Month: May 2008

Categories
Business

Hard Copies Of Wikipedia To Be Printed. Should Writers Earn Royalties?

wikipediaGerman publishing company Bertelsmann has made plans to publish a hard copy of Wikipedia, leaving many wondering if the content’s writers are being scammed out of royalties to which they are due.

“The One-Volume Wikipedia Encyclopedia,” goes on sale this September for 19.95 euros (around $32 U.S.).

Is this legal? Yes. Apparently, the material on the Wikipedia site is free for use given that you cite Wikipedia as the source. In addition, Bertelsmann will pay the foundation one euro for every copy sold.

Mark O’Neill of Now Sourcing believes he knows exactly where this leaves those writers: ripped off. He writes:

Wikipedia is ripping them off big-time. No, in fact, let’s not beat around the bush here. Let’s say it for what it really is. Wikipedia is SHAFTING THEM….Had they known that Wikipedia would then use their work in a commercial printed venture, I’m sure they would have had second thoughts about writing those articles. At the very least they would have demanded a contract and perhaps a guarantee of financial compensation later.

Categories
Business

Microsoft going the independent way…. Really?

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday the company isn’t pursuing other deals following the withdrawal of its $47.5 billion takeover bid for Yahoo.

He said in Tokyo that the company put “a lot of effort” in the talks with Yahoo and has decided the two should pursue “independent paths.”

Microsoft’s intense pursuit of Yahoo was widely seen as an acknowledgment of weaknesses in Microsoft’s solo Web search and advertising strategy, and the software maker now needs to prove it can innovate without Yahoo as a partner.

Possible partners for Microsoft in the future might include large Internet companies such as Time Warner Inc.’s AOL and News Corp.’s MySpace and promising startups such as Facebook Inc. (Microsoft already owns a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook) and LinkedIn Corp.

Categories
Business Internet

Google Adsense For Search

adsense for searchYesterday, Google officially announced the availability of AdSense for Search for use in combination with the powerful Google Custom Search service, something not possible until now and potentially very welcome to both small and large professional web publishers looking for further ways to optimize their content monetization opportunities while helping their readers find more easily the information they are looking for.

Overview of AdSense for Search Integration With Custom Search:

  • Create a custom, personalized search engine in no time at all
  • Customize the appearance of search results and ads
  • Tune results and ads to your site’s content and audience
  • Get more comprehensive site search results with improved indexing
  • Earn revenue while helping your users find what they’re looking for

Here is a short video that tell you all about it…

Categories
Internet Music

Qtrax Signs Deal With UMG to Allow Free Music Download

QtraxA big day for the music industry. First, Nine Inch Nails that started making their latest album free for download; and now Universal Music Group (by the way, they’re French) confirms a deal with file-sharing site Qtrax to allow free, legal downloads of UMG music.

Here is what Qtrax says about Qtrax:

Qtrax is the world’s first free and legal peer-to-peer (P2P) digital music site. Music lovers can discover new music and legally download full-length, high-quality versions of their favorite songs while compensating both the artists and the record labels through non-intrusive and relevant advertising. Qtrax has the unparalleled support of the major record labels and all of their respective publishing divisions. LTDnetwork Inc, a division of Brilliant Technologies Corporation, developed Qtrax and its components.

Again, advertising will pay for what you get but I think it’s the beginning of a new, long-awaited era.

Qtrax is currently on private beta test but you can sign up on the website to know when it’s releases to general public.

Categories
Art Random

The Zero Energy Media Wall

GreenPix

GreenPix – Zero Energy Media Wall – is a groundbreaking project applying sustainable and digital media technology to the curtain wall of Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing, near the site of the 2008 Olympics.

Featuring the largest color LED display worldwide and the first photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain wall in China, the building performs as a self-sufficient organic system, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to illuminate the screen after dark, mirroring a day’s climatic cycle.

The project was designed and implemented by Simone Giostra & Partners.

Continue reading “The Zero Energy Media Wall”
Categories
Business

A discussion about Yahoo and Microsoft

A discussion about Yahoo and Microsoft with Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times and Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com. Yahoo’s shares plunged 20% in early trade in New York after software giant Microsoft scrapped its three-month-old bid to buy the internet firm. View the video here.

Categories
Art

The Cans Festival

Banksy invited artists to join him in London for The Cans Festival stencil party, this time not in a building but in a tunnel. With permission, the tunnel was closed down to make way for an onslaught of color and sculptural installations.

Continue reading “The Cans Festival”
Categories
iPhone

More Indications That iPhone 2 Is Coming Soon

An AT&T memo has been leaked and make believe the company is getting ready for a “new product launch”… AT&T requires its employees NOT to take vacations between 5/15 and 6/12 “to participate in the heavy selling period”.

Is AT&T getting its employees ready for the new Motorola flip phone? Haha, probably not. They issued a similar memo last year for the launch of the iPhone. It is very reasonab;le to think they are getting ready for the 3G iPhone.

Continue reading “More Indications That iPhone 2 Is Coming Soon”
Categories
Art

Jim Houser’s Solo Exhibition

Jim Houser is having a solo exhibition called Mere Inches.

The show runs from runs until May 24th at Merry Karnowsky Gallery, in Los Angeles.

If you’re in LA, you have no excuse for not going!

Jim Houser

Categories
Music

Nine Inch Nails latest album free

Nine Inch NailsHas RadioHead started a new trend in the music distribution business? I sure hope so. Nine Inch Nails made its latest album available for download for free. While I’m not a big fan of NIN, I think it is a great move. I’ve never felt compelled to pay for music. I only pay music when it is small bands that will never make it. I pay indirectly pay for my music by buying tickets to go see bands live in concert.

Download NIN’s latest album here.