Archives

Date

Defense Dept. Considering Ban on Facebook, Twitter

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 6:23am.
Washington - The U.S. Department of Defense is considering a ban on the use of all social networking sites, including Facebook and Twitter, on its .mil network due to the security risk posed by hackers infiltrating computers accessing such services, Wired.com reported. "The mechanisms for social networking were never designed for security and filtering. They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions to push malicious code to unsuspecting users. It's just a fact of life," a source at Stratcom told Wired.com. The move would be a reversal of a recent order by the Army that allowed all U.S. bases to provide access to Facebook.

tags: Law | Policy | Social Networking | Facebook | Twitter |

Google Touts 'Click-to-Buy' Song Ads on Wedding Dance Video

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 6:22am.
Mountain View, Calif. - A popular YouTube video featuring a dance-laden walk down the aisle at a wedding, which featured overlay "click-to-buy" ads to purchase the Chris Brown song that was featured in the video, has resulted in a huge boost in sales and searches for the song, Google (NASD: GOOG) said in a blog post. Chris Brown's "Forever," featured in the "JK Wedding Entrance Dance" video but originally released over a year ago, has shot to No. 4 on the iTunes singles chart and No. 3 on the Amazon MP3 chart. It has also spiked searches for "Chris Brown Forever" on YouTube.

tags: Video | Advertising | Music | Google | YouTube | Chris Brown | JK Wedding Entrance Dance |

Digital Distributor WaTunes Offers CDs on Demand via Amazon

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 6:21am.
Detroit - WaTunes, a social media service that lets artists and record labels distribute their music for free on iTunes and other digital retailers, announced on Friday that it has partnered with Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) to offer physical CD distribution on-demand. Under the terms, WaTunes VIP customers will gain free access to the Amazon On-Demand and Amazon MP3 store, while customers of WaTunes' free service can pay a service fee of $10 per album to make their music available on CD through Amazon.

tags: Music | Amazon.com | Amazon MP3 | WaTunes |

WIPO Helps Maasai Digitally Capture, Copyright Culture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 6:19am.
Geneva - The United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is helping the Maasai people of Kenya to digitally record and copyright their native music and oral histories, in a new project that could help other indigenous peoples generate revenue from their cultures, Reuters reported. The Maasai received $12,000 in equipment, along with training from WIPO. It's unclear what they plan to do with the recordings, if anything, but WIPO said it would put them in touch with world music labels like Putumayo.

tags: Music | Copyright | WIPO | United Nations | Maasai |

Musicians, Engineers Craft Robot Gamelan Orchestra

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 6:18am.
New York - The Brooklyn-based League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR) has developed an Indonesian gamelan orchestra populated entirely by robots, Reuters reports. The gamelan, a collection of gongs, chimes, xylophones and similar instruments, is typically played by a group of over a dozen musicians. "What we have is 117 mechanical arms which are essentially mallets that are networked together and controlled from a laptop. So there's no humanoid-looking robot behind it, it's a network of mechanical arms," composer Taylor Kuffner told Reuters. The "GamelaTron" has already performed at more than a dozen venues in the Northeast.

tags: Music | LEague of Electronic Musical Urban Robots | GamelaTron |

Global Gaming Factory Rejects Multiple Bids for Pirate Bay

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 5:43am.
Los Angeles - Global Gaming Factory, the Swedish company currently in the process of acquiring file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, received a $10 million bid for the service from John Fanning, the former CEO of Napster -- but the bid was rejected, TorrentFreak reports. Fanning, the uncle of Napster creator Shawn Fanning, also offered to invest $2 million in GGF's acquisition of The Pirate Bay; it's unclear whether that offer will be accepted.
tags: Deals | Video | P2P | Music | Napster | The Pirate Bay | Acqusitions | Global Gaming Factory | Hans Pandeya | John Fanning |

Report: Arrington's CrunchPad to Ship in November for $400

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 5:40am.
Singapore - The CrunchPad, a tablet PC in the works from TechCrunch technology blog founder Michael Arrington, is expected to be released in November with a $400 price tag, according to a report in the Singapore Straits Times. TechCrunch partnered with Singapore-based Fusion Garage to develop the device, which reportedly has a 12-inch touchscreen and proprietary operating system, but no on-board storage space.
tags: TechCrunch | Michael Arrington | CrunchPad | Fusion Garage |

Italian Copyright Interests Plan $1.4M Suit Against Pirate Bay

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 5:14am.
Los Angeles - A pair of Italian copyright and anti-piracy agencies plan to file a $1.4 million lawsuit against Swedish file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, TorrentFreak reported, adding to legal woes that this week included a Dutch court ruling ordering the site blocked in The Netherlands.
tags: Video | Law | Lawsuits | P2P | Music | Copyright | The Pirate Bay | FIMI | Global Gaming Factory | FPM |

Judge Finds File-Swapper Guilty; Jury to Determine Damages

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 4:54am.
Boston - After the defendant admitted his guilt in open court on Thursday, a federal judge has ruled that Boston grad student Joel Tenenbaum committed copyright infringement on a file-sharing network, leaving the jury to decide whether his infringement was "willful," and determine the amount of monetary damages he will pay the recording industry. Should the jury find that Tenenbaum willfully infringed Sony Music's copyrights on 30 songs, he could be liable for up to $4.5 million in damages.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | P2P | Music | RIAA | Copyright | Sony Music | Charles Nesson | Joel Tenenbaum |

