The details of a long-awaited deal between Google and the EU are finally out. The agreement requires Google to list three competitors in certain types of search listings, and to agree to other, wide-ranging conditions. Read more »
Many long-standing legal rules of engagement between publishers and consumers tilted the playing field in unexpected ways in the first quarter. The period also saw a major expansion in the amount and quality of original productions for web-based video platforms and a major move by chipmaker Intel to stake a claim in the digital living room. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Good news for startups hoping to draw on public road traffic and weather data, among other types: changes agreed on Wednesday should allow the use of such data for free or at very low cost. Read more »
The European Union approved the merger of Random House and Penguin without conditions on Friday, saying it doesn’t pose a threat to competition. The U.S. approved the merger in February. Read more at paidContent »
Europe needs to do more to reduce wasteful energy consumption, and its policy makers are looking at how to green its data centers to help them achieve a 2020 energy efficiency goal. Read more »
This quarter Tesla’s production schedule came under fire, and share economy leaders Airbnb raised cash while Zipcar struggled with its membership model. Meanwhile the Indian power outage in July prompted questions about how the developing economy will power itself. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Can a single vendor dominate the public cloud services market in Europe as Amazon has managed to do in the US? It’s not very likely. The single biggest reason is obvious: Europe is not the US. Read more »
The EC’s long-anticipated plan to push cloud computing region-wide is out. It pledges — generally — to pursue a single set of data protection laws across the region but it will likely be very slow going to get all the parties on board. Read more »
Bad economy aside, European government agencies and private businesses will be strongly encouraged to beef up their cloud infrastructure in a forthcoming report by the EC-sanctioned European Cloud Partnership. A leaked report said companies/agencies should invest €45 billion in cloud computing by 2020. Read more »
Last December, the European Commission began investigating Apple and five book publishers for allegedly conspiring to set ebook prices. Now the EC, Apple and four of the publishers have reached a preliminary agreement that largely mirrors the terms of the ebook settlement in the U.S. Read more at paidContent »
With $10 billion up for grabs, the EU is looking to stimulate both technological advancement and economic growth. Good news for European tech firms, for green technology companies — and for an embattled continent. Read more »
Reports that Eric Schmidt has offered to settle an antitrust investigation by the European Commission are everywhere. But the reality is that the details of Google’s proposals — and the regulator’s response — remain shrouded in mystery. Read more »
Microsoft’s lost its attempt to get an €899m European antitrust fine overturned — an apparent victory for local regulators. But the reality is that while this fine might be vast by European standards, it’s barely a scratch on the surface for Redmond. Read more »
The latest criticism of Google as an unfair monopoly, which comes from the CEO of a comparison shopping site called Nextag, is riddled with flawed logic — but the search giant has also invited this kind of charge with some of its recent behavior. Read more »
Google has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft and Nokia and is also tattling on the companies with U.S. regulators, accusing them patent-troll-like behavior. The good thing about filing a complaint with the EC is Google doesn’t have to do the legwork. Read more »
Whether they’re outraged, scrabbling in terror, or simply hoping it goes away, it’s the privacy rule that European startups can’t ignore. But what exactly is the European cookie directive? As the rules come into force in the U.K., we take a look at the details. Read more »
With near-unanimous approval, the European Parliament has voted to make it much cheaper for people in the EU to use the mobile internet on their smartphones and tablets while travelling between the union’s 27 states. Read more »
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As regulators on both sides of the Atlantic investigate publishers and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) for allegedly colluding to fix the price of e-book… Read more at paidContent »
With Google and European officials clashing again, this time over the company’s new, simplified privacy policy, is it simply a one-off moment of friction — or part of an inevitable slide towards all-out conflict? Read more »
For the most part, cloud-related laws on the books or in the works right now are almost entirely about data, and data has “gravity.” The more important it is, the more likely services and applications are going to move to the data, rather than vice versa. Read more »
Apple has failed to secure a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1N tablet and Galaxy Nexus smartphone in Germany, thanks to a ruling by the Munich Regional Court Wednesday. That should help take the sting out of the appeal it lost on Tuesday. Read more »
