Author: Serkadis

Way back in 2006, MySpace and Google signed a three-year deal that was supposed to have the search giant become the social network’s exclusive search provider in exchange for $900 million.  Now, unfortunately for MySpace, around $100 million of that amount isn’t going to change hands.

The amount of money Google was supposed to pay MySpace was in part dependent on traffic levels, and it’s no secret that those are in iffy shape.  As a result, News Corp. execs admitted to analysts yesterday, a significant amount of cash is going to stay with Google.

Rupert Murdoch said, "It’s quite simple.  We’ve not been making our minimum guarantees so our search revenue will not be what our revenue was."

Still, it’s worth noting that Murdoch didn’t appear to be losing sleep over the development.  In fact, he wasn’t even keeping close tabs on it.  Staci D. Kramer reported, "When I asked during the press part of the call how far short of the $900 million the deal would run, Murdoch at first guessed it would come in as much as $300 million short but other News Corp. execs on the call tried to reign that in, saying more like $100 million or maybe 10 percent, which would be $90 million."

It doesn’t look like this represents as big a blow to MySpace as one might expect, then, which may mean its other revenue sources are proving more than productive.

Related Articles:

> MySpace, MSN Now Said To Be In Talks

> Facebook, MySpace May Share Content

> MySpace Introduces New Music Features

According to the OTX GamePlan Insights provided to Gamasutra, those who own the Xbox 360 version of an original are abandoning ship and going for th…

Famous rock band No Doubt has sued Activision over the use of its avatars in the game Guitar Hero 5. No Doubt says that the deal it signed with Activision only permitted the avatars to be used when playing No Doubt songs. The problem is that Activision has it set up that you can play any song in the game with the No Doubt avatars. That I’m even writing about this is rather depressing.

As easy as it is to ride No Doubt for being a bunch of nerds, the fact is if the contract the band signed with Activision specified that the avatars could only play No Doubt songs, well, then Activision is in the wrong here.

The band said in a statement:

No Doubt agreed to place avatars containing their name and likeness performing three No Doubt songs in the upcoming Band Hero game of the Guitar Hero series from Activision.

Without the band’s knowledge or approval Activision turned the group into virtual karaoke players by having them perform over 60 additional songs by other musical groups.

Meanwhile, Activision said:

Some of the world’s most popular and iconic artists have been featured in Guitar Hero as playable characters, and we are proud to count No Doubt among them. Activision has a written agreement to use No Doubt in Band Hero — an agreement signed by No Doubt after extensive negotiations with its representatives, who collectively have decades of experience in the entertainment industry. Pursuant to that agreement, Activision worked with No Doubt and the band’s management in developing Band Hero. As a result, Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit. Activision is exploring its own legal options with respect to No Doubt’s obligations under the agreement.

And there you have it. What a way to start the day~!

We’ve discussed in the past the odd idea that any government should be able to copyright anything it produces, but plenty of governments still do maintain things like “crown copyright” or other similar concepts for content they create. Yet, it looks like some countries have gone one step further. They copyright their money. Yes, Michael Scott points us to a blog post from an American law professor, Eric E. Johnson, who was on a trip to Canada and was surprised to discover that they have copyright notices on their paper currency. Of course, this should make you wonder: if you counterfeit some Canadian money are you also on the hook for copyright infringement violations? Or is there some other reason for the copyright notice. Are they afraid other nations might copy the design without compensation?

Finding the whole thing bizarre, but remembering that I have some Canadian currency from my last trip there, I checked — and, indeed, in tiny print in the lower right-hand corner, there is a copyright notice. And then… bonus. Tucked in with my Canadian cash was a 5 euro bill as well… and it also appears to have a copyright notice on it right at the top in the center (though, it’s tiny). I did a quick search, and indeed, it appears that the design of the euro is also covered by copyright with specific limitations on copying. Of course, I thought that was what counterfeiting laws were for — so why even bother with copyright?

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Remember, remember, the 9th of November!
Gadgets, technology, and beer.
I see no reason why gadgets and tech
should ever bring little cheer.

Last year’s Columbus meetup was a huge success, and folks have been asking me when we’ll do it again. Well mark your calendars for Monday, November 9, and join us for a friendly evening of networking and libations at the Surly Girl Saloon, my favorite cowgirl/pirate themed bar!

Look out, Walmart. Best Buy is going to sell Modern Warefare 2 at midnight too. But unlike Walmart, Best Buy’s average middle of the night clientele doesn’t look like this. or this. or this. The line will start at 10:30 p.m. and at 12:01 a.m., you and a few other socially-stunted gamers will get a chance to buy the game. How exciting. If you must be the first to own the game, there is a nice little advantage to buying the game at Best Buy instead of Walmart though.

