Amazon:
Introducing “Kindle for Mac” — the Free Application for Reading Kindle Books on the Mac, Now Available in over 100 Countries  —  Read on Your Kindle, Read Some on Your iPhone, and Now, Read Some on Your Mac - Read Wherever and Whenever You Want, and Never Lose Your Place

• Viacom Summary Judgment Motion (pdf)
• Viacom Statement of Undisputed Facts (pdf)
• Google Summary Judgment Motion (pdf)

• Viacom claims that YouTube employees uploaded infringing content themselves, and discussed this over email -- though, the filings carefully provide only fragments of the emails, which could easily have been taken out of context. And, even on top of that nowhere does Viacom explain how YouTube employees could distinguish which content was actually infringing and which was put up for promotional purposes or what was fair use. This is a major weakness in Viacom's motion.
• Viacom's secondary arguments get weaker as you go down the list. It argues that because YouTube uses advertising to make money, that shows the company directly profits from infringement. That argument makes no sense -- because it would effectively wipe out any safe harbors for any commercial operation, which clearly was not the intent of Congress. Based on this argument, any ISP that hosts content from a paying customer loses its safe harbors. That's ridiculous on its face.
• Viacom argues that Google could have blocked uploads with fingerprinting technology it had licensed, but fails to note the massive weaknesses in those fingerprinting technologies (which we still see thanks to Google's bad automated takedowns). It tries to bolster this argument by saying that Google refused to use the fingerprinting on Viacom content unless Viacom agreed to license its content to YouTube. Perhaps there's more to it than this, but I think that's also taking Google statements out of context. The way the fingerprinting works is that Google would need copies of the content to be able to recognize them -- and the only way to do that is if Viacom licensed works to them.
• Then the arguments get really weak. Viacom says that Google isn't just a secondary infringer, but a direct infringer, due to the terms of service that say you're granting a license to YouTube, and because to work, YouTube converts uploaded video to Flash. This is a weird legal argument that has been rejected before.
• The crux of Viacom's argument rests on trying to break the DMCA safe harbors because Google and YouTube execs knew that there was a lot of infringing content on the site. But Viacom's argument breaks down entirely when you realize it doesn't explain how Google could ever make the actual determination of which videos are infringing. Viacom tries to get around this with some legal tap dancing, basically saying that it doesn't matter and Google just should have known what was infringing and what was not. But that makes no sense. Viacom is basically saying Google should have had a magic wand to figure out what's infringing and make it disappear. That's impossible. No law could possibly require Google to do the impossible. The fact that some of the videos Viacom sued over were uploaded by Viacom itself proves this point clearly.
• Viacom argues that because YouTube "licensed" its videos to Apple and Verizon Wireless phones, it shows that it's more than just a passive service provider. Again, this seems like a weak overall argument, as what YouTube was doing was licensing access to the videos in a more convenient format, not claiming control over the videos themselves.
• Viacom's lawyers also have a bit of fun at the fact that some old emails relevant to the case were deleted, even though it's not that ridiculous that not everyone keeps all their emails. The motion also mocks Google and YouTube execs for developing "serial amnesia" when presented with "evidence." But, again, Viacom was asking people to remember specific sentence fragments (potentially taken out of context) from years-old emails.
• The "big surprise" in the Google motion is that Viacom apparently tried to buy YouTube itself. While interesting as a historical nugget, I'm not really sure that really helps the case one way or the other. It doesn't change how Viacom may have viewed YouTube as a platform. The attempted purchase may just have been a way to try to co-opt it into a limited platform, like what happened with Napster.
• Google argues that it has gone above and beyond the DMCA's requirements in providing tools to help copyright holders. Viacom's counter argument, of course, is that those changes are more recent.
• For every claim made by Viacom that Google/YouTube execs made damning statements, it looks like Viacom's statements were even worse. For example: During these negotiations [to license content] Viacom deliberately allowed its content to remain on YouTube, in part because it thought that "having the content there was valuable in terms of helping the rating of our shows." Google effectively makes the case that Viacom knew the benefits of having its clips on YouTube, tried to negotiate with YouTube for a deal, and when Google came into the picture, basically Viacom just saw it as an easy money grab and massively upped its demands before suing. Google argues that the mass takedown and subsequent lawsuit was really just a negotiating ploy by Viacom to get an upper hand in the negotiations to squeeze more money out of Google.
• Amusingly, Viacom notes repeatedly in its own filings that YouTube didn't want to take down its videos because traffic to YouTube would suffer -- but Google counters by pointing out that it did take down all of Viacom's 100,000 takedown requests within hours and traffic to the site did not suffer and, despite Viacom's expectations to the contrary, traffic to Viacom's own sites did not soar. In other words, despite Viacom's over-inflated sense of how important Viacom's videos were to YouTube, the actual evidence suggests that Viacom was very, very wrong.
• Viacom tries to brush off the fact that it uploaded many videos itself, by saying (in a footnote) that most of those videos were clearly designated as being from Viacom. Google counters by pointing out that (a) this is not true and (b) Viacom repeatedly disguised who uploaded those videos on purpose -- even quoting Paramount's SVP of marketing saying that the clips "should definitely not be associated with the studio -- should appear as if a fan created and posted it." Among the users who uploaded Viacom clips on behalf of Viacom itself? MMysticalGirl8, Demansr, tesderiw, GossipGirl40, Snackboard and Keithhn On top of that, they registered with non Viacom email addresses, and even went to the local Kinkos to avoid uploading from Viacom directly. How Google was supposed to distinguish those clips from those uploaded by random users is not explained anywhere by Viacom, which is a hugely damning point against Viacom's case.
• Further damning to Viacom's case -- the fact that Viacom regularly had to backdown on its takedown notices after it was realized that the takedowns were incorrect. This is a point that we've made before and is driven home repeatedly in Google's filing. If Viacom itself can't get it right -- when it holds the copyrights and some of the videos were uploaded by itself -- how the hell is Google supposed to know which videos are legit and which are not?
• Even more amusing is the part that details how Viacom had incredibly complex and detailed rules with BayTSP (who monitored YouTube and sent the takedowns) over what should be taken down and what should be left up. Apparently, those rules changed every few days and the folks at BayTSP compared them to Crime and Punishment. Again, if Viacom required such a complex list of rules for its own partner, how could it expect Google to know what to do without knowing any of that information?
• Google also points out that many of the clips in question have serious questions over whether or not they could be considered fair use -- and those are questions for a court to determine. It is both unfair and outside the scope of the law to expect a third party like Google to be able to make that kind of decision on the fly.

