The Complexities of Copyright

The following article (2009 3 220 from the New York Times indicates the kinds of tensions emerging between sites which distibute content and companies who own the rights to elements included in that content. Here the battle rages between YouTube and Warner Music, but the implications stretch into music mashups, audio collages, amateur performance of copyrighted materials, and so on ------>

You Tube bringing back the upload status bar?

An upload status bar, something so simple, letting the users know just how much progress the server has made for submitting whatever material; apparently this feature had been removed from You Tube's video uploading service (probably to not let the users know just how slow the service actually was). It has been reported that as of late it has been restored, and now users can upload with the utmost confidence that something is actually taking place.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/13/is-youtube-finally-getting-an-upload-status-bar/

FLEXIBLE TOUCH SCREEN E-PAPER

This week there was an amazing article on the first flexible touch screen. The item was invented by a team at Arizona State University. This team was the same team that works to develop Amazon's kindle and Sony Readers. You should watch the YouTube video demenstrating how the device works, and how it is flexible. I personally think this is just another step forward for corporate America. Soon we will have touch pad notebooks, and E-text books. Students book bags will be very light with thier once virtual reader and writers to store GB of information for class.

How Companies Can Use Social Media

_______________________________________________________

While teenagers and college students strive to remain connected to their friends 24/7 through the internet via blogging, micro blogging and social networking, companies are moving forward and trying to stay connected to consumers. This blog entry lists 10 companies/brands who have embraced the internet and various tools in order to market and/or address consumer problems. Burger King with their “Sacrifice ten friends” Facebook application, Starbuck’s consumer feedback site “My Starbucks Idea,” and CEO blogs and twitters from Comcast, Zappos and IBM. These brands were able to successfully take advantage of WEB 2.0 tools and not only help themselves, but were able to do it in an interesting or humorous way.

Blog: Presenting: 10 of the Smartest Big Brands in Social Media