Yeah, Best Buy will be offering an instant $10 gift card to Reward Zone Gamer’s Club members, which is more than enough reason to buy the game at Best Buy if you ask me. Hell, I would buy the game at PetCo if they offered me $10 off. Plus, there will be additional giveaways during the event.

Click over to the Best Buy info page for the complete list of participating stores.

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

Given the choice between speed and security, Betanews readers this week have been siding with security, in a show of support that suggests that Windows Vista had the right idea after all. This morning, Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 users who have their Automatic Update notifications turned on manual will be making that choice, as Microsoft has published update 976749 — released as a manual update on Monday — to its Windows Update service, not as a “security update” or anything “critical” or even “important.”

It’s an “Update for Internet Explorer” whose purpose is to “resolve issues that may occur after installing the Internet Explorer cumulative security update issued as MS09-054” — one of the major updates from the last Patch Tuesday round. The issue that update addressed is a very serious one, and Windows users who are concerned about their operating system possibly being vulnerable to a new class of attack, should apply that update and also apply the patch to that update, released this morning. Many users with Automatic Updates turned on full may wake up this morning with the update already having been applied.

Those folks may notice a difference, or they may not. There will be a performance cost, at least with respect to all versions of Internet Explorer since 5.01, but also to other features of Windows that rely on Internet Explorer. Betanews readers have suggested that this performance cost will be negligible, especially for those who do not time their browser with a stopwatch.

However, Betanews tests reveal the performance hit completely wipes out at least one category of speed increase that is the subject of recent Microsoft television advertising: a faster Web experience for those who prefer IE. Our tests show that, after update 976749 is applied, IE8 on Windows 7 is no faster than IE8 on Vista SP2 on the same machine.

Right now, the vulnerability exists more in concept than in practice. Although no known exploit appears to have been discovered yet, it’s the architecture behind that vulnerability that makes it very serious at the outset. Conceivably, if and when an exploit appears and a patch is published to thwart it, malicious users could craft a variation of the exploit quite easily. The problem has to do with a fundamental programming technique that could be discontinued in the future, but which is pervasive throughout applications of all classes, from Microsoft and everyone else, and not just for Windows. Microsoft is treating the issue quite seriously, judging from the company’s recent communications with us.

But the defense against this problem comes at an inopportune time for Microsoft, which is working to promote Windows 7 to consumers as better than its predecessor for being both more secure and faster. Of course, there are other Web browsers, perhaps all of which perform much faster and are arguably more secure. But Microsoft had been hoping to market IE8 as a solid contender, with some features like Web Slices and Accelerators that third-party alternatives have not yet matched. Microsoft may have to take a hit for publicly securing IE — arguably the more responsible course of action — at a time when Windows 7 is just coming out of the gate.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009

As if a new Zelda game isn’t enough, Nintendo is sweetening the purchase of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks in Japan with a cool bonus. For those p…

In his latest column, James Capretta writes: “When Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled the revised House Democratic health care bill last week, the Obama White House hailed it as a “critical milestone” in the process. No doubt senior administration officials were relieved to see signs of “momentum” toward passage of something. But if the president really meant what he has said about health care policy throughout this year, his administration would be working to defeat the Pelosi bill, not supporting it.” Read the rest of the column.

Remember when the first VAIO P came out and everyone was like, “I can’t believe it has Vista! That angers me! I am currently outraged!” – something along those lines? Well now it has Windows 7 and comes in four different models ranging in price from $850 to $1900.

The base model features a 1.33GHz Atom CPU, Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB of RAM, and an 80GB 4200RPM hard drive for $850. Then there’s a model for $1000 that features a 1.6GHz CPU and 64GB SSD, followed by a $1500 model with a 1.86GHz CPU and 128GB SSD. The top of the line offering features Windows 7 Professional, a 2GHz CPU, and 256GB SSD for $1900.

VAIO P Series Lifestyle Notebooks [Sony via Electronista]

Kaiser Health News offers a humorous take on health policy developments with R.J. Matson’s “Hangnail.”

Kaiser Health News staff writers Mary Agnes Carey and Eric Pianin report on whether current timeline slips may or may not undermine health reform’s chances. “Passing a health care overhaul bill might be one of the hardest things Congress has ever attempted. But waiting until next year might jeopardize a top priority for President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress. The political peril of waiting until 2010 – a midterm election year – could mean the death of comprehensive health care legislation, according to some analysts. ‘If they’re going to do it, they have to do it this year,’ said University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato. ‘Everyone knows that. They know it’” (11/5). Read the entire article.

While some Democrats seem rattled by election results this week, others say the GOP victories in two races for governor won’t change their approach to health overhaul legislation.

