Filed under: Cellphones

Looks like Hutchison (aka 3) snagged the iPhone for distribution in Hong Kong and Macau, which will be coming "later this year." Like the rest, this was another one liner un-announcement with no real info, but you probably wouldn't want to anger Steve before WWDC. Besides, in Hong Kong 3 doesn't sell anything but 3G phones -- so put that in your iPipe and smoke it.

[Thanks, Chris and Joe]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras

We've got your summer crapcamcorders right 'ere -- three new RCA Small Wonder cams to make your Flips flop. Check 'em out:

• Small Wonder MyLife, EZ200 (black) - 1.5-inch flip-out display, microSDHC with with 1GB microSD that does up to 30 / 60 minutes in high quality and web quality modes, $89 and due this summer
• Small Wonder Pocket, EZ205 (white) - 1.5-inch flip-out display, microSDHC slot with 1GB microSD that does up to 30 / 120 minutes in high quality and web quality modes, $100 and due this summer
• Small Wonder Traveler, EZ210 (green) - 2.4-inch QVGA display, SDHC with 2GB SD card that does up to 60 / 240 minutes in high quality and web quality modes, $150 and due this summer

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Filed under: Transportation

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I'm going to remove the names of the two web 2.0 startups that apparently have just merged, according to a recent blog post from Jeff Nolan. I don't really care about the merger at all or either of the two companies. I'm merely posting a short excerpt from the press release announcing the merger with the names redacted (they don't deserve more publicity with a press release like this), because I don't think I've ever seen a paragraph filled with so many web 2.0 buzzwords that says absolutely nothing.

Company A, a universal profile service for the social web that engages communities and enables content discovery, today announced its acquisition of Company B, a provider of semantic intelligence solutions. The integration of Company B's proprietary semantic intelligence-based discovery engine will bring richer, context-based profile and reputation management capabilities to the Company A service. To be useful across different types of social media, profiles and reputation have to be localized and linked to the context of the conversation. In this way, thought leaders emerge within and across communities based on their specific expertise and contributions.

Seriously? From that paragraph, does anyone have the slightest idea what either of these companies do -- or what the merger is for? I've been known to point out stupid PR tricks, which focus mostly on the way they continue to bombard me with pointless and irrelevant press releases. But when the buzzword bingo gets this thick, it's hard to do anything but sit back and laugh. That, and get to work on my latest proprietary universal social widget-enabler intelligence-context-based profiler management integrator. Because, clearly, that's what the market demands.

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Meet LaterLoop, a new bookmarking tool that was recently featured at Google’s I/O conference.

LaterLoop’s core functionality is very similar to Instapaper, which we reviewed last January. After adding either a Firefox extension or a Bookmarket to their browser, users can click “Save For Later” whenever they come across an interesting site that they don’t have time to read. These pages are saved in a list of temporary bookmarks on LaterLoop’s site, which can be accessed at a later date from a normal browser or from a mobile device (the site currently supports Blackberries, Nokia smartphones, and iPhones).

The site has also just implemented a download function that allows users to save all of their bookmarked sites into a .zip file. This will be handy for people on the go looking to catch up on their reading during a flight. Unfortunately this doesn’t work on the iPhone yet, though we can probably expect to see something once Apple’s official application store launches.

LaterLoop isn’t exactly a novel application - similar functionality can be found from toread, Firefox’s Read it Later extension, PhoneFavs, and a number of others. But it has very intuitive interface, and Google’s endorsement of the app at their I/O conference speaks volumes.

LaterLoop is the latest offering from developer Gregor Hochmuth, whose other ventures include FlickrStorm and Mento.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Earlier this week, we explained the root cause of many of the problems the entertainment industry runs into when it tries to deal with copyright online. It views the internet in the same way that it views a broadcast media content platform, when it's been designed and used primarily as a communications platform. The entire concept of copyright doesn't make sense in the realm of regular communications. You don't worry who owns the copyright on the conversation you have on the phone or the email that you write to a friend. Yet, when viewed through the prism of a "content" platform, these are open questions. The same is true of things like blog comments. Yet, suddenly we find people arguing over who "owns" comments place on a blog page.

Mathew Ingram does a nice job highlighting the key issues that were raised this week on that question, but the whole conversation took a turn for the bizarre when Hank Williams weighed in. This is the same Hank Williams who posted a poorly researched defense of copyright. Now he's back claiming that the issue of who owns the copyright on blog comments is a really important question. If anything, you would think that the points he raises in his post would actually be the perfect evidence for why his original post was wrong (though he seems to miss that). It's quite clear from what he wrote that copyright law doesn't handle this situation very well -- which makes sense, because copyright is (again) designed for broadcast media, not communications. But rather than realize that's a good reason why copyright shouldn't apply at all here, Williams doubles down on why "ownership" over comments is something that needs to be worked out -- he suggests that blog and comment system providers create a totally useless mechanism to "declare" ownership of comments.

Except that this system is not at all necessary, and would only lead to more problems. The entire purpose of copyright is to act as incentive for the creation of that content. Yet, I think most people would find it preposterous to claim that the reason they commented on a blog was because of the protections provided by copyright. In other words, there's no question to worry about here because this content was all created without copyright being the incentive. However, in this bizarre and twisted world where infinitely available resources need to be shrunk down and "owned," Williams insists that we need to figure out who has the copyright on comments.