Mobile Internet Use Spikes Among African Americans, Hispanics

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 4:39am.
Washington - The number of Americans, and specifically African Americans and English-speaking Hispanics, using mobile phones to access the Internet has shot up significantly over the past 16 months, according to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The number of African-Americans who reported having accessed the Internet on their cell phones rose from 12% in 2007, to 29% in 2009, while the percentage of English-speaking Hispanics grew from 18% to 29%.
tags: Mobile | Reports | Research | Pew Internet & American Life Project |

Survey: 12% of Online Americans Buying Virtual Goods

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 4:36am.
New York - With the U.S. now accounting for nearly a quarter of the $1 billion market for virtual goods, 12% of online Americans say they have purchased virtual goods in the past year, for use in an online game, virtual world or social networks, according to a report from market research firm Frank N. Magid Associates and micropayments firm PlaySpan.
tags: Games | Social Networking | Reports | Research | Virtual Worlds | Frank N. Magid Associates | PlaySpan |

MySpace Begins Roll Out of New Email Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 4:34am.
Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace has begun to roll out its new email service in the U.S., and will continue to expand gradually to the site's worldwide users in the coming weeks.
tags: Social Networking | MySpace | News Corp. |

Report: Set-top Box Shipments to Pass 200 Million by 2013

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 4:32am.
Dallas - Annual worldwide TV set-top box shipments are expected to exceed 200 million by 2013, boosted by service providers exchanging older models for new devices with advanced features, according to a report from market research firm Parks Associates.
tags: TV | Reports | Parks Associates | Research |

Reed Elsevier to Sell Most U.S. Publications; Will Keep Variety

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 4:30am.
Los Angeles - Reed Elsevier announced on Thursday that it has put a significant portion of the trade publications that make up its U.S. unit up for sale, and that Tad Smith, CEO of the unit, has tendered his resignation, Variety reported.
tags: Deals | Advertising | Acquisitions | Publishing | Variety | Publishers Weekly | Reed Business Information | Reed Elsevier |

Multimedia Production Firm Blowtorch Sees Funding Dry Up

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 4:28am.
New York - Blowtorch Entertainment, a multi-platform media company that launched with $50 million in funding and an ambitious plan to finance feature films, shorts, mobile and social networking elements and live events, is near shutdown after investors pulled out, VentureWire reported.
tags: Mobile | Video | Social Networking | Movies | Closures | Ignition Partners | Blowtorch Entertainment |

PR Newswire Buys Content Management Firm The Fuel Team

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 31, 2009 - 4:25am.
New York - PR Newswire, a provider of electronic press release distribution services, announced on Friday that it has acquired The Fuel Team, whose technology has powered PR Newswire's online newsroom and investor room tools since 2004.
tags: Deals | Acquisitions | Publishing | PR Newswire | The Fuel Team |

Report: EMI Stops Selling CDs to Some Indie Record Stores

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 30, 2009 - 11:53am.
London - Major record label EMI has begun informing some independent record stores that it will no longer sell them physical product, and that if they wish to carry EMI CDs, they will need to purchase them from stores like Walmart or Best Buy and resell them, according to a post on ex-Grosker head Wayne Rosso's blog. "Several [independent record stores] I have spoken with are so upset that they vow never to buy any EMI catalog again -- or any new artist releases either," Rosso wrote. "Only the certifiable hit product that they know will sell. They will no longer take chances on new EMI artists."

tags: Music | Indie | Retail | EMI | Wayne Rosso |

Accused File-Swapper Tenenbaum Admits Guilt at Trial

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 30, 2009 - 11:51am.
Boston - Accused file-swapper Joel Tenebaum admitted in court on Thursday that he did in fact offer songs for upload via his Kazaa file-sharing network account, according to published reports. It seems likely now that Tenenbaum's defense in the copyright infringement case brought by the recording industry will hinge on the damages he will have to pay. Tenenbaum's attorney, Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson, has argued that the $150,000-per-song maximum damage award under the law is unconstitutionally high, and does not reflect actual damages suffered by the labels.

tags: Law | Lawsuits | P2P | Music | RIAA | Copyright | Sony Music | Charles Nesson | Joel Tenenbaum |

TMZ Posts Photo of Steve Jobs Back at Work at Apple

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 30, 2009 - 11:50am.
Cupertino, Calif. - Gossip website TMZ.com has posted a photo taken on Wednesday of Apple (NASD: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs back at work, walking outside on the campus of the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California. Jobs announced he would take a six-month medical leave of absence in January, during which time he underwent a successful liver transplant at a hospital in Tennessee.

tags: Apple | Steve Jobs |

Motorola to Offer Two Android Smartphones This Year

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 30, 2009 - 11:49am.
Schaumberg, Ill. - Motorola (NYSE: MOT) plans to offer two new Google (NASD: GOOG) Android-based smartphones in time for the holiday shopping season, ZDNet reports. "We also have plans for more devices in the first quarter of 2010," Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha said on a conference call with analysts. Motorola currently claims about 5.5% of the global mobile phone handset market.

tags: Mobile | Motorola | Google | Retail | Android |
123456789…next ›last »