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Here’s the latest action:

More fallout from the YouTube/Viacom lawsuit — After a judge ruled that Google wouldn’t have to reveal YouTube’s source code but would have to open its user data for all to see, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wrote a post condemning the decision as a violation of privacy. Google lawyers are also on the case, according to The Wall Street Journal. The outcry in the blogosphere has been even bigger.

Chicken Little, the SSD-based MacBook Air prices are falling — Apple has quietly shaved $500 off the price of it’s slim MacBook Air drive with a built-in solid state drive (SSD). These are the drives that use flash memory as require no moving parts, allowing them to be more stable and in some cases much quicker. You can not get one for $2,598, according to AppleInsider.

Economic downturn hits Google? — The search giant is closing two of its offices, one in Denver and one in Dallas. Luckily, no Googlers are being laid off, they were all be relocated, according to Google Blogoscoped

Activision-Vivendi Games merger likely to proceed next week — A judge has denied a request to halt the previously announced $18.9 billion deal. July 9 could be the close date, according to GameSpot.

Report: Baidu enters mobile search deal with Nokia — The largest Chinese search engine has a deal in place to pre-load its product onto Nokia phones, according to Forbes. Nokia recently bought the Symbian OS and announced it would open it in an effort to compete with the likes of Google’s upcoming Android platform. Now it has a mobile search partner besides Google as well.

Segway sales rising as gas prices do the same — Remember the Segway? Of course you do. Know anyone who owns one? Probably not. That may change soon as sales are on the rise with many people looking for alternatives to cars, according to USA Today.

Aussies living the tech lifestyle in San Francisco — The city’s Hot House provides start-ups from Australia with office space, desks, broadband access and a telephone line on the cheap (around $600 a month), according to The Age. The idea is to help Australian companies better serve their American and Canadian customers which often make up a large percentage of their user base.

Apple developing a whole multi-touch language — A new patent, uncovered by UnwiredView, reveals a wide range of gestures beyond the “pinch” and the “double tap.” The patent is called “gesture learning,” and interestingly it only shows left-handed gestures. A separate report says Apple has filed for 34 different multi-touch patents.

The CEO of I Can Has Cheezburger? is allergic to cats — Yep. Cats are a source of great income, but also a source of great pain, according to Valleywag.

Electronic Arts is going after the casual consumer on multiple fronts. It offers Pogo.com online and EA Mobile for cell phone users (which will also expand to Apple’s iPod beginning July 7). Now EA Casual and Entertainment is unveiling the first offerings from the Hasbro licensing deal it negotiated last fall, and EA Sports is revamping its entire Wii lineup of games under the All-Play branding.

The publisher showcased many of its upcoming games at a New York event for the press. The games are part of an ongoing effort by the company to reach various casual audiences, including tweens, families and women — groups that don’t care for the first-person shooters and other action games that EA has traditionally made.

Last year, EA kicked its casual gaming efforts into high gear by creating separate label and organizational group led by former Activision executive Kathy Vrabeck to target the casual sector.

The company’s new focus is showing some positive results.

One of game worth noting is a sequel to “Boogie,” a Wii game that failed to win over the press the first time around, but sold enough units for EA’s new Montreal studio to go back to the drawing board. “Boogie: Superstar” is a game clearly aimed at tween girls, which Charles-William Bibaud, associate producer of the title, said was the one demographic that flocked to the original game. The new game, which ships in October, lets one person sing any one of 40 licensed tween hit songs while the second player is required to dance to choreographed routines. Up to four users can play the game taking turns. “Superstar” comes loaded with customization options that 10 to 14 year-old girls crave, including accessorizing their avatars. Ubisoft, Nintendo, Her Interactive, Disney, and a variety of other game publishers are regularly coming out with titles like this that target girls as the primary audience.

For girls 6 to 10 years old, EA has “Littlest Pet Shop” (pictured above) for Wii, PC and Nintendo DS. The Wii and PC game lets players travel through four worlds and collect 32 pets, which can be accessorized with over 100 items. Like “Nintendogs,” the Nintendo DS game will come in three different versions (Winter, Jungle and Garden), each with exclusive pets to interact with.

It’s been six years since “Monopoly” last appeared on a console. Now EA’s making sure most gamers have access to it by releasing Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions this October. Hasbro is doing its part as well, launching Monopoly World Edition this September with its own marketing campaign. EA’s game will include this newest version of the game as well as classic Monopoly and the fast-paced “Richest mode,” which lets a family of four speed through the game in 30 minutes. The Wii version demoed to journalists looked great and blends nicely with Nintendo’s remote-like controller.

