Making Money Software

Will Freemium be the model for software and productivity in the 2010s in the way that SaaS was in the 2000s and Client/Server was in the 1900s? Are users ready to trust the cloud? Will virality subsume other marketing strategies?

The answers were “Yes, yes and yes” at this week’s Freemium Summit East. Time will tell whether these answers are right and all paid software models evolve to layers on top of free offerings. Here are my key takeaways from the conference to help you make your predictions.

#1 — “The risk is not that some SaaS leader comes into your market. The risk is that Phil or Sally sitting two rows from you becomes the leader of your market.” — Matt Holleran, Emergence Capital Partners

Taking this parting shot at the end of his address, Holleran’s slide showed a circle/slash symbol over SaaS (Software as a Service). He observed that Freemium is making its way into a number of industries after its successful deployment in customer service and survey markets, as well as that in-product virality can reduce direct marketing expenses to zero or near zero.

#2 — “Freemium can accelerate your ecosystem growth to let you reach different sized customers, different buying behaviors and different customer end-goals.” — Scott McMullan, Google

Scott showed a layer cake created with the right raw ingredients, mixed properly and presented well as analogous to creating a revenue-generating freemium business model that includes core applications, add-ons, ads and consideration to ecosystem impact.

#3 — “Don’t charge for things that bring more users.” — Jonathan Boutelle, SlideShare

Boutelle’s presentation goes beyond describing how SlideShare discovered the right mix of customer value and in-experience triggers to build its premium service. It’s an insightful exploration of growing a business.

#4 — “Inherent virality comes in multiple flavors.” — Brent Chuboda, SurveyMonkey

Stating that, “seeding virality is really hard,” Chuboda described network effects (applications becoming more useful and powerful with usage and more users) and viral loops (use of the app spreads the brand and demonstrates new use cases and potential users).

And the quotes that speak for themselves:

#5 — “It was risky and scary, but our customers benefited. It’s OK to ask for money if you have a great service.” — Anne Driscoll, Ning, talking about the company’s controversial, yet successful move from freemium to paid earlier this year

#6 — “Don’t forget that free is not a business models.” — Owen Tripp, Reputation Defender

#7 — “Make decisions from data rather than hunches.” — Ryan Holmes, HootSuite

#8 — “Freemium only works if the customer is delighted.” — Thor Muller, GetSatisfaction

#9 — “Reviews are the new sales cycle.” — Amit Kulkarni, Manymoon

#10 — “When you have a charitable component, you can increase volume.” Daniel Freeman, Atlassian on the company’s Causium model

#11 — “We are able to compete against cloud services because we have offered people something free that has captured their mind share. That’s why I love freemium.” — Ranjith, Kumaran, YouSendIt

Slide decks from most of the presenters cited above can be found on SlideShare.

In August the company acquired McAfee, the security software vendor, for nearly $8 billion. Then, the company bought the unit of Infineon that makes the wireless chips used in laptops and smartphones such as the iPhone.

On Thursday, the investment arm of the company, called Intel Capital, said it is making an investment in OpenFeint, a mobile gaming platform that lets developers add social-networking features, like real-time chat, to their applications.

Lisa Lambert, vice president of Intel Capital, said the company was looking to “to build software ecosystems around our platforms. That is a huge part of our strategy over all.”

“We’re not just about PCs anymore,” said Ms. Lambert. “We’re thinking about everything from the back-end that is supporting the system all the way to embedded devices.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., contributed $3 million to the round, which totaled $8 million altogether.

“We view the online gaming business as one of the hottest areas of growing for mobile devices,” she said. “We can provide the silicon, the Intel microprocessors to power that.”

The move is also the latest sign that mobile products are fast becoming the hottest game devices on the market. Earlier this month, there was another: DeNA, a Japanese social game company, acquired Ngmoco, a Silicon Valley iPhone game developer, for $400 million.

OpenFeint allows game players to add each other as friends, challenge each other to games, compare scores and even chat during gameplay. Currently, the company says, there are more than 45 million mobile gamers using its service and roughly 3,400 games available through the platform, including the popular produce-chopping arcade game, FruitNinja.

Recently, the system expanded to include games powered by the Android operating system, allowing mobile phones users on different operating systems to chat and challenge each other. Apple offers it own mobile gaming solution, called GameCenter, but it is limited to iOS devices. OpenFeint connects iOS and Android, the company said.

Peter Relan, chairman of OpenFeint, said the company would use the fresh influx of cash to expand its data centers, which uses Intel chips.

In addition, Mr. Relan said, the money would go towards rolling out the company’s monetization feature, called OpenFeintX, which will allow developers to offer virtual goods for sale.

“Imagine it you had a Mac and I had a PC and we couldn’t play Farmville with each other on Facebook,” said Mr. Relan. “Users would not tolerate it. We want to provide a social layer that cuts across those silos.”

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

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ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

Will Freemium be the model for software and productivity in the 2010s in the way that SaaS was in the 2000s and Client/Server was in the 1900s? Are users ready to trust the cloud? Will virality subsume other marketing strategies?

The answers were “Yes, yes and yes” at this week’s Freemium Summit East. Time will tell whether these answers are right and all paid software models evolve to layers on top of free offerings. Here are my key takeaways from the conference to help you make your predictions.

#1 — “The risk is not that some SaaS leader comes into your market. The risk is that Phil or Sally sitting two rows from you becomes the leader of your market.” — Matt Holleran, Emergence Capital Partners

Taking this parting shot at the end of his address, Holleran’s slide showed a circle/slash symbol over SaaS (Software as a Service). He observed that Freemium is making its way into a number of industries after its successful deployment in customer service and survey markets, as well as that in-product virality can reduce direct marketing expenses to zero or near zero.

#2 — “Freemium can accelerate your ecosystem growth to let you reach different sized customers, different buying behaviors and different customer end-goals.” — Scott McMullan, Google

Scott showed a layer cake created with the right raw ingredients, mixed properly and presented well as analogous to creating a revenue-generating freemium business model that includes core applications, add-ons, ads and consideration to ecosystem impact.

#3 — “Don’t charge for things that bring more users.” — Jonathan Boutelle, SlideShare

Boutelle’s presentation goes beyond describing how SlideShare discovered the right mix of customer value and in-experience triggers to build its premium service. It’s an insightful exploration of growing a business.

#4 — “Inherent virality comes in multiple flavors.” — Brent Chuboda, SurveyMonkey

Stating that, “seeding virality is really hard,” Chuboda described network effects (applications becoming more useful and powerful with usage and more users) and viral loops (use of the app spreads the brand and demonstrates new use cases and potential users).

And the quotes that speak for themselves:

#5 — “It was risky and scary, but our customers benefited. It’s OK to ask for money if you have a great service.” — Anne Driscoll, Ning, talking about the company’s controversial, yet successful move from freemium to paid earlier this year

#6 — “Don’t forget that free is not a business models.” — Owen Tripp, Reputation Defender

#7 — “Make decisions from data rather than hunches.” — Ryan Holmes, HootSuite

#8 — “Freemium only works if the customer is delighted.” — Thor Muller, GetSatisfaction

#9 — “Reviews are the new sales cycle.” — Amit Kulkarni, Manymoon

#10 — “When you have a charitable component, you can increase volume.” Daniel Freeman, Atlassian on the company’s Causium model

#11 — “We are able to compete against cloud services because we have offered people something free that has captured their mind share. That’s why I love freemium.” — Ranjith, Kumaran, YouSendIt

Slide decks from most of the presenters cited above can be found on SlideShare.

In August the company acquired McAfee, the security software vendor, for nearly $8 billion. Then, the company bought the unit of Infineon that makes the wireless chips used in laptops and smartphones such as the iPhone.

On Thursday, the investment arm of the company, called Intel Capital, said it is making an investment in OpenFeint, a mobile gaming platform that lets developers add social-networking features, like real-time chat, to their applications.

Lisa Lambert, vice president of Intel Capital, said the company was looking to “to build software ecosystems around our platforms. That is a huge part of our strategy over all.”

“We’re not just about PCs anymore,” said Ms. Lambert. “We’re thinking about everything from the back-end that is supporting the system all the way to embedded devices.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., contributed $3 million to the round, which totaled $8 million altogether.

“We view the online gaming business as one of the hottest areas of growing for mobile devices,” she said. “We can provide the silicon, the Intel microprocessors to power that.”

The move is also the latest sign that mobile products are fast becoming the hottest game devices on the market. Earlier this month, there was another: DeNA, a Japanese social game company, acquired Ngmoco, a Silicon Valley iPhone game developer, for $400 million.

OpenFeint allows game players to add each other as friends, challenge each other to games, compare scores and even chat during gameplay. Currently, the company says, there are more than 45 million mobile gamers using its service and roughly 3,400 games available through the platform, including the popular produce-chopping arcade game, FruitNinja.

Recently, the system expanded to include games powered by the Android operating system, allowing mobile phones users on different operating systems to chat and challenge each other. Apple offers it own mobile gaming solution, called GameCenter, but it is limited to iOS devices. OpenFeint connects iOS and Android, the company said.