Filed under: Action, Casting, Games and Game Movies

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wall Street Journal:
Apple Races to Strike Content Deals Ahead of iPad Release  —  Apple Inc. is still working to secure content for the iPad with just weeks to go before the tablet computer's release, said people familiar with the matter, as the company tempers some of its initial ambitions for the much-hyped device.

Another World 15th anniversary edition now on GOG.com originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Reuters reports:

President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday announced that Russia would build a high-tech hub near Moscow to spur modernization of the economy and reduce its dependence on oil and gas.

The center, designed to develop five priority sectors -- energy, IT, telecommunications, bio-medical and atomic technologies -- will be built near Skolkovo, a new private-sector business school in the Moscow region.

(It would be tempting to call it "Silicon Steppes" if it were in Asiatic Russia...)

I had a very small part to play in this story. In late 2007 I met with a large Russian delegation that had come over to Silicon Valley to learn some of its lessons. Their goal was to use Russian oil money to establish several Silicon Valley-like regions.

They asked me lots of good questions. They made it clear that they did not want to replicate Silicon Valley, they wanted just the best bits.

I told them I would tell them the secret of Silicon Valley's success. They went silent, and leaned in closer to hear what I had to say. "Failure."

(This was before the EPIC Fail craze of recent times...)

Silicon Valley tolerates, and funds, massive amounts of failure. Only about one out of twenty startups succeed.

Probably no other culture allows people to fail as many times as Silicon Valley. Inside every successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur is a failed entrepreneur.

No other culture in the world, (except for maybe Las Vegas), tolerates and celebrates as much failure as Silicon Valley. This is the "best bit" of Silicon Valley, and its also the part that can't be exported.

They nodded. And they made some notes.

I asked them about how they would structure their VC funds, and about the Russian entrepreneurs that they hoped to attract.

One of them, the head of a quasi public/private VC fund, said that they had a problem finding and funding startups. It was an exasperating problem. The Russian entrepreneurs won't tell them about their business ideas.

They don't trust them. "I'm running a VC fund, I'm not going to run off with their business idea!"

- - -

By the way, did you know that Tim Draper, one of our most successful VCs, penned a song called "RiskMaster" to welcome the Russian delegation?

I have no idea what the tune is, obviously something stirring, I can imagine something between Red Army choir and Welsh choir:

Hey! You want to start a business?
Russia seems to show some promise
While weighing all your choices
"Go to Moscow!" you hear voices
Google founder came from Russia
Parametric? - Not from Prussia!
Genesis and PayPal too

SVOD and what is new?
With luck you'll become a
Master!

From Soviet biology
Comes really cool technology
Software immunology
From Nukes we get ecology
Ukraine's Orange Revolution
Good for all-freedom solution
And then political pollution
Now it's all in execution


Chorus:
With luck you'll become a
RiskMaster!

All you need is a faster chip
A million rubles
A couple of engineers
RiskMaster!

