Internet & Media- Page 1186

Web radio, music industry reach agreement on royalties

Internet radio got a break Tuesday when the sector reached an agreement on streaming-music royalty rates with SoundExchange, the group that collects royalties on behalf of artists and labels.

The two sides announced the deal, which comes after more than two years of negotiations, political maneuvering, and fans pleading with lawmakers to save Webcasting. It should be noted, however, that Webcasters are still at a disadvantage when competing with traditional broadcast radio. Over-the-air stations aren't required to pay royalty rates to artists or labels.

Steve Marks, an executive vice president for the Recording Industry Association of America and one … Read more

Yahoo drops fantasy football suit against NFL union

Yahoo has decided to punt rather than continue to oppose the National Football League's players union.

The company filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota on Monday, effectively ending a lawsuit it filed just a month ago seeking a judgment that Yahoo shouldn't have to pay for access to the player stats needed to run a fantasy football Web site. The AP, which spotted the filing, reported that both Yahoo and the union declined to comment on the suit's dismissal.

Fantasy football requires a wealth of statistical … Read more

Kindle patents lay out plan for ads

Amazon.com has filed for a number of patents that hint at ad-supported books for its Kindle e-reader--more specifically, a free or discounted ad-supported e-book for customers who buy the physical version.

Amazon Technologies, a subsidiary of Amazon, filed for a patent ("Method and system for access to electronic version of a physical work based on user ownership of the physical work") in December 2006. It was approved last month and makes it possible for buyers of a physical book to have an e-book bundled with it.

But two additional patents, filed a year later by Amazon employees (… Read more

VideoLAN releases VLC 1.0.0: Your media will never be the same

VideoLAN's VLC media player, arguably the world's best media player, hit version 0.9.9 in early April. Three months and more than 78 million downloads later, VideoLAN has announced VLC 1.0.0, or "Goldeneye."

Your media will never be the same.

In fact, with VideoLAN's VLC media player for Windows, Mac, and Linux, it doesn't have to be. One of the amazing things about VLC is that it can play anything that you've ever even thought about playing. That random media format that one site in Ecuador requires--VLC likely plays it, … Read more

Where to watch the Jackson memorial online

Some 1.6 million people registered for a chance to receive 8,750 pairs of tickets to attend Michael Jackson's memorial service at the Staples Center on Tuesday. But if you weren't among the lucky few who won tickets but feel the need to bear witness to the spectacle, fear not--several Web sites plan to provide live streaming video of the event.

The service will be a star-studded event, with singers Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, and Smokey Robinson expected to perform in what some expect to be the biggest event in the Web's history.

Considering … Read more

Psst! Wanna buy some Twitter followers?

Do you suffer from tweeting envy?

In all likelihood, someone you know is being followed by far more people than you have mustered. Someone you know has more followers than followed. And someone you know is laughing at your dreadful Twitter stats.

Are you scared that this says something negative about you? Well, now you can pin your fears up against a wall and say "boo!" because the enterprising souls at uSocial.net want to help you be touched by thousands of people out there.

Yes, you have to pay uSocial some money. But in this world, money … Read more

Jammie Thomas asks for new trial

Update 5:48 p.m. PT: To include quotes from Thomas Rasset's attorney.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Minnesota woman found liable for willful copyright infringement of 24 songs last month, has asked a federal court for a new trial or a reduction in the amount of the $1.92 million damages she was ordered to pay.

Thomas-Rasset, who a jury found liable for willful copyright infringement, asked the court Monday to either alter or amend the judgment, remove or change the award of statutory damages to the minimum, or give her a new trial. The minimum damages would be $18,… Read more

CompuServe Classic laid to rest

CompuServe Classic, the initial on-ramp to the information superhighway for a generation of Americans, has died. It was 30 years old.

AOL, the current owner of CompuServe, confirmed the passing of CompuServe Classic in a message sent to subscribers last week. The company had announced plans to shut down the service in April, urging customers still dependent on cheap dial-up services to move to a surviving version, CompuServe 2000.

Back in the early days of the PC, CompuServe was the Google of its day. Introduced in 1979, it was the premier service for a small number of geeks in the … Read more

ABC content starts arriving on Hulu

It's here, sort of. Several months after the big announcement that content from Disney's ABC Entertainment division would be coming to Hulu, the entertainment conglomerate's shows have started arriving.

The primetime drama "Grey's Anatomy" debuted on the video hub Monday, and more shows will roll out over the next two weeks.

These include, according to Hulu, consistent hits like "Desperate Housewives" and "Scrubs," along with more recent additions to the network such as "I Survived A Japanese Game Show."

Disney joined Hulu in April, giving it a joint … Read more

Fun with numbers a boon for StatCounter

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

If you've been following the headlines of late you'll find that StatCounter's research arm, a Web tracking service most Webheads are familiar with, has gone from afterthought to player in just a few short months.

Credit a few handy Bing-happy press releases and handy browser market share stats.

There's a good bit of hubbub about IE market share, which has dropped off since March (Techmeme). The big question is whether we should believe the numbers (below is the year over year trends).

Let's look at … Read more