For those who want an array of virtual board game options, EA’s “Hasbro Family Game Night” for Wii offers Boggle, Connect 4, Battleship, Yahtzee, Sorry, and the new Sorry Sliders (a mixture of Sorry and curling) on one disc. Mr. Potatohead serves as the host of this multiplayer game, which offers traditional and new variations of each of these classic family games. This is another great synergy between family-friendly Hasbro brands and EA’s take on Wii innovation.

One of the coolest games on display for boys was “Nerf N-Strike” for Wii (pictured left), which is the first game to ship with a gun peripheral that works in-game with the remote, as well as around the house as a foam mini-dart Switchshot. It’s not just little kids who’ll, get a kick out of this dual-purpose toy gun. The game and gun will sell for $50 and extra guns can be purchased separately, since up to four players can take part in the robot target shooting action. One of the hottest toys this Christmas will be the Vulcan Nerf machine-gun, which will be displayed on the game’s box and playable in-game. EA is also giving kids an advanced look at some of the 2009 lineup of Nerf guns, which will be playable in the game.

EA continues its successful games based on Warner Bros. Harry Potter franchise. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” ships this November in conjunction with the latest movie. Although the game will ship across all platforms, as is custom for EA, the Wii version was featured at the event. In addition to the single-player adventure, this is the first game in the franchise that offers competitive dueling between wizards in locales like The Great Hall and the Transfiguration Courtyard. This dueling mode looks especially fun on the Wii, where players can conjure spells using the remote as a wand.

The full lineup for EA Sports All-Play games for Wii were playable at the event. Each of these games has a completely different look and feel from the other console versions, as well as a different approach to last year’s Family Play games. They’re aimed at the family, allowing parents to play with their kids. Rather than focusing on realistic visuals and accurate simulations, these games (“FIFA 09,” “NBA Live 09,” “Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09,” “Madden NFL 09” and “NCAA Football 09”) are about pick-up-and-play experiences that simplify the action for those who aren’t adept gamers. Some of the games, like “FIFA 09,” even offer Mii versions of famous soccer stars, which should appeal to younger fans. “NCAA Football 09” features football action with the mascots on the gridiron.

“Spore” was also on display at the event as a PC game and as a mobile game, which shows that EA is positioning this game as something that the mass market can play (a la “The Sims”).

With its wide array of games aimed at the burgeoning casual games market, this first look at the Hasbro lineup shows that EA is not just going to regurgitate brands and hope the name sells units. That’s refreshing, since the last few Hasbro license-holders, including Hasbro Interactive and Atari, did exactly that. EA is taking casual games seriously, as was evident from “Boom Blox” (there’s an homage to that game in “Nerf N-Strike”). That’s good news for families looking to migrate gaming from dining room board games to the living room television.

Overall, EA’s Casual group has a lot of irons in the fire. It remains to be seen if this division can become as big a powerhouse as EA’s big sports, Sims, and hardcore console game divisions.

Blizzard Entertainment had a lot of buzz about its newest game leading up to its European event at the Porte de Versailles event center in Paris. And fans weren’t disappointed with the announcement of its new Diablo III computer game.

That might make a lot of others snore. But with the pending merger of Activision and Vivendi Games (of which Blizzard is a division) about to close, the unveiling of another chapter in another huge franchise shows yet again that Blizzard is the powerhouse of video games.

The company told fans it would ship the game “when it’s ready” and only described the art style of the upcoming game.  As usual, it’s taking forever to get the game done. Blizzard has a team of 50 to 55 people working on it and it has been in production for about four years. That’s the norm for Blizzard, which relentlessly iterates on its games until it feels they’re just right. You can’t argue with such perfectionism. The World of Warcraft online multiplayer game has more than 10 million subscribers.

Blizzard’s Diablo III will be a fantasy real-time role-playing game for the PC and the Mac. The game play? You basically crush as many demons from hell as possible. There is only one strategy to compete with a Blizzard game these days: stay out of the way.

As the video game industry gears up for its annual E3 conference in July, the reality is setting in that the one-time entertainment extravaganza has become narrowly focused on console games, with very little room for PC games.

Even Microsoft and Intel, the champions of the PC, have conceded that point. Intel isn’t holding any press conferences or functions at the show. And Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Windows gaming at Microsoft, said his team decided to show off PC games at an event in San Francisco this week to avoid being overshadowed at E3. (Unangst pictured below).

