Consumer content

SAN JOSE, Calif.--By now, just about everyone who follows the media industry has heard of the deep fiscal troubles of The New York Times. But even as the paper does its best for all the news that's fit for newsprint, it is also conducting experiments aimed at moving itself into the forefront of digital journalism.

At the Emerging Technologies conference (ETech) on Tuesday, Nick Bilton, the design integration editor and user interface specialist at the Times' research and development lab, spoke about "sensors, smart content, and the future of news," essentially a recap of some of … Read more

Update 6:30 p.m.: To include insight on from industry sources.

The fight between YouTube and a U.K. music royalties group appears to be heating up as Radiohead, Billy Bragg, and Robbie Williams have come out against YouTube.

Williams, KT Tunstall, and the members of the rock band Radiohead will meet Wednesday with other marquee music performers to protest "at how badly they are treated by record companies and music streaming Web sites like YouTube," according to a report in the Times Online, a U.K. publication. The artists will gather as part of a newly … Read more

Imagine if all the hospitals, schools, churches, and government buildings that appear on online maps were nothing but blurs.

That would not only reduce the usefulness of things like Google Maps and Google Earth, but it would be a huge undertaking for Google and would probably violate the First Amendment.

But that's exactly what California Assemblyman Joel Anderson, a Republican from El Cajon, is proposing in a measure dubbed "AB-255."

The measure would apply to Web site operators and online services that make "a virtual globe browser available to members of the public" and fails … Read more

A day after YouTube announced the Google-owned video site would no longer stream music videos within the United Kingdom, the Performance Right Society said talks on Tuesday between the group and YouTube were "positive."

PRS collects royalties on behalf of the music industry in the U.K. On Monday, YouTube announced that the Web's largest video site and the collections agency couldn't reach a deal on licensing fees. Talks continue and the parties are scheduled to meet over the next few days, according to a PRS statement.

"We are committed to ensuring our 60,000 … Read more

Update 3:29 p.m. PDT: Added quotes from the National Association of Broadcasters.

Internet radio has to pay performance rights but broadcast stations get a free pass.

Billy Corgan, founder of the rock band Smashing Pumpkins, told Congress on Tuesday that must change.

"This issue is one of fundamental fairness," Corgan told lawmakers. "If the performance of a song has value to a particular terrestrial radio station in its airing, I believe it is only right to compensate those performers who have created this work.

"Simply put, if a station plays a song, both the … Read more

MySpace may follow YouTube by muffling music in the United Kingdom, according to a published report.

MySpace UK, as well as other music services, are struggling to renegotiate licensing deals with the Performance Rights Society, a royalty-collection group in Great Britain.

U.K. publication The Guardian cited an anonymous source Tuesday who said "the launch of MySpace UK's comprehensive music service later this year could be thrown into jeopardy."

MySpace and YouTube representatives were not immediately available to comment.

Online radio service Pandora pulled out of Great Britain more than a year ago. The Oakland, Calif.-based … Read more

The British newspaper the Guardian announced Tuesday it's launching an open platform designed to offer third parties free access to its content and data, in exchange for carrying the publication's advertising.

With the platform, the Guardian aims to ease the process for third-party developers to design applications and services using free Guardian articles, videos, photo galleries, and other content.

One partner, for example, has developed a service to encourage Guardian readers to geotag all of the publication's content, with the goal of making it easier for readers to find news, video, and other related information in their … Read more

The economy is in the toilet, and I know I'm not the only person in America who is looking for ways to cut costs. Top on my list in 2009 is finding a way to eliminate my $100 a month cable TV bill.

Up until very recently, the idea of cutting off subscription TV would have meant skimping on a whole lot of good quality entertainment. I must admit, I don't watch a lot of TV. But I watch enough that I would be very sad if I had to give up HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" or NBC's "30 Rock."

But thanks to that wonderful communications network known as the Internet and the fact that big Hollywood studios and TV networks have finally realized that digital distribution is actually a good thing, cable cord cutters, like me, won't have to sacrifice that much or anything at all, depending on what movies and TV programs we like to watch.

Thanks to services like Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon On Demand, consumers can simply stream or download movies or previous seasons of TV shows directly from the Web anytime they want. And for those viewers looking for current seasons of TV shows, they can turn to Web sites, such as Hulu.com or TV.com, which have aggregated some of the most popular TV shows for on-demand viewing over the Net. (Disclosure: CNET and TV.com are properties of CBS Interactive.) … Read more

A 15-year-old has created a free-music service by harnessing YouTube's vast library of music videos.

Muziic, created by teen developer David Nelson, has built an iTunes-like interface on top of YouTube. The service enables users to stream YouTube's music to their PCs without fiddling with videos. Users can build playlists and organize songs in a way similar to iTunes.

CNET blogger Matt Rosoff first wrote about the service and gave it a favorable review. "Any song that's been uploaded to YouTube is available in Muziic," Rosoff wrote. "This includes music unavailable on most commercial … Read more