Sunday 3 May 2009

Digital Media News: April 2009

April 2009

DVDs/Copyright:

A court case starts about the legality of ‘RealDVD’, a technology allowing users to copy their DVDs onto their hard drive. RealNetworks claims it retains DRM and even adds extra protection but the MPAA and DCCA oppose it (30th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/30/realdvd-trial-dvd

Surveillance:

The government plans to monitor all internet use, asking communications forms to record all contacts between people (27th April): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8020039.stm

Youtube:

Britain’s Got Talent contestant Susan Boyle becomes a Youtube internet sensation (26th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/26/susan-boyle-youtube-itv

Social Networking:

A Swiss women is fired after her employers spotted her using Facebook when she had claimed to be too ill to use a computer (25th April): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8018329.stm

Broadband:

The government’s plans for universal broadband continue. They’re considering capping the amount of radio spectrum owned by Britain’s mobile phone companies (25th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/25/lord-carter-digital-britain-broadband

Print:
A revolutionary new ‘Espresso Book Machine’ launches in
London. It will be able to print any book on its database in the shop as the customer waits (24th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/24/espresso-book-machine-launches

Apps:

Apple removes a baby-shaking game form its iPhone Apps store (24th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/24/apple-iphone-baby-shaker-application

Google:

Google Street-View gets the go ahead from the UK’s Information Commissioner who rejected privacy complaints (23rd April): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8014178.stm See also (23rd April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/23/google-street-view-data-protection-cleared

Citizen Journalism:

A piece on the rise of sousveillance – ‘when all video all’ – and the use of cameras by ordinary people to hold the police to account during the G20 protests (21st April): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8010098.stm

Crime/Security:

Almost 2 million PCs globally, including machines inside the US and UK governments have been taken over by hackers as part of a botnet operated from the Ukraine (21st April): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8010729.stm

Politics/Blogs:

The BNP admits that some of its members are oddballs and liars in a memo to activists. Aware of the reputation of some of their members and their poor English they are dissuading them from officially linking themselves to the BNP in blogs and online postings, advising them that independent-looking postings are more persuasive (20th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/20/bnp-handbook-european-elections

Newspapers:

Peter Preston argues for an internet license fee to help save newspapers and traditional journalism (19th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/19/internet-licence-fee

Cyberwar:

Apple’s Ipod Touch is being given out to soldiers to help them make sense of data from drones, satellites and ground sensors (18th April): http://www.newsweek.com/id/194623

Piracy:

A Swedish court hands down prison sentences and fines to four men behind the Pirate Bay website (18th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/18/pirate-bay-prison-sentences-sweden

Mobile Phones:

Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, saw profits fall 90% in the first three months of 2009 as cash-strapped consumers held onto their existing handsets or opted instead for Apple’s iPhone (17th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/17/nokia-profits-drop-iphone-apple

CyberCrime/CyberWar:

An article on cybercrime and nationalist attacks from China (16th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/16/china-cybercrime-hacking

Cyberwar:

A survey of cyberwarfare today (16th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/16/internet-hacking-cyber-war-nato

Online Advertising:

Amazon opts out of Phorm’s targeted advertising over the privacy fears of users (16th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/16/amazon-phorm-targeted-advertising

Surveillance:

The European Commission calls for the UK’s privacy laws to be strengthened to protect internet surfers, as it launches legal action against the government for breaching data protection and ePrivacy rules (15th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/15/internet-privacy-eu-legal-action

Future technology/Interfaces:

A demonstration of MIT’s new ‘SixthSense’ wearable, gesture-driven computing platform (14th April): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7997961.stm

Amazon:

Amazon is discovered to have stripped many books of their sales rank, removing them from their charts and affecting customer search results. The books all have an adult content but gay and lesbian texts are hit especially hard. Complaints force an apology and an explanation (13th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/apr/13/amazon-gay-writers

See also (14th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/14/amazon-gay-sex-ranking (19th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/19/amazon-com-adult-content

Apps:

On the rise of the iPhone applications (12th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/12/iphone-applications-music-industry

Politics/Blogging:

A crisis engulfs Gordon Brown’s government as a key aide is forced to resign after leaked emails reveal his attempt to provide sexual smears against Conservative politicians for a pro-Labour blog (12th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/12/damien-mc-bride-labour-smear

Citizen Journalism:

On 1st April 2009 Ian Tomlinson collapses and dies at the G20 protests in London. What follows is a remarkable example of old and new media working together. The Guardian follows up claims that he was struck by police before he died and their story attracts footage by people at the protests that cause the story offered by the police and much of the media’s account to collapse. Traditional journalism boosted by citizen journalism pursuing the facts of the case revealed considerable police mistreatment of protestors. Follow the story at:

