April-June Digital Media News

June 2008

Music:
Record companies find ways to offset CD slump: ‘Record companies made 11.4% of their income outside traditional music sales last year, according to figures released today by the BPI, the industry trade body. The data offers hope that the industry can weather the threat from illegal downloading and falling CD sales. Revenues from outside retail sales - from licensing music to third parties, or from non-copyright income such as merchandising, the use of artists' logos and sponsorship - were £121.6m last year, up 13.8% on 2006. Record companies made £943m from music sales last year, with digital formats accounting for 8.6% of all sales income’ (30th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jun/30/2



Mobile Phones/Economics:
EC plans to cut the price European mobile phone companies charge to connect calls could impact upon the consumers and services such as free handsets, the industry warns (27th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jun/27/telecoms.regulators


Radio:
Capital Radio’s owners are fined a record £1.1m over a phone-in scandal (27th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/27/gcapmedia.radio


Future Technology:
Intelligent armed robot vehicles are ready to be deployed on the battlefield to support soldiers (26th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/26/robots.weaponstechnology


Mobile Phones/Crime:
A 12 year old boy had terrorist murder videos on his mobile phone (26th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jun/26/ukcrime.uksecurity


Television:
The BBC plans to revamp its online iPlayer catch-up service (which has received 100m programme requests in just 6 months), to include radio, to cross-promote and group shows and to allow personalised channels (26th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/26/bbc.digitalmedia


Television:
A report says television consumers don’t understand the digital message and switchover (26th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/26/digitaltvradio.television1


Mobile Phones/economics:
Nokia buys British software company Symbian and announces plans to make its mobile phone software available free of charge as open-source to counter the threat of Apple and Google (25th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jun/25/nokia.google


Privacy/Surveillance:
British scientists are developing technology that will enable CCTV cameras to ‘hear’ a crime taking place and spin round to capture it on film (24th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jun/24/ukcrime1


Television:
ITV seeks to cut its public service output before the digital switchover to raise its ratings in a cutthroat market (23rd June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/23/itv.itvbusiness


Computing History:
An article on the anniversary of ‘Baby’, the Manchester computer and its place in computing history (21st June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/21/computing.digitalmedia


Citizen Journalism:
A story on a 61 year-old amateur journalist who broke two of the biggest stories of the 2008 US elections for the website The Huffington Post (20th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/20/barackobama.uselections2008


Mobile Phones:
Before the launch of the new iPhone, an article on the state of smartphone technology (19th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/19/iphone.blackberry


Crime/Photography:
An article about how digital photos posted online are being stolen and used for profit (19th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/18/news.internet


Economics/Social Networking:
LinkedIn, the business social networking site, has secured a billion dollar valuation after a new round of venture capital funding (19th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/19/digitalmedia.mediabusiness


Global Media:
An article on the global media and entertainment market (18th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/18/digitalmedia.mediabusiness


Mobile Phones:
On the success of the mobile phone in Africa (17th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jun/17/telecoms.telecoms


Internet/Cyberbullying:
A story about the attempt to discover a law to deal with a recent cyberbullying case where a woman posed as a 16 year old boy to bully a 13 year old neighbour who later committed suicide (17th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/17/usa.news


Internet:
CBS owned Last.fm strikes a deal with Universal music that puts 12 000 full-length videos on its site (17th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/17/digitalmedia.news


Mobile Phones/Control:
John Naughton on Apple’s strategy of control through its iPhone operating system (15th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/15/stevejobs.apple


Mobile Phones/Pathologies:
Two Spanish children aged 12 and 13 are treated for addiction to mobile phones (13th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/13/spain.mobilephones


Television:
On the BBC’s plans to create a web page for every episode of every programme ever broadcast on BBC TV (11th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/11/bbc.bbc


Mobile Phones:
New Apple iPhone launched aimed at boosting sales (10th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/10/iphone.stevejobs


Computing:
A story about Roadrunner – the fastest supercomputer in the world (10th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/10/computing.sciencenews


Internet:
Online advertising spending in the UK leapt over the £3bn level for the first time according to new research, taking market share from other traditional media (10th June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/10/advertising.digitalmedia


DVDs:
An article on the threat to the DVD industry from downloads (2nd June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/02/digitalmedia.digitalmusic


Internet:
Chinese bloggers launch an online attack on an official in the recent earthquake zone who is accused of grinning too much in the midst of the disaster (1st June): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/01/china.humanrights



May 2008

Music:
Prince covers Radiohead but demands the clip is removed from Youtube for copyright reasons (31st May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/apr/15/television.digitalmedia


Television/Internet:
BBC chiefs are accused of breaching their licence as the website overspend hits £36m (30th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/30/bbc.mediabusiness


Virtual Worlds:
An article on the populations and population crisis of massively multiplayer online virtual worlds (29th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/29/games.mmos


Internet:
A story about the effect of blogging on one’s personal privacy and relationships (25th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/25/digitalmedia.blogging


Internet:
‘Fears of a digital divide are groundless as online access soars in UK rural areas’ (22nd May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/22/internet.digitalmedia


Economics:
An article on Google’s interest in a tie-up with Yahoo (20th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/20/yahoo.yahoo


