Archive for July 2nd, 2007
Amazon and Microsoft 
are joining forces in an alliance that, on the surface, might be a boon to independent filmmakers. The bottom line, though, is that the deal is designed to bolster the chances of the HD DVD format’s survival.On Monday, the companies announced the “1,000 HD DVD Indies Project,” which the industry giants developed to lower the barriers to entry for filmmakers to produce and distribute movies on HD DVD. Jointly sponsored by Amazon and Microsoft, the project will provide free authoring and setup services for up to 1,000 selected indie titles.
Specifically, indie filmmakers can produce and distribute their movies through an Amazon manufacturing-on-demand division called CustomFlix, which produces and ships DVDs only as they are ordered.
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July 2nd, 2007
Yahoo announced new online advertising tools that could give the company an edge against its competition. The tools rely on what is called “behavioral targeting” to make display ads more relevant.Dubbed SmartAds, the new advertising platform gives marketers what Yahoo is sure they want: the ability to deliver tailored display ads to highly targeted audiences. The way Yahoo describes it, SmartAds combines the company’s rich media capabilities with new ad serving technology that automatically converts marketers’ creative campaign elements and targeted offerings into relevant ads.
“Yahoo’s SmartAds gives marketers what they want from online advertising: the ability to deliver customized marketing messages to consumers, and still engage very large audiences with their brand,” Todd Teresi, Yahoo’s senior vice president of display marketplaces, said in a statement. This custom-tailored approach, he explained, is designed to offer a more engaging, relevant online experience.
Click here to read the rest of this story on NewsFactor.
July 2nd, 2007
While many consumers are standing in line to get their hands on a $500 iPhone, Apple’s new toy is not the only major release in the technology world today. Indeed, Friday also marks the release of version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPL).The GNU GPL is the most widely used free software license worldwide: Almost three quarters of all free software packages are distributed under this license. Version 3 of the GPL brings to a close 18 months of public outreach and comment, but it might not answer all of the open-source community’s concerns over Microsoft ’s patent deals with Novell and others. And it opens questions about the iPhone’s software.
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July 2nd, 2007
core one for Microsoft in its battle with Google. Google’s complaints about its rival’s practices failed to move the judge who is overseeing Microsoft’s antitrust agreement with federal and state governments.On Tuesday, Federal District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she would not rule on a complaint Google filed about Vista’s search features. The judge has decided to leave the matter in the hands of government lawyers.
At issue are the changes Microsoft agreed to make to Windows Vista last week to address Google’s concerns. Google feared users of the operating system would be discouraged from using competing desktop search tools — namely its own. Although Google wasn’t satisfied with the proposed changes, lawyers representing federal and state governments were content with Microsoft’s move to make other desktop search tools more interchangeable with their own.
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July 2nd, 2007
“There’s no great mystery to satisfying your customers. Build them a quality product and treat them with respect. It’s that simple.” — Lee Iacocca, executive
July 2nd, 2007
