On the Web, even if you have nothing to do, a lot happens. This weekend, quite a bit of technology-related news occurred. I’ll neatly package it for you with my thoughts on it.
- Apple sold One Million iPhone 3G Units, First Weekend. While I’m not in that statistic, many people were. The improved phone product from Apple has sold more units in one weekend, than it did for the previous iPhone which took about 74 days. I suspect the iPhone will be the Alpha-phone of all the smart phones out there.
- Apple’s ‘App Store’ Scored 10 Million Download in First Weekend. As Apple updated the firmware in their iPhones and iPod Touch devices, they introduced the App Store, where consumers can self-serve their way to obtain new applications for their device. Apple’s App Store was an instant success for developers and consumers. On a similar note, some developers are cheating their way to the top of consumer’s App Store search screens.
- eBay Sets Legal Precedent for Trademark Enforcement on the Web. The number one auction site, though slipping to free competition like Craigslist, has won a lawsuit brought on by Tiffany & Co., regarding enforcement for knock-offs of authentic jewelry. Consider this one additional application of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, where online providers are immune to legal and civil liability when users misbehave or even break the law. eBay has also shown goodwill in identifying counterfeits by running the VeRO program for trademark holders, which has over 14,000 participants.
- USA Today to Deliver AOL Ads via Ad-Tech. Should be interesting to see if AOL could save print publishers on the Web via advertising revenue. USA Today readers, watch out for targeted advertising, which may violate your privacy.
- Spammers Exploit the Interest of Recipients with WWIII Claims, Malware included. What’s a sure-fire way to make someone open their e-mail? … Announce a world war has started and let them ‘read’ a story, and infect their machine with a malicious payload. I’m sure you’ll find quicker and more reliable sources to discover if a global war was announced, instead of e-mail. Never download attachments, videos, applications or anything else from people you don’t know.
- New York AG Coerced Large ISPs to Censor Access to Certain Usenet Newsgroups to ‘Save the Kids.’ In an on-going battle to save kids from being exploited, the NY Attorney General announces a plan for ISPs to block access to Usenet newsgroups known for trafficking illegal images or video of suspected child exploitation. My only concern with this, is these criminals will just go elsewhere, likely, out of the US jurisdiction, to peddle their kiddie porn and then who’s being saved — the kids or one’s political career?
- Online Video Costs More Than $8 Billion, ‘Where’s the money?’ One of the problems with almost anything online is the lack of liquidity in online assets. There has been numerous advancements in both delivery, tracking and quality of video content, but very little value generated from online video. If one day your favorite video site goes upside-down, you’ll know why.
- One Battle Won in the War over Net Neutrality, Comcast. The FCC declared broadband provider, Comcast, was wrong for limiting connectivity from their users to utilize the BitTorrent protocol; and has reminded Comcast of their four principles. No fine for Comcast, but a clear ruling from the FCC.
There was probably more news, but these were the ones that mattered most to me. Thoughts? Share them in the comments.
