The Department of Justice just showed part of its hand in the investigation of Google’s class action settlement with book publishers and authors, and the Googlers in Mountain View should be getting concerned.

In a letter to the judge who must decide whether to certify the landmark settlement, the trust-busters confirmed for the first time that they were taking a look at the deal - in fact, that they’ve issued civil investigative demands to get more information, so it’s more than a casual glance - though of course they have “reached no conclusions” yet. Continue reading "The DoJ breaks cover on Google’s book agreement"

David Gelles meets Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in Friday’s Financial Times and looks at the prospects for the world’s biggest social network, with 225m active users:

“Even as he reacts to new threats, Mr Zuckerberg is intent on extending his company’s reach and deepening its connections with its members. In this, at least, he has shown some remarkable results. Facebook’s user numbers are growing quickly – more than half have signed up in the past year. It is available in 50 languages and in just about every country in the world. Perhaps most importantly, Facebook users seem to be addicted. The site, it turns out, is “sticky”. More than 100m users log on to the site at least once a day.”

Continue reading “What friends are for”

FT correspondents in Cairo, Rhiyadh and Dubai have been investigating how social networking and sites like Facebook and Twitter are being used in the Arab world, beyond the protests in Iran:

“When Wael Abbas, an Egyptian blogger and political activist, was detained by prosecutors in April after an altercation with his neighbour, a police officer, he used Twitter, the social networking website, to keep the world updated on his interrogation.”

Continue reading “Arab online dissent stretches beyond Iran”

Intel has so far dominated the high-growth netbook category with its Atom microprocessor, but that position is unsustainable, according to one of its chip rivals, Nvidia.

Chips based on ARM of the UK’s designs are set to drive a new wave of netbooks, smartbooks, Mids (mobile internet devices) - call them what you will - going on sale over the next six months, and Intel is in no position to compete, it claims. Continue reading "Atom’s days numbered in cheap netbooks - Nvidia"

Now that the first half of the year is over, it’s a good time for taking stock. These numbers pretty much tell the story of the tech financing markets:

Down 57 per cent.  The value of tech IPOs and M&A in the US in the first half of 2009, compared with the same period last year (figures from Dow Jones Venture Source.) At only $2.8bn, this is back at 2003 levels. The NVCA reckons that the amount that all venture-backed companies raised from “liquidity events” fell by 53 per cent, to just under $4bn.

Down 44 per cent. The amount of money invested in global “green tech” in the second quarter compared with a year ago (figures from the Cleantech Group and Deloitte.) At least the $1.2bn that found its way into the sector was up 12 per cent from the dire first quarter.

Up 25 per cent. The first-day pop for software company LogMeIn, which made its debut on Wall Street on Wednesday. Hey, it’s not all bad news: a handful of well-received tech IPOs has shown that, since the Nasdaq bottomed out in March, some investors are getting interested again. But it’s still a far cry from an active IPO market. Only 11 US venture-backed companies have gone public in the past year and a half, compared to 86 in 2007.

Microsoft, Yahoo and RealNetworks were hit this week with a copyright infringement suit filed on behalf of the composers of 950 songs offered by the companies through on-demand streaming or downloads that last only for the duration of a subscription.
While the amount of damages available under the law if the composers win is very large—as much as $150,000 per violation deemed to be “willful”—a more likely outcome is a settlement for less than the penny-per-play right recently established for streaming royalties.
The details of the case show why lawyers are among the precious few groups of people earning money in the music business these days. Continue reading "Music copyright holders sue Microsoft, Yahoo"