Disney

The Writer’s strike has been going on just a bit too long now. Both sides are back at the negotiating table. That’s good. Talking is a good thing. However, if you are going to talk, it’s better if you know what you are talking about. Before we start, I want to make it clear that Continue Reading →

FACEBOOK made further concessions in its war against user privacy. Mark Zuckerberg publicly apologized on the company blog for “a lot of mistakes” surrounding Beacon — admitting the company did a “bad job” with its release. Most importantly, he announced that users will now be able to completely opt-out of Beacon. VERIZON has rolled out Continue Reading →

AMAZON unveiled Kindle, its new e-book reader on Monday. The device allows users to download e-books from the Amazon store wirelessly using Sprint’s EV-DO network. Over 90,000 books are available, with new releases priced at $9.99 and classics as low as $1.99. The device is already drawing some negative reviews, with several commentators questioning the Continue Reading →

BEBO unveiled “Open Media,” a new video service offering free content from Turner, CBS, BBC, MTV and others. Broadcasters will create channels on the system using their own players, which allows them to sell advertising and retain control of the user experience. Bebo will not take any advertising money from in-video spots but will offer Continue Reading →

NBC is in talks to acquire Quarterlife, the “TV-quality” series that debuts this Sunday on MySpace. The pending deal has been spurred by the Writers Guild strike and may bring the show to NBC as early as February. Quarterlife is currently scheduled to run for 36 eight-minute episodes online. Show creator Marshall Herskovitz recently expressed Continue Reading →

BIG MEDIA has formed a coalition to stop pirated material from being released on the web. The group includes Viacom, Disney, Microsoft, CBS, Fox, MySpace, and NBC Universal. These companies have agreed to put “commercially reasonable” content identification systems in place by the end of the year. They issued a 15-point manifesto outlining extensive copyright-protecting Continue Reading →

GOOGLE has unveiled its piracy-fighting service for YouTube, calling it “YouTube Video Identification.” The system requires media companies to submit digital files to Google, who will process them and create a “digital fingerprint.” Videos uploaded by users will be checked against the fingerprint, and rejected if a match is found. The system was developed in-house, Continue Reading →

The 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards Ceremony will be held on January 7, 2008 at the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, NV (the opening night of the CES show). For more information, please contact: Cheryl Daly or visit http://www.emmyonline.tv The nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for Best Use Of Commercial Advertising Continue Reading →

APPLE ends the week in the iGutter. Yesterday, the company released an iPhone update targeting users that have installed third-party applications on the device, unlocked it, or otherwise hacked it in some way. The update has rendered some of the phones completely useless, turning them into iBricks. This, absurdly enough, seems to be the intended Continue Reading →

CABLE AND SATELLITE OPERATORS have been hit with a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit seeking to force “a la carte” programming. Antitrust attorney Maxwell Blecher has filed the suit, asking the court to prevent cable and satellite companies from unlawfully bundling channels, and to award damages for forcing customers to pay for channels they do Continue Reading →