• YouTube Pulls Copyright Reins, Competitors Do Same
    You might have noticed that it's getting harder to view copyrighted material on YouTube these days. The video site is purging more TV shows and music videos that don't have any legal business being there. If your favorite files have been removed, they can be found elsewhere, namely DailyMotion.com. DailyMotion is a Paris-based video site that mirrors YouTube. There is little, if any, regulation of copyrighted material, no limit to the length of clips (the limit on YouTube is 10 minutes), and no commercials. The site doesn't appear to have any source of revenue yet. But …
  • Yahoo Rejects Google Book Appeal
    Google has requested information from Yahoo and Amazon about their respective efforts to create digital copies of books, as the search giant forages ahead to digitize the world's book content-with or without the permission of copyright holders. Not surprisingly, both Yahoo and Amazon have rebuffed Google's request. Basically, they rebuked the search giant for brazenly attempting to pry into their trade secrets. Google takes the stance that it would be good for progress and, thus, good for the public, if it knew more about the similar projects of Yahoo and Amazon. The Mountain View, Calif., outfit …
  • Disney: YouTube Take-Down Policy Not Enough
    Anne Sweeney, Disney's head of entertainment and news television, said she sees limits to how long Disney will put up with the illegal use of copyrights on YouTube, Google's online video sharing site. YouTube's takedown policy is simply not enough, she said, adding that Disney and YouTube need to hold more talks about how to resolve the situation. "It's not efficient, and I think there is a larger conversation to be had. But this is the world we are living in," Sweeney said. YouTube's defense has traditionally been the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which protects Web …
  • Schmidt Shows GOP How Web Sways Public
    At a conference in Miami yesterday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt told Republicans they should make better use of the Internet if they want to win next time. Web giants and Web consumers have big-time electioneering power, he said, file-sharing sites like YouTube in particular. Video sites change the political landscape by allowing anyone to widely disseminate information instantly. Schmidt said the island kingdom of Bahrain got a healthy dose of the Web's power when someone used Google Earth's satellite map in the run-up to its elections. The shots showed the ruling family's lavish houses juxtaposed with the ordinary …
  • Vista's Out, Does Anybody Care?
    Forgive the media for being skeptical, but after years of delays, Microsoft's Vista, corporate edition, is finally available, and no one seems to care. Adoption is likely to be modest at best, says Business Week, while the FT calls the new product "a dinosaur." Not that Vista doesn't pack a useful, powerful punch, but Microsoft's struggle in readying this next iteration of Windows has come to symbolize the software giant's struggle's to adapt to the faster-moving world of the Web. We're now well over a year after Bill Gates announced that Microsoft needed to undergo a …
  • Google: Mobile Carriers Try To Block Our Apps
    There is no such thing as network neutrality on mobile phones. Mobile operators have the say over what Web content appears before their subscribers, much to the ire of mobile content makers. Earlier this week, Chris Sacca, Google's head of special initiatives, criticized cell carriers for trying to prevent their customers from accessing certain Google applications. He revealed that operators have even lobbied the search giant to remove Google Mobile Maps, an application that gives users access to interactive maps, satellite images, directions and details about local businesses. "They're inserting themselves in between you and an …
  • Debut Of Episodic Web Videos
    The evolution of content on user-generated video sites like YouTube goes something like this: from lip-syncing the words to music videos, to clips of pets doing stupid/amazing/cute things, to stunts reminiscent of MTV's Jackass. And now, to scripted, episodic shows with "all the trappings of a professional production." Is this the future of Web video? "The Burg," a satire about the hipster scene in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, has managed to develop a small-but-hardcore group of fans--most likely hipsters from Williamsburg-after just 11 episodes. Everything from the music to the location to the clothes is authentically Williamsburg (and essentially an …
  • Nintendo: Wii's Sales Better Than PlayStation 3
    The Wii, Nintendo's oddly named new next-generation game console, is enjoying stellar reviews and better sales than Sony's PlayStation 3, a little more than 10 days after its U.S. launch. ,br> Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime yesterday announced that consumers bought more than 600,000 units in its first eight days, totaling about $190 million in sales. Sony, meanwhile hasn't announced how many PS3s it's sold, but the number is expected to be far fewer, as Nintendo had several times as many systems available at launch than Sony. The PS3, which is a much more powerful system, …
  • Big Changes, New Deals At BitTorrent
    It's odd that BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer file distribution protocol that became nearly synonymous with TV and movie piracy, is having such an easy time transforming into a legitimate operation when other file- sharing companies have failed. Today, the company will announce deals with Viacom's Paramount Studios, MTV Networks, News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox and several other smaller studios. These deals follow the one it struck with Warner Bros. earlier in the year. Big changes are underway at BitTorrent. According to GigaOm, the company is set to receive a fresh infusion of Series B funding, rumored at $25 million. …
  • Online Video Erodes TV Viewing For Some Consumers
    Britons who watch video at sites like YouTube are watching less TV, says a new report from the BBC. Some 43% of respondents to an ICM survey said watching Internet and mobile video at least once a week adversely affected their TV viewing habits. However, those who do watch online video in Britain are still a big-time minority, with just 9% of the population saying they do it regularly, while another 13% said they watch video occasionally, and 10% expect to watch more in the coming year. Two-thirds of the 2,700 respondents said they don't watch online video …
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