Chinese Music Translation Service 88tc88 Adds Grooveshark

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Hong Kong – 88tc88.com, a
service that helps artists translate their works for the Chinese market, announced
that it has signed new deals with Grooveshark, Hello Music and Music with
Subtitles. Grooveshark and Hello Music will offer 88tc88.com services to the
artists using their respective services, while Music with Subtitles founder
Robert Singerman will head business development for the company.


 

Related Links:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/05/prweb4039254.htm

Newzbin Source Code Stolen; Thieves Plan Re-launch

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London
– Days after shutting itself down, following a court ruling that found it
liable for copyright infringement, the source code behind Usenet file-sharing
search engine Newzbin was reportedly stolen by a group that aims to resurrect
the service, The Register reported.

The Motion Picture Association sued Newzbin in early 2009, and in February the U.K. High Court found it
guilty and ordered Newzbin to pay the studios’ legal costs.

The group that
stole Newzbin’s source code and databases on Friday sent an email to former
Newzbin members, stating that “the crew got most of the original Newzbin
source code and the main databases. We loved it too much to let it die.”

The group said it needs to work more on the code to make it run, but expects
the service to be back up soon.

 

Related Links:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/24/newzbin_code_leak/

http://snipurl.com/wrv7k
(DMW previous coverage)

Report: Studios Mull Shrinking Home Video Release Window

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles – The Hollywood movie studios are looking to experiment with
shortening the traditional four-month window between when a movie is released
to theaters and when it becomes available on home video, in a bid to generate
more revenue from new video-on-demand and other services, Variety reports.

For
instance, "Alice
in Wonderland" will become available on DVD three months after its
theatrical release.

Time Warner Cable is also reportedly looking to create a
service that offers movies 30 days after their release, at a premium of $20 per
viewing.

Sources told Variety that nearly every studio told exhibitors they
wouldn’t support a 30-day window, but a 60-day window could prove more
appealing.

Studios also reportedly would like to see a home viewing fee of between
$30 and $50 for films still in theaters.

 

Related Links:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118019804.html

LOST

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Report: "Lost" Finale Breaks BitTorrent Download Record

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Los Angeles
– The series finale of Disney/ABC’s (NYSE:  DIS) "Lost" has broken the single-day
download record on file-sharing network BitTorrent, racking up close to 1
million downloads in less than a day, TorrentFreak reported. At peak times,
more than 100,000 people were sharing a single torrent; the finale is expected
to hit four or five million downloads by week’s end.

TorrentFreak notes that
"Lost" was the second most-pirated TV show on BitTorrent last year,
behind "Heroes," but still saw an average of 1.5 million downloads
per episode.

The producers of the show attempted to curb interest in such
downloads overseas, where U.S. TV shows typically air months later, by
broadcasting the finale in 59 countries simultaneously.

However, TorrentFreak
noted, 15% of all requests for the finale download are coming from Australia —
where the finale is not set to air until tomorrow.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wrp60
(TorrentFreak)

OhMyGov Gets Funding for Social Media in Govt. Blog

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Alexandria,
Va. – OhMyGov, the publisher of a
political blog that monitors the increasing use of social media in government, has
raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from New Dominion Angels.

The
company plans to use the proceeds to expand its social media training, campaign
planning and media analysis services, as government agencies and politicians
race to incorporate Facebook, Twitter and other social media into their
operations.

"Federal, state and local agencies desperately want to
communicate with citizens via social media, but most lack the time, training
and analytic tools to achieve measurable success," said CEO Andrew
Einhorn.

The company was launched in 2008 by former federal senior executive
Richard Hartman, author Mark Malseed and Einhorn, a government consultant and Georgetown adjunct faculty
member.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wrp7x

http://www.ohmygov.com

Google Offered Viacom $592M to License Content to YouTube

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Before Viacom filed its $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against
YouTube, Google (NASD:  GOOG) offered Viacom (NYSE:  VIA) $592 million in guaranteed revenues if the
company licensed its movies and TV shows to the site, according to newly
released documents from the ongoing lawsuit, CNET News.com reported. Back in
2006, Google called content owned by Viacom — which includes MTV Networks,
Comedy Central and Paramount Pictures — the "most valuable content of any
other premium content provider."

