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 for all the great journalists who work at newspapers. Instead, here’s what Gabe Rivera, creator of news aggregator Techmeme, tells CNET:
“It’s illuminating to observe that both The Wall Street Journal… Continue Reading
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 Authors Guild office in Manhattan today.
Google CEO tells newspapers not to piss consumers off — Eric Schmidt gave the closing keynote at the Newspaper Association of America’s conference, where he said:… Continue Reading
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 users to the latest and most authoritative sources of breaking news.”
In and of itself, none of this sounds like a terrible idea. I’ve got nothing against going after sites that… Continue Reading
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 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… Continue Reading
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 search company. No word on where Fake and Butterfield will head next, although with any luck it’ll be another startup.
Another $3 $1 billion for cleantech — Todd Thompson, the ex-CFO of… Continue Reading
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 — the longest excerpt was 79 words long, and quoting and linking other articles is a popular blogging practice. AP Strategy Director Jim Kennedy’s response that the excerpts were “more… Continue Reading
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, with Chicago’s Sam Zell, future owner of the Tribune Co., saying Google is stealing traffic.
Articles from the agencies — which include the popular Associated Press, as well as the Press… Continue Reading