Peter Relan, chairman of OpenFeint, said the company would use the fresh influx of cash to expand its data centers, which uses Intel chips.

In addition, Mr. Relan said, the money would go towards rolling out the company’s monetization feature, called OpenFeintX, which will allow developers to offer virtual goods for sale.

“Imagine it you had a Mac and I had a PC and we couldn’t play Farmville with each other on Facebook,” said Mr. Relan. “Users would not tolerate it. We want to provide a social layer that cuts across those silos.”

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

Juan Williams: Fox <b>News</b> Lets &#39;Black Guy With A Hispanic Name&#39; Host <b>...</b>

Juan Williams said Tuesday that he's still upset about his firing from NPR, and added that NPR does not understand the Fox News culture or audience. In an interview with Baltimore Sun columnist David Zurawik, Williams said he remains ...

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

Making Money on Line

This is the new line touted mostly by the conservative side– all these campaign donations are insignificant, making the absurd argument that we spend more each year on irrelevant and unrelated things like yogurt or halloween candy, that the cash spent on campaigns is of negligible effect on the election outcomes, and, finally, that the threat of foreign influence on our elections through these funding channels is also negligible. Nothing to see here, move along.

David Brooks spouted this exact same nonsense in his op-ed column in the NY Times earlier this week, replete with a host of imaginary numbers to cloud just how much is being spent on both sides then claiming that, in the end, all the cash shoveled into this mid-term election has no real influence on the outcome, going so far as to claim that these multimillion dollar donations are more for the ‘feel-good’ effect they offer the donors than for the spoils that would most assuredly come back to them once their chosen candidates are declared victorious.

I think it’s obscene the amount of money spent by both sides of the aisle during these elections and am troubled by the anonymous nature of so many of these donations, but for the life of me I can’t figure out how best to correct it without running afoul of the Bill of Rights. Free speech is free speech even if you’re not always happy with the outcome. If a corporation wants to support a candidate, I’m guessing it should be allowed to do so just as labor unions and other large organizations can.

I do think, however, that these corporate institutions should not be able to hide behind anonymity when making these donations. All donations by corporations should have the company’s tax identification number on the donation check. Since the Citizens United ruling judged these corporations as having the same rights as individuals, perhaps their donations should be capped at the same totals as individuals. If Proctor & Gamble wants to give to candidate X, allow them to donate at the same limits as Mr. Proctor N. Gamble.

Another, more drastic solution would be to rule that the First Amendment doesn’t apply and set a federally-funded limit for all candidates. Allow every candidate an equivalent amount of campaign funds and airtime for commercials, eliminate third-party advertising, and leave it at that. Otherwise, it will soon reach the point where the total spent during an election cycle meets or exceeds the GDP of third world countries.

Roundup, Venture Capital, Innovation Economy

VCs Making Smaller Investments, V-Vehicle Restarting Under New CEO, Qualcomm Buys iSkoot, & More San Diego BizTech News

Bruce V. Bigelow 10/18/10

A common theme in last week’s technology news is how companies and entire industries continually remake their businesses, whether it’s the venture capital community, startup carmakers, or a San Diego company that specializes in data storage technology. Read on to see what I mean.

—As the venture capital survey data comes in from the three months that ended September 30, we’re seeing a nationwide rebound in first-time financings for startups. Data from CB Insights, the New York financial information firm, shows seed-stage deals increasing from 1 percent of the deals in the third quarter of 2009 to 11 percent of all deals during the third quarter.

—Venture capital surveys from CB Insights and the MoneyTree Report both show an increasing deal count, but a decline in the total amount of invested. In a year-over-year comparison, the MoneyTree Report showed a 7 percent decline in capital invested with a 9 percent increase in deal count during the third quarter, when venture firms invested $4.8 billion in 780 deals nationwide.

—V-Vehicle, the San Diego startup automaker, changed its name to Next Autoworks. The company, which has raised $87 million from investors that include Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, and T. Boone Pickens, also hired industry veteran Kathleen Ligocki as CEO.

—Overland Storage (NASDAQ: OVRL), the San Diego data storage technology specialist, acquired Sunnyvale, CA-based MaxiScale, which provides data protection and data management technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

—San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) acquired San Francisco-based mobile social networks software developer iSkoot Technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

—Biz Stone, a Twitter co-founder and the San Francisco-based company’s creative director, told The San Diego Union-Tribune last week that a new-and-improved version of the micro-blogging service should improve service worldwide. “It was re-architected to actually be snappier, faster – to deal with information faster,” said Stone, who was in San Diego to speak at the 2010 Tijuana Innovadora conference on innovation across the border.

—Predixion Software, based just across the Orange County line in Aliso Viejo, CA, said it had closed on $5 million in Series A financing, led by DFJ Frontier. Predixion, which specializes in low-cost, self-service in the cloud predictive analytics software, said it will use the funds to expand product development,increase sales and marketing initiatives, and expand its sales channel programs and strategic partnership activities.

Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call 858-202-0492

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/27 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning Chiefs fans! There's some interesting Kansas City Chiefs news today. A great piece from Cory Greenwood's hometown newspaper, and more on Chambers' playing time start us off. Enjoy.

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bench craft company complaints

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/27 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning Chiefs fans! There's some interesting Kansas City Chiefs news today. A great piece from Cory Greenwood's hometown newspaper, and more on Chambers' playing time start us off. Enjoy.

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

This is the new line touted mostly by the conservative side– all these campaign donations are insignificant, making the absurd argument that we spend more each year on irrelevant and unrelated things like yogurt or halloween candy, that the cash spent on campaigns is of negligible effect on the election outcomes, and, finally, that the threat of foreign influence on our elections through these funding channels is also negligible. Nothing to see here, move along.

David Brooks spouted this exact same nonsense in his op-ed column in the NY Times earlier this week, replete with a host of imaginary numbers to cloud just how much is being spent on both sides then claiming that, in the end, all the cash shoveled into this mid-term election has no real influence on the outcome, going so far as to claim that these multimillion dollar donations are more for the ‘feel-good’ effect they offer the donors than for the spoils that would most assuredly come back to them once their chosen candidates are declared victorious.

I think it’s obscene the amount of money spent by both sides of the aisle during these elections and am troubled by the anonymous nature of so many of these donations, but for the life of me I can’t figure out how best to correct it without running afoul of the Bill of Rights. Free speech is free speech even if you’re not always happy with the outcome. If a corporation wants to support a candidate, I’m guessing it should be allowed to do so just as labor unions and other large organizations can.

I do think, however, that these corporate institutions should not be able to hide behind anonymity when making these donations. All donations by corporations should have the company’s tax identification number on the donation check. Since the Citizens United ruling judged these corporations as having the same rights as individuals, perhaps their donations should be capped at the same totals as individuals. If Proctor & Gamble wants to give to candidate X, allow them to donate at the same limits as Mr. Proctor N. Gamble.

Another, more drastic solution would be to rule that the First Amendment doesn’t apply and set a federally-funded limit for all candidates. Allow every candidate an equivalent amount of campaign funds and airtime for commercials, eliminate third-party advertising, and leave it at that. Otherwise, it will soon reach the point where the total spent during an election cycle meets or exceeds the GDP of third world countries.

Roundup, Venture Capital, Innovation Economy

VCs Making Smaller Investments, V-Vehicle Restarting Under New CEO, Qualcomm Buys iSkoot, & More San Diego BizTech News

Bruce V. Bigelow 10/18/10

A common theme in last week’s technology news is how companies and entire industries continually remake their businesses, whether it’s the venture capital community, startup carmakers, or a San Diego company that specializes in data storage technology. Read on to see what I mean.

—As the venture capital survey data comes in from the three months that ended September 30, we’re seeing a nationwide rebound in first-time financings for startups. Data from CB Insights, the New York financial information firm, shows seed-stage deals increasing from 1 percent of the deals in the third quarter of 2009 to 11 percent of all deals during the third quarter.

—Venture capital surveys from CB Insights and the MoneyTree Report both show an increasing deal count, but a decline in the total amount of invested. In a year-over-year comparison, the MoneyTree Report showed a 7 percent decline in capital invested with a 9 percent increase in deal count during the third quarter, when venture firms invested $4.8 billion in 780 deals nationwide.

—V-Vehicle, the San Diego startup automaker, changed its name to Next Autoworks. The company, which has raised $87 million from investors that include Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, and T. Boone Pickens, also hired industry veteran Kathleen Ligocki as CEO.

—Overland Storage (NASDAQ: OVRL), the San Diego data storage technology specialist, acquired Sunnyvale, CA-based MaxiScale, which provides data protection and data management technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

—San Diego’s Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) acquired San Francisco-based mobile social networks software developer iSkoot Technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

—Biz Stone, a Twitter co-founder and the San Francisco-based company’s creative director, told The San Diego Union-Tribune last week that a new-and-improved version of the micro-blogging service should improve service worldwide. “It was re-architected to actually be snappier, faster – to deal with information faster,” said Stone, who was in San Diego to speak at the 2010 Tijuana Innovadora conference on innovation across the border.

