Top Items:
Business Week:
The Google/YouTube Come-On — Google (GOOG ) and YouTube are dangling nine-figure sums in front of major programming and network players—that is, the Time Warners, News Corp (NWS )s, and NBC Universals of the world. Google calls these monies licensing fees, according to executives who've been involved in the discussions.
RELATED:
Mike / Techdirt:
Google Trying To Pay Off Big Entertainment Companies To Leave YouTube Alone — from the bad-ideas dept — Google is apparently looking to continue the practice of paying off entertainment companies to agree not to sue YouTube, apparently dangling fees of over $100 million to various well-known entertainment companies.
Michael Mahemoff / Ajaxian:
Death of Page View Metrics? — Steve Rubel says page view metrics have four years to live. … The question then becomes: What alternatives will be used? Ryan Stewart suggests more emphasis will be placed on how much time people spend with a website, and also an "interaction rate" …
Discussion:
The Blog Herald, MYBLOG by Ouriel, Mad Techie Woman, Web Strategy and The Ponderings of Woodrow
CNET News.com:
FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool — update The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.
Jay Greene / Business Week:
Microsoft Vista: Companies Can Wait — Corporate buyers may be slow to adopt the new operating system and Office business programs — It's been five years since the last release of Microsoft's Windows operating system, and more than three since the previous iteration of its Office word-processing and spreadsheet program debuted.
Timothy Burke / Terra Nova:
The History of Virtual Worlds — I'm going for a first-time event here: a triple cross-post at Easily Distracted, Cliopatria and Terra Nova. I'm at a meeting on law and virtual worlds at the New York Law School, and there's a really interesting panel discussion of methodologies in virtual worlds.
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Ok, Now I Get JPG Magazine — JPG Magazine relaunched last month with a new business model: Get users to upload photos to their website, and then have the community vote on and rank photos. The winners are published in a bi-monthly print magazine and get $100 plus a free one-year subscription.
Natali Del Conte / TechCrunch:
Million Dollar Homepage Becomes Multi-Million Dollar Homepage — Alex Tew, the mastermind behind The Million Dollar Homepage is most certainly pressing his luck. Tew sold one million pixels worth of advertisement for $1 per pixel and made $1 million. It worked so well that he thinks …
Stephen Shankland / CNET News.com:
Open-source group wants educational patent reversed — A legal center is trying to overturn a patent it says threatens three open-source educational projects, a sign of the tension between patent holders and the collaborative programming community. — The Software Freedom Law Center …
Paul Miller / Engadget:
Nintendo Wii launches in Japan — According to our row of clocks in the Engadget situation room here at Engadget HQ, it's now past 9:00AM, December 2nd in Japan, which means the Wii has been out and about in its home country for around two hours by now. We just got some pics from a friendly tipster …
Discussion:
I4U News
I, Cringely . The Pulpit | PBS:
In a Jam: Stories of ISP bad faith and can the government really listen in to your VoIP calls? Yes they can. — My son Channing, who is four years old, recently celebrated Pajama Day at his preschool when everyone — even the teachers — came to school in their pajamas.
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
On to the next version of Windows — Guess Microsoft really wants to make sure the next version of Windows doesn't take another five years. — The day after releasing the final Windows Vista bits to volume-licensing business customers. Microsoft issued a call to testers asking for input on the next version of Windows.
Kevin Kelly / Joystiq:
Bringing your notebook doodles to life (finally): SketchFighter — We reported a year ago that Ambrosia's game team was looking for folks to help in the beta development of the retro-looking, paper and ink space shooter SketchFighter, and now it's finally here.
Discussion:
Incremental Blogger, michael parekh on IT, Kotaku, 4 color rebellion and The Unofficial Apple Weblog
David Chartier / The Unofficial Apple Weblog:
Intel GM has "religious experience," buys a Mac — Hexus has an interview with Pat Gelsinger, Intel's GM of their Digital Enterprise Group, in which he describes crossing "the religious boundary" by purchasing a Mac. Note how the interviewer reacts and grimaces around 1:41 when Pat drops the bomb …
Discussion:
The Apple Blog
Michael / michael parekh on IT:
ON THE WHIMSY OF LINE RIDER — Thanks to David Pogue of the New York Times, I now have a new addiction for the holidays. — It's a web-based application called Line Rider, that can be best thought of as the Web 2.0 version of the venerable Etch-a-Sketch. Here's how David explains it:
Discussion:
GottaBeMobile.com
Peter Rojas / Engadget:
BenQ uses WTC & 9/11 imagery to sell devices — We're not exactly what you'd call sanctimonious — we try not to take ourselves or what we're doing too seriously — but we feel obligated to call BenQ out for using an image of a crumbled World Trade Center in an ad for its new MusiQ campaign.
