ASCAP Briefing

Today’s ‘iGeneration’ Has No Off Switch
By Sharon Jayson — Today’s kids don’t remember a time without technology and the constant connectivity to the world that these technologies bring. One expert has dubbed this generation the “iGeneration,” and it includes today’s teens and middle-schoolers. Distinct iGeneration traits include early introduction to technology and a desire for immediacy.

Kids on The Web: Are They Satisfied With Virtual Worlds And Games?
By Richard Macmanus — For kids under 12 years of age, entertainment websites and virtual worlds are all the rage. My 8-year old daughter plays ToonTown a lot. Club Penguin and Moshi Monsters are also popular in this demographic. But are these types of sites fulfilling the potential and talent our kids have with technology?

Some Ditch Social Networks to Reclaim Time, Privacy
By Marco R. della Cava — As the social networking train gathers momentum, some riders are getting off. Laura LeNoir is done. “I feel better, I feel lighter, I got my privacy back,” says LeNoir, 42, an office manager at an educational software company in Birmingham, Ala., who logged off a few weeks ago. “People say, ‘You’ll be back.’ But I read more, walk the dogs more. I’ll be fine.”

The Key To Making Free Music Services Work
By Mark Mulligan — On-demand, access-based services will be the foundation stone of the 21st-century music business. Added to that, the majority of consumers simply have no appetite for paying for digital music, certainly not on a subscription basis. Free and subsidized services are quite simply part of the future. But, and it’s a big “but,” these services and their associated business models still pose many as yet unanswered questions.

Van Natta Resigning as MySpace CEO
By Ryan Nakashima – Owen Van Natta is stepping down as CEO of struggling social networking site MySpace, effective immediately, after less than a year on the job. The former chief revenue officer at MySpace rival Facebook will be replaced by Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, who were promoted to be co-presidents.

iPod Gets the Beatles Music …Through an Internet Radio Station App
By Amy-Mae Elliott — While the world waits for The Beatles back catalogue to go officially digital, a Beatles-themed internet radio station ( “Beatles-A-Rama!!!”) has launched an iPhone app that will see all tunes John, Paul, Ringo and George streamed to your handset.

With Buzz, Google Plunges Into Social Networking
By Miguel Helft and Brad Stone — The new service, called Google Buzz, allows Gmail users to share updates, photos and videos as on Facebook and other social networking sites.

Google Buzz Criticized for Disclosing Gmail Contacts
By Robert Mcmillan — One day after its launch, privacy concerns have been raised about Google’s new Gmail-based social-networking tool, Buzz. At issue is a feature that compiles a list of the Gmail contacts who users most frequently e-mail or chat with. Buzz automatically starts following these people and makes the list public, meaning strangers can see who Buzz users have been in contact with.

Shazam Connects with Pandora, Last.fm Apps
By Jason Ankeny Mobile music discovery provider Shazam announced it will bolster its Shazam Encore and (Shazam)RED applications for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch with the addition of new features enabling users to connect to personalized radio services Pandora and Last.fm to create their own Internet stations based on tagged music.

Google Subsidizing Ultra-Fast Broadband Test
By Stephen Shankland — Google, never satisfied with the pace of change, plans a test that will provide 50,000 to 500,000 people with fiber-optic broadband Internet access with a network speed of a gigabit per second.

Is Google a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing to ISPs?
By Marguerite Reardon — Google says its plan to build new fiber networks will promote innovation in broadband technology, but its moves could be seen as a threat to existing broadband operators.

Google Shuts Down Music Blogs Without Warning
By Sean Michaels — In what critics are calling “musicblogocide 2010”, Google has deleted at least six popular music blogs that it claims violated copyright law. These sites, hosted by Google’s Blogger and Blogspot services, received notices only after their sites – and years of archives – were wiped from the internet.

New Russian Botnet Tries to Kill Rival
By Robert McMillan — An upstart Trojan horse program has decided to take on its much-larger rival by stealing data and then removing the malicious program from infected computers. Security researchers say that the relatively unknown Spy Eye toolkit added this functionality just a few days ago in a bid to displace its larger rival, known as Zeus.

Cutting-Edge Crooks Keen on the Cloud
By Toby Wolpe — Cloud computing has been enthusiastically taken up by criminals for a variety of activities, a security expert says. What better endorsement for the cloud could there be?

Korean iPhone Stylus: It’s Made of Meat
By Charlie Sorrel — Korean sausage maker is experiencing a sales boom due to cold winter weather. People are buying CJ Corporation’s snack sausages to use as styluses for their iPhones.