U.S. Pursuing a Middleman in Web Piracy
Richard O’Dwyer, an enterprising 24-year-old college student from northern England, has found himself in the middle of a fierce battle between two of America’s great exports: Hollywood and the Internet.
At issue is a Web site he started that helped visitors find American movies and television shows online. Although the site did not serve up pirated content, American authorities say it provided links to sites that did. The Obama administration is seeking to extradite Mr. O’Dwyer from Britain on criminal charges of copyright infringement. The possible punishment: 10 years in a United States prison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/technology/us-pursues-richard-odwyer-as-intermediary-in-online-piracy.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Verizon serves up GameTanium, giving customers 150 on-demand Android games for $5.99 a month
Wanting to take the hassle out of Android downloads and limiting the possible spend on the Google Play marketplace, Verizon has teamed up with Exent to offer its Android customers access to its new GameTanium service, offering hundreds of games for $5.99 a month.
http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2012/07/13/verizon-serves-up-gametitanium-giving-customers-150-on-demand-android-games-for-5-99-a-month/
Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners calls NASDAQ & Morgan Stanley Criminals in Facebook IPO Debacle
Roger McNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners, appeared on Bloomberg TV’s “Money Moves” with Deirdre Bolton today and said that NASDAQ and Morgan Stanley conduct in Facebook IPO is “criminal” and exposed “extreme corruption.”
Besides the smashing the Facebook IPO Roger actually has some great advice. Specifically, Mobile computing is changing the web in a big way and the old rules are changing. The power is moving away from the middleman. McNamee says build tools not web sites. Be a value investor not a momentum investor. He hints to the bubble popping. (Side note: I have to get him on SiliconANGLE.tv for a real chat).
http://siliconangle.com/blog/2012/07/12/roger-mcnamee-of-elevation-partners-calls-nasdaq-morgan-stanley-criminals-in-facebook-ipo-debacle/
Report claims Microsoft will reveal Office 2013 to the public on July 16th
A new report by USAToday suggests that Microsoft will finally unveil Office 15, the company’s next generation office productivity suite, to the public. Office 15, or Office 2013, was originally rumored to hit a Consumer Preview stage later this month.
http://www.winbeta.org/news/report-claims-microsoft-will-reveal-office-2013-public-july-16th
Competition Worries Snag Verizon Deal on Airwaves
he Justice Department is holding up Verizon Wireless’s $3.9 billion deal to acquire cable-company airwaves over concerns a related agreement will hurt competition for broadband Internet service, according to people familiar with the matter.
After a set of divestitures Verizon Wireless has promised, the Federal Communications Commission essentially is prepared to sign off on an agreement by cable companies to transfer airwaves to Verizon that it can use in its new LTE wireless network, the people said. The move would help the nation’s largest cellular carrier meet soaring demand for data use on smartphones.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702303644004577523193250340130-lMyQjAxMTAyMDEwMjExNDIyWj.html
Social networks scan for sexual predators, with uneven results
On March 9 of this year, a piece of Facebook software spotted something suspicious.
A man in his early thirties was chatting about sex with a 13-year-old South Florida girl and planned to meet her after middle-school classes the next day.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/12/us-usa-internet-predators-idUSBRE86B05G20120712?irpc=932
Street View goes on a road trip through California’s national parks
One hot summer day in Yosemite National Park in Northern California, I sat under a tree along a lazy river in awe of the natural beauty around me. I looked out at the majestic granite mountains, the chirping birds and the rustling leaves, and thought about how they were the same that day as they had been thousands of years ago.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/street-view-goes-on-road-trip-through.html
With ROCKZi, Blekko Dips Its Toes Into Social Waters (And I Don’t Get It)
Search engines seem to be inexorably drawn to social platforms. There’s Google+ and there was Google Buzz. Yahoo has Flickr and Yahoo Answers, and had Yahoo Buzz and Yahoo Meme (among others). Microsoft/Bing has So.cl.
http://searchengineland.com/rockzi-blekko-social-curation-launch-127471
Can Tumblr’s David Karp Embrace Ads Without Selling Out?
It’s been said (by Steve Jobs, no less) that good design is not just about how a thing looks but rather about how a thing works. But maybe design is also about how a thing feels.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/magazine/can-tumblrs-david-karp-embrace-ads-without-selling-out.html?pagewanted=all