(27th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/27/ipcc-police-g20-death-media

(26th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/26/g20-police-blog-assault

(21st April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/21/g20-video-protest-policing

(20th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/20/police-assault-g20-protests

(19th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/19/police-g20-tomlinson-assault

(18th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/18/g20-ian-tomlinson-death

(18th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/18/ian-tomlinson-g20-police-officer

(17th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/17/ian-tomlinson-new-pictures-g20

(15th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/15/g20-police-assault-tomlinson-ipcc

(11th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/11/video-g20-ian-tomlinson

(9th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/09/g20-ian-tomlinson-police-video

(9th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/09/g20-police-assault-ian-tomlinson-g20

(9th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/09/g20-video-ian-tomlinson-death

(8th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/08/ian-tomlinson-g20-police-assault-footage

(8th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/08/ian-tomlinson-cameraman-inquiry

(7th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/07/video-g20-police-assault

Citizen Journalism:

An opinion piece on the ‘unstoppable rise’ of the citizen cameraman (11th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/11/public-camera-video-technology

Broadband:

The UK government’s plans for broadband for all are at risk (10th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/10/telecoms-broadband

Economics:

Microsoft and Yahoo revive talks about a search engine partnership to combat the growing power of Google (10th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/10/microsoft-yahoo-merger-talks

Television:

An article about how online content is going to enter the home through the TV (9th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/08/intenet-on-demand-tv-youtube

Virtual Worlds/Video Games:

An article about Sony’s new virtual world for kids ‘Free realms’ (9th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/09/sony-games-free-realms

Archives:

An article on the World Digital Library to be launched this month (9th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/09/world-digital-library

Gambling:

US prosecutors strike a deal to end a three-year clampdown on online gambling sites (8th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/08/online-gambling-partygaming-settlement

Twitter:

An uprising in Moldova is dubbed the ‘Twitter revolution’ after mass protests which began as a flash mob organised by Twitter, SMS and other social networking sites (8th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/08/moldova-protest-election-chisinau See also (16th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/15/moldova-activist-hiding-protests

Music:

Amazon’s challenge to iTunes continues. After launching its own DRM-free MP3 download store it now slashes prices on some downloads to 29p (8the April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/08/amazon-itunes-music-downlads-mp3

Broadband:

The Australian government launches a plan to extend broadband access across the country (7th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/07/broadband-internet-australia

Newspapers:

US news agency Associated Press threatens legal action against websites appropriating its content (7th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/07/associated-press-legal-action

Newspapers/Blogs:

The Huffington post, the New York based Liberal blog, sets up a fund to hire staff to preserve journalistic standards (6th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/06/huffington-post-us-newspaper-industry

Music:

The head of new service Spotify says fans will still buy music (6th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/06/spotify-digital-music-downloads

Wikipedia:

John Naughton defends Wikipedia (5th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/05/digital-media-referenceandlanguages

Twitter:

Demi Moore used twitter to intervene in the case of a woman who was feeling suicidal (4th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/04/demi-moore-twitter-avert-suicide-california

File-Sharing:

Swedish internet use plummets after the introduction of a law banning online piracy (4th April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/04/sweden-pirate-bay-filesharing-internet

Google/Privacy:

Villagers in a UK town force the Google streetview camera car to retreat (3rd April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/03/google-street-view-broughton

Newspapers:

An article on the problems of local journalism and the possible impact on local democracy (3rd April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/03/local-newspapers-journalism-democracy

Cinema:

A rough edit of the new X-Men movie Origins:Wolverine is leaked onto the internet a month before its release (2nd April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/02/wolverine-xmen-leak-online-piracy

Online Advertising:

The digital technology company Phorm is facing a setback with many major dotcom companies considering boycotting its online advertising technology due to privacy concerns (2nd April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/02/dotcom-boycott-advertising-phorm

Virtual Worlds:

An article about changes at Second Life to rejuvenate its business (2nd April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/02/second-life-mark-kingdon

Privacy:

An article about the threat to privacy the mobile phone industry (2nd April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/apr/02/google-privacy-mobile-phone-industry

Newspapers:

The Guardian’s April fool joke is its claim that it’s switching to Twitter, digitising its archive and compressing every story into less than 140 characters. What’s good here is the obvious anxiety of the ‘old’ medium at the social use and significance of the newer one (1st April): http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/apr/01/guardian-twitter-media-technology

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