The Associated Press/The Boston Globe reports that Democrats celebrated, too, winning two House seats Tuesday, one a California that had been held by a Democrat and the other a New York seat that is traditionally Republican. “Depending on how quickly the newly elected lawmakers are sworn in, it was possible the most immediate impact of the elections would be to increase support for the legislation. ‘From our standpoint we picked up votes last night,’ said [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, D-Calif” (Espo, 11/4).

Democratic moderates also haven’t let the Republicans victories in Tuesday’s elections influence their votes on health care reform, Roll Call reports: “That’s because many Democratic centrists — particularly those representing conservative states and districts — were already nervous about how their health care vote might be received at home.” More Democrats were apt to blame the candidates instead of the Democratic Party for the governor losses in Virginia and New Jersey (Drucker and Newmyer, 11/5).

But the Los Angeles Times reports that some are rattled by the outcome: “Now, as the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate prepare for next year’s midterm elections, some moderate Democrats are wondering whether they can afford to follow President Obama’s ambitious legislative agenda on such controversial issues as healthcare and climate change.”

“‘There are going to be a lot more tensions between the White House and Congress,’ predicted Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats. ‘They’ve been under the surface so far — and they’re going to come out in the open’” (Oliphant, Nicholas and Parsons, 11/5).

YouTube has partnered with Funny or Die, the video comedy site founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, the duo behind such cinematic comedy gems as Anchorman and Talladega Nights. There is now a Funny or Die YouTube channel, and YouTube is giving it special promotion on the site’s home page.

Ferrell and McKay have uploaded the following video talking about YouTube:

Funny or Die gets nearly 2 million unique visitors a month in the US according to Compete data. With YouTube being the top video site on the web (not to mention the 2nd largest search engine), it stands to reason that this partnership will be good for both parties – more views for Funny or Die, and even more time spent on YouTube by people looking to watch funny videos.

It also helps that Funny or Die often includes appearances from other celebrities. "As comedy fans know, Funny or Die works with some of Hollywood’s top comedic talent to create a trademark blend of humor, celebrity and web originals. Jack Black, Natalie Portman and Lindsay Lohan are just a few of the famous names you can catch in hilarious Funny or Die sketches, and you never know who will show up next," says YouTube’s George Strompolos.

Ferrell has selected his favorite clips from the site to spotlight on the YouTube home page, and there are plenty more available on the actual channel. New ones will be uploaded every week.

Related Articles:

> The Internet is No Place For Comedy

> New Humor Site Launches

> YouTube Launches Comedy Competition

Everlater, a Boulder, Colo.-based online platform for sharing travel experiences, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding led by Highway 12 Ventures.

PRESS RELEASE
Everlater (www.everlater.com), a company that has developed an innovative online travel journal that enables users and partners to easily record, share and discover travel experiences, announced today, that it has secured a Series A round of funding. Led by Highway 12 Ventures (www.highway12ventures.com) this investment will enable Everlater to expand its development, marketing and sales efforts. Terms of the inancing were not disclosed.

According to co-founder, Natty Zola, “We are excited to have our new venture capital partner join Everlater’s mission to be the dominant application to record and share travel experiences. Everlater currently provides tools to geographically organize photos, stories, and trip details in a beautiful online format. Our goal is to continue to build out these tools to make Everlater the obvious and best destination to record, share
and discover travel experiences.”

Everlater’s interactive web platform gives users a simple to use, rich media platform for capturing and sharing their travel experiences using text, maps, photos and video with easy sharing across social networking sites. Everlater is also partnering with the travel industry to provide a new marketing channel directly through existing social networks.

“The Everlater platform gives travelers a wonderful set of tools to record and share their experiences, while at the same time, providing travel industry partners with a powerful set of marketing capabilities”, said
George Mulhern, General Partner with Highway 12 Ventures. “We are very impressed with the solution Everlater has developed, their early progress with partners, and the co-founders, Nate and Natty.”

The company was selected to participate in the 2009 TechStars (www.techstars.org) program in Boulder, Colorado. The intensive three month program provides seed capital and mentorship from some of the
most successful entrepreneurs in the country.

About Everlater
Everlater (www.everlater.com) is a platform for sharing travel experiences online. Users map out their experiences, tell stories, show photos, play videos and record favorite restaurants and hotels. Each user and trip can easily be shared with friends and family through Email, Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. Everlater also extends its platform to partners in the travel and media industries as a new marketing channel.

Everlater, based in Boulder Colorado, is a 2009 graduate of TechStars. To learn more, visit www.everlater.com or directly at [email protected].

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News outlets report on a variety of health issues at the state level including immigrants’ challenges when trying to access new care in Massachusetts and a proposal by employees to cut some services but keep open a mental hospital in Maryland.