—Predixion Software, based just across the Orange County line in Aliso Viejo, CA, said it had closed on $5 million in Series A financing, led by DFJ Frontier. Predixion, which specializes in low-cost, self-service in the cloud predictive analytics software, said it will use the funds to expand product development,increase sales and marketing initiatives, and expand its sales channel programs and strategic partnership activities.

Bruce V. Bigelow is the editor of Xconomy San Diego. You can e-mail him at bbigelow@xconomy.com or call 858-202-0492

bench craft company complaints

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/27 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning Chiefs fans! There's some interesting Kansas City Chiefs news today. A great piece from Cory Greenwood's hometown newspaper, and more on Chambers' playing time start us off. Enjoy.

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/27 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning Chiefs fans! There's some interesting Kansas City Chiefs news today. A great piece from Cory Greenwood's hometown newspaper, and more on Chambers' playing time start us off. Enjoy.

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Fox <b>News</b> Crew Gets Scolded At Democratic Meeting (VIDEO)

A Fox News camera crew showed up unannounced at a Democratic meeting in Wisconsin Monday, prompting a confrontation that eventually forced the show's producer into a rather startling admission: he understands why Democrats are wary of ...

ABC <b>News</b> airs big exposé on BMW N54 engine problems, lawsuits [w <b>...</b>

ABC News investigates BMW fuel pump problems – Click above to watch video after the jump ABC News has cottoned on to the story that BMW.

Arrowheadlines: Chiefs <b>News</b> 10/27 - Arrowhead Pride

Good morning Chiefs fans! There's some interesting Kansas City Chiefs news today. A great piece from Cory Greenwood's hometown newspaper, and more on Chambers' playing time start us off. Enjoy.

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Making Money Internet

Has the White House been influenced by a convicted domestic terrorist for its attack on the Chamber of Commerce?

The latest assault on the Chamber has been spear-headed by none other than the President himself and picked up by David Axelrod, MoveOn.org and all the usual Astro-Turfers who receive marching orders from the DNC.  It’s become part of the standard talking points for cable-news pundits and their well-programmed guests and has been the new rallying cry for the left as they try their best to explain the imminent electoral disaster that looms on November 2nd.

But one group was well ahead of the curve on this movement to stop the Chamber of Commerce.  In fact, they even own the URL “StopTheChamber.com”.  That group is the infamous Velvet Revolution headed by convicted violent criminal and bomber, Brett Kimberlin.  In her extensive and detailed article on Kimberlin and his past violent crimes, Liberty Chick noted that left-wing blogs and main stream media organs routinely site Kimberlin and his partner, Brad Friedman as legitimate sources and as normative “watch-dogs” over-seeing right-wing election shenanigans.  The problem is, Kimberlin is a convicted domestic terrorist who has been described as a habitual liar by those who have looked into his past.

And yet, the mainstream Democrats clinging to any strategy to stop the bleeding over the next two weeks are latching on to the Stop the Chamber narrative that was first hatched at Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution site last year.

At first glance, the StopTheChamber page looks like a clearing house for various, unfounded attacks on the Chamber of Commerce by Velvet Revolution and by politicians who repeat their assertions.  But, it doesn’t take you long to see the prominent “Donate Now” button in the center of the page.  And, it looks like it’s working.  The bottom of the page lists over 4,000 names of individuals who appear to be supporters of the movement (we have no idea if any of them realize they are putting money in the pocket of a convicted violent felon).  Interestingly, the first name on this list of individual supporters is Bill Moyers.

The Stop the Chamber campaign appears to be nothing more than a fund-raising operation that solicits donations and then produces press releases and an advertisement in the style of a Wanted poster soliciting “tips” on the CEO of the Chamber, Tom Donohue.  It seems to be a two-pronged fishing expedition:  One is fishing for “tips” that prove “criminal behavior” by Mr. Donohue and the Chamber (an expedition that has proven to be fruitless as of now), the other is fishing for donations to continue the campaign’s valuable work.

How Kimberlin has been able to pass himself off as a legitimate and respected part of the national political dialogue is a question that deserves exploring, if not some serious soul-searching from our friends on the left who appear to be ready to latch-on to anyone who might be effective for them regardless of how many disgraceful skeletons inhabit their closets.  But what is truly outrageous is how eagerly our President and his associates have followed this man’s lead in pursuing this fruitless enterprise of demonizing the Chamber, demonizing Karl Rove and demonizing the Tea Party despite the lack of evidence to substantiate the obscene charges they are leveling.

We have already heard David Axelrod’s new standard for making these accusations.  When asked if he had any proof that the Chamber was involved in campaign fraud, he responded by asking CBS’ Bob Schieffer: “Do you have any proof that they aren’t?”  That is the President’s closest advisor turning the Constitution and the Magna Carta on its head for the sake of winning a vote or two.

If they are willing to do that, then they are surely willing to align themselves with a habitual liar and convicted bomber like Kimberlin.  The question is:  Other than this site, who else will be willing to call them out on it?

To summarize an hour of dialogue, you should at some point have a product that your readers will want. You should give a lot of free content away, but even when it comes to content, you can charge for some amount, and if your content is good enough, people will pay for the premium stuff. "You can tell them about ninety percent, and they'll pay money just to get the final ten percent," so they know they have the whole picture, Clark says.



Making money blogging will not happen overnight. Sometimes it may seem like this is possible, but in reality, it takes a lot of work. "Build something that is real and something that matters to people," Rowse advises. He shared a story about how he launched a product one day and literally watched the sales roll in. It was as if he had hit a button, and the cash just started flowing, but then he realized he had been working hard up to that point for over two years, promoting the blog, writing two posts a day, doing SEO, press releases, etc. It wasn't overnight. 



You're not scalable, meaning that as your audience grows and more people want to connect with you, there will be a point where it just becomes too much. You have to set boundaries, otherwise you will have no time for yourself and your family. 



Eventually, you're going to have to "get real" about how many meaningful connections you can make in a day, Simone says, adding, "That's part of growing up in social media.”



When they say "no one actually wants that much authenticity," they mean that nobody cares about what you did last night, who you were with, what you had for breakfast, etc. In other words, don't show everybody everything about yourself, because you're not writing for you. You're writing for them. Be who you want to be for your audience. 



Ultimately, you're blogging and using social media to sell, but you can't just go around selling to people, because they won't have it. It just doesn't work. You have to make them want to buy. "You're selling yourself," says Clark. If you provide enough value to your audience, they will want to buy what you have to offer if it expands upon the value you're already giving them. "The content is the marketing," he says. 



Just having a blog is not a business. If you want it to be a business you have to treat it like one, Rowse says. This is basically an extension of number 2. 



The most important of the seven points is that no one is reading your blog. As Simone says, there are hundreds of millions of blogs, and that includes blogs on your topic. You have to write it in a way that is fresh, and either entertaining or informative. The good news is that you don't need "monster traffic". You just need a good, steady core audience for advertising to do well. 

Nevada Voters Complain Of Problems At Polls - Las Vegas <b>News</b> Story <b>...</b>

LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting machines. Tuesday, October 26, 2010.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?

Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Oct. 26 <b>...</b>

Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: The dollar fell to a 15-year low against the yen yesterday, fueling speculation that major countries will continue ...

bench craft company complaints
bench craft company complaints

Nevada Voters Complain Of Problems At Polls - Las Vegas <b>News</b> Story <b>...</b>

LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting machines. Tuesday, October 26, 2010.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?

Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Oct. 26 <b>...</b>

Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: The dollar fell to a 15-year low against the yen yesterday, fueling speculation that major countries will continue ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Has the White House been influenced by a convicted domestic terrorist for its attack on the Chamber of Commerce?

The latest assault on the Chamber has been spear-headed by none other than the President himself and picked up by David Axelrod, MoveOn.org and all the usual Astro-Turfers who receive marching orders from the DNC.  It’s become part of the standard talking points for cable-news pundits and their well-programmed guests and has been the new rallying cry for the left as they try their best to explain the imminent electoral disaster that looms on November 2nd.

But one group was well ahead of the curve on this movement to stop the Chamber of Commerce.  In fact, they even own the URL “StopTheChamber.com”.  That group is the infamous Velvet Revolution headed by convicted violent criminal and bomber, Brett Kimberlin.  In her extensive and detailed article on Kimberlin and his past violent crimes, Liberty Chick noted that left-wing blogs and main stream media organs routinely site Kimberlin and his partner, Brad Friedman as legitimate sources and as normative “watch-dogs” over-seeing right-wing election shenanigans.  The problem is, Kimberlin is a convicted domestic terrorist who has been described as a habitual liar by those who have looked into his past.

And yet, the mainstream Democrats clinging to any strategy to stop the bleeding over the next two weeks are latching on to the Stop the Chamber narrative that was first hatched at Kimberlin’s Velvet Revolution site last year.

