key point
70 Groups Tell Congress To Put The Brakes On Any Further Efforts To Expand Intellectual Property
www.techdirt.com
Over 70 different groups, including many who were central to the January 18th online protests against SOPA, have put together a letter asking Congress to put a halt to any attempts to further expand intellectual property laws. The key point: Now is the time for Congress to take a breath,...
The Economist: ‘Lean-back 2.0 is not the end of innovation in the media industry’
thenextweb.com
Last month we reported on The Economist‘s ad campaign in London Underground stations, asking travelers where they stand on the issue of social media censorship. Today, at the Guardian Changing Media Summit in London, Andrew Rashbass, CEO of the esteemed publication, talked about the return to familiar ground currently underway in...
Why iPads Are the Future of In-Flight Entertainment
www.readwriteweb.com
Not so long ago, those expensive, proprietary seat-back entertainment systems were the coolest way to entertain yourself in the sky - and a key point of airline differentiation. But the rising popularity of iPads threatens to make even the slickest built-in entertainment systems obsolete. Forward-thinking airlines are scrambling to get...
Ouya Android games console blasts past $2.3m funding on Kickstarter
www.guardian.co.uk
The challenge now is to deliver on the expectations of its 19k early backersUS startup Ouya has attracted $2.3m of pledges for its Android-based games console, less than 24 hours after launching its campaign on crowdfunding website Kickstarter.Nearly 19,000 people have backed the project at the time of writing, and...
Beware Of Those Who Claim They're 'Saving The Culture Business' When They're Really Protecting Those Who Strip Artists Of Rights
www.techdirt.com
We've talked a few times about the ridiculously unsupported and unsupportable claim by Robert Levine that the "tech industry" (by which he means "Google") is somehow destroying culture by "free riding" on content. There are so many things wrong with this argument that it would take an entire book to...
Beware Of Those Who Claim They're 'Saving The Culture Business' When They're Really Protecting Those Who Strip Artists Of Rights
The missing switch: High-performance monolithic graphene transistors created
www.extremetech.com
Hardly a day goes by without a top-level research group announcing some kind of graphene-related breakthrough, but this one’s a biggy: Researchers at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany have created high-performance monolithic graphene transistors using a simple lithographic etching process. This could be the missing step that finally paves the...
Monterosa to get TV firms making their own second-screen content
www.guardian.co.uk
Partners with Zeebox for invitation-only tools for broadcasters, producers and brandsBritish firm Monterosa is launching a set of tools to help TV companies make their own "second-screen" apps and websites designed to be used by viewers while watching their shows.The tools will be invitation-only for now, and are aimed at...
Myth Dispensing: The Whole 'Spotify Barely Pays Artists' Story Is Bunk
www.techdirt.com
One of the key talking points that we've heard from the "haters" of the new music business models is the claim that Spotify pays next-to-nothing to artists. This is really based on a few stories, taken totally out of context, concerning a few artists who received relatively small checks from...
Can Someone Explain When The Pirate Bay Was Actually Put On Trial In The UK?
www.techdirt.com
Last week we wrote about the UK High Court ordering ISPs to start blocking The Pirate Bay just about the same time that UK musician Dan Bull had successfully used TPB as a promotional platform to launch him onto the UK charts. The first comment on that post, by Duke...
Muve Music subscription service looking to expand beyond the US
www.guardian.co.uk
With 600k paying subcribers, bundling unlimited music with voice, texts and data is working wellBuy a mobile phone, and get unlimited music downloads. If the idea sounds familiar, you're probably thinking of Nokia's Comes With Music – an ambitious service that launched in 2008, but flopped in the UK and other...
Microsoft Surface vs. Apple’s iPad
www.washingtonpost.com
Microsoft’s announcement about its Surface tablets left a lot of unanswered questions. One key point that will help determine how the tablet does in the market has yet to be determined — the price. The Surface comes in two flavors: a version that runs Windows RT and a version that...
Whatever happened to Brightcove’s China ambitions?
gigaom.com
When online video platform provider Brightcove filed for its IPO earlier this year, it spent a great deal talking about its international business. “We have established a global presence,” the company’s S-1 filing read, touting deals in Europe, Australia, Japan and elsewhere. Notably absent from the filing was any mention...
Facebook's Stock Has Never Been Lower: Here's Why
www.readwriteweb.com
Despite meeting analysts' operating earnings estimates of 12 cents a share, Facebook shares were hammered Thursday, falling more than 10% in after-hours trading. Here's why. Yes, Facebook tied earnings estimates and even eked out slightly better revenue of $1.18 billion. But in its first earnings release, earnings per share and...
Google Chrome browser for iOS: first impressions
www.guardian.co.uk
iPhone and iPad app synchronises bookmarks, tabs and passwords with the desktop versionGoogle has released a new version of its Chrome web browser for iOS devices, using the same core engine as Apple's own Safari app, but with the ability to synchronise with Chrome's desktop version as its key feature.The...
German Courts Ruling Changes Little For Facebook
www.readwriteweb.com
A German court's ruling Tuesday that Facebook has not changed its Friend Finder utility as it promised it would appears to be of little consequence for the social networking giant. The key point of the ruling is that Facebook needs to change the wording of its policy to make it...
