Finland Law Will See ISPs Send Warnings to File-Swappers

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Draft legislation was approved in Finland last
week that will see Internet service providers (ISP) in the country send out
warning letters to subscribers believed to be engaging in file-sharing of
copyrighted works, TorrentFreak reported.

Unlike the case with France, repeat
offenders will not have their Internet connections suspended, nor will their
identities be turned over to copyright holders.

"The proposed approach is
taken to guarantee that the subscriber’s identity data stays with the Internet
service provider and is not disclosed to the copyright holder," Government
Minister Jorma Walden said in a statement.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/28jygad
(TorrentFreak)

Google Pays $8.5 Million to Settle Buzz Privacy Lawsuit

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
2

Mountain View, Calif. – Google (NASD:  GOOG) said on Tuesday that a
federal judge has approved a class-action settlement resolving a lawsuit filed
by Gmail users, who alleged that last February’s launch of the Google Buzz
social networking and messaging tool violated their privacy. Under the
agreement, Google will create an $8.5 million fund, with most of the money
going to organizations focused on Internet privacy education and policy.

At
issue was the default launch setting on Buzz that automatically added a user’s
Gmail contacts to their list of Buzz contacts, displaying who a user
corresponds with without his or her prior permission.

"We will also do
more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people
know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be,"
the company wrote in an email to Gmail users.

The court will consider final
approval of the settlement on Jan. 31.

 

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/37j2nno

http://www.buzzclassaction.com

http://buzz.google.com

Report: U.S. Mobile Ad Spending to Hit $5 Billion in 2015

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Spending on mobile advertising in the U.S. will
grown from $797.6 million this year to $5.04 billion in 2015, according to a
report from mobile ad firm Smaato.

The firm notes that the U.S. now counts over
300 million active mobile subscriptions, almost one-third of which use their
mobile phone to browse.

The U.S. is the second-largest mobile ad market, behind
Japan, which is expected to see over $1 billion in mobile ad spending this
year.

Smaato added that the current average mobile ad campaign spend is between
$75,000 and $100,000 in the U.S. — much higher than in other countries.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/24fadyo

Web, Mobile Use Among Young Americans Spikes in Past Decade

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – The media consumption habits of young people
in the U.S. (ages 12-24) have changed dramatically over the past ten years, as
the Internet, mobile devices and online music and video have begun to supplant
traditional TV and radio, according to a study by Edison Research.

The average
time spent on the Internet among 12-24 year-olds grew from 59 minutes per day
in 2000 to 2:52 in 2010.

Daily radio listening fell from 2:43 in 2000 to 1:24
in 2010, and time reading newspapers declined from 17 minutes a decade ago to
just 8 today.

Despite the rise of online video, TV viewing actually increased
slightly, from 2:37 in 2000 to 2:47 today.

Eighty-one percent of 12-24
year-olds own their own cell phones today, compared with just 29% in 2000; 43%
said their current cell phone is a smartphone.

Nearly half (46%) own an iPod,
and another 35% own a portable MP3 player other than an iPod.

Sixty-five
percent report they have downloaded music online, with 23% reporting iTunes as
the source; 19% saying they downloaded via file-sharing networks; 13% shared
via email or physical drives; 12% cited music blogs; and 10% downloaded tunes
from artist websites.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2dk3cmt
(PDF)

Times of London Adds 105,000 Online Paid Subscribers

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Paris – News Corp.’s (NYSE:  NWS) U.K. newspapers The Times and The
Sunday Times of London have added 105,000 paying online subscribers, since
beginning to charge for Web access in June, The New York Times reported.

News Corp.
told The Times that that about half of these are regular active subscribers,
while the rest occasionally purchase subscription content.

This figure does not
include subscribers to the print edition who receive free online access;
another 100,000 subscribers have so far activated their digital subscriptions.

"These figures very clearly show that large numbers of people are willing
to pay for quality journalism in digital formats," said Rebekah Brooks,
CEO of News Corp.’s News International unit.

News Corp. had predicted that
traffic to the sites would drop 90% after the subscription "paywall"
was erected; Nielsen reports that traffic to the newspaper sites fell by 42%.

 

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2asm2y4
(N.Y. Times)

Symbian Mobile Platform Receives $31 Million Investment

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London – The Symbian Foundation, which develops the Symbian
mobile operating system used in Nokia (NYSE: NOK) phones, has received a $31 million
investment from the Artemis Joint Technology Initiative, a program sponsored by
the European Commission.

The funding will go to SYMBEOSE, a consortium created
by the Symbian Foundation that also includes 24 organizations from 8 European
countries, comprising handset makers and other consumer electronics firms,
network operators, universities and research institutions.

Proposed uses for
the investment include the development of new core platform capabilities;
support for cloud computing; and moving Symbian to future mobile platforms and
embedded devices.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2djhre9
(Symbian blog)

https://www.artemis-ju.eu

Wal-Mart's Vudu Bundles Free Stream With "Toy Story 3" Purchase

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Los Angeles – Vudu, the online video streaming service
acquired by Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) earlier this year, announced on Tuesday that consumers
purchasing a DVD or Blu-ray copy of "Toy Story 3" will receive a free
digital copy from Vudu.

Wal-Mart has previously bundled digital copies of
movies purchased on disc in its stores, but in those cases the digital copy
cost extra.

The Vudu service will let consumers stream "Toy Story 3"
to a home theater system, or to a PC or Mac via Boxee’s free media center
software.

 

Related Links:
http://blog.vudu.com/?p=831

Report: 28% of U.S. Mobile Subscribers Own Smartphones

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – Over one-quarter (28%) of U.S. mobile
subscribers now own smartphones, according to a third quarter survey from
Nielsen.

Among Americans who purchased a new handset in the past six months,
41% opted for a smartphone — up from 35% in the second quarter.

Nielsen found
that BlackBerry maker Research in Motion’s (RIM) (NASD: RIMM) operating system now powers
30% of all U.S. smartphones, followed by a closing-fast Apple (NASD: AAPL) (28%), and
Google’s (NASD: GOOG) Android (19%); Android was the top handset among those buying in the
past six months.

Demographic research shows that 50% of Android smartphone
owners are under 35, but Apple still counts the greatest number of smartphone
users under the age of 44.

U.S. smartphone owners are also more diverse than
non-smartphone owners, as one in five are Latino — compared to just 9% of
non-smartphone owners.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/38vbeld

Porn Company Sues 7,000 Alleged File-Swappers

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – An adult film producer has filed suit against
more than 7,000 individuals believed to have illegally shared copies of its
"Batman XXX, A Porn Parody" online, CNET News.com reported.

Axel
Braun Productions filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in the Northern
District of West Virginia.

The move follows several waves of lawsuits filed by
porn producers against file-swappers, including Third World Media and Huster
founder Larry Flynt.

Lumping large numbers of defendants into a single lawsuit
has proven controversial; digital civil liberties group the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) has condemned the practice.

 

 

Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20021438-261.html

Electronic Arts Signs Five-Year Deal to Use Facebook Credits

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Redwood City, Calif. – Video game publisher Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS)
announced on Tuesday that it has signed a five-year partnership with Facebook,
to make Facebook Credits the exclusive payment method for EA games on Facebook.

The publisher’s "Pet Society" and "Restaurant City" titles
are among the top ten games on Facebook by daily active users, and recently
debuted a Pogo Games casual games channel in beta there.

As part of the
agreement, EA will receive the same 70% revenue share for Facebook Credits that
is standard for all developers on Facebook.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2ceek34

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