Facebook Adds Quick Events Creation Tool to Home Page

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Facebook has launched a new feature giving users the ability to create and
invite friends to Events directly from their Facebook home pages. A new
"What are you planning?" field will appear when clicked from the home
page, allowing users to quickly create a simple event listing and share it with
friends. The existing, more-detailed Events tool will also be maintained,
"for more formal events or those you’re planning further in advance,"
the company said in a blog post.


 

Related Links:
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=385671812130

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20003943-93.html

Sony Offers Extended Warranties on PlayStation 3, PSP

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Foster City,
Calif. – Sony (NYSE: SNE) Computer
Entertainment America on Monday launched the PlayStation Protection Plan, a service
offer for PlayStation 3 and PSP owners that extends warranties by up to two
years. The PS3 coverage costs $49 for one year of added coverage and $59 for
two years, while PSP coverage costs $29/$39. PSP owners can also pay an extra
$10 for an Accidental Damage Plan that covers cracked display screens.


 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2cywm4n

http://us.playstation.com/support/protection-plan/index.htm

Library Ideas to Power Free Music Downloads in U.S. Libraries

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Fairfax,
Va. – Library Ideas, a provider
of new media services to public libraries, said on Monday that it has signed a
deal with Sony (NYSE:  SNE) Music Entertainment to provide its network of library websites
with access to songs from Sony Music’s catalog. Initially, the service will
launch at 10 U.S.
libraries. Registered card holders of participating libraries will be able to
download a select number of tracks in the MP3 format each month at no cost.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2cnq34q

http://www.libraryideas.com

Thumbplay Launches Mobile Music Service for Android

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York – Mobile entertainment publisher Thumbplay on Monday
announced the launch of its Thumbplay Music service for Android-powered mobile
phones. The $9.99 per month subscription service is already available for
BlackBerry, and Thumbplay said an iPhone version is coming soon as well.


 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/28g4pav

http://www.thumbplaymusic.com

Second Life Virtual Landowners Sue Over Ownership Rights

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– A group of virtual landowners in Linden Labs’ "Second Life" online
virtual world has filed a class action lawsuit against the company, claiming
the company broke the law when it rescinded their ownership rights, Mashable
reported.

The suit alleges fraud and violation of California’s consumer protection laws,
arguing that Linden Labs "knowingly offered to sell the class members virtual
land and the ability to acquire ownership rights in virtual property and then
took the plaintiffs’ property and did not honor the owners’ rights in their
property."

The plaintiffs say a change in the terms of service of Second
Life forced them to either accept new terms that rescinded their virtual
property ownership rights, or else be locked out of the site.

They also allege
that Linden Labs "froze and deleted or converted all the U.S. Dollars,
virtual land, and property that Plaintiffs had entrusted to Defendants without
offering any explanation or recourse for recovery."

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/25mx72q
(Mashable)

http://tinyurl.com/26bcpw8
(PDF of complaint)

http://www.virtuallanddispute.com

http://secondlife.com

German Court Says RapidShare Not Liable for Users' Actions

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Dusseldorf, Germany – An appeals court in Germany has
ruled that file-hosting service RapidShare cannot be expected to filter the
uploading of copyrighted content by users without restricting "fair
use" laws, NewTeeVee reported.

Several previous lower court rulings had
found the opposite, and ordered the company to proactively block certain
content uploads.

In February, a German court ordered the site to proactively
block the upload of copyrighted textbooks, while in June another German court
ordered the site to proactively block uploads of some 5,000 songs.

The German
appeals court found that "most people utilize RapidShare for legal use
cases," and noted the company does not publish an index or provide a
search function on its service, relying instead on users to choose whether or
not to publicize the URL where they have uploaded content.

German law also
allows copying of media for back-up — as well as sharing between close
acquaintances — meaning a filter placed on RapidShare uploads would prevent
this local "fair use" right.

