A group of French researchers believe that the sensors and transmitters we wear will route and relay data, not just collect it. We won’t just be connected to the network. We’ll be the network. Read more »
A new French court ruling raises questions about how far the country, which has robust support for artists and musicians, should go in imposing cultural taxes on connected devices. Read more at paidContent »
Facebook has admitted that it failed to apply its policies about offensive content to some disturbingly misogynistic pages. But is this a victory for the social network’s critics, or just another stop on the slippery slope of censorship? Read more »
France’s minister of digital economy is speaking up for Paris-based AppGratis, which was kicked out of the iOS App Store for recent rule violations. She called Apple’s decision “brutal” and implied Apple was behaving unethically, according to accounts of her comments. Read more »
Twitter may be run by a private corporation, but it has quickly become one of the strongest tools we have for free speech, which is why it’s so important that the company resist efforts to curb that speech. Read more »
Michel Combes is set to take over the reins of Alcatel-Lucent on April 1, after spending the previous four years heading up Vodafone’s most important region. Read more »
We already knew that tablet shipments are now roughly 1:2 versus those of non-tablet PCs but now, for one country at least, the analyst house GfK has some starker predictions about the coming year. Read more »
While Google may see its payments to French publishers as a smart move for its own short-term purposes, the deal is still being seen by many as a payment for links, and that could set a dangerous precedent. Read more »
Nuance is buying online virtual sales and support assistant developer VirtuOz for an undisclosed price, our sources tell us. VirtuOz gives Nuance a stake in the enterprise virtual assistant market to match its presence in the enterprise mobile apps. Read more »
Jewish groups in France are invoking hate speech laws to demand that Twitter hand over the identities of users who tweeted anti-Semitic messages. This puts Twitter in a hard place because the company is committed to free speech. Read more »
The French ISP has been told by French digital economy minister Fleur Pellerin to stop blocking online ads, because she is ‘very attached’ to the open internet. However, she also hinted that she may not be entirely in favor of net neutrality. Read more »
As Twitter becomes an increasingly global media entity — and one that controls its own platform — it is running into demands from governments in countries like France and Germany to censor or block access to certain kinds of speech. How will it respond? Read more at paidContent »
A string of offensive hashtag memes in France has spurred the government to announce a consultation on hate speech with Twitter. It could mark a watershed for the country’s approach to social media — but it’s not just Paris that has a problem. We all do. Read more »
Sacrebleu! IPTV adoption in France is greater than anywhere in the world — and becoming more so. But that doesn’t mean the French consume the most internet video. Here is why its market is failing to take advantage. Read more at paidContent »
The Parisian MailChimp competitor, which focuses on the startup scene, says it will use the money to shore up its support services and ISP relations – a useful route when deliverability is key. Read more »
The France-based operator group is the latest to deploy an app that competes directly with the likes of Skype and WhatsApp, but also potentially steals away its own paying customers. Apart from evolving because it has to, what does it hope to gain? Read more »
Free Mobile continues to gouge large chunks out of the French mobile market. It added 805,000 subscribers in Q3, bringing its total subscriber base to 4.4 million in just nine months. Meanwhile, France’s big three are still growing but at a much slower pace. Read more »
What happens in Belgium doesn’t necessarily stay in Belgium. Now Google News is facing a Brazilian boycott and France is threatening to copy a German-style tax on excerpting its newspapers. What’s an aggregator to do? Read more at paidContent »
One of the many digital content services going global is music video outfit Vevo. Certain new countries mean a mobile-first approach – but that puts services at the mercy of a mobile ad ecosystem they say is still playing catch-up to desktop. Read more at paidContent »
Managing cloud app-hosting services when many different locations and installations are involved can be a tricky exercise. Julian Coulon of Cedexis has some tips and tricks. Read more »
Looking to broaden itself from skateboarding dogs by increasing its volume of original professional video, YouTube is extending its original-channel deal with established producers, with 60 new channels in Europe and the States. Read more at paidContent »
