IFPI has sued Yahoo China over allowing users to search for, play and download pirate music without leaving its website…
“The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) hailed a recent Chinese court ruling that held Yahoo China responsible for acts of copyright infringement in the most populous country in the world…”
(more…)New York -- The popular American Internet company Yahoo! Inc. and Latin America’s leading mobile phone company “America Movil,” announced on Thursday that they have struck a deal to provide mobile Web services to 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The agreement calls for Yahoo’s oneSearch service to be the default on America Movil’s wireless carriers’ portals. Yahoo is also to offer localized versions of its oneSearch service for each region, while other Yahoo services are also likely to be added in coming months.
(more…)The $3.1-billion bid to buy DoubleClick still faces scrutiny by regulators in Europe…
San Francisco -- Google Inc.’s $3.1 billion bid for Internet advertiser “DoubleClick” gained federal approval Thursday despite objections that it might pose a threat to competition and tread on consumer privacy in the fast-growing Internet advertising world.
“The approval leaves the European Commission as the last hurdle still facing the $3.1bn purchase of DoubleClick from a San Francisco private equity firm.”
(more…)“Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 has exited its beta phase and entered Release Candidate phase…”
Microsoft Tuesday unveiled the first release candidate for Windows XP service pack 3 (SP3), moving the long awaited final batch of tweaks and fixes for XP closer to reality. As usual, it is now available for download publicly.
The move marks the first opportunity for all users of the six-year-old operating system to try out its final upgrade. Previously, several thousand users were given access to test builds of SP3 only by Microsoft’s invitation.
(more…)Washington -- Internet giants Google, Microsoft and Yahoo agreed to pay a total of 31.5 million dollars to settle a government probe into their role in promoting online gambling dating back to 1997, with the United States Attorney’s office in St. Louis officials said Wednesday.
“Honest taxpayers and gambling industry personnel who do follow the law suffer from those who promote illegal online behavior,” Catherine Hanaway US Attorney, said in a statement.
(more…)After suing one Google acquisition for $1bn, US media behemoth Viacom has now divorced another, leaping headlong into the arms of Microsoft…
“In a significant boost for its Internet unit, Microsoft has reached a long-term deal to work with media giant Viacom on content and advertising distribution, an agreement worth an estimated US$500 million…”
(more…)IBM’s Atlas tools provide search and analysis for the Lotus Connections enterprise social networking suite…
“IBM is jumping into social networking, but instead of newsfeeds, customized apps and top friends, Big Blue is going the geek route with charts and visualization tools that demonstrate how connected users are to other people on their network…”
(more…)Facebook takes Dr. Phil’s recommendation and gets cozy with Match.com…
“Match.com has created an application on Facebook that allows consumers to use its dating service directly through the social networking site…”
London -- Match.com is working hard to connect its network of over 15 million users is partnering with social networking giant Facebook to launch a “Little Black Book” dating application.
(more…)Groups also call on agency to consider privacy as well as competitive issues…
“In the seemingly waning days of the U.S. government's antitrust review of the Google-DoubleClick union, consumer groups are lodging a last-minute plea: do not forget about privacy…”
Google’s proposed purchase of DoubleClick has intensified privacy concerns across the globe, and most recently in Europe, where privacy issues have begun to overshadow antitrust concerns.
(more…)“Alltel Wireless announced in September that it had reached a deal with SpinVox to provide the voice-to-SMS conversion capability…”
Wireless carrier Alltel on Monday has rolled out a system it calls “Voice2TXT,” an optional feature that customers can use to have their voice mail messages converted to text and sent to their phones via SMS.
Alltel Wireless has teamed up with SpinVox to launch a new service, Voice2TXT that converts voice mail messages to text messages.
(more…)