The Boston Globe reports: Gov. Deval Patrick’s “administration has trumpeted its salvaging of health insurance for 28,000 legal immigrants, but the company hired to cover this group has been late assigning doctors and sending enrollment information to many patients, health and immigrant advocates say. Even some patients who received the necessary information are facing significant hurdles connecting with the doctors CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts assembled in its new network, which sharply limits the community health centers and hospitals available to patients” (Lazar, 11/5).

The Baltimore Sun reports: “A state employee labor union has proposed slimming down operations at the Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center to save the Chestertown facility from being closed because of budget cuts. Gov. Martin O’Malley said he would review the proposal from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, but that any decisions would be made in the context of $300 million in budget cuts that are expected later this month. O’Malley, a Democrat, had proposed shuttering the state-run psychiatric hospital in a previous round of budget cuts” (Smitherman, 11/5).

News outlets focus on alleged fraud in the drug and insurance industries.

“A $112 million settlement involving alleged drug kickbacks that the Justice Dept. announced with the nation’s largest nursing home pharmacy and a generic drug manufacturer on Nov. 3 is part of a wide-ranging investigation of suspected Medicaid fraud by the pharmaceutical industry,” Business Week reports. “Critics say the continuing probe, which involves Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and other major drugmakers, highlights what they describe as an industry practice of paying money to outfits that provide drugs to consumers, in return for preferential treatment.” The practice has “the effect of compromising patient care and driving up costs for government and private health insurers,” and specific incidents “could bolster opposition to the controversial deal the Obama Administration reached with the pharmaceutical industry to win its support for health-reform legislation. Many Democrats say the Administration should have asked for much bigger cost savings from drugmakers” (Meyer, 11/4).

Meanwhile, “WellCare Health Plans Inc. said Wednesday it will start marketing Medicare drug and Medicare Advantage programs in the next few days, as most of the government’s fraud sanctions on the company are being lifted,” Forbes/The Associated Press reports. The company paid $80 million in restitutions earlier this year following federal charges of fraud in Florida. “WellCare said it will enroll members for coverage starting Jan. 1. It will be subject to increased monitoring, and some of its contracts will not be renewed because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services chose not to lift them until the end of 2009, when the contracts will be expiring” (11/4).

Health News Florida: “Federal sanctions imposed on WellCare Health Plans in March were lifted Tuesday, just in time for the company to sell its Medicare drug and health plans for 2010. The suspension had been imposed after officials said they were inundated with complaints…The letter of notification includes a revelation that some WellCare managers told employees to alter documents before a federal audit. The event occurred in late May, only weeks after the company settled criminal charges of Medicaid fraud by agreeing to pay $90 million in fines.”

“CMS said it is reinstating WellCare’s privileges to enroll beneficiaries in health and drug plans because the company resolved the problems that led to its suspension. While the company may face some discipline from the latest escapade, it apparently won’t be punished severely because executives took immediate action. They notified CMS’ Program Integrity Office and conducted an independent investigation into the matter” (Gentry, 11/4).

News outlets examined various health-reform-related activities in the Senate.  

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that a “health care overhaul faces a tough sell among the Louisiana delegation:” “Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said the bill pending … isn’t aggressive enough in trying to curb rising health care costs. But she also said that doing nothing is not an option with so many Louisiana families and small businesses unable to afford health coverage. She said the public insurance option offered in the latest Senate bill is a substantial improvement over previous proposals.” Landrieu said she’s continuing to work with moderates to see what they will support to come up with the 60 votes needed to pass legislation in the Senate (Alpert, 11/5).

The MinnPost: “In his second speech from the Senate floor, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., pushed for health care reform on Tuesday.” Franken said “The Saudi Royal Family is willing to travel 7,500 miles to Rochester, Minnesota, to get great care at the Mayo Clinic. For a woman in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and her adult son, both with diabetes, that same great care is less than 300 miles away… but it’s really a world away. That’s because if you’re an American, you can get great health care, too,” he continued. “But only if you can make it through the terrible system, and only if you can afford it” (Dizikes, 11/4).

CQ Healthbeat reports that Sen. Tom Harkin said a critical element of reform is that the “legislation includes an array of measures to increase prevention and guard against chronic and costly health problems that contribute to a majority of deaths” (Norman, 11/4).

Finally, a hand-delivered letter gave staffers a scare at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office Wednesday, Roll Call reports. A letter from former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, in an “unusual” envelope, was scrutinized by security after it showed up in Reid’s office sometime after 2 p.m. Koop “had typed a few pages on his views on health care reform, suggesting that Reid insert a provision to ensure that doctors and medical students not be forced to perform abortions” (Yehle, 11/5).