Economics/Radio:
Orange is launching itself into the internet radio market in Britain as it tries to get a larger slice of the home entertainment market (19th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/19/digitalmusic.mobilephones


Television:
The hit Youtube video of a baby buffalo escaping lions and a crocodile is turned into a documentary by a US wildlife channel (18th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/18/conservation


Crime:
Myspace wins a record $230m legal judgement against internet spammers (15th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/15/myspace.socialnetworking


Music:
‘Piracy growing fast as fewer fans buy downloads’ (15th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/15/piracy.digitalmusic


Television:
The BBC apologises for holding on to £106 000 of money from phone-ins that should have gone to charity (10th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/10/bbc.tvfakery


Television:
ITV must pay a record fine of £5.7m for prime-time phone-ins that robbed viewers of £7.8m (9th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/09/itv.tvfakery1


Security:
More than half a million computers were infected in seven days with a single piece of malicious software (9th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/09/internet.hacking


Music:Universal to offer free music downloads after signing a deal with Qtrax. Qtrax originally advertised its service in January but deals weren’t in place. Now it has signed up with the world’s largest record label, plus other companies (8th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/08/digitalmedia.digitalmusic


Internet/Television:
BBC and ITV launch belated digital satellite service – they combine to launch FreeSat to complement Freeview, offering up to 200 channels for a one-off fee with no contract (7th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/07/bbc.itv


Economics:
An article investigating Chris Anderson’s claims in his new book on the new economics of ‘free’ (6th May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/may/06/consumeraffairs.economics Anderson’s ‘Wired’ article can be found here: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free


Internet:
Jonathan Zittrain argues that ‘tethered appliances’ are stifling innovation (1st May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/01/internet.gadgets


Economics:
The mobile phone company O2 launches a new advertising campaign to attract residential broadband customers as it takes its service nationwide with a new deal with BT (1st May): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/01/mobilephones



April 2008


Mobile Phones:
How multi-media mobile phones are leading to a decline in mobile wallpapers and ringtones (28th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/28/telecommunications


Video games:
How the release of Grand Theft Auto IV may threaten Hollywood’s summer blockbuster profits (28th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/28/games.filmnews


Security/Surveillance:
Face scans for air passengers to begin in the UK summer 2008 (25th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/25/theairlineindustry.transport


Control:
An article on how computing licenses are becoming more important – and controlling of users (24th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/24/law.software


Web 2.0/UGC:
The text of a great speech by Clay Shirky on user-generated content and Web 2.0 entitled ‘Gin, Television and Social Surplus’ given on 23rd April: http://www.shirky.com/herecomeseverybody/2008/04/looking-for-the-mouse.html


Future Technology:
A ‘bionic’ eye gives blind people some sight (22nd April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/22/medicalresearch.news


Music:
A groundbreaking deal with Youtube and a booming live music scene has seen composers and songwriters receive record royalty payments (21st April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/21/mediabusiness.digitalmedia


Music:
On how the music industry’s battle with downloaders has damaged trust (21st April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/apr/21/netmusic


Internet/Politics:
‘DowningStreet’ joins Twitter (18th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/18/internet.digitalmedia


Internet/Crime:
Fewer than 3000 websites produce the bulk of child porn (17th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/17/internet.childprotection


Economics:
Poor broadband sales cause problems for Carphone Warehouse which sees £325m wiped off the value of its business as shares slump (16th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/16/aol.internetphonesbroadband


Mobile Phones:
Apple slashes £100 from the price of the iPhone amid talk of slow sales (16th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/16/iphone.telecoms


Television:
A new survey on people’s relationship with and use of television in a digital age (15th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/apr/15/television.digitalmedia


Internet:
Police warn that pupils are posing as paedophiles on social networking sites to bully other children (10th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/apr/10/schools.uk2


Future Technology:
On companies looking to recreate the human brain’s processing power virtually (10th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/10/robot.brain


Internet:
‘How I fell in love with Wikipedia’ (10th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/10/wikipedia.internet


Privacy:
An article on Google Street View and its privacy implications (10th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/10/news.google


Television/Internet:
Internet firms clash with BBC over new iPlayer. Viewing has increased from 11m programmes watched in February to 17m in march and internet firms are now complaining about the strain on their service (10th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/10/bbc.internet


Internet:
Spending on online advertising rose by 38% in 2007 from £797m to £2.8bn (7th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/apr/08/advertising.digitalmedia1


Music:
Survey finds 95% of youngsters are illegally copying music. Copying is now ‘burnt into the teenage psyche’ (7th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/apr/07/news.katieallen


Economics:
Microsoft gives Yahoo three weeks to accept its $31 per share takeover bid or it will approach its shareholders directly (7th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/07/microsoft.microsoft


Infrastructure:
On ‘the broadband crunch’: how the popularity of web video is causing problems for the web’s infrastructure (6th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/06/internet.digitalmedia


Crime:
Youtube is criticised after an error in its review procedure meant that it had failed to remove footage apparently showing a gang rape (2nd April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/02/youtube.internet


March 2008

The UK gets set for the television ‘digital switchover’ with 90% of the population now multichannel (31st March): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/31/digitaltvradio