Ever wonder if you were violating a patent? Now you can find out with the push of a button with the patented Google Patent Search! Just like the "arrangement of facts" case from the 1980′s, Google isn’t doing anything new here. They’re arranging publicly available information in a certain way to make it accessible and [...]
“Spurred by the popularity of MySpace, News Corp. sites have overtaken Yahoo sites as the most viewed by U.S. Internet users, according to new industry data cited by News Corp. on Tuesday,” [from News.com]. The ranking is debated heavily, mostly by Yahoo, who are reluctant to relinquish the title. MySpace and Yahoo continue to battle [...]
A recent New York Times article called 2006 the “Year of Self Expression.” If you refer to an entry from last week, I discuss this trend of user-generated content (“UGC”) as it relates to news. In the Times article, it relates to media moguls snatching up all of the UGC outlets as this trend grows. [...]
A Canadian court has recognized a blogger as an occupation in a case involving an arrest for obstructing a police officer. The court noted that the blogger was “simply plying his trade, photographing a demonstration for inclusion in his blog when he was arrested.” Blogging is an occupation? Who’s hiring? What are the requirements? I [...]
It seems that user-involvement can’t go far enough. From the earliest message boards to chatrooms, to online networking, to wiki software, blogging and vlogging, user-generated content seems to be in high demand, and only getting higher. Yahoo and Reuters recently announced a new service (or product) known as "You-Witness News," in which people are asked [...]