At first glance, the StopTheChamber page looks like a clearing house for various, unfounded attacks on the Chamber of Commerce by Velvet Revolution and by politicians who repeat their assertions.  But, it doesn’t take you long to see the prominent “Donate Now” button in the center of the page.  And, it looks like it’s working.  The bottom of the page lists over 4,000 names of individuals who appear to be supporters of the movement (we have no idea if any of them realize they are putting money in the pocket of a convicted violent felon).  Interestingly, the first name on this list of individual supporters is Bill Moyers.

The Stop the Chamber campaign appears to be nothing more than a fund-raising operation that solicits donations and then produces press releases and an advertisement in the style of a Wanted poster soliciting “tips” on the CEO of the Chamber, Tom Donohue.  It seems to be a two-pronged fishing expedition:  One is fishing for “tips” that prove “criminal behavior” by Mr. Donohue and the Chamber (an expedition that has proven to be fruitless as of now), the other is fishing for donations to continue the campaign’s valuable work.

How Kimberlin has been able to pass himself off as a legitimate and respected part of the national political dialogue is a question that deserves exploring, if not some serious soul-searching from our friends on the left who appear to be ready to latch-on to anyone who might be effective for them regardless of how many disgraceful skeletons inhabit their closets.  But what is truly outrageous is how eagerly our President and his associates have followed this man’s lead in pursuing this fruitless enterprise of demonizing the Chamber, demonizing Karl Rove and demonizing the Tea Party despite the lack of evidence to substantiate the obscene charges they are leveling.

We have already heard David Axelrod’s new standard for making these accusations.  When asked if he had any proof that the Chamber was involved in campaign fraud, he responded by asking CBS’ Bob Schieffer: “Do you have any proof that they aren’t?”  That is the President’s closest advisor turning the Constitution and the Magna Carta on its head for the sake of winning a vote or two.

If they are willing to do that, then they are surely willing to align themselves with a habitual liar and convicted bomber like Kimberlin.  The question is:  Other than this site, who else will be willing to call them out on it?

To summarize an hour of dialogue, you should at some point have a product that your readers will want. You should give a lot of free content away, but even when it comes to content, you can charge for some amount, and if your content is good enough, people will pay for the premium stuff. "You can tell them about ninety percent, and they'll pay money just to get the final ten percent," so they know they have the whole picture, Clark says.



Making money blogging will not happen overnight. Sometimes it may seem like this is possible, but in reality, it takes a lot of work. "Build something that is real and something that matters to people," Rowse advises. He shared a story about how he launched a product one day and literally watched the sales roll in. It was as if he had hit a button, and the cash just started flowing, but then he realized he had been working hard up to that point for over two years, promoting the blog, writing two posts a day, doing SEO, press releases, etc. It wasn't overnight. 



You're not scalable, meaning that as your audience grows and more people want to connect with you, there will be a point where it just becomes too much. You have to set boundaries, otherwise you will have no time for yourself and your family. 



Eventually, you're going to have to "get real" about how many meaningful connections you can make in a day, Simone says, adding, "That's part of growing up in social media.”



When they say "no one actually wants that much authenticity," they mean that nobody cares about what you did last night, who you were with, what you had for breakfast, etc. In other words, don't show everybody everything about yourself, because you're not writing for you. You're writing for them. Be who you want to be for your audience. 



Ultimately, you're blogging and using social media to sell, but you can't just go around selling to people, because they won't have it. It just doesn't work. You have to make them want to buy. "You're selling yourself," says Clark. If you provide enough value to your audience, they will want to buy what you have to offer if it expands upon the value you're already giving them. "The content is the marketing," he says. 



Just having a blog is not a business. If you want it to be a business you have to treat it like one, Rowse says. This is basically an extension of number 2. 



The most important of the seven points is that no one is reading your blog. As Simone says, there are hundreds of millions of blogs, and that includes blogs on your topic. You have to write it in a way that is fresh, and either entertaining or informative. The good news is that you don't need "monster traffic". You just need a good, steady core audience for advertising to do well. 

bench craft company complaints

Nevada Voters Complain Of Problems At Polls - Las Vegas <b>News</b> Story <b>...</b>

LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting machines. Tuesday, October 26, 2010.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?

Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Oct. 26 <b>...</b>

Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: The dollar fell to a 15-year low against the yen yesterday, fueling speculation that major countries will continue ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Nevada Voters Complain Of Problems At Polls - Las Vegas <b>News</b> Story <b>...</b>

LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting machines. Tuesday, October 26, 2010.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?

Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Oct. 26 <b>...</b>

Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: The dollar fell to a 15-year low against the yen yesterday, fueling speculation that major countries will continue ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Nevada Voters Complain Of Problems At Polls - Las Vegas <b>News</b> Story <b>...</b>

LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting machines. Tuesday, October 26, 2010.

Debian Project <b>News</b> - July 26th, 2010

Debian Day in New York, MiniDebConf in India, Debian Installer beta1, Debian Podcast, how to attract more users?

Lujiazui Breakfast: <b>News</b> And Views About China Stocks (Oct. 26 <b>...</b>

Investors and traders in China's main financial district are talking about the following before the start of trade today: The dollar fell to a 15-year low against the yen yesterday, fueling speculation that major countries will continue ...

bench craft company complaints bench craft company complaints

Secrets to Making Money

DeMint has not been shy about his vision.

Last week, he single-handedly threatened to stop all legislative activity
in the Senate as it worked to pass a flurry of legislation before
recessing ahead of the election. He has also criticized Democrats and
Republicans alike, chastising GOP leadership on occasion and bucking
them regularly to support more conservative, Tea Party-favored
candidates in Republican primaries. During the summer of 2009, DeMint
also famously said
that if Republicans could stop President Barack Obama from implementing
his proposal health insurance reform overhauls, it would be his
�Waterloo.�

For years, a few, select special interest groups on
the right and left have specialized in the conduit approach to political
fund-raising, including the conservative Club for Growth and the liberal groups ActBlue, MoveOn.org and EMILY�s List. Politicians using their leadership PACs for such activity are comparatively novel.

Individual donors must still abide by campaign contribution limits even
if they send money through conduit organizations, giving no more than
$2,400 per election to candidates.

But political committees aren�t as restricted in the amount of cash they may transfer from one individual.

For
example, DeMint�s leadership PAC directly donated the legal maximum of
$10,000 to Rubio�s Senate campaign in Florida -- money raised from
donors to his PAC who can give no more than $5,000 per year. But the
committee has also been able to bundle more than $240,600 to Rubio�s
campaign from a bevy of individual donors. And by acting as a conduit
organization, it can demonstrate additional clout.

So far this
election cycle, ActBlue has bundled more than $31.4 million. MoveOn.org
has bundled more than $9.2 million. EMILY�s List has bundled about $3.9
million, and the Club for Growth has bundled about $3.3 million.

In terms of all other groups reporting this activity, Hoyer�s
leadership PAC ranks next at $1.3 million, followed by DeMint�s $1.04
million. The only other federal lawmaker who so far this cycle has
reported at least six-figures worth of conduit contributions is Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), with $168,800, coming via his Mountaineer PAC.

These bundles from Rockefeller�s PAC benefited just two lawmakers, West Virginia Democratic Reps. Nick Rahall, who is in a competitive re-election bid this year, and Alan Mollohan, who lost in a Democratic primary in May.

�Sen.
Rockefeller has supported Congressmen Mollohan and Rahall for years,
and he wanted to help them raise money,� Jamie Smith, Rockefeller�s
communication director told OpenSecrets Blog. �Mountaineer PAC
collected money at an event and forwarded it to the respective
campaigns. The contributions were reported according to FEC regulations
as conduit contributions.�

Hoyer�s conduit giving has been more
prolific. He�s reported bundling conduit contributions for more than 100
candidates this cycle. His top beneficiaries include the following
Democrats:

• Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-Md.): $56,500 and counting
• Rep. Scott Murphy (D-N.Y.): $36,750 and counting
• Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.): $29,500 and counting
• Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.): $27,500 and counting
• Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho): $26,100 and counting

�As
part of his job as majority leader, Mr. Hoyer raises and contributes
money to Democratic candidates,� Katie Grant, a spokesperson for Hoyer,
told OpenSecrets Blog in a statement. Grant declined to elaborate further about his direct contributions or bundling of conduit contributions.

Hoyer has also reported transferring conduit contributions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
He�s also reported donating $1.08 million from his leadership PAC and
campaign committee to other Democrats -- ranking him the No. 3 lawmaker
in such direct contributions, according to an analysis by the Center for
Responsive Politics.

Other House leaders have also utilized this
more traditional approach in providing financial assistance to fellow
party faithful. But unlike bundling unlimited amounts of conduit
contributions, these direct contributions to campaigns cannot exceed
$5,000 per election.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor
(R-Va.) ranks No. 1 with more than $1.2 million in contributions to
fellow Republicans from his leadership PAC and campaign committee
combined since January 2009. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) ranks No. 2, with more than $1.1 million in such contributions.

Beyond Hoyer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.) ranks No. 4, with $898,000 in contributions so far this
election cycle to fellow Democrats. And House Minority Leader John Boehner
(R-Ohio), who is poised to become speaker should Republicans wrest
control of the House from Democrats, ranks No. 5, with $862,000 in
contributions.