15 Advanced Military Research Projects That Will Change Your Life
www.businessinsider.com
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) gets a ton of funding to develop the science and techological future of the military. This is the agency responsible for GPS, the internet and stealth planes. They're the real deal. We looked at their active projects to find the ones that might...
Verizon clarifies: You can keep your unlimited data plan, unless you buy a new subsidized device
thenextweb.com
Verizon has issued a statement to The New York Times which clarifies what will happen with ‘grandfathered’ unlimited data plans when its new shared data plans roll out. Basically, anyone who currently has an unlimited data plan will be able to keep it, unless they purchase a new device that...
The Stupidity Of Data Caps: No One Knows What A Megabyte Is
www.techdirt.com
We've argued that data caps for internet access are silly, and even as they're becoming more popular for both wired and wireless broadband data offerings, it seems more people are recognizing this. The NY Times has an article about data caps that makes the key point upfront: no one knows...
Legal Experts Suggest Justice Department Unlikely to Win Antitrust Suit Against Apple
www.macrumors.com
In the wake of yesterday's announcement that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and a number of book publishers over alleged price fixing, CNET notes that the government may have a hard time winning its case against Apple. The publishers may, however, find themselves...
USTR Gives MPAA Full Online Access To TPP Text, But Still Won't Share With Senate Staffers
www.techdirt.com
US Trade Representative (USTR) Ron Kirk continues to insult the intelligence of the Senate. During a recent hearing Senate hearing at which Kirk appeared, Senator Ron Wyden once again quizzed Kirk about the lack of transparency the USTR has (video link, key point starts around 89 minutes and 30 seconds)...
Judge Rejects Key Universal Music Argument In Legal Fight With Grooveshark
www.techdirt.com
Two and a half years ago, Universal Music (UMG) sued Grooveshark (or, really, its parent company Escape Media). The case has had a few twists and turns since then, but the judge has issued a ruling (embedded below) that is pretty clear in suggesting that Universal Music's key argument --...
Publishing Isn't A Job Anymore: It's A Button
www.techdirt.com
Tim Lee points us to a really fantastic (as per usual) discussion with Clay Shirky about media disruption, in which he makes the key point that publishing is no longer a job, but a button: Publishing is not evolving. Publishing is going away. Because the word “publishing” means a cadre...
Boot up: Google's tablet storefront, RIM's dire results, Apple's patent wars, LG's bendy e-ink and more
www.guardian.co.uk
Plus CSS in the real world, advertising sexism challenged by HTML5, the original pull-to-refresh and moreA quick burst of 10 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology teamApple's War on Android >> BusinessweekExcellent, long article which suggests that Apple's Tim Cook may be ready to halt...
Boot up: Google's tablet storefront, RIM's dire results, Apple's patent wars, LG's bendy e-ink and more
Putting Lives Before Patents: India Says Pricey Patented Cancer Drug Can Be Copied
www.techdirt.com
India has an interesting relationship with pharmaceutical patents. In 1970, India did away with drug patents entirely, believing it would help create a domestic drug industry. And it worked. As we discussed in the past: 2,237 licensed drug manufacturers in 1969-1970 grew to 16,000 by 1991-1993, production of drugs grew...
MYTHBUSTING: Facebook Is Actually Fantastic Marketing Platform (FB)
www.businessinsider.com
Much of the skepticism surrounding Facebook has to do with doubts about its viability as a marketing platform. But let's stop ignoring two crucial facts: Facebook is actually an incredibly valuable marketing platform. John Coleman, CEO of The VIA Agency recently told us that Facebook's "platform" – the free stuff, like...
Disruptive Innovation Is Not An Orderly Process
www.techdirt.com
Brian Kahin, over at Project DisCo has a good post that goes over the basics of disruptive innovation, covering the innovator's dilemma -- and why it's rarely big companies who are able to truly innovate. But the bigger issue is how much people judge innovation by the incremental look at...
There's One Segment Of Best Buy That's Simply Getting Destroyed
www.businessinsider.com
Today Best Buy announced layoffs and store closures, as results continue to disappoint. None of the businesses are too hot, but there's one are that REALLY stands out as bad. Entertainment (which is games, DVDs, etc.) is getting crushed. After falling 14% YOY last Q4, it then fell another...
Not Only Can You 'Compete With Free' You Have To If You Don't Want Your Business Overrun By Piracy
www.techdirt.com
Rob Reid, who recently got a ton of well deserved attention for his hilarious TED talk on copyright math, has a WSJ op-ed piece, in which he tries to explain why there's so little ebook infringement, compared to music infringement. The crux of his argument? Even though the big publishers...
Analysts: Apple has a strong case in DOJ’s lawsuit over ebook price-fixing
9to5mac.com
Yesterday, the United States Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Apple and five other publishers over ebook price-fixing. The DOJ has reached a settlement with three of the publishers in the suit, but Apple, MacMillan, and Penguin are standing strong (The States also are after Simon and Shuster)....
The Case For Copyright Reform: Techdirt Book Club
www.techdirt.com
First off, a reminder that this Friday, at 1pm PT (4pm ET), we'll be hosting a live Q&A concerning the Techdirt Book Club book for May, Reclaiming Fair Use by Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi. If you want to see the first excerpt, the second excerpt, the third excerpt and...
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