“As it has morphed, E3 has fundamentally become a console show,” he said. “We didn’t want to just squeeze out some time at a console show.”

The absence of PC games goes along with the absence of a lot of other things at the show. E3 drew 70,000 people a couple of years ago. But big companies balked at the costs and downsized the show to a gaming press event. Now with just a few thousand attendees, the show is much more focused. That leaves some nostalgic.

“E3 used to be the mecca of gaming,” said Rahul Sood, head of Hewlett-Packard’s VoodooPC game computer division. “I’m skipping it because it’s not what it used to be. Now it’s just an event called E3.”

Separate from the issue of PC versus console games, a number of companies have pulled out of the Entertainment Software Association that sponsors the show, including Activision, LucasArts, Vivendi, id Software and Crave Entertainment. Some of the companies will either still be at the show or show off games nearby.

Still, the low visibility of PC games could be yet another blow to both the show and the ESA itself. E3’s troubles are so big that Gamecock, the resident clown of the game industry, is staging its own BE-3 initiative (i.e. publicity stunt) and Mike Wilson, “grand champeen” of the company, is running for ESA president on a platform of “bringing fun back to the industry.”

Even with the smaller crowd, Unangst said it’s hard for PC games to get any attention at E3, which runs for the press only from July 14 to July 17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Don’t expect Microsoft itself to talk much about PC games at its own E3 press conference, where it will tout the Xbox 360’s games. Unangst and company will hold a small reception on July 16 at the show. Read the rest of this entry »

When you think about the 21st century digital lifestyle, The Beatles aren’t exactly the name that first jumps out at you. After all, the group still doesn’t have its music catalog for sale in any digital format.

But now, the biggest rock band of all time is apparently ready to embrace technology as the parties in control of The Beatles’ master recordings are in talks with video game makers, according to The Financial Times.

When you think of music and video games you probably think one of two things: Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Sure enough, both MTV Games and Activision, those games’ respective parent companies, are said to be discussing deals with Apple Corps (not to be confused with Apple Computer) and EMI, the two companies managing The Beatles’ music rights

So will you be playing some solos from “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on Guitar Hero or rocking out with your friends to “Helter Skelter” on Rock Band anytime soon?

If the supposed deal to bring The Beatles to iTunes is any indication, no.

At nearly every Apple event over the past two years, talk begins swirling that the band is going to launch its catalog on the number one digital music retailer. (Apple chief executive Steve Jobs is a self-confessed Beatles fanatic.) That has yet to happen despite every member of The Beatles’ solo recordings being available on the service.

Here’s the latest action:

Veoh to get ABC content, kind of — ABC, the television network that has been the slowest and stingiest in making its content available online, has struck a deal with video site Veoh that seems, well, behind-the-times and stingy. Veoh will index ABC’s online content, but since ABC doesn’t allow sites to embed its video player, it looks like you won’t actually watch ABC shows on Veoh; the site will just offer links to ABC’s media player. ABC, in turn, will pay Veoh for the extra traffic it receives. I’m inclined to agree with NewTeeVee’s Liz Gannes, who describes the deal as “a bit silly.”

U.S. venture capital industry is shrinking – Last year, 844 venture firms invested in U.S. companies, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. That’s 40 fewer firms than in 2006, and also represents a 30 percent drop from the bubble days of 2000, when there were 1200 investors.

Congress tells telecom industry that all is forgiven on domestic spying — The U.S. House and Senate have agreed on the wording of the bill that grants immunity to telecom companies that gave away their customers’ private information without receiving a warrant. As Techdirt puts it, the bill essentially gives the companies a “get out of jail free” card, a move that should make the telecom industry happy while infuriating civil liberties advocates.

Dispute between Associated Press and Drudge Retort is “closed” — The AP has released a statement about its dispute with the news blog The Druge Retort saying “both parties consider the matter closed”. The AP faced heavy criticism after asking the Drudge Retort to take down excerpts of AP articles, a move that was particularly hypocritical since the AP doesn’t abide by its own stated standards when quoting other news sources. The AP’s statement doesn’t offer any further details about how the situation has been resolved, or whether the organization’s approach to similar situations will be any different in the future.

