Technology News

Sonicbids Adds Execs from monster.com and Yahoo

Source: HypeBot
June 30, 2010

Fresh off its acquisition of ArtistData, Sonicbids has expanded its executive team and board of directors. Former Monster.com CFO Martin Kelleher has been named Chief Operations and Financial Officer and former Yahoo product manager Nitzan Achsaf will step in as VP of Product. ArtistData founder Brenden Mulligan had been named VP of Strategic Partnerships after last week's acquisition.

Sonicbids has also appointed Jeff Taylor, the founder and former CEO of Monster.com, Giorgos Zacharia, the Chief Scientist at Kayak, and ...

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In Face-Off With China, Google Blinks

Source: All About Jazz
June 30, 2010

Google said it will stop automatically redirecting web searchers in China to an uncensored portal in Hong Kong as it hopes to convince Beijing to renew its operating license in the world's largest Internet market.

Google's unexpected announcement comes ahead of Wednesday's deadline when the Internet giants license is up for renewal.

Its clear from conversations we have had with Chinese government officials that they find the redirect unacceptable, and that if we continue redirecting users, our Internet Content Provider ...

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E.U. Criticizes Mobile Phone Roaming Charges

Source: Michael Ricci
June 30, 2010

Mobile phone operators in Europe are charging close to the highest roaming fees allowed, three years after price caps were first imposed, according to data released Tuesday by the European Commission.

The findings raise the likelihood that the commission will recommend next year that the European Unions price caps be extended, rather than be allowed to expire. “Three years since the rules came in, most operators propose retail prices that hover around the maximum legal caps, the Unions commissioner for ...

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ACLU Study Highlights U.S. Surveillance Society

Source: All About Jazz
June 30, 2010

Welcome to the surveillance society. That's what the American Civil Liberties Union concluded Tuesday with a report chronicling government spying and the detention of groups and individuals “for doing little more than peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights."

The report, Policing Free Speech: Police Surveillance and Obstruction of First Amendment-Protected Activity, surveys news accounts and studies of questionable snooping and arrests in 33 states and the District of Columbia over the past decade. The survey provides an outline ...

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Verizon iPhone Coming in January?

Source: Michael Ricci
June 30, 2010

The rumor that won't die about the phone that never seems to lose adoration flared up again Tuesday. Apple's iPhone could be available on Verizon Wireless in January, according to a report in Bloomberg.

Hopes that Apple's coveted smartphone will break from the shackles of its exclusive U.S. agreement with AT&T have percolated in the form of technology gossip since 2007, the year the first iPhone hit stores and drew long lines of customers. Three years and three iPhones later, ...

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New Startup Launches Simple Website Builder for Musicians

Source: Michael Ricci
June 29, 2010

Canadian startup Sayvee.com has just launched a simple and easy way for musicians to create a professional website without the need to be a geek. Kelowna, BC, Canada - - Not often do you find a technology company with a lot of personality. Sayvee is changing that by turning the heads of their biggest competitors with their tongue-in-cheek promo videos. Sayvee.com offers an artist-friendly website solution with a handful of built-in tools like a mailing list, blog, events calendar, slideshows, ...

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What if Youd Bought Apple Stock Instead of the Product?

Source: Michael Ricci
June 29, 2010

That new iPad is tempting. But what if you put the money in Apple stock instead? A UC Berkeley computer science student has produced a spreadsheet showing what the return on investment would have been.

If the past is any guide, it might be more profitable to buy Apple shares instead of Apple products.

For example, if in 1997 you had bought Apple stock instead of spending $5,700 on the PowerBook laptop, you'd be sitting on about $330,000.

If these ...

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Netbook Apps Reinvent the Wheel

Source: All About Jazz
June 29, 2010

Apple reinvented the phone as something like a computer, spawning the app something like software, except that its designed more for a specific device rather than for a class of devices, and can be subject to a single companys approval process.

With the iPad - and presumably, the Android tablets that will mimic it - Apple has begun to encroach on the market for netbooks, with their flash memory and ultraportable design, using an A4 processor from Samsung rather than ...

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