"The speaker works very hard to make sure that
members have the resources they need to get their message out to
voters," Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for Pelosi, told OpenSecrets Blog.
"The hope is that members have what they need to fight back against
shady outside groups who are coming in and misleading voters in their
districts."

"Rep. Clyburn believes it's important to elect
candidates who share his vision for the country and the need to keep
moving our country forward. An important part of that effort is raising
money for candidates, so they can run effective campaigns," Adam Hodge, a
spokesman for Clyburn, told OpenSecrets Blog. "Rep. Clyburn hopes that his efforts will help the Democrats maintain our majority this fall."

Spokespeople for Cantor and Boehner did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment for this story.

Here
is a table showing the top 20 lawmakers making the most contributions
to their political brethren from their leadership PACs and campaign
committees this election cycle:

If you haven’t heard our trumpets blasting over the past few weeks, you may be interested to know that DiscoveryBeat 2010 is coming up on Monday. And it’s about time we posted our final agenda.

DiscoveryBeat 2010 is an event focused on the secret recipes for application discovery and monetization. Our newest speakers represent vital parts of the ecosystem, from investors to app creators and experts who cover the space. Due to its success in 2009, the conference has expanded to a full-day event and will be held on October 18 at The Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Get your tickets here.

For publishers or app developers, the promise of the mobile and social revolution is compelling. However, new players like Google’s Android are throwing out the early rules and creating new challenges in the ecosystem. How do you get discovered when there are 250,000 other publishers and applications fighting for users across diverse devices and interfaces, such as the PC, social networks, mobile phones, and tablets? We’ve summed up what we’ve learned so far about discovery techniques in a new VentureBeat feature, the Discovery Directory. We’ll be updating that story after the conference.

Without further ado, here’s the agenda:

9:00 am Coffee & Networking

9:30 am Welcoming Remarks – Dean Takahashi, lead GamesBeat writer at VentureBeat, and Matt Marshall, Founder & Editor-in Chief of VentureBeat, will kick off the event.

9:40 am Fireside Chat – Beyond FarmVille: How Brands Can Unlock New Game Categories on Facebook

It’sbeen a year since EA bought Playfish for $400 million and the two companies have begun launching branded social games. Where is this going and what are the implications for app discovery?

>> Moderator: Matthew Bellows, Founder, Yesware

>> Sebastien de Halleux, Co-Founder, Playfish

10:00 am Panel – Show Me The Money

It’s not enough to create an addicting app–you’ve got to squeeze cash out of wallets. How do you go from free to paid? When do you use in-app virtual good sales? Master money hounds share their secrets.

>> Moderator: Matt Marshall, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, VentureBeat

>> Lee Linden, Co-Founder & VP of Business Development, Tapjoy

>> Peter Farago, VP of Marketing, Flurry

>> Aunkur Arya, Mobile Partnerships, Google

>> Sunil Verma, Co-Founder, Mobclix

10:30 Case Studies in Getting Noticed (Round 1)

App rockstars unveil their strategies for making it to the top of the charts.

>> Moderator: Dean Takahashi, Lead GamesBeat Writer, VentureBeat

>> Julian Farrior, CEO, BackFlip Studios

>> Dave Castelnuovo, CEO, Bolt Creative

11:00 am Break

11:15 am Panel — Investing in Discovery: What are the Opportunities to Create a Killer App Company?

Where have the big investments already been made to grease the process of app discovery? What are the small ideas? What are the ideas that are big enough to warrant investments?

>> Moderator: Owen Thomas, Executive Editor, VentureBeat

>> Jennifer Scott Fonstad, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

>> Peter Relan, Founder, YouWeb

>> Bing Gordon, Partner, KPCB

>> Savinay Berry, VP, Granite Ventures

11:45 am Panel — Virality on Viagra: Turning Your App into an Infectious Disease

It’s time to replicate the social virality of Facebook on iPhone, Android, and other platforms. Here are the companies making it possible for apps to spread across platforms like an epidemic.

>> Moderator: Charles Hudson, Former VP of Business Development, Serious Business

>> Si Shen, CEO, PapayaMobile

>> Marc Gumpinger, CEO, Scoreloop

>> Jason Citron, CEO, Aurora Feint

>> Kabir Kasargod, Founder & Business Development Lead, Vive Service (Qualcomm Services Labs)

12:15 pm Lunch Break (downstairs in Fisher room; don’t miss the free ice cream man’s truck outside)

1:30 pm Panel — Big Media Gets Moving

Heavyweight brands are chasing eyeballs and attention (and dollars) onto the superphone. Big Media has hailed mobile devices like the iPad as a savior for brands, as consumers move from a search-based internet to an app-based one, which reinforces the value of brand recognition. How are the big boys innovating, and what are their strategies for getting traction in an open app store ecosystem.

>> Moderator: Eric Eldon, Editor, Inside Social Games

>> Tim O’Brien, VP of Business Development, Disney Mobile

>> Travis Boatman, VP of Worldwide Studios, EA Mobile

>> James De Jesus, Creative Development Director, AKQA

>> Garrick Schmitt, Managing Director, Razorfish

2:00 pm Presentation — Turning Data Into Rocket Fuel: How Analytics can Help You go Viral

Who is your biggest audience, and where are they? What do your superusers care about, what makes them share, and when do you need to message them? Here’s how the most successful app makers use analytics to give their apps for Discovery.

>> Simon Khalaf, CEO, Flurry

2:15 pm Fireside Chat — Using A.I. for Discovery

Can artificial intelligence solve the problems of discovery?

>> Moderator: Dean Takahashi, Lead GamesBeat Writer, VentureBeat

>> William Mark, VP of Information Computing Sciences Division, SRI

2:35 pm Break

2:50 pm Breakout Sessions:

App Discovery and Monetization on iOS and Android (Hosted By Flurry)

>> Sean Galligan, VP of Business Development, Flurry

Indie Discovery Stories

>> Moderator: Anthony Ha, Assistant Editor, VentureBeat

>> Doyon Kim, US head, YD Online

>> Chris Williams, General Manager, Mobile, PlayFirst

>> Justin Maples, Co-Founder & CEO, Broken Thumbs Apps

>> Patrick Mork, chief marketing officer at GetJar

3:30 pm Presentation — Amplify your App: The PR and Social Media Playbook for Developers

Traditional PR doesn’t work in the app world. It’s not enough to get your name in the paper; you need to get social media addicted and talking. This session will include a bulletproof checklist on marketing essentials, the Do’s and Dont’s of App marketing including social media marketing, focus groups, advertising, goal-setting and media relations.

>> Vijay Chattha, Founder & Chief Talker, VSC Consulting & AppLaunchPR

3:40 pm Fireside Chat – Design For Discovery

How do you create the kind of explosive popularity and social trends that Zynga — the #1 social game company on the planet — has been able to achieve? Brian Reynolds will share Zynga’s secrets to runaway success and discuss his company’s plans to expand its presence across multiple platforms.

>> Moderator: Dean Takahashi, Lead GamesBeat Writer, VentureBeat

>> Brian Reynolds, Chief Game Designer, Zynga

4:15 pm Case Studies in Getting Noticed (Round 2)

App rockstars unveil their strategies for making it to the top of the charts.

>> Moderator: Anand Iyer, Director of Product Management – Mobile, IGN Entertainment

>> Arjun Sethi, CEO, LOLapps

>> “Needle in the Haystack” Contest Winner: Dave Smiddy, Infrinity

4:35 pm Fireside Chat — The Amazing Foursquare Discovery Recipe

Holger Luedorf, Foursquare’s VP of Mobile Partnerships, will discuss how the company generated amazing attention from millions of users without the aid of initial venture financing, to the frustration of many of its foes.

>> Moderator: Matt Marshall, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, VentureBeat

>> Holger Luedorf, VP of Mobile Partnerships, Foursquare

5:00 pm Panel — App King-Makers

What are the apps that get to the top of your charts doing to get there? What new discovery tools are in store for 2011?

>> Moderator: Yukari Kane, Staff Reporter, Wall Street Journal

>> Ben Keighran, Founder & CEO, Chomp

>> Alan Warms, CEO, Appolicious

>> Laura Fitton, Founder, oneforty

>> Chris DeVore, Executive Chairman, Mobilmeme (AppStoreHQ, iPhoneDevSDK)

5:30 pm Reception

Getting content noticed is a challenge for everyone making apps. Join us at DiscoveryBeat 2010 and hear secrets from top industry executives about how to break through and profit in the new cross-platform app ecosystem. From metrics to monetization, we’ll take an in-depth look at the best discovery strategies and why they’re working. See the full agenda here. The conference takes place on October 18 at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Sponsors include Flurry, Appolicious, appbackr, Adobe, Herakles Data Center, AppLaunchPr, YD Online, and Offermobi. For sponsor info, send an email to sponsors@venturebeat.com. To register, click here. Hurry though. Tickets are limited, and going fast.

