Developers upset by opaque Apple App store criteria
Yahoo!Tech has an interesting article on the mysterious criteria used by Apple’s App store to approve or reject an application, and on a movement “growing within the developer community” to persuade Apple to use a more open and transparent application process for new iPhone apps. The International Herald Tribune has a great piece on emerging technologies that aim for “the Web’s hidden depths.” The article points out that “[b]eyond [the] trillion of pages [currently indexed by Google] lies an even [...]
Republicans want sweeping new data retention requirements
CnetNews.com reports that “Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users for two years to aid police investigations. The legislation, which echoes a measure proposed by one of their Democratic colleagues three years ago, would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is [...]
Yahoo introduces new type of search advertising
The New York Times reveals that “Yahoo is introducing a new type of search advertising that integrates images and video in paid listings. […] Search advertising typically shows only text advertisements and links. Marketers usually devote part of their online budget to search — which shows text-only advertisements and links — and part to display, the banner and box advertisements that show images or video. By introducing video and images, the new offering from Yahoo, called Rich Ads in Search, [...]
TiVo and EchoStar return to court
According to Yahoo!Tech, “[d]igital video recorder maker TiVo Inc and EchoStar Corp [returned] to a Texas court [today]in the latest round of a longstanding fight over a television recording technology patent. The legal dispute dates back to 2004, when TiVo charged that satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications Corp's Dish network system violated TiVo's patent for ‘Time Warp’ software, which allows users to record one TV program while watching another.” ACT has commented on the TiVo vs. EchoStar case before, writing [...]
FTC issues new privacy guidelines
Yahoo!News reports that “Federal regulators tweaked recommendations for how websites should collect, save and share information about users, extending them to Internet service providers and mobile users. The Federal Trade Commission issued new guidance on Thursday for the self-regulated industry that urges websites to tell consumers that data is being collected during their searches and to allow them to opt out. This guidance recommends that mobile companies and Internet service providers also inform customers about data collection and allow users [...]
The Key to Open Government is Through Processes, not Products
"Open government" can mean various things to different people, but a couple of articles I've recently read suggest that solutions for opening the government vault of information should focus on the "way" and not the "what." Why is this distinction important? Well, it takes the initial focus away from vendors lobbying that their products are more "open" and forces governments to reexamine how they collect, store and disseminate data. It is this hard look that will really make the difference, [...]