p2pnet news roundup: October 23, 2008
Bill Gates’ mysterious new company – Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog
Just months after his Microsoft farewell, Bill Gates is quietly creating a new company — complete with high-tech office space, a cryptic name and even its own trademark. Public documents describe the new Gates entity — bgC3 LLC — as a think tank. It`s housed within a Kirkland office that the Microsoft co-founder established on his own after leaving his day-to-day executive role at the company this summer. Is this Bill Gates` next big business? A Gates insider gives an emphatic no — saying it`s not a commercial venture but rather a vehicle to coordinate the software mogul`s work on his business and philanthropic endeavors. However, bgC3 will also oversee Gates` personal pursuit of breakthrough ideas in science and technology. The insider said the goal isn`t necessarily to create new companies, although ideas could be passed along to Microsoft, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — or others as it makes sense.
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Canadian Parties Practice Politics 1.0 in a Web 2.0 World – Michael Geist
Business increasingly recognizes the need for an Internet strategy that engages current and prospective customers. The days of “brochure-ware” websites that do little more than describe the company and its products or services are gradually giving way to a more engaged experience that includes corporate blogs, videos, and opportunities for genuine interaction. The same should be true for political parties. In the just-concluded national election, many analysts anticipated an “Internet election” with sophisticated websites, active blogging, YouTube videos, Facebook groups, and rapid-fire Twitter postings. While the public and activist groups used the Internet to promote their candidates (partisan bloggers for each party provided a near-continuous echo chamber of commentary), issues (the Culture in Peril YouTube video had a marked impact the Quebec electorate) or to encourage strategic voting patterns (Voteforenvironment.ca received considerable attention), the political parties themselves seemed stuck with Web 1.0 strategies in a Web 2. 0 world.
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Man cleared of luring teen – Calgary Herald
A man who had sex with a 13-year-old after meeting her on a popular Internet chat site was acquitted Wednesday after the judge said he didn’t believe all of the girl’s testimony. Provincial court Judge Bruce Millar said the Crown failed to prove Matthew Alan Armstrong — who was charged with luring, abducting and having sexual contact — believed the girl was under 16 years old and therefore unable to consent to sex. “I accept the complainant said on her Nexopia profile she was 16 and the accused subjectively believed her to be 16,” said the judge.
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Top Ten Android Launch Apps – TechCrunch
The first Android phone. the G1, goes on sale today at T-Mobile stores. And, although I have some issues with the software/hardware interface, those are more than overcome by all the great software on the phone. I`ve been testing out a phone for about a week, and I don`t think I`ve made more than five actual calls on the phone. For me, it`s all about the apps. The apps I use the most come with the device: Gmail, the Web browser, and Google Maps, in that order. The phone also comes with the Amazon MP3 store, which lets you buy songs and download them over the air directly onto the phone. But you can also download apps from the Android Market, which is similar to the iPhone`s App Market. Many of the original apps on the review phones have been scrubbed, and about 50 are supposed to be loaded onto the market for today`s launch.
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Yahoo Q3 profit falls 64%; will cut 10% of staff – Atlanta Business Chronicle
Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday it will cut at least 10 percent of its work force and reported a 64 percent drop in third quarter net income to $54 million, or 4 cents a share, compared to $151 million, or 11 cents a share in the same period last year. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo reported $1.78 billion in revenue, slightly up from the year-ago quarter’s $1.76 billion.
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[OT] Sarah Palin, femme fatale – Globe and Mail
“She’s a former beauty pageant contestant and a real honey, too,” one bedazzled pundit wrote. Another couldn’t help noting that she was “exceptionally pretty.” A (male) Newsweek writer described her as “a mix between Annie Oakley and Joan of Arc.” It didn’t matter that she’d only been governor for a few months. She was a moose-hunting fertility goddess! It was these men who talked her up and up, and got her on the list, even though she didn’t have the résumé. By the time Mr. McCain picked her for vice-president, he’d spent less than three hours in her company. But hey! Rush Limbaugh had called her “a babe.” Conservative pundit William Kristol, the most vigorous Palin-promoter of them all, referred to her on Fox TV as “my heartthrob.” Phew. Can you imagine any man being vetted in such a way? Can you imagine any serious person gushing over any male candidate in those terms? I thought not.
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October 24th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Ebay merchant sues unhappy customer for libel
Man who was sold the wrong phone on eBay is sued by seller after leaving ‘negative feedback’
When Chris Read bought a mobile phone through eBay, it was described as being in good condition. But when the phone arrived a few days later, he was disappointed to find it was the wrong model and appeared to be damaged.
After returning his purchase and receiving a refund from the seller, Joel Jones, he used the online auction website’s feedback section – which can be read by other people – to give his honest opinion of the transaction. ‘Item was scratched, chipped and not the model advertised on Mr Jones’s eBay account,’ he wrote, assuming it was the end of the matter…
But he has now received an email threatening him with libel action. And it will be a legal first if the case reaches court.
Mr Jones claims the unfavourable comments have damaged his business. The legal missive goes on to warn Mr Read that if he fails to retract his comments he will be dragged to court where he faces costs, lawyers’ fees and damages.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1079968/Man-sold-wrong-phone-eBay-sued-seller-leaving-negative-feedback.html
(now I’m starting to worry if my book reviews on Amazon might get me sued into the homeless shelter
)