- - -

Please see: Turning Oil Into Innovation: Russian Delegation Seeks Silicon Valley's Lessons - SVW

Continue reading SlingPlayer for Android coming this summer, demoed on video

SlingPlayer for Android coming this summer, demoed on video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Fun, Windows

Dream Desktop downloads, cycles your favorites from 5,000 beautiful wallpaper images originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Filed under: Convertible, Coupe, Performance, Mazda, Misc. Auto Shows, Design/Style

Gallery: Mazda MX-5 Matte and Black Special Edition

Mazda MX-5 Matte and Black Special Edition is darkened hotness originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ezra Klein:
Democrats get the bill, and the score, they needed  —  The question people generally ask about the final health-care reform vote is, “Won't it be politically difficult for many House Democrats to vote yes?”  But with the release of the CBO report (pdf), I'd flip that question a bit …

Sound engineering company, GGRP, has come up with a very cool and innovative way to show off their technical expertise – by going low-tech. What the company can do is offer a record contained within a corrugated cardboard sleeve. When unfolded, the cardboard sleeve can then be converted into a makeshift record player, allowing you to play the record by just using the cardboard sleeve and a pencil to turn the record. In case you’re worried that you wouldn’t know how to set it up, the (very simple) instructions are printed on the cardboard sleeve for you.

Permalink: Cardboard Record Player Looks Cool from Ubergizmo | RSS Sponsor: Win a Fellowes Microshred Paper Shredder!

Andy Towle / Towleroad News #gay:
Video, Photos, Report: Lt. Dan Choi and Cpt.  Jim Pietrangelo Arrested After Chaining Themselves to White House Fence in ‘DADT’ Protest  —  Developing...refresh for updates below...  (images via twitter)  —  According to Tweets from Robin McGehee at GetEqual (see stream below) …

Rebellion confirms layoffs, Derby closure originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MindTouch has developed a top 20 list of the most powerful voices in open-source, compiled using Twitter and other sources. It's a good example of how a research project can be transparent and in the process, help garner thought leadership for both the individual and the company.

MindTouch Vice President of Sales Mark Fidelman wrote a blog post yesterday, discussing the project and how they came to their findings.

Sponsor

Our interest is in much the process as the results. This is the kind of approach that has a number of uses. It answers questions for the organization. It creates a center of intelligence for the open source community. And it serves as a useful resource for sales and marketing. It also helps show that real research can be done using a few simple tools.

Most of the people on the list will be of no surprise to veterans of the open-source world. Notables include Tim O'Reilly, Chris Messina and Jonathan Schwartz.

The results show the degree of amplification than the average active user. This is where you have to consider the "nuance" factor by defining what it means to be classified in such a manner. Fidelman explained the process in this way:

To create the list, Fidelman used Twitalyzer, KloutTwittercounter, ReTweetRank and Twitter.

They also used Google, Google Blog Search, and Google Trends.

That's a take on the process but what about the larger meaning for MindTouch. Fidelman had this to say in response to our questions:

Question:How does this project fit into your approach for building a company?
Answer:"We actually view it as building an industry. The Open source industry has a lot of innovative, influential leaders but until now decision makers haven't had a guide to know where to tune in.

Question:How is the process of doing the research useful?
Answer:It helps mindtouch and the industry learn where to find the open source broadcasters. If the industry needs to get the word out, these individuals should be targeted first.

Question: Can you provide 3 tips for people in the enterprise looking to develop information that positions the company as a thought leader?
Answer: It's about building a community around your personal brand. Matt Asay excels at this. He provides useful, relevant content that's actionable. If I were to characterize it Into three dimensions:

2. Build a community around your personal brand by reaching out and networking with other bloggers, industry analysts and consumers of open source software and hardware.

3 Develop and create useful content on a personal blog or third party blog. The more actionable and useful the better. This is a big area to cover and I'm probably not doing it justice in two sentences. He adds...Perhaps a guest post on this topic will help? :-)

Out of the information, Fidelman looked at the larger group and created a Twitter list. MindTouch, also did a little inclusive marketing by adding a badge that people can put on their site if they are on the list.

Thought leadership provides a host of important dimensions. Enterprise companies that approach the market with intelligence are usually the smartest of the group. Luckily, the tools have never been easier to use in helping filter out the information that matters most.

Michelle Malkin:
The House vote on the Slaughter Solution: Update: Constitution-butchers prevail, 222-203; Roll call vote added; Calling out Dems Altmire, Lynch  —  Photoshop credit: Big Fur Hat at iowntheworld.com and Applecross Media  —  You'll recall that House Republicans unveiled a resolution two days ago …

Filed under: Independent, Home Entertainment, Movie Marketing

Permalink | Email this | Comments