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New Media News Every Morning

China blocks YouTube and Google News access

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free-tibet.gifChina is doing what it does best in times of crisis – block Internet access to control the flow of information. News and blogs report China has blocked Google News and YouTube to curb the distribution of video footages covering the violence happening in Tibet these days.

This trick is patterned after Myanmar’s signature move of cutting off Internet access to control information gathered during the last protest against military activities staged by Burmese monks.

Several videos were uploaded at YouTube showing peaceful demonstrations and marching. But there is also a restricted video showing the actual riots and injured bodies during the demonstration in Tibet. Even though this brutal clip is restricted to 18 years old and above, it is the most viewed video with more than 80,000 hits to date.

Originally posted on March 17, 2008 @ 1:33 pm

Google CEO claims Microhoo deal a big threat to the Internet world

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erich-schmidt.gifWell, what exactly do you think Google CEO Eric Schmidt will say when asked about Microsoft – Yahoo deal? A match made in heaven? No way! Of course he will paint a really gloomy picture craftily hidden in powerful words and compelling statistics.

Here’s an example quoted by Conde Nast Portfolio and posted at AHN.

“It’s an unstable condition. But the theoretical issue is the concentration of Microsoft’s resources and its history, combined with the very large share that it would have in certain applications – like instant messaging and email – that could be used essentially to break the internet and diminish choice.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the real reason why Google is helping Yahoo! It’s not for profit or any vested interests. I know it’s hard to believe but yes it’s really hard to believe! Microhoo deal is a big threat to Google, maybe not in search but in the mobile Internet. So, it’s very likely Google will do anything in its capacity to thwart that deal.

Originally posted on March 17, 2008 @ 11:23 am

Will Yahoo join Google’s OpenSocial?

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opensocial.gifBeleaguered online company Yahoo might be sucking up to Google for there are rumors that it plans to join the Google-initiated OpenSocial alliance, a set of APIs that will allow interoperability among participating sites.

According to New York Times, Yahoo’s involvement will expand the user base of this open standards initiative since it has the “largest group of users and the largest base of registered users.” Other sites involve are popular social networking sites such as Bebo and MySpace.

A company spokeswoman declined to confirm this rumor but said Yahoo is supportive of open standards as evidenced by its participation in OpenID and Apache Hadoop.

Since Microsoft is incessantly harping on interoperability, why not join OpenSocial so EU will go easy on them.

Originally posted on March 12, 2008 @ 8:53 am

Yahoo! Research opens Israel Lab

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Yahoo! Inc. has launched a new research lab in Haifa, Israel, its first in the region. The Yahoo! Research Israel Lab will be led by Dr. Ronny Lempel, a renowned information organization and retrieval expert who will report directly to Dr. Ricardo Baeza-Yates, vice president of Yahoo! Research.

The Yahoo! Research Israel Lab will focus on boiling down complex technology problems into simple solutions to change the game in web search. As a demonstration of its commitment to next-generation search, Yahoo! recently opened Yahoo! Labs – Bangalore and appointed eminent scientist Dr. Rajeev Rastogi to head the new India lab. Yahoo!’s arrival in Israel furthers the company’s commitment to discovering new technologies that deliver compelling experiences on the web.

Originally posted on March 11, 2008 @ 8:43 am

Yahoo! extends deadline for nominating directors to its board

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yahoo.gifYahoo! Inc. has amended the Company’s by-laws to extend the deadline for nominating directors to Yahoo!’s board from March 14th to 10 days following the public announcement of the date for Yahoo!’s 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. As the Company has not yet announced the date of this year’s annual meeting, the amendment will give stockholders who want to nominate one or more directors, including Microsoft Corporation, more time to do so.

Originally posted on March 5, 2008 @ 5:45 am