Its offer to Viacom was reportedly five
times more than what it offered Time Warner’s (NYSE:  TWX) TBS, and eight times what it
offered CBS (NYSE:  CBS) to license content to YouTube.

Another revelation from the recent
document release was an email from Viacom general counsel Michael Fricklas that
suggests YouTube’s business model is protected under the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act.

"Mostly, YouTube behaves–and why not," Fricklas wrote
in July 2006.

"User-generated content appears to be what’s driving it
right now. Also the difference between YouTube’s behavior and Grokster’s is
staggering. While the Supreme Court’s language IS broad; the precedent is not
THAT broad."

CNET notes that it is unclear what effect, if any, the new
revelations will have on the pending case.

 

Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20005810-261.html

Microsoft Announces Management Changes at Xbox Division

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Redmond,
Wash. – Microsoft (NASD:  MSFT) on Tuesday
announced a major restructuring of the entertainment and devices division that
houses its Xbox team, including the departures of Robbie Bach, who leads the division,
and chief technology officer J Allard. The company said that Bach is retiring,
and his position will be eliminated. "Robbie’s an amazing
business person and close personal friend, which makes his departure a point of
sadness for me," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

"However, given
the strong leadership team he has built, the business performance of E&D
this year and the launches of Windows Phone 7 and ‘Project Natal’ this fall, we
are set up well for success as we continue to drive our mobile and entertainment
businesses forward."

The entertainment and devices division will now be
run by SVP Don Mattrick, head of the company’s interactive entertainment
business, and SVP Andy Lees, head of the company’s mobile communications
business — who will report directly to Ballmer.

In addition to the Xbox, which
has been considered generally a success, Microsoft’s entertainment and devices
division also encompasses its Windows Mobile operating system, and Zune media
player and related services.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wrmiv

http://snipurl.com/wrm9u
(WSJ)

MySpace to Shutter Slingshot Labs Social Media Incubator

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Santa Monica,
Calif. – News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace
online social network is shuttering its Slingshot Labs social media incubator, and
laid off the unit’s entire staff late last week, Valleywag reported.

Slingshot
was set up by former MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe, who left the company a year
ago.

In recent months, the unit saw the departures of president Josh Berman; co-president
Colin Digiaro; chief technical officer Travlin McCormack and others.

Slingshot
was reportedly working on a project a source told Valleywag would have been a
"LinkedIn" killer for News Corp.’s Wall Street Journal, but that
project has now been discontinued.

Slingshot’s accomplishments included the
implementation of SocialPlan, the online invitation service acquired by
MySpace.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/wrkkc
(Valleywag)

http://www.slingshotlabs.com

Yahoo Acquires Mobile Social Network Service Korpol

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Sunnyvale,
Calif. – Yahoo (NASD: YHOO) announced on
Tuesday that it has acquired Korpol, an Indonesia-based mobile social network.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Korpol says its technology is
"a unique blend of location-based conversations, a social city guide, and
a cross platform mobile application."

Yahoo plans to expand the Korpol
service beyond Indonesia,
and launch a BlackBerry application.

"Users are increasingly relying on
mobile devices to communicate and access the Internet and they are looking for
seamless integration between those devices and PCs. This is especially true in
many emerging markets where we are introducing the Yahoo brand to many
new-to-Net users," said Rose Tsou, Yahoo’s senior vice president for Asia.

The acquisition comes a day after Yahoo announced
an expanded mobile partnership with Nokia, that will see the companies
integrate their mapping and mail services.

 

Related Links:
http://blog.koprol.com/2010/05/yahoo-2

http://www.koprol.com

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