Posts filed under 'e-Life'
“Opponents of a federal ban on Internet gambling said during a congressional hearing Friday that it would be wiser to legalize and regulate betting than prohibit it. Legal online gambling may return to the US. The ban, put into place last year, is now in jeopardy thanks to the efforts of folks like Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services committee. Frank is of the opinion that adults should police themselves for excessive gambling, and the government should stay out of their way…” (Read full article here)
June 9th, 2007
“TorrentSpy, one of the world’s largest BitTorrent sites, has been ordered by a federal judge to monitor its users. They are asked to keep detailed logs of their activities which must then be handed over to the MPAA. Ira Rothken, TorrentSpy’s attorney responded to the news by stating: ‘It is likely that TorrentSpy would turn off access to the U.S. before tracking its users. If this order were allowed to stand, it would mean that Web sites can be required by discovery judges to track what their users do even if their privacy policy says otherwise…’” (Read full article here)
June 9th, 2007
“Under the guise of fighting spam, five of the largest Internet service providers in the U.S. plan to start charging businesses for guaranteed delivery of their e-mails. In other words, with regular service we may or may not deliver your email. If you want it delivered, you will have to pay deluxe. ‘According to Goodmail, seven U.S. ISPs now use CertifedEmail, accounting for 60 percent of the U.S. population…” (Read full article here)
June 9th, 2007
“Proposals to tax the Internet are gaining steam as state legislators see a giant pot of money just waiting to be dipped into. “At the moment, states and municipalities are frequently barred by federal law from collecting both access and sales taxes. But they’re hoping that their new lobbying effort, coordinated by groups including the National Governors Association, will pay off by permitting them to collect billions of dollars in new revenue by next year…”" (Read full article here)
June 3rd, 2007
“During Arnold Schwarzenegger’s visit to Ottawa yesterday, it was confirmed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be introducing a bill to make camcording in movie theaters illegal in Canada. However, people are skeptical that this will make any difference in the amount of pirated movies available. Doug Frith, president of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association was quoted as saying, ‘is really the first step — not only for the movie industry — where the government has shown it will seriously address the whole area of intellectual-property theft…’” (Read full article here)
June 1st, 2007
“Despite initial complaints of copyright infringement, EMI is now striking a deal with YouTube. Perhaps they’ve noticed that Warner’s deal has boded well or they’ve finally come around to free marketing? From the article, “EMI and YouTube have agreed to work together to develop ways in which EMI-owned recordings can be incorporated into user generated content by YouTube users. News of the deal comes just 10 days after EMI agreed to be taken over by private equity group Terra Firma for £2.4bn…” (Read full article here)
May 31st, 2007
“Tom’s Hardware Guide and its parent company TG Publishing have been sold to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed price. The deal will close later this month, said Omid Rahmat, CEO of Tom’s Publishing, in a letter to the Inquirer. The rumored price, however, is $15-$20 million. Tom’s Hardware is an established news site for tech professionals that most geeks have encountered at least once - the network of sites (including versions in different countries - a total of 12 editions worldwide) reports 50M monthly pageviews and 5M unique monthly visitors…” (Read full article here)
April 8th, 2007
“For years we’ve tracked how Canadian cable providers are at the forefront of using caps and traffic throttling to avoid having to invest in infrastructure upgrades. Shaw was one of the first providers to throttle the entire BitTorrent application, and fellow cable operator Rogers has long been playing traffic shaping cat and mouse with “bandwidth hogs.” Techdirt points to a report by Michael Geist that explores how all encrypted traffic over the Rogers network suffers because of their efforts to stop BitTorrent file traders…” (Read full article here)
April 7th, 2007
“VeriSign on Thursday said it that it will increase the fees it charges for Internet domains ending in .com or .net. Starting October 15, VeriSign will charge $6.42 for .com domains and $3.85 for .net domains, it said in a statement. The fees are charged to domain registrars such as GoDaddy and Tucows, which typically handle domain registration for customers. The new prices represent a 7 percent price increase for .com domains, for which VeriSign currently charges $6, and a 10 percent rise for .net domains, which cost $3.50…” (Read full article here)
April 6th, 2007
“Google has just released a significant update to Google Maps which allows anyone to, in a sense, create their own maps “mashups” - or what they call “My Maps”. Google was kind enough to demo the new features to me on Wednesday. Look at Google Maps for a new tab on the left which lets you view and create “My Maps”. The user interface for creating content is point and click and uses many of the same approaches and functionality as seen in Google Earth. For example, you can create placemarks, paths, or shapes. For descriptions, you can even use a familiar rich text formatting mode to dress up your descriptions, or use HTML if you prefer. The end result of this new update is that Google Maps and Google Earth are coming closer together in many respects…” (Read full article here)
April 5th, 2007
“The Thai government has banned access to the YouTube video-uploading website after it broadcast material critical of the country’s king. Communications Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said the site was banned after a 44-second film showing graffiti over the king’s face was aired. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 79, is revered and it is forbidden to insult him. The minister said a ban came after the Thai government asked YouTube’s owner Google to remove it and they declined. The contentious film also shows feet being placed over the king’s face - an offensive act to Thais, who consider feet dirty…” (Read full article here)
April 5th, 2007
“If there are two sides to every story, the Digital Freedom Campaign hopes to balance the RIAA’s message on copyright by educating students about alternative views on copyright and fair use, while teaching them how they can fight back against the RIAA. The DFC was founded last fall by a number of groups, including the CEA, EFF, Public Knowledge, and the American Library Association. Designed in no small part to counteract the MPAA and RIAA’s propaganda on technology and the media, Digital Freedom’s mission is to educate consumers about technology and copyright law, including fair use. To that end, Digital Freedom has announced a new initiative, called Digital Freedom University…” (Read full article here)
April 2nd, 2007
“The European Commission has sent formal charges to major record companies and Apple, alleging they are restricting music sales in Europe, a Commission spokesman said on Monday. Agreements between Apple and the record companies violate the European Union’s rules that prohibit restrictive business practices, according to the spokesman. “Consumers can only buy music from the iTunes online stores in their country of residence and are therefore restricted in their choice of where to buy music, and consequently what music is available and at what price,” said Jonathan Todd, European Commission spokesman. Apple said it wanted to offer a pan-European store but was hemmed in by the music companies’ demands…” (Read full article here)
April 2nd, 2007
“EMI will announce on Monday that it will be freeing much of its catalog from the shackles of DRM. The Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter,” reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be present at the announcement in London and that the music will be sold through the iTunes Store and possibly other online outlets. The news comes less than two months after Apple published Steve Jobs’ famous open letter on the issue of DRM. In his missive, Jobs laid the blame for the DRM mess squarely at the feet of the music industry and said that he would gladly sell unprotected music if only the record labels would agree…” (Read full article here)
April 1st, 2007
“LG Electronics (LG), a leading worldwide provider of advanced wireless handsets and accessories, and Google today announced a global collaboration to pre-install Google’s services on millions of LG mobile phones. Mobile users around the world will now be able to easily search for information, find locations, update blogs and manage email while on the move. Select LG handsets, pre-installed with Google™ products and services will be shipped globally including North America, Europe and Asia starting in the second quarter of 2007. These handsets will create a more dynamic user experience, including one click access to Google search through an icon in the application menu…” (Read full article here)
March 30th, 2007
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