RIAA Update: The Death Star Goes Boom

March 3rd 2009

According to music business blog Hypebot, there are massive lay-offs at the RIAA. The place is going boom! “It is about 90-100+ people across the US and global offices – anti-piracy, coordinated IFPI/BPI etc – trust me it’s a bloodbath… (Major label heads) Hands, Morris are squeezing the ____ out of these guys after the […]

Important: FCC Signals Intent to Regulate Internet “in the public interest”

March 3rd 2009

Mark the date. This announcement is the start of an effort by the FCC to regulate both Internet operations and content just as the Commission does in broadcast channels.  After an earlier effort to regulate bloggers as lobbyists failed, this appears to set the stage for another attempt for regulation of Internet content. In a […]

Estimated Value of Top Blogs Surprisingly Resiliant

March 2nd 2009

Any way you read the data, the exercise of blog valuation done by 24/7 Wall St. casts a new light on changes in advertising, the involvement of founding owners, and changing tastes. Admittedly, these are estimates of value, which, absent an actual buyer, is at best informed conjecture. OK, its one blogger spouting off about the […]

Getting Slimed with Deceptive Marketing

March 1st 2009

Whenever one of my web domains is up for renewal, I receive a letter in the mail from Domain Renewal Group, a dba of Brandon Gray Internet Services, Inc. Despite verbiage that says otherwise, it appears to be a bill. Further, there’s an attempt to conflate the need for renewal with the option of renewing […]

Facebook: Lead, Follow or Gimme a Hug

February 27th 2009

Hot off the erm… screen: Another Facebook note concerning their change in the Terms of Service: they’re soliciting user input on how to shape it. So go ahead, all 175 million Facebook users. Flood Facebook central with your grocery list of demands, desires and dreams. That’ll work. Today we announced new opportunities for users to […]

ICANN’s Greed and Excess: Stock Losses and Staff Gains

February 26th 2009

Just a few months ago, an International Trademark Association (INTA) panel described ICANN’s gTLD policy as a “pending trainwreck” driven by greed and ambition. One member even discussed organizational ambitions for ICANN to relocate to Switzerland and build a substantial headquarters. The Non-Profit with Better-than-Commercial Pay It seems the trademark experts got it right.  The […]

The Land of Orwell: UK Gov’t Brings Surveillance Indoors

February 25th 2009

It’s bad enough that the UK seems hell-bent on placing surveillance cameras on every street corner, despite the fact that, according to a senior police official at Scotland Yard, they are an “utter fiasco.” But when the Orwellian UK government then mandates — secretly — that cameras spy on people in liquor stores and pubs, […]

Webinar: Kellogg’s James Conley on Getting Ahead by Protecting Brand Experience (Trade Dress)

February 23rd 2009

On March 4 (12:30 Eastern, 9:30 Pacific) you can participate in a free live webinar with the Kellogg Business School’s James Conley. Kellogg is arguably America’s top marketing school, and Conley is a clinical professor in technology who speaks and writes about intellectual property law and marketing. You may recall Conley’s Wall Street Journal article […]

Nexus, Schmexus…New York Wants Digital Download Tax

February 20th 2009

The Governor of the State of New York wants to address their $15 billion deficit by taxing, well, almost everything. Among the specifics is the taxing of digital downloads. The so-called “iPod Tax” would be 4 percent on all music and video downloads. For years, we’ve been waiting for the axe to drop on e-commerce […]

Optimizing for Blended Search: Additional Search Categories for Organic Listings

February 19th 2009

Have you heard of blended search? (That’s “search,” not “scotch.”) It’s when a search engine presents your search results from more than just webpages. It can include things like images, books, news and video. In 2007, Google released Universal Search, their flavor of blended search. On top of Google’s search engine results page, you’ll see […]