Top Items:
Saul Hansell / New York Times:
MP3 Patents in Upheaval After Verdict — Microsoft was ordered by a federal jury yesterday to pay $1.52 billion in a patent dispute over the MP3 format, the technology at the heart of the digital music boom. If upheld on appeal, it would be the largest patent judgment on record.
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BBC:
Microsoft faces $1.5bn MP3 payout — Microsoft must pay French phone equipment firm Alcatel-Lucent $1.52bn (£777m) after a US court ruled the IT giant had infringed audio patents. — Alcatel had sued Microsoft, saying two patents related to the standards used for converting audio into MP3 files had been breached.
Om Malik / GigaOM:
IPTV & the ALU, Microsoft soap opera — Microsoft Corp. and Alcatel-Lucent seems to have decided to enact some of the popular themes seen on day time, thus spicing up the technology headlines this morning. Unless they bury their hatchet soon, this feud is going to end up costing telecoms billions.
Hearst Corporation:
HEARST ANNOUNCES PLAN TO LAUNCH "NEWS READER" PRODUCT AT THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER AND IDENTIFY POTENTIAL USES ACROSS HEARST BRANDS — Software Offers Consumers a Superior Onscreen Reading Experience — In a continuing effort to expand the reach of its content, Hearst Corporation today announced …
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Robert Scoble / Scobleizer:Why do a reader only for one publication? (Adobe vs. Microsoft for developers)
Don Dodge / Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing:News Readers for New York Times, Forbes, and Seattle P-I
Discussion:
GottaBeMobile.com
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica:
Forget party schools: The RIAA lists the top piracy schools in the US — Ohio University, Purdue University, and the University of Nebraska have made it to the top of a list, but it may not be something the universities want to brag about. The RIAA recently named the top 25 music-pirating schools …
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Elise Ackerman / Mercury News:
Google to start filtering YouTube videos — Google is set to start filtering videos and other content on YouTube for copyrighted materials, taking a key step in helping the online video-sharing site comply with one of the biggest complaints it faces — rampant piracy.
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Cory Doctorow / Salon:
Steve Jobs' iTunes dance — Now the Apple CEO says he would gladly sell songs without digital restrictions, if the record companies let him. That's hardly a brave defiance, and besides, I don't believe him. — In early February, Apple CEO Steve Jobs published an extraordinary memo …
Discussion:
The Unofficial Apple Weblog, CrunchGear, Guardian Unlimited, IPcentral Weblog and Listening Post
Eric Bangeman / Ars Technica:
Internet Explorer loses ground to Firefox, Safari in US; holds its ground worldwide — Safari is either making huge gains or holding steady in the browser wars; it all depends on whose stats you use. The same can be said of Firefox, while Internet Explorer is losing ground in the US but holding steady worldwide.
Vince Veneziani / CrunchGear:
Merrill Lynch Claims 30% Of US Households Will Have A Wii By 2011 — Looks like Merrill Lynch is the latest company to be added to the Nintendo payroll. Analyst Yoshiyuki Kinoshita is now claiming that by the year 2011, 30% of US households will own a Nintendo Wii and a third of Japanese households will own one as well.
Discussion:
Gizmodo
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Marguerite Reardon / CNET News.com:
Skype petitions FCC for open cellular access — Skype petitioned the Federal Communications Commission earlier this week to force U.S. mobile operators to loosen controls on what kinds of hardware and software can be connected to their networks. — In a document dated February 20 …
Michael Kanellos / CNET News.com:
Judge rules against Canon in nanotube TV case — A federal judge has ruled that Canon breached a licensing agreement with a small nanotechnology company, a decision that puts another roadblock into Canon's effort to come out with a whole new style of flat screen TVs.
BBC:
Emotion robots learn from people — Making robots that interact with people emotionally is the goal of a European project led by British scientists. — Feelix Growing is a research project involving six countries, and 25 roboticists, developmental psychologists and neuroscientists.
Discussion:
Gizmodo
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines:
Will you trust Google with your data? — IN FOCUS » See more posts on: Google Office — Phil Wainewright raises an interesting beef in his post on SaaS data worries. In a nutshell, Phil says it's strange that people are trotting out the "your data may not be safe" argument when talking about Google Office.
Gord Hotchkiss / Search Engine Land:
Just Behave: Marissa Mayer on Personalized Search — It was almost 3 weeks ago today that Google posted on their corporate blog about some changes to the personalized search sign-up process. Danny covered this development quite nicely in a very comprehensive post, looking at the specifics …
Discussion:
outofmygord.com
Saul / localglo.be:
OpenCoffee Club — What is it? — An attempt to establish recognized, open and regular meeting places where entrepreneurs can meet with investors (and anyone else who fancies coming along) in a totally informal setting. — We want to create some density — a few places where people know they can meet or bump into others.
Discussion:
EirePreneur