Apple won a small victory in Germany on Tuesday as the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court upheld its injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1. In the meantime, the European Union is putting Samsung’s recent patent claims under a regulatory microscope with a full-scale investigation. Read more »
In the fight to determine who dictates web privacy, web users are like a a chew toy at risk of being torn asunder by two competing dogs — played this week by Google and the European Union. But the best option is empower consumers themselves. Read more »
Another European country is pushing a nationalistic agenda when it comes to cloud computing, one that could have huge repercussions for U.S.-based cloud powers and the nature of cloud computing in general. France Telecom is pushing a French cloud to feature built-in-France technology. Read more »
In all probability Facebook did not agree to implement any procedures in its deal with the FTC that it wasn’t already going to face significant pressure to implement — not from any U.S. authority but instead from the European ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Last week, a European court struck down a rule forcing a Belgian ISP to monitor traffic for copyright infringement. Experts believe the decision could help rein in the spread of SOPA-like laws throughout Europe. So why is the U.S. rushing headling into deeply flawed legislation? Read more »
Reports this weekend suggest that Facebook is about to face a new crackdown from European authorities over the way it collects data on users — but closer inspection suggests that it is just the latest episode in an ongoing struggle between EU officials and technology companies. Read more »
A move made recently by Samsung to counter Apple’s ongoing legal assault on its allegedly patent-infringing products could come back to bite the Korean electronics manufacturer. The European Commission is looking into whether or not Samsung’s claims might constitute an an abuse of FRAND patents. Read more »
Apple has been granted a preliminary injunction by a German court, which will effectively prevent the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in all countries belonging to the European Union, save the Netherlands. Samsung can still appeal the decision in a few weeks. Read more »
The possibility of Europe-wide restrictions on the tracking cookies used by online advertisers had some up in arms. But the threat has been dispelled — at least in Britain, where the government suggests that browsers rather than websites should offer users better ways to stay private. Read more »
The culture clash between American and European privacy cultures has been bubbling away for some time, but now European lawmakers have given the clearest signal yet to America’s Internet companies that they will be forced to abide by new, stricter privacy regulations. Read more »
An incoming piece of European legislation that regulates the use of cookies has some entrepreneurs up in arms — but their extreme reactions say more about the state of the continent’s startup industry than the true impact of the law. Read more »
In Silicon Valley, history often repeats itself. Most often it’s the tale of a startup that captures the attention of millions and topples its bigger, incumbent competitors. Then it becomes hated monopoly, despised for the control it wields. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, this ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
IBM thinks that tunnel field-effect transistors could cut transistor power use by tenfold and virtually eliminate vampire power, and it’s working with European researchers to bring the idea from lab to market in six to 10 years. Read more »
An ongoing digital strategy by the European Union (EU) could force Apple into allowing Adobe’s Flash to run on the iPhone. The incomplete plans outlined by the EU, known as the Digital Agenda, aim to redefine how antitrust rules are practiced. Read more »
The European Union’s new Digital Agenda, which is designed to improve access to technology, could force companies such as Apple to open up their businesses by requiring them to offer interoperability and open standards, even if they are not the dominant player in a market. Read more »
Most cloud providers house services in only a few geographically distributed data centers, and national or continental data storage regulations can limit how -– and if -– organizations move their operations to the cloud. Can legislation can be passed that takes into account such realities? Read more »
While most of us were too engrossed in the somewhat ephemeral news of Google’s new attempts at becoming social, something much more profound transpired — something that can have an impact on millions upon millions of people. Microsoft announced that it was opening up its Outlook […] Read more »
The European Union isn’t taking reports of potentially dangerous iPhone malfunctions lightly. EU Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva issued a warning today that iPhones will be pulled from store shelves if it turns out recent screen explosions are hardware-based problems. Kuneva says the issue is […] Read more »
