guilds

Book publishers object to Kindle's text-to-voice feature

Update at 5:30 p.m. PST: Quotes added from copyright advocate Ben Sheffner.

Was your mother a lawbreaker when she read you The Little Prince or Green Eggs and Ham?

That's the question raised Tuesday by the Authors Guild, an advocacy group for writers. Paul Aitken, the group's executive director objects to the text-to-speech feature on Amazon's Kindle 2 digital-book reader. Aitken told The Wall Street Journal: "They don't have the right to read a book out loud. That's an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law."

Wow. If a computer … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 860: Close Enough for Nuclear War

On today's show, we learn that there's little difference between nuclear war and horseshoes, at least in the "close enough" department. Also, a new segment: This Week in Cooley! Plus, a flurry of online news including mobile scheduling for your TiVo, the travesty of the teacher and the porn pop-ups, and Chrome is the king of speed! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 860

Cooley debriefs: - Just drove in in the new 370Z with SynchroMatch transmission. http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-10102550-48.html

- From iPhone to Bold: how it's going, why I did … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 730: Tom is a pervert

We're sorry to inform you that Tom has been kicked off Buzz Out Loud for being 37 years old, because you just can't tell by looking. Well, OK, not BOL, but he did get kicked off Faceparty. In other news, Twitter gets some funding, but we're asking for a better Twitter. Also, the future has arrived, and it's a future with health insurance, no matter what your genetic markers might suggest. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 730

Sony to distribute ‘live’ shows to theaters http://online.wsj.com/article_email/ SB121142408161613141-lMyQjAxMDI4MTIxMjQyMjI0Wj.html

Twitter reportedly closes $… Read more

Screenwriters strike playlist

While some 12,000 TV and film screenwriters go on strike this week, people are filling the void by turning to other forms of media, such as DVDs and the Internet. Ironically, these outlets are exactly what the members of the Writers Guild want more of the profit of (and don't want people to support). They're hoping to come to an agreement soon, although the last walk out like this (in 1988) lasted for five months. Ouch.

We'll miss The Office, Desperate Housewives and Conan O'brien, but it's not the end of the world, right? … Read more

Eisner's advice to striking writers: Blame Steve Jobs, not the studios

NEW YORK--In his keynote speech on Wednesday morning at the Media and Money conference hosted by Dow Jones and Nielsen, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner talked about writers as though they were a minority group that he didn't particularly understand well. "I like writers. Some of my best friends are writers," he said as though attempting to save face. But nevertheless, his foremost epithet for the ongoing Writer's Guild of America strike was "stupid."

"I see stupid strikes, and I see less stupid strikes. I see smart strikes," Eisner said in the … Read more

It's official: film and TV writers strike on Monday

TV and film writers will officially go on strike starting Monday at 12:01 PST, a spokeswoman for the Writers Guild of America said on Friday.

As the weekend may bring more negotiating between the guild and the group representing film and TV producers, one of the main sticking points is Internet revenue, according to a story published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.

The writers want a share of ad revenue generated by online broadcasts of TV shows. Producers insist that the Web is more of a promotional tool and hasn't brought in much money.

The dispute comes … Read more