Wrong" and a remix of another track from the album, due April 21. Other elements include access to new music and exclusive videos before the album's release date, and a full copy of the record and other exclusives after its release.

Vudu Offers HD Movies for Purchase and Download

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 2:28pm.

Santa Clara, Calif. - Vudu, the provider of a set-top box-based Internet video-on-demand service, announced on Tuesday that it now offers high-definition films for purchase and permanent download. Previously, Vudu had offered its library of over 1,400 HD movies only for rent; about 50 of these are now also available for outright purchase, for between $13.99 and $23.99.

tags: Video | HD | Movies | Vudu |

Social Music Service imeem Adds Android Support

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 2:27pm.

San Francisco - Social music service imeem on Tuesday introduced a version of imeem Mobile that supports Google's Android platform for mobile phones. The service lets users access and stream their personal imeem music library through their Android-powered phones.

tags: Mobile | Music | Imeem | Android |

Ticketmaster Settles With N.J. AG Over Springsteen Incident

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 1:47pm.

Los Angeles - Ticketmaster Entertainment (NASD: TKTM) has settled charges brought by the New Jersey Attorney General that it shunted ticketbuyers from its flagship site to an auction site where tickets sold for far above face value, Billboard reported. The company will pay $350,000 to cover fees associated with the AG's investigation, and also agreed to stop linking customers to its TicketsNow secondary ticketing auction site for at least one year.

Irish ISP Eircom to Block The Pirate Bay, Other P2P Sites

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 1:10pm.

Dublin, Ireland - Eircom, Ireland's largest Internet service provider, has complied with a request from the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) trade group to block access to file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, according to published reports. Eircom has also agreed to refrain from mounting any legal objections to IRMA efforts to have it block access to other sites deemed to be infringing by the IRMA.

Eircom

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 1:09pm.

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Nokia Seeks 1,000 Voluntary Resignations to Cut Costs

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 12:13pm.

Espoo, Finland - Cell phone maker Nokia (NYSE: NOK) announced on Tuesday that it will seek 1,000 employees to take voluntary resignations as part of a plan to further cut costs in the current economic downturn.

tags: Mobile | Nokia | Layoffs | Cellphones |

Bloomberg: Obama to Name Leibowitz as Head of FTC

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 12:01pm.

New York - President Barack Obama is set to name current Federal Trade Commission member Jon Leibowitz as the next chairman of the agency, an administration official tells Bloomberg.

Report: U.K. Prefers Amazon Over Apple for Media Downloads

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 11:42am.

London - Online retail giant Amazon (NASD: AMZN) is the most preferred vendor for digital music, video and video game downloads in the U.K., beating out Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store, MSN and eBay in a consumer survey conducted by market research firm Strategy Analytics.

Case Against McCain Over Use of Browne Song Advances

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 11:27am.

Los Angeles - Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has lost a bid to have his name removed from a lawsuit filed by songwriter Jackson Browne against him and the Republican National Committee, over their use of Browne's song "Running on Empty" in a presidential campaign ad. U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner said that, despite McCain's contention that he had no involvement in developing the ad, and had not even seen it before the lawsuit, "once an agency relationship is established, the principal is liable for the acts of her agent, even if the principal does not expressly authorize or instruct her agent to take any action."

John McCain

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 11:25am.

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Peter Chernin to Step Down as President, COO of News Corp.

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 9:39am.

New York - Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) announced on Tuesday that president and COO Peter Chernin, also CEO of the Fox Group, will leave the company when his contract expires on June 30. "Peter's contributions to the Company over the past two decades have been immeasurable," said News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. "It is understandable that at this stage in his life he would want to do something new after serving News Corporation and our shareholders so well for so long."

Gawker, Huffington Post Top List of Most Valuable Blogging Firms

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 9:09am.

New York - Gawker Media, the New York-based publisher of popular blogs including Gawker, Jezebel, Gizmodo, Lifehacker and Jalopnik, tops a newly released list of the 25 most valuable blogging companies, as determined by 24/7 Wall St.

Microsoft Tells Laid Off Workers to Keep Overpayments

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 9:07am.

Redmond, Wash. - Hoping to fix a public relations fiasco, software giant Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) has done an about-face, telling more than two dozen recently laid-off employees to keep extra severance pay they mistakenly received.

tags: Microsoft | Layoffs |

Fillpoint Acquires SVG Distribution & Crave Entertainment

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 8:34am.

Newport Beach, Calif. - Fillpoint, a provider of online distribution, fulfillment and e-commerce services for national retailers, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired the Handleman Company's video game distribution and publishing units, SVG Distribution and Crave Entertainment Group.

PopCap Games Acquires Gastronaut Studios

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 24, 2009 - 8:19am.

Seattle - PopCap Games, a developer and publisher of casual games, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired Gastronaut Studios, a developer of titles for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console and Xbox Live online game service.

Do You Believe The Scientist Saying That Facebook and Bebo Risk 'Infantilizing' the Human Mind?

Authored by Jay Baage on February 24, 2009 - 7:48am.

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tags: Social Networking | Facebook | Bebo | UGC |