Red Sweater Software announced that it has acquired Marsedit from Newsgator Technology.

“This is a classic ‘everybody wins’ situation,” said Jalkut. “Users are going to see a a lot more development activity, Brent and NewsGator are happy to see the application in my capable hands, and I get the satisfaction of steering the future of one of my favorite applications.”

Via

I personally have just started using Marsedit and have been really happy with it. I’m always happy when a company unloads something because it can’t devote enough time to develop it for its users. This looks to be a good move all the way around.

Originally posted on February 22, 2007 @ 11:48 am

CollegeHotList.com, a social networking site designed exclusively “for college students by college students,” officially launched today. The website has been customized to allow its members to stay informed about local campus life, socialize with other students, create “HotLists” to rate everything from their favorite places and photos to videos and products, and even plan social gatherings through a specialized forum tailored exclusively for college students.

“We’ve set out to create the most usable social networking site tailored exclusively for college students, and are excited to be unveiling this dynamic site to our generation,” says Gianni Martire, CollegeHotList.com co-founder. “There has never before been such a forum to help college students get the most out of their college experience…until now.”

It’s exclusive for college. Remember Facebook? They opened their network to everyone. Remember?

Originally posted on February 26, 2007 @ 10:57 am

Social networking darling Digg is in a spot of bother over the rights to use there own name (Digg) following action by Lucasfilm (producers of Star Wars) to block an application from Digg to register Digg as a trademark.

The application from Lucasfilm argues that Digg infringes on their existing trademark “The Dig”, a computer game launched by Lucasfilm in 1995.

It’s some what questionable as to whether Digg would be forced to stop using Digg as a trading name, but certainly not beyond the realms of possibility if Lucasfilm were successful in their opposition to the Digg trademark application and then sought to enforce it’s trademark by demanding that Digg stop using the name.

The real question though has got to be made to the VC firms that funded the company without checking the rights on the name to begin with, Omidyar Network and Greylock partners amongst them. The FIRST thing investors usually look for in a company is security of IP and naming rights, and yet it would appear at the time of funding that Kevin Rose and friends hadn’t successfully secured a trademark for the name of the company itself.

 

Tags: Digg, Lucasfilm

Originally posted on February 22, 2007 @ 6:50 pm

Egyptian Blogger Jailed For Insulting Islam

A 22 yr-old Egyptian blogger, Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman, has been sentenced to four years in jail for insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. The young man, formerly a student at the Al-Azhar University (Islamic) in Egypt, was critical in his blog of conservative Muslims. Nabil also criticized and insulted the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak.

While the American government is unlikely to jail someone for an insult, there is a law against sedition. However, I don’t see too many bloggers inciting rebellion against the current or any US administration.

Blogger Perez Hilton Sued

Popular gossip blogger Perez Hilton (Mario Lavandeira) is being sued by Universal City Studios for allegedly stealing and posting a topless photo of Jennifer Aniston at his blog perezhilton.com. Aniston had previouly settled a lawsuit against celeb photog Peter Brandt, who shot topless photos of her while standing at a distance on a public street.

Hmm. Wonder why there’s been no stink about the topless video, supposedly of Aniston, walking along a beach wearing sunglasses and bikini bottom.

German Telco Gets Net Advantage

Fair or unfair: Deutsche Telekom is the beneficiary of a new German law that allows it to block rivals from its fast Internet. They’re planning to sell TV shows and films over their VDSL (Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line), which is expected to connect 50 more cities, for a total of 60.

It’s not anti-net neutrality but maybe a close cousin?

Originally posted on February 23, 2007 @ 8:56 pm