Next Story: Evidence builds for smaller 11.6-inch Apple MacBook Air unveiling next week Previous Story: enLighted gets $1.4M to reduce energy use in commercial buildings

Surprise: Fox <b>News</b> signs Juan Williams to new $2 million deal <b>...</b>

Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes handed Williams a new three-year contract Thursday morning, in a deal that amounts to nearly $2 million, a considerable bump up from his previous salary, the Tribune Washington Bureau has learned. ...

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Energy and Global Warming <b>News</b> for October 22nd: Five renewable <b>...</b>

Polls, including the one from Wall Street Journal/NBC News released Wednesday, have shown that some voters are disenchanted with the Democrats and many voters remain undecided. Speaking at the Solar Power International (SPI) conference ...

eric seiger eric seiger

DeMint has not been shy about his vision.

Last week, he single-handedly threatened to stop all legislative activity
in the Senate as it worked to pass a flurry of legislation before
recessing ahead of the election. He has also criticized Democrats and
Republicans alike, chastising GOP leadership on occasion and bucking
them regularly to support more conservative, Tea Party-favored
candidates in Republican primaries. During the summer of 2009, DeMint
also famously said
that if Republicans could stop President Barack Obama from implementing
his proposal health insurance reform overhauls, it would be his
�Waterloo.�

For years, a few, select special interest groups on
the right and left have specialized in the conduit approach to political
fund-raising, including the conservative Club for Growth and the liberal groups ActBlue, MoveOn.org and EMILY�s List. Politicians using their leadership PACs for such activity are comparatively novel.

Individual donors must still abide by campaign contribution limits even
if they send money through conduit organizations, giving no more than
$2,400 per election to candidates.

But political committees aren�t as restricted in the amount of cash they may transfer from one individual.

For
example, DeMint�s leadership PAC directly donated the legal maximum of
$10,000 to Rubio�s Senate campaign in Florida -- money raised from
donors to his PAC who can give no more than $5,000 per year. But the
committee has also been able to bundle more than $240,600 to Rubio�s
campaign from a bevy of individual donors. And by acting as a conduit
organization, it can demonstrate additional clout.

So far this
election cycle, ActBlue has bundled more than $31.4 million. MoveOn.org
has bundled more than $9.2 million. EMILY�s List has bundled about $3.9
million, and the Club for Growth has bundled about $3.3 million.

In terms of all other groups reporting this activity, Hoyer�s
leadership PAC ranks next at $1.3 million, followed by DeMint�s $1.04
million. The only other federal lawmaker who so far this cycle has
reported at least six-figures worth of conduit contributions is Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), with $168,800, coming via his Mountaineer PAC.

These bundles from Rockefeller�s PAC benefited just two lawmakers, West Virginia Democratic Reps. Nick Rahall, who is in a competitive re-election bid this year, and Alan Mollohan, who lost in a Democratic primary in May.

�Sen.
Rockefeller has supported Congressmen Mollohan and Rahall for years,
and he wanted to help them raise money,� Jamie Smith, Rockefeller�s
communication director told OpenSecrets Blog. �Mountaineer PAC
collected money at an event and forwarded it to the respective
campaigns. The contributions were reported according to FEC regulations
as conduit contributions.�

Hoyer�s conduit giving has been more
prolific. He�s reported bundling conduit contributions for more than 100
candidates this cycle. His top beneficiaries include the following
Democrats:

• Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-Md.): $56,500 and counting
• Rep. Scott Murphy (D-N.Y.): $36,750 and counting
• Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Ill.): $29,500 and counting
• Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla.): $27,500 and counting
• Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho): $26,100 and counting

�As
part of his job as majority leader, Mr. Hoyer raises and contributes
money to Democratic candidates,� Katie Grant, a spokesperson for Hoyer,
told OpenSecrets Blog in a statement. Grant declined to elaborate further about his direct contributions or bundling of conduit contributions.

Hoyer has also reported transferring conduit contributions to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
He�s also reported donating $1.08 million from his leadership PAC and
campaign committee to other Democrats -- ranking him the No. 3 lawmaker
in such direct contributions, according to an analysis by the Center for
Responsive Politics.

Other House leaders have also utilized this
more traditional approach in providing financial assistance to fellow
party faithful. But unlike bundling unlimited amounts of conduit
contributions, these direct contributions to campaigns cannot exceed
$5,000 per election.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor
(R-Va.) ranks No. 1 with more than $1.2 million in contributions to
fellow Republicans from his leadership PAC and campaign committee
combined since January 2009. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) ranks No. 2, with more than $1.1 million in such contributions.

Beyond Hoyer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.) ranks No. 4, with $898,000 in contributions so far this
election cycle to fellow Democrats. And House Minority Leader John Boehner
(R-Ohio), who is poised to become speaker should Republicans wrest
control of the House from Democrats, ranks No. 5, with $862,000 in
contributions.

"The speaker works very hard to make sure that
members have the resources they need to get their message out to
voters," Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for Pelosi, told OpenSecrets Blog.
"The hope is that members have what they need to fight back against
shady outside groups who are coming in and misleading voters in their
districts."

"Rep. Clyburn believes it's important to elect
candidates who share his vision for the country and the need to keep
moving our country forward. An important part of that effort is raising
money for candidates, so they can run effective campaigns," Adam Hodge, a
spokesman for Clyburn, told OpenSecrets Blog. "Rep. Clyburn hopes that his efforts will help the Democrats maintain our majority this fall."

Spokespeople for Cantor and Boehner did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment for this story.

Here
is a table showing the top 20 lawmakers making the most contributions
to their political brethren from their leadership PACs and campaign
committees this election cycle:

If you haven’t heard our trumpets blasting over the past few weeks, you may be interested to know that DiscoveryBeat 2010 is coming up on Monday. And it’s about time we posted our final agenda.

DiscoveryBeat 2010 is an event focused on the secret recipes for application discovery and monetization. Our newest speakers represent vital parts of the ecosystem, from investors to app creators and experts who cover the space. Due to its success in 2009, the conference has expanded to a full-day event and will be held on October 18 at The Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Get your tickets here.

For publishers or app developers, the promise of the mobile and social revolution is compelling. However, new players like Google’s Android are throwing out the early rules and creating new challenges in the ecosystem. How do you get discovered when there are 250,000 other publishers and applications fighting for users across diverse devices and interfaces, such as the PC, social networks, mobile phones, and tablets? We’ve summed up what we’ve learned so far about discovery techniques in a new VentureBeat feature, the Discovery Directory. We’ll be updating that story after the conference.

Without further ado, here’s the agenda:

9:00 am Coffee & Networking

9:30 am Welcoming Remarks – Dean Takahashi, lead GamesBeat writer at VentureBeat, and Matt Marshall, Founder & Editor-in Chief of VentureBeat, will kick off the event.

9:40 am Fireside Chat – Beyond FarmVille: How Brands Can Unlock New Game Categories on Facebook

It’sbeen a year since EA bought Playfish for $400 million and the two companies have begun launching branded social games. Where is this going and what are the implications for app discovery?

>> Moderator: Matthew Bellows, Founder, Yesware

>> Sebastien de Halleux, Co-Founder, Playfish

10:00 am Panel – Show Me The Money

It’s not enough to create an addicting app–you’ve got to squeeze cash out of wallets. How do you go from free to paid? When do you use in-app virtual good sales? Master money hounds share their secrets.

>> Moderator: Matt Marshall, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, VentureBeat

>> Lee Linden, Co-Founder & VP of Business Development, Tapjoy

>> Peter Farago, VP of Marketing, Flurry

>> Aunkur Arya, Mobile Partnerships, Google

>> Sunil Verma, Co-Founder, Mobclix

10:30 Case Studies in Getting Noticed (Round 1)

App rockstars unveil their strategies for making it to the top of the charts.

>> Moderator: Dean Takahashi, Lead GamesBeat Writer, VentureBeat

>> Julian Farrior, CEO, BackFlip Studios

>> Dave Castelnuovo, CEO, Bolt Creative

11:00 am Break

11:15 am Panel — Investing in Discovery: What are the Opportunities to Create a Killer App Company?

Where have the big investments already been made to grease the process of app discovery? What are the small ideas? What are the ideas that are big enough to warrant investments?

>> Moderator: Owen Thomas, Executive Editor, VentureBeat

>> Jennifer Scott Fonstad, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

>> Peter Relan, Founder, YouWeb

>> Bing Gordon, Partner, KPCB

>> Savinay Berry, VP, Granite Ventures

11:45 am Panel — Virality on Viagra: Turning Your App into an Infectious Disease

It’s time to replicate the social virality of Facebook on iPhone, Android, and other platforms. Here are the companies making it possible for apps to spread across platforms like an epidemic.

>> Moderator: Charles Hudson, Former VP of Business Development, Serious Business

>> Si Shen, CEO, PapayaMobile

>> Marc Gumpinger, CEO, Scoreloop

>> Jason Citron, CEO, Aurora Feint

>> Kabir Kasargod, Founder & Business Development Lead, Vive Service (Qualcomm Services Labs)

12:15 pm Lunch Break (downstairs in Fisher room; don’t miss the free ice cream man’s truck outside)

1:30 pm Panel — Big Media Gets Moving

Heavyweight brands are chasing eyeballs and attention (and dollars) onto the superphone. Big Media has hailed mobile devices like the iPad as a savior for brands, as consumers move from a search-based internet to an app-based one, which reinforces the value of brand recognition. How are the big boys innovating, and what are their strategies for getting traction in an open app store ecosystem.

