Chilli Internet is the latest iBurst wireless reseller to reveal it will block customers trying to use peer-to-peer file sharing
Union Products, the original manufacturer of the plastic pink flamingo, will close its doors by 1 Novemebr, according to the company’s president. Production of the flamingos stopped in June, along with the company’s other product lines, and the company is now in the process of liquidation, according to its president, Dennis Plante — via Improbable Research
News Corporation has bought a 7.5 per cent stake in the John Fairfax newspaper group, as Rupert Murdoch’s media empire moves to take advantage of changes to Australia’s ownership laws. The company launched a share raid on Fairfax last night, snapping up 7.5 per cent of the group for $364 million. News Corp bought the shares at $5.20, in a big premium on yesterday’s closing price of $4.74. The move is the latest in a rapid series of media manoeuvres that have followed the passage of the new ownership laws through Federal Parliament
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, an international version of the MPAA, is breathing down the necks of 8,000 users of file-sharing software. The new cases cover file sharers in 17 different countries who have been allegedly using sites including BitTorrent, eDonkey, SoulSeek and WinMX. For the first time legal action is being taken in Brazil, Mexico and Poland. The IFPI said the actions affect a wide-variety of people: a laboratory assistant has been charged in Finland, while a parson has been served with action in Germany
Creative Labs has updated
two of its MP3 players in order to break their FM radio recorder features. If you bought your Creative device because it said, Record FM radio!
on the box, you’re shit outta luck now — Creative just stole that value out from under your nose. Guess that means I’m not going to be buying anymore Creative devices — via Boing Boing
iiNet has sold its New Zealand operations, ihug, to mobile phone giant Vodafone for $NZ41 million (AU$36.4 million). ihug, New Zealand’s third biggest internet service provider, was put up for sale in July after iiNet said it had received a large number of approaches to buy the company
A gay couple flying from Paris to JFK on American Airlines were told by the crew and purser that they weren’t allowed to touch or kiss each other. When they questioned this, the captain came out of the cockpit and threatened to divert the plane. American Airlines says this was all according to procedure, because kissing of any kind isn’t allowed on AA flights — via Boing Boing
Yahoo has acquired Jumpcut, a site that provides simple-to-use online video-editing tools, its latest bid to enhance its web video services
The pharmaceutical industry won a victory Wednesday, defeating efforts by EU regulators to encourage more trade in lower- priced medicines
In UMG v Lindor, the defendant Marie Lindor has made a motion to preclude the RIAA from introducing into the case songs as to which it has failed to produce the song files. Ms Lindor’s lawyers submitted to the Court the RIAA’s interrogatory responses where the record companies had stated under oath that their case was based upon (a) Media Sentry’s detection of song files being distributed
and (b) Media Sentry’s allegedly making perfect digital copies
of those files. Ms Lindor’s attorneys argued that the RIAA cannot prove that it made perfect digital copies of the songs if it doesn’t have the song files — via Boing Boing
Time Warner said Thursday that it had agreed to sell AOL France’s Internet access business to Neuf Cegetel, a French telecommunications network operator, for about $365 million in cash
UK-based online trading site Betfair was granted a licence to operate in Australia this January; it built a new data centre and flew the whole thing from the UK to Tasmania on two chartered aeroplanes; in the first three weeks of going live, the company has achieved 100 percent uptime
A Florida appeals court ruled that Fox and the media in general have no obligation to tell the truth after Fox fired members of its investigative journalist team for exposing the truth
A life-size replica of a Guantanamo Bay detainee has been placed in Disneyland by guerrilla artist
Banksy. The hooded figure was placed inside the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at the California theme park last weekend. It is understood to have remained in place for 90 minutes before the ride was closed down and the figure removed
In an effort to track down the source of information leaks by Hewlett-Packard insiders, private investigators working for the company obtained reporters’ telephone records without permission. The reporters’ records were accessed as part of a private investigation into news leaks that was initiated by company Chairwoman Patricia Dunn
The engine is on fire, the nose is pointing straight down and, wouldn’t you know it, the canopy is covered in glue: after 54 years, Airfix was crashing and burning yesterday. In a moment poignant to several generations of paint-covered schoolboys and their long-suffering mothers, the company responsible for more arguments over the proper use of a kitchen table than any other has gone into administration — via Feòrag
Ryanair today threatened to sue the government for compensation unless airport security measures are returned to normal within seven days. Michael O’Leary, the outspoken chief executive of Ryanair, described the new restrictions as farcical Keystone Cops security measures that don’t add anything except to block up airports
, as he issued the ultimatum
A federal judge ordered tobacco companies Thursday to admit they lied about the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes and to warn consumers in advertisements and packaging that tobacco is addictive. US District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the industry conspired for decades to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking and now must pay to help smokers kick the habit
The Indian high court has ordered Coke and Pepsi to produce the formulas for their soft-drinks, on the back of a report that says that Pepsi contains 30 times the amount of pesticide reported in 2003, while Coke’s level has gone up 25-fold — via Boing Boing
Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, which last week gave up on Germany, is reportedly looking at trying its luck in Australia and is sizing up our two biggest supermarket operators, Coles Myer and Woolworths
RSS – Posts