Deezer now stands a much greater chance of challenging powerful Spotify in the race to sign unlimited-music subscription customers, after reportedly taking a €100 million funding. But can any of their ilk be a success? Read more at paidContent »
Faced with a huge hike in taxes on the benefits of equity sales, French entrepreneurs banded together as ‘Les Pigeons’ and forced the government to reverse its plans. Read more »
A French tabloid set off a temporary worldwide panic that Facebook had published the private messages of its users. France’s privacy regulator has now accepted the company’s explanation that this didn’t happen — but did blame Facebook for stirring up confusion. Read more »
Hadopi, the French body created by former President Nicolas Sarkozy to enforce copyright laws online, has rarely been popular for its three strikes disconnection policy. Now, after hints that the new government may cut its funding, the group’s leader has told politicians to stop meddling. Read more »
Real-time bidding is gaining traction with publishers keen to wring more out of their online inventory. Now rival French publishers are joining forces for a united pitch to advertisers. Read more at paidContent »
Adding 1 million customers in the second quarter, French ISP Iliad’s upstart wireless operator is still up-ending France’s mobile market. Though its momentum has slowed since its stellar 2.6 million-activation launch quarter, the company is still growing rapidly at the expense of France’s incumbents. Read more »
France-based unlimited-music service Deezer is fast expanding in to new global markets. But the expansion doesn’t yet appear to have upgraded its subscriber count. Read more at paidContent »
Ouch. France’s top mobile network, Orange, has been suffering from a bug that left a huge chunk of users unable to access their voicemail — just a few weeks after a software glitch rendered vast parts of the company’s network unusable. Read more »
France’s three big mobile operators are cooperating to put out a common API that mobile retail sites and apps can use to autofill customer data into a purchase screen. It’s a small achievement, but a notable one, considering operators past failures to lure in developers. Read more »
France’s Hadopi piracy agency has warned hundreds of thousands accused of piracy. But it’s become frowned upon by the country’s new government. First step in reform is to cut the agency’s budget. Read more at paidContent »
European startups love to analyze their failures and look for reasons the continent finds it hard to build huge new businesses. Now a great, comprehensive piece in The Economist manages to show how the problems are deep, dangerous — and go back at least 50 years. Read more »
Faced with increasing pressure from its telecom vendor rivals as well as the poor economy, Alcatel-Lucent is cutting its workforce by 7 percent. In order to generate revenue, the vendor is looking toward its vast patent pool, setting up a new intellectual property management division. Read more »
Google’s decision to buy hot French email startup Sparrow has seen reactions ranging from excited to bitterly disappointed. But while some critics are just hipsters who confuse selling up with selling out, there are plenty of reasons to worry about a purchase by the ‘Plex. Read more »
Global No2 video service Dailymotion is expanding its white label streaming service to try and capture a greater share of the market. Can its new features draw in more users and help the company meet its targets? Read more »
The man who has been given the job of reworking France’s controversial anti-piracy legislation says cutting off the internet connection of filesharers is probably wrong. But don’t expect him to go easy on those of accused of illegal downloads. Read more »
France’s Supreme Court has set aside a critical piracy ruling won by Google in 2011, leaving the door open to the search giant being forced to censor some of its autocomplete listings to prevent copyright infringement and piracy. Read more »
Fon may have launched in Madrid, but lately the company taking on a very Japanese flavor. According to the company, which pioneered the concept of a global community Wi-Fi network, 1 million or a full one-sixth of its global access points now reside in Japan. Read more »
When is a book not a book? When it comes to European tax law. The continent is acting against two countries that reduced e-book tax to physical rates, in a sorry and technocratic action. Read more at paidContent »
French media is reporting that Microsoft’s Paris-based subsidiary is being investigated by the country’s tax authorities over its system for avoiding corporate taxes. It marks the latest low point for the business, which wrote down its $6.2bn purchase of aQuantive earlier this week. Read more »