>> Moderator: Eric Eldon, Editor, Inside Social Games

>> Tim O’Brien, VP of Business Development, Disney Mobile

>> Travis Boatman, VP of Worldwide Studios, EA Mobile

>> James De Jesus, Creative Development Director, AKQA

>> Garrick Schmitt, Managing Director, Razorfish

2:00 pm Presentation — Turning Data Into Rocket Fuel: How Analytics can Help You go Viral

Who is your biggest audience, and where are they? What do your superusers care about, what makes them share, and when do you need to message them? Here’s how the most successful app makers use analytics to give their apps for Discovery.

>> Simon Khalaf, CEO, Flurry

2:15 pm Fireside Chat — Using A.I. for Discovery

Can artificial intelligence solve the problems of discovery?

>> Moderator: Dean Takahashi, Lead GamesBeat Writer, VentureBeat

>> William Mark, VP of Information Computing Sciences Division, SRI

2:35 pm Break

2:50 pm Breakout Sessions:

App Discovery and Monetization on iOS and Android (Hosted By Flurry)

>> Sean Galligan, VP of Business Development, Flurry

Indie Discovery Stories

>> Moderator: Anthony Ha, Assistant Editor, VentureBeat

>> Doyon Kim, US head, YD Online

>> Chris Williams, General Manager, Mobile, PlayFirst

>> Justin Maples, Co-Founder & CEO, Broken Thumbs Apps

>> Patrick Mork, chief marketing officer at GetJar

3:30 pm Presentation — Amplify your App: The PR and Social Media Playbook for Developers

Traditional PR doesn’t work in the app world. It’s not enough to get your name in the paper; you need to get social media addicted and talking. This session will include a bulletproof checklist on marketing essentials, the Do’s and Dont’s of App marketing including social media marketing, focus groups, advertising, goal-setting and media relations.

>> Vijay Chattha, Founder & Chief Talker, VSC Consulting & AppLaunchPR

3:40 pm Fireside Chat – Design For Discovery

How do you create the kind of explosive popularity and social trends that Zynga — the #1 social game company on the planet — has been able to achieve? Brian Reynolds will share Zynga’s secrets to runaway success and discuss his company’s plans to expand its presence across multiple platforms.

>> Moderator: Dean Takahashi, Lead GamesBeat Writer, VentureBeat

>> Brian Reynolds, Chief Game Designer, Zynga

4:15 pm Case Studies in Getting Noticed (Round 2)

App rockstars unveil their strategies for making it to the top of the charts.

>> Moderator: Anand Iyer, Director of Product Management – Mobile, IGN Entertainment

>> Arjun Sethi, CEO, LOLapps

>> “Needle in the Haystack” Contest Winner: Dave Smiddy, Infrinity

4:35 pm Fireside Chat — The Amazing Foursquare Discovery Recipe

Holger Luedorf, Foursquare’s VP of Mobile Partnerships, will discuss how the company generated amazing attention from millions of users without the aid of initial venture financing, to the frustration of many of its foes.

>> Moderator: Matt Marshall, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, VentureBeat

>> Holger Luedorf, VP of Mobile Partnerships, Foursquare

5:00 pm Panel — App King-Makers

What are the apps that get to the top of your charts doing to get there? What new discovery tools are in store for 2011?

>> Moderator: Yukari Kane, Staff Reporter, Wall Street Journal

>> Ben Keighran, Founder & CEO, Chomp

>> Alan Warms, CEO, Appolicious

>> Laura Fitton, Founder, oneforty

>> Chris DeVore, Executive Chairman, Mobilmeme (AppStoreHQ, iPhoneDevSDK)

5:30 pm Reception

Getting content noticed is a challenge for everyone making apps. Join us at DiscoveryBeat 2010 and hear secrets from top industry executives about how to break through and profit in the new cross-platform app ecosystem. From metrics to monetization, we’ll take an in-depth look at the best discovery strategies and why they’re working. See the full agenda here. The conference takes place on October 18 at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Sponsors include Flurry, Appolicious, appbackr, Adobe, Herakles Data Center, AppLaunchPr, YD Online, and Offermobi. For sponsor info, send an email to sponsors@venturebeat.com. To register, click here. Hurry though. Tickets are limited, and going fast.

Next Story: Evidence builds for smaller 11.6-inch Apple MacBook Air unveiling next week Previous Story: enLighted gets $1.4M to reduce energy use in commercial buildings

Surprise: Fox <b>News</b> signs Juan Williams to new $2 million deal <b>...</b>

Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes handed Williams a new three-year contract Thursday morning, in a deal that amounts to nearly $2 million, a considerable bump up from his previous salary, the Tribune Washington Bureau has learned. ...

Is Fox <b>News</b> more tolerant than NPR? « Hot Air

The right-wing intolerants of Fox News' audience didn't complain as much about an explicitly liberal commentator on Fox as the tolerant, diverse audience at NPR did? Barone has to be joking, right? Not according to NPR, where omsbud ...

Energy and Global Warming <b>News</b> for October 22nd: Five renewable <b>...</b>

Polls, including the one from Wall Street Journal/NBC News released Wednesday, have shown that some voters are disenchanted with the Democrats and many voters remain undecided. Speaking at the Solar Power International (SPI) conference ...

eric seiger eric seiger

Being Right or Making Money

Comments

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1. 
   
   
   

   Yep! Twitter is gonna make a fortune off your drunken night at Chili's

   
   
   

    Posted by: ZuDfunck |
   October 18, 2010 1:45 PM

   
   
















2. 
   
   
   

   Let's see. . . you use a free service and then want them to promote your restricted material and give you the profits. . . hmmm... yeah, I would like that deal also.

   
   
   

   This really sounds like much to do about nothing. Let me see, I have a photo that I want to sell at some point but show it off on twitter. How can I do that without loss of my property? Well, maybe make a low res thumb of your image and upload that with slight modifications, like a watermark, then the original image is still yours to do with as you please, isn't it?

   
   
   

   I don't know but this sounds a bit ridiculous. How many problems would arise if such services allowed everyone to copyright everything they submit? Well, when you think of it it's really funny. . . people complain about every company suing every other company over patents and how those sofware patents shouldn't be allowed yada, yada, but WAIT!!! when it comes to my precious picture that I'm going to upload via a free service. . . I WANT IT PROTECTED!

   
   
   

   Posted by: gpeasy |
   October 18, 2010 1:55 PM

   
   
















3. 
   
   
   

   This article, and all of the other articles that this stemmed from, contains a fundamental misunderstanding about the definition of "Content" in the context of Twitter. Twitter's "Content" is the 140 characters and any metadata stored and served by Twitter. Anything that requires a URL to access (i.e. a link shared on Twitter) is not considered "Content" in the context of Twitter's ToS (from http://twitter.com/tos "any information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as 'Content')").

   
   
   

   This may become an issue if Twitter were to—say for example—buy TwitPic or create their own Photo Sharing tool. And yes, there is potential legal concern with the way that their Media Pane system works in the #newtwitter UI design, as it does state "appearing on" but for their license to apply to the content of their Media Pane, it would require that the license from the service allowing their content to be displayed to be sub-licensed. Prior to the Media Pane in #newtwitter, I would have said this is a complete non-issue. Now, it's just something to "watch" and, if you're really worried about it, don't use services that work in the Media Pane.

   
   
   

   tl;dr: This article is vastly misleading. "Content" is the text in a tweet and anything you upload directly to a Twitter website, not to a third-party service or your own servers.

   
   
   

   You should know better, RWW.

   
   
   

    Posted by: Michael Owens |
   October 18, 2010 1:57 PM

   
   
















4. 
   
   
   

   This is a significant development for professionals, and it's worth noting to the general public. I wonder how often the people at Twitter might acutally take advantage of this...? The web seems to get more "open" every day, something we all need to be aware of.

   
   
   

   Posted by: David Perdew |
   October 18, 2010 1:57 PM

   
   
















5. 
   
   
   

   This is about lawyers and their constant need to prove value to their clients (whom they charge absurd hourly rates to).

   
   
   

   A number of lawyers take this approach (non-exclusive license; right to reproduce, sub-license, etc.). Other, more reasonable lawyers take more of the BasecampHQ approach to managing data on behalf of someone (albeit, under paid accounts).

   
   
   

   If Twitter ever tried to resell a photo that was uploaded, they would (most likely) run afoul of a range of Copyright Laws while they try to uphold their T&C which are one-sided and were never reviewed by their User's attorney's in a fair and reasonable negotiation. Additionally, if a Minor uploads photos, without parental consent, good luck appropriating those under their T&C.

   
   
   

   If Twitter had strong management, who had more experience, they'd fire the lawyer who wrote the T&C and say, "thanks, bye." Then, go find an attorney who's more forward thinking.

   
   
   

   Posted by: Bob |
   October 18, 2010 2:04 PM

   
   
















6. 
   
