Top Items:

THE AAP/GOOGLE LAWSUIT: MUCH MORE AT STAKE — I spent some time yesterday and this morning speaking with Allan Alder, counsel for the AAP (see my initial post on this here). I came away convinced of what I initially suspected but so far had not stated: this is a far bigger issue …
Discussion:
Read/Write Web, Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check, Threadwatch.org and Search Engine Journal
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Publishers battle Google book index — Suit joins action filed by authors over copyright — Five major publishing firms filed suit against Internet search giant Google Inc. yesterday to stop the company from creating a digital index of millions of copyrighted books.
Discussion:
Smalltalk Tidbits …

BREAKING APART AT THE SEAMS — Major publishers have joined the legal challenge to the Google Print service, arguing that it represents wanton copyright infringement. This as another battle in the ongoing conflict over intellectual property in the digital world, but I'm concerned …

Voice phone calls to be free within years: eBay CEO — SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In a few short years, users can expect to make telephone calls for free, with no per-minute charges, as part of a package of services through which carriers make money on advertising or transaction fees, eBay's chief executive said on Wednesday.
Discussion:
Alice Hill's Real Tech News
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No Head-Scratching at eBay About Skype's Potential — If up to $4.1 billion wasn't enough to prove eBay's serious about just-acquired Skype, executive comments Wednesday sure did. And executive moves: eBay Chief Financial Officer Rajiv Dutta soon will become the London-based president …

Video iPod — Introduction — iPod (30 GB) — System requirements: PC with USB port running Windows 2000 SP4 or Windows XP SP2; Mac with USB port running Mac OS X 10.3.9 — The new iPod was announced by Steve Jobs last week at a highly anticipated "special event" in San Jose, California.

Flock is Launching Publicly Today — I just heard from Geoffrey Arone at Flock that they will be launching it to the general public within 3 hours (by 5 pm PST). — Feedback to their recent beta expansion has been so positive, Geoffrey tells me, that there is no reason to delay any longer.
Discussion:
WeBreakStuff

Voters go to polls armed with mobile phones — Voting by text message could become the norm (Keystone) — The first ever SMS vote is taking place in Switzerland with the residents of Bülach using mobile phone text messages to decide on speed restrictions in the town.
Discussion:
textually.org

Web 2.0 Bubble — I had an enjoyable lunch with Jeff Jarvis today catching up on a number of things and brainstorming about value in the next generation web. During the conversation I vented a little frustration at the use of buzz words and bubble-like mentality with terms like Web 2.0.

Sphere pass 1 — It's really hard to review a search engine if I can't point to results of queries. Hmmm. Maybe I can. — This morning I did a search on "Wilma" in the last day. It's a breaking story, twenty four hours ago it was a tropical storm, since then it has become the largest storm ever observed.

Aperture - Wow. — At OSCON, I was asking James Duncan Davidson about photo processing software. He told me that he had tried most of the programs available for the Mac and that they were all inadequate. That was yesterday. Today Apple announced Aperture, which they describe as …

UPDATE 2-Intermix settles NY Attorney Gen'l suit — NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Internet media company Intermix Media Inc.'s former chief executive, Brad Greenspan, will pay $750,000 in penalties for his role in the company's bundling of hidden spyware that delivered pop-up advertising …

Anti-game activist Jack Thompson under investigation — Jack Thompson, a Florida lawyer who became infamous in 1988 for accusing Janet Reno of being a closeted lesbian with a drinking problem and a strong candidate for blackmail, has recently been making waves with his crusade against the video game industry.
Discussion:
Cathode Tan

The Amoral Mr. Smith — 215 years later, Adam Smith is having his last laugh again. Here we go again, arguing on the seemingly incompatibility of business and humanity. Is web 2. really so different from previous incarnations of business models, opportunities, and organizations that once again …