Third Trial of File-Swapper Jammie Thomas Begins in Minn.

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Duluth, Minn. – Ars Technica provided courtroom coverage of
the first day of file-swapper Jammie Thomas-Rassett’s third trial, where a jury
will be tasked with determining how much she should pay for sharing 24 songs
online. The first trial’s results were discarded due to faulty jury instructions;
the judge slashed the second trial jury’s award of $1.92 million to $54,000,
and that still-disputed amount has led to the third trial that kicked off
today. The trial has been limited to two days, comprising a re-cap of the
evidence and arguments presented at the last two trials for the benefit of the
new jury.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/29uzbwf
(Ars Technica)

Microsft Adds Facebook Social Features to Bing Search

By
Mark Hefflinger
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0

Redmond, Wash. – Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) has rolled out new social
features on its Bing search engine, which will see results related to Facebook
friends appear when users search on Bing. The integration will also retrieve
results based on items "liked" by a Bing searcher’s Facebook friends.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/393o3rw
(Bing blog)

Blu-ray Creators to Receive Technology & Engineering Emmy

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – The National Academy of Television Arts &
Sciences (NATAS) will honor the companies that developed the Blu-ray disc
format with an Emmy Award for Technology & Engineering. Panasonic, Royal
Philips Electronics, Sony (NYSE: SNE) and TDK will be honored during a presentation at the
2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/277j8zo

SoundExchange, RightsFlow Team to Dole Out $1M in Royalties

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington – SoundExchange, the entity set up by the
recording industry to collect and distribute digital royalties, said on
Wednesday that it has partnered with digital licensing and royalty services
provider RightsFlow on a new initiative to identify hundreds of recording
artists owed over $1 million in royalties. The companies jointly identified
1,675 artists and 63 labels using RightsFlow’s services who have unclaimed
funds at SoundExchange.

 

Related Links:
http://www.soundexchange.com

http://www.rightsflow.com

U.K. ISP BT Seeks Data Safeguards in File-Sharing Complaints

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London – U.K. Internet service provider BT plans to ask a
court to alter the way in which its subscriber data is handled during
file-sharing copyright investigations, TorrentFreak reported.

The move comes
after a court granted BT’s request to halt the bulk transfer of customer
identities, in the wake of a massive data leak by ACS:Law, one of the law firms
handling copyright holders’ complaints against suspected file-swappers.

"Any
rights holder seeking future bulk disclosure of BT or Plusnet’s customers via a
court order will be asked to agree to our new approach," the company said
in a statement to TorrentFreak.

"The safeguards we aim to establish via
the Court are on the security of data handling, a threshold for providing a
customer’s details based on a minimum number of separate incidents, the tone of
contact with broadband subscribers and a reasonable approach to financial
compensation sought."

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/263j7a6
(TorrentFreak)

http://tinyurl.com/283puuj
(DMW previous coverage)

Apple to Increase iTunes Song Samples From 30 to 90 Seconds

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco – Apple (NASD:  AAPL) will soon extend the length of streaming song samples
available on iTunes from 30 seconds to 90 seconds, CNET News.com reported,
citing a post on the blog of digital music distributor Symphonic Distribution.
The longer samples will apply to songs greater than 2.5 minutes in length.

Apple
has reportedly been in talks with performing rights organization BMI and other
groups on new licenses covering longer samples.

"Some of the discussions
with rights holders may still be ongoing, according to music industry
sources," CNET reports.

"But Apple apparently feels they are close
enough to a final deal to inform their partners at the labels."

 

 

Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20021578-37.html

http://symintranet.com/blog/?p=3273

Intl. Trade Commission Doubts Apple Patent Claims Against Nokia

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Washington – The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC)
has indicated it does not believe Apple (NASD: AAPL) has a strong patent infringement case
against Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Bloomberg reported.

The agency said in a pre-hearing memo that
"the evidence will not establish a violation," noting that some
patent claims were invalid and others did not amount to infringement.

Apple claims
that Nokia is infringing four of its patents, and has petitioned the USITC to
block the import of Nokia devices into the U.S.

For its part, Nokia has also
sued Apple for patent infringement, and instigated similar claims against the
company with the USITC.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/34o2yyz

Curt Schilling's Games Firm 38 Studios Raises $75 Million

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Providence, R.I. – 38 Studios, the video game developer
founded by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, announced on Wednesday that
it has raised $75 million in connection with a bond sale orchestrated through
the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC).

The company will now
relocate from Maynard, Mass. to Providence, R.I., bringing with it 450 high-wage,
high-skilled jobs to the state, according to RIEDC.

38 Studios’ first product
will be a single-player role-playing game, the company announced earlier this
year.

 

Related Links:
http://38studios.com

Facebook Debuts "Deals," Single Sign-On for Mobile

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Palo Alto, Calif. – Facebook on Wednesday introduced a
number of updates to its mobile offering, including the launch of a new
"Deals" promotional feature for local businesses. Chief executive
Mark Zuckerberg told reporters at a press conference that the company now
counts 200 million users on mobile, triple the 65 million reported a year ago.

The new location-based Deals feature will let users see what promotional offers
are nearby, and share those deals with friends.

Launch partners include 24 Hour
Fitness, Chipotle, Harrah’s, H&M, Macy’s and McDonald’s.

The company also
debuted a new "single sign-on" feature for mobile, which allows a
Facebook login to be used across the third-party applications with which a user
has granted permission for Facebook to share data.

Services supporting single
sign-on at launch include Zynga, Groupon, Loopt, Scvngr, Yelp, Flixter and
Booyah.

 

 

Related Links:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=446183422130

http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=446167297130

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20021521-248.html

AOL Reports Sharply Higher Q3 Earnings After Selling Assets

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Despite a steep drop in ad revenue, shares of AOL (NYSE: AOL)
gained nearly 6% by midday Wednesday as the Internet company reported sharply
higher third-quarter earnings than a year ago.

The company’s stock price was up
5% in mid-day trading on Wednesday.

Net income of $171.6 million — up from $74
million — received a large boost from the company’s sale of assets such as its
ICQ instant messaging unit and investment in travel site Kayak.

Revenue,
however, dropped 26% to $563.5 million, due in large part to a 27% decline in
ad sales.

The company also cited a reduction of its European operations, as
well as its sale of social network Bebo earlier this year.

The company had
about 4.1 million dial-up subscribers remaining at the end of the third
quarter, down 1.4 million from the same point in 2009.

 

Related Links:
http://corp.aol.com/2010/11/03/aol-reports-q3-earnings

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