Roundup: Aggregated links to newspaper web sites, and more

Roundup: Aggregated links to newspaper web sites, and more

Here’s the latest action:

As an online publication largely comprised of former newspaper journalists — It’s pretty obvious what we here at VentureBeat think about newspaper leaders demanding payment anytime anyone aggregates any of their content. But we’ll stay mum, at this point, out of respect… Continue Reading

Roundup: Blind advocates want audio Kindle, Google CEO speaks to newspapers, and more

Roundup: Blind advocates want audio Kindle, Google CEO speaks to newspapers, and more

Here’s the latest action:

Advocates for the blind protest loss of text-to-speech on Kindle — Amazon gave publishers the option to disable the feature after the Authors Guild complained it would cut into audio book sales. In response, a group advocating for the blind protested outside the… Continue Reading

Associated Press declares war on (parts of) the Internet (again)

Associated Press declares war on (parts of) the Internet (again)

The Associated Press made waves today with its announcement of an “initiative to protect [the news] industry’s content.” This initiative will apparently have two major components: Legal action by the AP against web sites that illegally reprint its articles, and “new search pages that point… Continue Reading

Roundup: Veoh to get ABC content, the shrinking venture capital industry and more

Roundup: Veoh to get ABC content, the shrinking venture capital industry and more

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… Continue Reading

Roundup: Flickr founders leave Yahoo, ex-Citi CFO raising $3B for cleantech, Microsoft buys Navic, and more

Roundup: Flickr founders leave Yahoo, ex-Citi CFO raising $3B for cleantech, Microsoft buys Navic, and more

Flickr founders join exodus from Yahoo — Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield, the founders of photo-sharing app Flickr, a $35 million Yahoo acquisition, have added their names to the lengthening list of Yahoo defections. Kara Swisher speculates that a boardroom brawl is underway at the embattled… Continue Reading

Roundup: The Associated Press tries to take down blog excerpts, Google’s escape clause revealed and more

Roundup: The Associated Press tries to take down blog excerpts, Google’s escape clause revealed and more

Here’s the latest action:

The Associated Press to blogs: Don’t quote us — The Associated Press has demanded that The Drudge Retort (not to be confused with much more famous Drudge Report) take down several blog posts containing excerpts of AP stories. The objections sound pretty silly… Continue Reading

Google licenses AP and other wire content — and stiffs newspapers

Google licenses AP and other wire content — and stiffs newspapers

Google is paying to licenses content from four wire agencies and will give the wire services more play on Google News — effectively stiffing newspapers and others that Google had linked to previously.

The move is controversial, because there’s already considerable tension between Google and newspapers,… Continue Reading