Terence Huynh
23 July 2008, 5:50
The Editor in chief of Engadget, owned by AOL, Ryan Block will step down from the top spot and will be launching a brand new site; with TechCrunch speculating that it may be called Devixe.
Taking over the ranks will be Josh Fruhlinger and Joshua Topolsky, with Fruhlinger taking over the entire AOL Tech Network, which includes TUAW, Switched, Download Squad and all of Engadget’s spinoffs. Topolsky will become the next editor in chief.
However, he says that he will not leave Engadget permanently, he will have a long-term advisory role at the blog.
Terence Huynh
22 July 2008, 21:57
The Reserve Bank of Australia has said that it has not initiated a formal review on eBay’s move to force sellers to offer PayPal as a payment method, even though there are complaints from a group which claims to be made up of disgruntled sellers.
Even though eBay has backed down from a policy of using PayPal exclusively, it has made it a permanent fixture on all auctions; even though it has allowed the use of other payment options.
The disgruntled eBay sellers’ group’s spokesperson has said that "eBay have been and continue to pursue through stealth the objective denied it by the ACCC," and has also written to the ACCC and other relevant authorities.
However, the Reserve Bank has said that it had just receive the letter and has not made any response to the letter.
Terence Huynh
21 July 2008, 18:31
Facebook is set to get a new look to reflect on how its members (like us) communicate with each other. The new design, which will be unveiled to the public on Monday, will see an expanded Wall - where everyone can leave comments and photos, which will include the user’s Mini-Feed.
This comes after MySpace revamped most of its site, but not its profile section. Both are, however, reducing their pages to make it load faster and reduce the clutter which has plague them so much.
However, the new design, which several members had a peak, has faced a lot of criticism over it was not really helped them.
Get ready for a change soon - and expect a review of it soon.
Terence Huynh
19 July 2008, 21:27
Facebook is pursuing a lawsuit against the German social network, StudiVZ; for infringing on the "look, feel, features and services" of Facebook.
The service claims that it has 10 million active members, and it is the largest German speaking social network, covering Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. The site, actually, has three parts to suit different school year levels - like Studivz.net is a site for college-aged students, Schuelervz.net for high school students and Meinvz is for older adults.
As well, the company has other sites in Italian (Studiln.it), French (StudiQG.fr), Polish (Studentix.pl) and Spanish (Estudiln.net). And, all have the same design.

It does actually have a claim, as the site does actually look like Facebook, but just in German/French/Polish/Spanish/Italian and in red. (Image from TechCrunch) (NB - That is obviously not the real Mark Zuckerberg (or is it?).
Terence Huynh
18 July 2008, 22:11
Google is in the process of buying the Russian contextual ad company ZAO Begun for $140 million from the UK-registered Rambler Media, according to TechCrunch.
While the ad company is a Russian company, many firms have based themselves in the UK; with Rambler owning 50.1 percent of the company. Basically, Rambler will buy the other 49.9 percent from Bannatyne Limited and then sell the firm to Google.
As well, Rambler will also use Google Adsense’s services for Content and Search.
Terence Huynh
16 July 2008, 17:26
Twitter has made its first acquisition, buying the search engine Summize. Summize would also see five out of six employees being Twitter employees, the one who is not is its founder Jay Verdy, who has departed the company to work on a "new project".
Silicon Alley Insider has put the value of the deal at around $15 million, with the transaction being mostly in stock. The search engine is used to track any user’s posting on the microblogging tool, or known as tweets.
Terence Huynh
14 July 2008, 11:34
Yesterday at 6am, the world’s oldest blogger passed away. Olive Riley, from the New South Wales’ central coast region, died at a nursing home at the age of 108. She will be mourned by her family and thousands who have read her blog at http://www.allaboutolive.com.au (which is apparently down) and http://worldsoldestblogger.blogspot.com/.
She had more than 70 posts on her blog, or what she called it, “blob”; sharing her experiences and life to a wide audience. However, illness made her stop blogging on June 26, saying, “I still feel weak, and can’t shake off that bad cough.”
She would have been 109 on October 20. Her funeral will be held later this week.
Terence Huynh
11 July 2008, 22:05
paidContent, a blog about "the economics of content", has said that it will be acquired by UK media company Guardian Media Group, owners of The Guardian and Guardian.co.uk. The Guardian Media Group itself is owned by the Scott Trust.
Its parent company, ContentNext Media, has said that it will remain as a independent business and also says that it is a major expansion for the Guardian Media Group’s US presence. It will also own paidContent’s UK equivalent, mocoNews.net and contentSutra.
Founded by Rafat Ali in 2002, it has offices in Santa Monica, California, and Manhattan, and also runs several conferences. In May, Conde Nast bought Ars Technica for $25 million, $5 million less than the ContentNext buyout. The full press release is below.
Read More >
Terence Huynh
08 July 2008, 18:24
Court papers have told the world one fact that we already know: Facebook is not worth $15 billion. This ‘revelation’ comes when ConnectU is suing Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their idea and code.
That value, $15 billion, was the value when Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake on Facebook for $240m, but its common stock is worth $3.75 billion. ConnectU argued that the deal was bogus since they lied about its value when Microsoft went and bought a stake in the social network.
In other words, ConnectU apparently nabbed Facebook’s internal valuation - meaning there is a mole in the company. But the NY Times is saying that Microsoft bought preferred stock and not common stock - meaning that they have more rights as shareholders.
So now, we don’t know the value - but we do know two things: It is below what Microsoft evaluated it and it is too high what ConnectU claims.
Terence Huynh
04 July 2008, 14:06
As part of its $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube, Viacom had asked for the source code for all of its search functions on the YouTube site, its new "Video ID" program and databases containing all user information and every video hosted on YouTube, including all private videos and those removed.
Though Viacom won’t be able to get all of the source codes, it will be able to access all the databases containing what videos you watch and all videos hosted and those were removed. However, your private videos will not be given to Viacom.
The user database, which is 12TB, will allow Viacom to determine on all the views that its content uploaded without their permission - among the other information that could be used against other lawsuits. In other words - if you watch anime on YouTube, Viacom will now know what anime you watched.
YouTube currently insists that it is protected by the DMCA’s "safe harbour" provisions, but with this decision - it looks like that the case would continue until 2010.