Fifty tweets that will live in infamy – InsideCRM has compiled a list of 50 of the most embarrassing comments posted to the social messaging service Twitter. Some of their choices don’t seem terrible enough to qualify for a list dubbed “the Twitter Hall of Shame.” But the range of topics covered — from politics to society to love and family — shows Twitter’s importance and potential for misuse in practically all of modern life. Perhaps the most fascinating item is the series of “tweets” earlier this year from Yahoo’s Ryan Kuder after learning he had been laid off.

Out on the web, gamers are calling it the super leak . Now a bunch of rumors are circulating about what Microsoft and Activision plan to announce at the upcoming E3 conference in July. Over the weekend, a marketing research firm called Intellisponse allowed its site to be hacked, spilling the secrets of its clients. (The leak was first reported at a gamer site).

The big video game companies typically save their biggest announcements of the year for E3. So the leaks, if true, could be very damaging for the companies, giving their rivals plenty of time to react to the supposed announcements. The rumors are unconfirmed and Microsoft said in a statement that it periodically uses marketing research companies to test ideas. These leaks “may or may not be real products.”

Among the provocative ideas leaked is a plan to create Xbox Live Avatars. These are digital personae for Xbox Live users. The avatars resemble the “Miis” that have become extremely popular on the Nintendo Wii console. Another is a game dubbed “Lips,” which is Microsoft’s answer to Sony’s popular SingStar karaoke sing-along games.

Big games being announced, according to the leaks, are Microsoft’s “Forza Motorsport 3″ and Activision’s “Call of Duty: World at War.” Microsoft is also reportedly working on a social gaming channel for Xbox Live in an attempt to snare the casual gaming crowd. Activision is also reportedly developing Spider-Man games for the Wii that use the Wii Fit’s Balance Board.

Nintendo is also affected by the leaks. Disney is reportedly working on a game dubbed “Ultimate Band,” a music title that is being developed for the Wii by the end of the year.  The rumors go on and on. Kotaku has assembled links of the rest of the leaked announcements.

Here’s the latest action:

Another Google exec heads to Facebook – Elliot Schrage, Google’s vice president of global communications and public affairs will become the vice president of communications and public policy at Facebook, BoomTown’s Kara Swisher has learned. “This is a really important role for us and one that we’ve been trying to find the right person for a while. Elliot’s role will be critical to helping us scale based on our culture that values transparency, openness, and honest internal communications,” Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a memo to employees.

Schrage becomes the latest in a string of Googlers who have left for Facebook. As one commenter joked on FriendFeed earlier: “Facebook now imports Google execs…” Valleywag caught wind of Schrage’s interview at Facebook first.

Mosso to add more storage to the cloud — The cloud computing division of hosting provider RackSpace will be launching a new online storage service called CloudFS later this year, according to CNET. Developers will have access to almost limitless amounts of storage at the cost of 15 cents per gigabyte. This will compete against similar services from Amazon and eventually Google.

AP launches news site geared towards iPhone — The Associated Press and the 100+ newspapers it services will allow owners of the device to type in their zip code and get personalized news. Apple gave the service pointers about how to best build such a site. So you know the integration is good.

Sun gives developers OpenSolaris, wants apps in return — Sun Microsystems gave away OpenSolaris, the open source version of its operating system, at the CommunityOne developers conference on Monday. Sun hopes open source will help it regain relevance in the within the community, according to CNET. The main rival here it thought to be Linux.

Nine Inch Nails keep the free music coming — The rock band has a new album, The Slip, which is it giving away entirely for free on its website. There is no catch, it’s simply a gift for the fans, frontman Trent Reznor explains. Users can choose between a variety of formats and quality. This follows the band giving away the first part of its Ghosts I-IV album and other bands such as Radiohead and Coldplay giving their music away for free over the Internet. The album can also be streamed right from the social music site iLike.

LiveProcess Corp. takes a $3.62 million series A — The Verona, N.J.-based company is a provider of an online application to manage a hospital’s disaster preparedness plans and response. No institutional investors were disclosed, according to PEHub. The company says it’s the only disaster preparedness software endorsed by the American Hospital Association.

EA fires back at Activision — The world’s two leading video game publishers continue to go at it. Activision’s chief executive said that EA “did a very good job of taking the soul out of a lot of the studios it acquired.” EA’s response in an interview with Newsweek’s LevelUp blog: “The truth is, everyone laughed.”

TomCruise.com launches — And thank God. The actor is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his first starring role in Risky Business. Luckily the site has nothing to do with Scientology and everything to do with movies (though there is an interview with Oprah where he discusses the controversial religion). This site can be my wingman anytime.