In the comments to Hank's own story, things get even more bizarre. First, Hank suggests that if the blog owner "owned" the comments then that might mean that the blog owner also "owned" the liability associated with those comments (which could mean in cases of libel or copyright infringement). Once again, though, Williams is showing his ignorance, as both cases are clearly covered by the safe harbors of the CDA and the DMCA, and the stacks upon stacks of case law concerning liability on things like blog comments. It's quite clear that Williams thinks ownership of infinite resources is a good idea -- but he doesn't appear to have thought through what that means and why it's neither necessary nor a good idea. Too bad.

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The timeshifting DVR patent that's been at the core of TiVo's closed-but-not-quite-closed lawsuit with DISH / EchoStar is being contested yet again by the very same company. Not content just appealing to the Supreme Court regarding the Federal Circuit's ruling against a rehearing for the last case, DISH / EchoStar has started up a whole new lawsuit against TiVo, requesting a Delaware court find the new version of their DVR software does not infringe TiVo's patents -- presumably as an embittered and pre-emptive measure before TiVo could kick off its inevitable next suit. Don't worry if you're confused as all hell, so are we -- the point is, despite the fact that decisions have been made and rulings handed down, these two companies are still managing to sue, re-sue, and counter-re-sue one another.

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If you’re not a fan of Radiohead, you may not be particularly interested in the inside entertainment business news going on between Thom Yorke and Prince, but for those of us that follow the battle between the old and new guard in the mainstream music business, quite an interesting juxtaposition is shaping up.

If you haven’t been keeping up - here’s the timeline you need to get up to date:

In June of 2007, Prince uses the DMCA to take down a video of an 18-month old dancing to Let’s Go Crazy. The parents sue with the help of the EFF.
In September of 2007, Prince gears up to sue Google, eBay and Pirate Bay for using unlicensed clips of his music.
In October of 2007, RadioHead announced their name your own price scheme for their upcoming album. A week later, they sold an estimated 1.2 Million albums.
In November of 2007, Prince starts suing his fans for putting up sites without properly licensed images of him. The fans revolt and turn into Prince haters.
In March of 2008, Radiohead releases widgets for their album “In Rainbows,” allowing to embed the album as well as all manner of Radiohead related content on their sites and profiles.
In April of 2008, the courts throw out the EFF’s lawsuit against Prince. The EFF later re-filed.

It’s clear that while one has become progressively more and more open over the years with their content and message, the other has increasingly clamped down. For Prince this continues to be a losing strategy, while Radiohead keeps making out like a bandit.

It’s interesting to see the clash occuring now between the two musicians. Apparently, Prince has licensed the performance rights for Radiohead’s Creep, and often performs it on tour. Not surprisingly, it’s ended up on YouTube, and not surprisingly, Prince isn’t happy about this. ValleyWag took note of this earlier today:

In the byzantine maze of music rights, Thom Yorke has the publishing rights to the song, whereas Prince only had live performance rights, probably under a blanket deal with Coachella and the major song publishers — not necessarily recording or much less video distribution rights from the performance.

When asked about the fracas, Yorke replied “Well, tell him to unblock it. It’s our … song.”

Predictably, fans of Radiohead are taking to their defense in the comments fields, and the video doesn’t seem to have been taken down off YouTube. Personally, my biggest peeve with the whole debacle is how badly Prince has butchered the song.

Still, perhaps Prince will get a moment to sit down with the Radiohead boys and learn a few things about social media marketing.

A guy can dream, can’t he?

---
Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

The Folks Formerly Known as Prince Fans
The RIAA Will Die in 2008
Radiohead to Ring in the New Year with Performance on Current TV
You Should Hide Your Babies from Prince, Just To Be Safe
Radiohead: comScore Doesn’t Have a Clue
Radiohead to Let Fans Pick the Price for New Album
Radiohead In Rainbows on iTunes?

Filed under: Robots

Sweet isn't it? You can almost hear the pitter-pattering of Keepon's tiny servo heart as he gazes into HOAP-3's hungry, yet soulless eyes. Robots, it's what's for breakfast.

Thomas: "With your nose and my mouth, well, damnit.. you complete me."
Chris: "Don't let them call you a chicken... you fought like a champion out there. I didn't get to be Don King-bot by promoting losers."
Don: "Coming soon to theaters: Ratatouille 2: Electric Boogaloo"
Josh T: "I'm going to eat you... with some fava beans and a nice chianti. Ththththththththththp!"
Paul: "No way, Britt Daniel said that to you? What a jerk. Him and Portland deserve each other."
Josh F: "Sweep the leg. No mercy."
Ryan: "The secret ingredient of this week's Really Iron Chef is..."

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Today’s Top Posts:

• Contest: Win History’s “Engineering Disasters” DVD set
• Mobile Me the new name for .Mac?
• aTV Flash hack shut down
• Play golf at your desk with this new mouse and pad
• CrunchGear live podcast starts in an hour
• Bill Gates wants you to lose your mouse
• Onkyo releases stereo system with HDD and featuring “floating technology”
• Space beer heading our way, courtesy of Sapporo
• For seeding a single album, arrests made in OiNK BitTorrent tracker case: report
• Google’s Android to get iTunes-like app store