There’s a brewing conflict over consumers’ rights to use platforms like ReDigi to resell their books, music and other digital property. Now libraries and companies like eBay and Redbox are leading a campaign to pass “You bought it, you own it” laws. Read more at paidContent »
The European Commission wants to make it easier for digital services to offer content across the bloc’s national borders. Now research examines whether citizens want it as much as operators do. Read more at paidContent »
NewsCred is a digital newswire that has found success by eliminating licensing and technology friction between publishers and those who want their content. Now, it has acquired a popular platform of publishing tools. Read more at paidContent »
Wahwah.fm was trying to bring personal radio into the social age, while doing it all legally. It failed – at least for now – and CEO Philipp Eibach has a very cautionary tale for startups planning to take on the music business. Read more »
The Associated Press continues to evolve from a news service to a broader, one-stop shop for a broad variety of content. AP now has audio offerings thanks to a new alliance with indie music licensor Audiosocket. Read more at paidContent »
The internet is supposed to be about the end of intermediaries. Then why are middlemen so successful? For years, aggregators have ruled the content space and now a new breed of brokers is using technology to redefine the interaction between readers and publishers. Read more at paidContent »
Set-top box maker TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO) announced today that it would rake in hundreds of millions from licensing three of its patents to AT&T (… Read more at paidContent »
Google rocked the mobile world on Monday, August 15, with the news that it will buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, marking a 63-percent premium for the handset manufacturer. It’s a move that ushers Google into the exclusive club of companies that control both the hardware and software elements of their smartphone offerings, and it will enable Google to design handsets that are more closely integrated with Android. However, the deal doesn’t come without its risks, and it remains to be seen just how it will affect other handset makers, competition from Microsoft and the crucial patent issues currently surrounding Google. Companies mentioned in this report include Apple, Research In Motion and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
H.264 license holder MPEG LA says it’s ready to step up the fight against Google’s open-source WebM format. After threatening to form a patent pool to use against WebM, the group now says it has identified 12 companies with patents essential to the VP8 standard. Read more »
Rumors have been flying that Apple is deep in negotiations with record labels and publishers to secure the rights necessary to provide a cloud-based music service. But why does Apple need to negotiate anything? Here’s a basic guide to the murky waters of music licensing. Read more »
App Store developers who offer in-app purchasing are receiving threats of legal action today. The threats accuse devs of patent infringement regarding Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism, but the patent holder appears to be targeting independent developers individually instead of going after Apple itself. Read more »
No single strategy guarantees social media success. Twitter’s recent relaunch mirrors some of Digg’s tactics, but social services from the likes of Google and Apple take entirely different approaches. Which is all to say that with multiple strategies, there’s more than one way to win the ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It’s a great time to be a web worker. Almost every day, a new site, service or product comes on the scene that promises to make our work more efficient (or more fun). Some areas, like project management or image editing, are crowded with options. And […] Read more »
Much has been made about the new iPod shuffle’s neat new features, like voiceover narration to make up for the lack of a display, and its incredibly small form factor. Much more, perhaps, has been made about the limitations the new form factor presents, since it […] Read more »
Apple has been a “recent” devotion for me. Within the last six years have I come to appreciate the quality and design that goes into the products I use daily. So why not better understand the culture and devotion behind the company? If you love your […] Read more »
