THE GUARDIAN: Google faced down demands from a US law enforcement agency to take down YouTube videos allegedly showing police brutality earlier this year, figures released for the first time show. The technology giant’s biannual transparency report shows that Google refused the demands from the unnamed authority in the first half of this year. According to the report, Google separately declined orders by other police authorities to remove videos that allegedly defamed law enforcement officials. The demands formed part of a 70% rise in takedown requests from the US government or police, and were revealed as part of an effort […]
TECH: Google Android Beats Apple iPhone
FAST COMPANY: Android fans will be celebrating the news that Google‘s smartphone OS has passed Apple‘s iPhone in total US market share. But the reality is that the sales dominance of Android was inevitable. In the first quarter of 2010, Apple secured a 21% market share, Android surged to 28%, and RIM’s BlackBerry held strong at 36%. I don’t mean to ignore BlackBerry here, but they’ve been dominating sales for so long, and with so little change in their fundamental business, that they’re barely worth discussing from a sales perspective. It’d be like writing a post about how U2’s latest […]
MEDIA: Rupert Murdoch Vs. The Internets
THE GUARDIAN: Rupert Murdoch says he will remove stories from Google’s search index as a way to encourage people to pay for content online. In an interview with Sky News Australia, the mogul said that newspapers in his media empire – including the Sun, the Times and the Wall Street Journal – would consider blocking Google entirely once they had enacted plans to charge people for reading their stories on the web. In recent months, Murdoch his lieutenants have stepped up their war of words with Google, accusing it of “kleptomania” and acting as a “parasite” for including News Corp […]
TRAGIC: Tom DeLay Quits Dancing With The Stars
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Politician Tom DeLay and actress Debi Mazar have turned in their last dance. Both are leaving “Dancing With the Stars.” DeLay withdrew from the ABC dance-off Tuesday after being diagnosed with stress fractures in both feet, while Mazar was eliminated the traditional way: low scores and insufficient fan support. Fan votes kept DeLay afloat, but doctors and show producers advised him to quit the competition because of his injuries. “I want to dance no matter what,” the 62-year-old former House Republican Whip said Monday, but he reconsidered on Tuesday. MORE ALSO: Google Doing This Right Now ISLAND CRISIS/BLOGGED […]