 

Related Links:
http://newteevee.com/2010/05/03/rapidshare-wins-in-court

http://tinyurl.com/2dxfsqc
(German court ruling)

http://tinyurl.com/25kpl2l
(DMW previous coverage)

http://tinyurl.com/kn5uz6
(DMW previous coverage)

http://www.rapidshare.com

DISH Network to Launch 'TV Everywhere' Website

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
1

Los Angeles
– Satellite TV provider DISH Network (NASD: DISH) plans to launch its own "TV
Everywhere" website as soon as this summer, providing subscribers with
online access to a range of the channels they subscribe to on DISH, Multichannel
News reported.

The service is expected to launch first as an invitation-only
beta, before opening up a bit more during the summer and into September,"
Bruce Eisen, DISH’s vice president of online content development and strategy,
told Multichannel News.

Comcast has already launched a TV Everywhere-type
service, and operators including Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, AT&T and
Verizon have similar plans in the works.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2c9cwsy
(Multichannel News)

http://www.dishnetwork.com/tveverywhere

Report: Apple Facing Possible Probe Into iPhone Software Rules

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Apple (NASD: AAPL) could face a federal probe into claims its new policy on developing
software for its iPhone and other devices is creating a monopoly in the space,
The New York Post reported, citing an unnamed source.

The source says that the
Justice Dept. and Federal Trade Commission are currently "locked in
negotiations over which of the watchdogs will begin an antitrust inquiry."

Apple recently banned third-party software development tools for its iPhone,
amid a public tiff with Adobe (NASD: ADBE) over its decision to keep the company’s popular
Flash platform off of the iPhone.

Adobe and others have said this constitutes anticompetitive
business practices.

The Post notes that, even if an inquiry is launched, that
does not mean any action would necessarily be taken against Apple.

All Things D
cited one legal expert who questioned whether the iPhone has dominant market
position, and whether a "walled garden" forbidding third-party development
software on the iPhone can be proven to negatively affect competition.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/32k6n9y
(N.Y. Post)

http://tinyurl.com/294zprb
(All Things D)

Reports: FTC Staff Urging Agency to Block Google-AdMob Deal

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– Staffers at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will urge the agency to mount an
antitrust legal challenge to Google’s (NASD:  GOOG) proposed $750 million acquisition of
mobile advertising firm AdMob, according to sourced reports from All Things D
and Bloomberg. "The federal government is looking for a way to discipline
Google in some way, because of larger concerns about its search power on the
Web," a source told All Things D.

"And this is where it looks like it
will try to show that concern."

Rivals including Microsoft, a range of public
interest groups, and even some lawmakers have lodged opposition to the deal and
are encouraging the FTC to step in.

"It feels like AdMob is going to
suffer collateral damage for a bigger fight going on about reining in
Google," another source told All Things D.

The reports indicated the FTC
could act as early as this week or next, filing a request for a preliminary
injunction to halt the deal.

 

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2doaln3
(All Things D)

http://tinyurl.com/29k9pq5
(Bloomberg)

http://www.admob.com

Appeals Court Validates RIAA's "John Doe" P2P Legal Strategy

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
2

New York
– A federal appeals court has validated the legal strategy employed by the
recording industry against suspected file-swappers, where record labels filed
thousands of "John Doe" lawsuits to obtain their identities via
Internet service providers, Wired.com reported.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled Thursday against a student at the State University of New York at
Albany, who was
suspected of illegal file-sharing, and sued to block a federal court’s order
that the university disclose his identity to the Recording Industry Association
of America (RIAA).

"To the extent that anonymity is used to mask copyright
infringement or to facilitate such infringement by other persons, it is
unprotected by the First Amendment," the court wrote in its ruling.

The court
further stated that copyright holders are obliged to learn the identity of a
suspected file-swapper even if he or she contends making "fair use"
of the content in question.

The RIAA announced in December 2008 that it would end its litigation campaign against individual file-swappers using the "John Doe" filing strategy, after suing some 35,000 consumers.

 

Related Links:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/04/unmasking-copyright-scofflaws

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