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Dear Clown Co.: Name This Thing Fast Before It's Too Late — For the last twenty-four hours we've been reporting a nearly non-stop stream of facts (and some speculation) about the new, unamed News Corp./NBC Universal joint venture to launch later this year.
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News Corp. and NBC in Web Deal — In a long-anticipated challenge to YouTube and other online video sites, two big media companies yesterday announced a new venture to showcase their own programming across the Internet's biggest Web sites, as well as a new jointly owned Web destination.

Picking Hits, and the Trouble with NewTube — After I went off air from my CNBC spot today talking about NewTube — the News Corp & NBC YouTube-alike — I came up with another reason why I think the service is no real threat to YouTube. (It may be a threat to iTunes, but that's a different discussion.)
Discussion:
Digital Markets

NBC & News Corp's "OverTube" Not A YouTube-Killer — It Might Just Power Those

Apple reportedly to postpone Leopard to support Windows Vista — Apple is expected to launch its next generation Leopard operating system (OS) in April, but according to industry sources, the release of the new OS will be postponed to October to allow Apple to make Leopard support Windows Vista through …
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Here Comes Competition, Apollo — The official developer release of Apollo, a platform that lets developers run their web applications outside of the browser, offline and on the desktop, is less than a week old, and they already have competition. — Firefox 3 will allow sites to work offline by accessing local datastores.
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Joyent Slingshot [22] — Joyent Slingshot allows developers to deploy Rails applications that work the same online and offline (with synchronization) and with drag into and out of the application just like a standard desktop application. We have Joyent Connector and a select group …


Google is Supporting GeoRSS — GeoRSS, a very simple to use OGC format that extends RSS by adding location data, can now be consumed via Google Maps and the Google maps API. Congrats to Mikel and the OGC! As Google stated on the Google Maps API blog:
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KML and GeoRSS Support Added to the Google Maps API
Discussion:
Data Mining, Search Engine Land, Google Maps Mania, Googling Google, The Map Room and Slashgeo

Where Is Microsoft Search? — Its stumbles on the Web could open the door for rivals to come after its core business — Time has always seemed to be Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT ) ally. In the company lore, the software giant takes three cracks at a market before establishing supremacy.


Chief Says F.C.C. Is Against Cellphone Use on Airliners — The Federal Communications Commission will give up on the idea of allowing cellphone use on airplanes, the chairman said on Thursday, because it is not clear whether the network on the ground can handle the calls.

Apple TV rocks — I bought an Apple TV tonight. — I've watched Ask a Ninja, Rocketboom, my show, and Ze Frank on it so far. — Works as advertised. Easy to setup. It rocks. — It makes me want to put out a high res version of my show. But, it's pretty watchable, even at the low resolution it is.


PlayStation 3 launched in Europe — Sony has launched its PlayStation 3 (PS3) console in Europe and Australia, hoping to retake its gaming crown. — The company trails Microsoft and Nintendo in sales of next generation consoles and the launch has been beset with problems in the last year.
Discussion:
Engadget, Kotaku, Data Mining, Gizmodo, You NEWB, Microsoft News Tracker, Gadget Lab and Game | Life

Microsoft temporarily closes video site — Microsoft is closing its video-sharing site, Soapbox, to new users for up to two months so it can create better safeguards against pirated content. — The software giant, which agreed earlier Thursday to distribute movies and TV shows for big media companies …

Are CIOs "dead weight"? — In my commentary on the latest Financial Times Digital Business podcast, I look at Chris Anderson's charge that chief information officers are turning into "dead weight." In case you missed it, Anderson had a provocative post on his blog late last month titled "Who Needs a CIO?"

Viacom Sued Over YouTube Parody Removal — NEW YORK (AP) — Activist groups sued Viacom Inc. on Thursday, claiming the parent of Comedy Central improperly asked the video-sharing site YouTube to remove a parody of the cable network's "The Colbert Report." — Viacom responded by saying it had no records of ever making such a request.
Discussion:
Valleywag, Techdirt, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Roundtable and GigaLaw.com Daily News
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DMCA takedown backlash: EFF sues Viacom over Colbert parody clip
Discussion:
EFF: Breaking News, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Download Squad, LIKELIHOOD OF CONFUSION and digg


Current Mashup and API Trends — Web 2.0 has brought us a flock of APIs and the wonderful new concept of a Web mashup. Thanks to apps like Google Maps, del.icio.us and Flickr, we have started to think a lot about remixing the web. In the figure below is a classic example of a mashup - a Twitter Map.