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New Media News Every Morning

Fake Mac hack attack backfires

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Do you want to know the sure-fire way to annoy your online community and smear the image of popular blogging platforms like Expression Engine and WordPress?

Well, learn from the great Macheist.com. People behind this site created a fake hacker called Malcor who “hacked” popular Apple-related sites.

To make this fictitious character believable, they asked credible sites like AppleMatters.com, iPhoneMatters.com, Glenn Wolsey, and Macapper.com to be accomplices in this well conjured gig.

Every site had this image and a message saying, “This site has been flagged for excessive Apple fanboism, and has been taken down for 24 hours.”

malcor mac hack attack

Well, initially it was intended as a joke but they underestimated the power of stupidity. This hoax has undermined the image of WordPress, Expression Engine, and hosting companies for many users perceived these companies to be vulnerable to hack attacks.

To matter matters worse, it led many Mac fanatics to believe that such anomaly exists. As for those who participated in this ridiculous joke, they have nothing much to say but sorry, sorry, sorry, and sorry.

The lesson is very simple that I find it very demeaning to point out: think before you act.

Originally posted on November 29, 2007 @ 8:00 am

Burst.com and Apple sign agreement in principle to settle 2-year old case

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apple-logo.jpgBurst.com, Inc. has signed an agreement in principle to settle its case against Apple, Inc. ending almost 2 years of litigation. Apple agreed to pay Burst a one-time payment of $10 million cash in exchange for a non-exclusive license to Burst’s patent portfolio, not including one issued U.S. patent and 3 pending U.S. patent applications related to new DVR technology. Burst agreed not to sue Apple for any future infringement of the DVR patent and any patents that might issue from the pending DVR-related applications.

The $10 million patent license provides Apple with the right to use Burst’s intellectual property in its own technology and products, without further consideration. Burst, however, retains the right to enforce its patent portfolio against others.

Burst plans to continue identifying and evaluating companies who represent licensing opportunities and intends to diligently pursue those likely to yield suitable returns. Burst does not plan to announce specific names of suspected infringing products or companies in advance of negotiating with them or filing litigation to enforce its patent rights. Burst does not plan to publicly release any internal assessments of market segment size or dollar value of those markets, although it believes that they are significant enough to warrant the aggressive pursuit of patent licensing.

Originally posted on November 27, 2007 @ 10:28 am

Ticketmaster and iTunes launch ticket + music promo

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new media newsticketing company Ticketmaster and online music store iTunes Store have expanded their music + tickets offerings by launching a special dollar-off discount applied to every digital album sold on Ticketmaster and fulfilled via the iTunes Store now through December 29, 2007.

Music fans purchasing tickets at Ticketmaster.com to live performances by participating artists will be given the option of adding a digital album to their purchase for one dollar off the album’s price through the end of the year. Ticketmaster.com will provide a direct link that will take the user to the iTunes Store to download their album in full.

Ticketmaster and iTunes are also delivering special Ticketmaster + iTunes gift card packs now available exclusively at Target stores throughout the US. The dual card packages include two $25 gift cards: one redeemable toward tickets at Ticketmaster.com and one redeemable for digital music at the iTunes Store.

Originally posted on November 9, 2007 @ 4:56 am

AT&T introduces new international iPhone data plan

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att.pngAT&T Inc. announced a new international plan that gives iPhone users 50mb of data per month to browse the web, check e-mail and access other information in more than 29 countries, including Canada, China, Mexico and in areas throughout Europe and Asia.

The new Data Global Plan is available to iPhone customers for $59.99 a month, which is in addition to the domestic voice and data iPhone plan they purchase during iPhone activation. The Data Global Plan enables international voice and data roaming, as well as international long distance dialing from the United States at standard rates.

The plan requires customers to first purchase a domestic voice and data plan for the iPhone and is not available as a stand-alone offer. Normal eligibility requirements for international plans apply. Should customers exceed the 50MB bucket in the 29 countries where the plan applies, they will pay $.005/KB. Outside those countries, consumers will simply pay for their data usage by the kilobyte, at rates starting as low as $.010/KB.

AT&T also offers a 20mb Data Global Plan for iPhone customers for $24.99 a month. The 20mb bucket applies to usage within the same 29 countries, with overage rated at $.005/KB. Outside the 29 designated countries, the data usage rate is $.0195/KB.

Travelers can visit www.att.com/wirelessinternational to see whether service is available in the countries to which they are going.

Originally posted on November 5, 2007 @ 11:30 am

NBC chief accuses Apple of destroying the music business

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new media newsIn what I believe a desperate move to woo other media companies to support its startup venture Hulu.com, NBC Universal chief executive Jeff Zucker has accused Apple of destroying the music business with its parity pricing strategy implemented in iTunes stores.

Moreover, Zucker believes Apple will also “destroy” the online video business if the traditional media companies will not take a stand against this pricing policy.

You might remember that last month iTunes stopped selling NBC TV shows due to disagreement over price. According to Financial Times, Mr Zucker said “he urged Apple for months to price one programme at $2.99 per download – as opposed to the current $1.99 – as an ‘experiment’ but was rebuffed by Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive.”

What is apparent in Zucker’s remarks is his big concern for profits over consumers’ welfare. If this is a reflection of Hulu’s future direction, Zucker might have a hard time finding suckers who are willing to pay more.

Originally posted on October 30, 2007 @ 10:55 am