   
   

   I agree with @MichaelOwens on this, mostly a non-issue. From the TOS,

   
   
   

   "...information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as “Content”)."

   
   
   

   So it looks like photos you upload to Twitter (your profile pic and background image) can be used by them, but your linked photos are not uploaded to Twitter so they don't count as "Content" in the TOS.

   
   
   

   The only gray area I see is photos appearing in the media pane, since the definition of content includes "appearing on the Services," so avoid using twitpic and the like and there is no issue.

   
   
   

   tl;dr +1 to @michaelowens' point

   
   
   

   Posted by: aaron.pk |
   October 18, 2010 2:27 PM

   
   
















7. 
   
   
   

   So, if my photo is hosted at my paid Flickr account and it's labeled "All Rights Reserved" but I send a link to my photo to Twitter... who owns it now?

   
   
   

   Posted by: Erin |
   October 18, 2010 2:32 PM

   
   
















8. 
   
   
   

   Seriously? This is a surprise to anyone? People share pictures on Twitter (and third party pic services) because they want the world to see it and SHARE it. Professional photos aren't posting their masterpieces on TwitPic.

   
   
   

   Posted by: Russ Hill |
   October 18, 2010 2:39 PM

   
   
















9. 
   
   
   

   Michael Owens said much what I came to say so I won't repeat him.

   
   
   

   Based on the false logic of this article, you are implying that if I share a link to a NY Times article, Twitter can use the content from that article to their hearts content. Obviously false.

   
   
   

   Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its legal.

   
   
   

   Posted by: Jmartens |
   October 18, 2010 2:43 PM

   
   
















10. 
    
    
    

    I am not an expert on this topic, but I believe companies (like Twitter) need to have clauses like this in the TOS to protect themselves from copyright violations. They need the freedom to copy, modify, and reproduce contributed content as well as the right to move it around in on their servers. Technically wouldn't Twitter be violating copyright if the original author didn't approve of how their content was being used, displayed, or modified by Twitter? I was given this notion from different company's rep that deals with online content distribution. Although, the way companies word their TOS make many people worry about losing control of there IP.

    
    
    
    
    
    

    Posted by: bobsbag |
    October 18, 2010 3:32 PM

    
    
















11. 
    
    
    

    I don't believe this is as casual as some of the comments indicate; nor, is the Post so off-track.

    
    
    

    Twitter are acquiring both photo and video developers to bring this all in-house.

    
    
    

    To @bobsbag's point -- yes, Twitter need some non-exclusive publication right, within the boundaries of their service (even extended to the future to some degree); or, even a self-extending license based on a User not deleting files. What Twitter do NOT require is an unrestricted License coupled with the ability to sell, transfer or in any manner profit from the direct licensing of content (they can sell ad space around it and use it for promotional purposes).

    
    
    

    Now, yes, anyone would be a fool to post anything on nearly any "free" service out there if they intend to use it commercially themselves. But, I'd look to Flickr's T&C for a better model than what Twitter provide. There are a slew of alternatives out there, only a high paid lawyer will tell you they "must have these draconian T&C."

    
    
    

    Posted by: bob r. |
    October 18, 2010 5:33 PM

    
    
















12. 
    
    
    

    Obviously false.

    
    
    

    Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its lega

    
    
    

    Posted by: ogame |
    October 18, 2010 8:30 PM

    
    
















13. 
    
    
    

    Sorry but their is no way that this can be legit or enforced. adding a URL to a permalink that contains an embedded image and/or download links to higher quality versions of that image (or other media) does not give Twitter the rights defined in the ToS. Even if this were the legal intentions by Twitter's lawyers and business executives, I have to assume that this would not hold up in a court of law... that is if the terms are not properly modified before a case were to ever get that far.

    
    
    

    As for the issue of displaying media on the #NewTwitter Right Side Column used for presenting supplemental meta data, media and eventually ads..... This is not really an issue since only official content partners can use this real estate and those services ToS already apply. I have been waiting for over a month (contacted contentpartnerships@twitter.com) to learn more about the content embedding situation. I'd assume that their would be a whitelisting process and then twitter would utilize common tech to fetch and display media from approved domains (oembed, link rel & meta tags). Ideally, Twitter would also pull in License info when specified and content creators would use preview/watermarked versions of their media for display inside Twitter.com while reserving the high quality media as separate embeds/links on the URL/page.

    
    
    

     Posted by: sull |
    October 18, 2010 9:19 PM

    
    
















14. 
    
    
    

    The problem is people don't try to understand legalise, and try to understand the tech terms for the same. Now lets look at the part of the ToS he has quoted.

    
    
    

    use, copy(copy from photo sites to display them within twitter, pic may be copied to cache), reproduce(retweet), process, modify and adapt (reduce 2mb pic to may be 100kb before displaying it), publish (just in case someone decides to print a twitterfeed from a browser?), transmit (send across the internetz), display (duh!) and distribute such Content (retweet!)

    
    
    

    
    
    "You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use"
    
    You know, people use Twitter API and I think that's what they are talking about here. So please stop freaking out, really!
    
    If there's a newsworthy pic you have taken, the agencies will contact you and not twitter. Do they really think Twitter would employ somebody to handle silly requests from media like this? Really?

    
    
    

    Posted by: | Balu | |
    October 19, 2010 12:08 AM

    
    
















15. 
    
    
    

    Non-issue.

    
    
    

    This is a standard language to protect company from people who would upload stuff onto a content distribution service and then sue the same service for copyright infringement. Check Yahoo's, for example:

    
    
    

    "With respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Yahoo! Services solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted or made available."

    
    
    

    Posted by: twitterer |
    October 19, 2010 12:30 AM

    
    
















16. 
    
    
    

    Well, Twitter can use the photos, and they can even sell them further. So if they appear on magazine covers, tough luck.

    
    
    

    However, for use in advertisements, pictures of people need a model release. So there are limits to what the images can be used for. But in general, yes. Twitter (and Facebook) can do pretty much what they want or dare with the content they are sent.

    
    
    

    Most of the legalese is there to make the actual service possible, but eg. Twitters ToS goes beyond that.

    
    
    

     Posted by: Tarmo Toikkanen |
    October 19, 2010 12:39 AM

    
    
















17. 
    
    
    

    This might be beneficial for twitter but I don't think that general public would like this. This seems disturbing to any pro photographers who tweet their photographs.

    
    
    

    Posted by: street bike accessories |
    October 19, 2010 2:18 AM

    
    
















18. 
    
    
    

    Seriously now, if you share your photos via Twitter or any other social media sites, you lose its rights exclusively and can be picked up by anyone and use it anywhere. If you have photos you don’t want to be used all over the internet, don’t share it or publish it anywhere. Once it is published, it’s gone unless you have stated on your own website against using the photos for other purposes other than yours.

    
    
    

    Posted by: Steve Jobs |
    October 19, 2010 9:18 AM

    
    
















19. 
    
    
    

    This is clearly a load of nonsense. Michael Owens above has debunked this misleading information nicely but I'll add some food for thought: if an article from the New York Times appears in the Twitter media pane can Twitter re-publish and sell that article? I think not. Nor do they "own" your photo. Photofocus did not "consult it's lawyers," Scott Bourne asked his buddy Larry to scan the TOS. Larry is obviously not an entertainment lawyer and knows little about content licensing. This scare mongering was well deconstructed by petapixel dot com yesterday, It's sad that this noise is still floating around and considered legitamate information.

    
    
    

     Posted by: Daniel K. Berman |
    October 19, 2010 9:39 AM

    
    
















20. 
    
    
    

    These are all great comments, and I'm glad to see people unpack this item -- though it's interesting to see where you all agree and disagree. The critiques of our coverage are compelling and much appreciated, though it's important to see that question mark in the title. I put it there for a reason.

    
    
    

    I don't think Twitter is "evil" nor do I think that the wildest interpretation of what can be enforced (or not) with the ToS changes are necessarily true. What is important is that a photo blog had consulted their lawyers about it. And lots of people (still) have questions about it. The coverage is the conversation, and we can all only weigh in until our questions are answered. PhotoFocus' means of getting these questions answered was to ask their counsel. And that's significant.

    
    
    

     Posted by: Violet Blue |
    October 19, 2010 4:10 PM

    
    
















21. 
    
    
    

    It we view this to the point of twitter then it's quite beneficial for them, they can do what they want with other photos but I don't think that public would like this.

    
    
    

    Posted by: flash banner |
    October 19, 2010 11:06 PM

    
    


























Hullabaloo










Saturday, September 25, 2010






 

NY Times Miss Manners Hints At Truth

by digby

The New York Times features an interesting story this morning about a move across teh country to remove judges by people who don't like their decisions:



After the State Supreme Court here stunned the nation by making this the first state in the heartland to allow same-sex marriage, Iowa braced for its sleepy judicial elections to turn into referendums on gay marriage.

The three Supreme Court justices on the ballot this year are indeed the targets of a well-financed campaign to oust them. But the effort has less to do with undoing same-sex marriage — which will remain even if the judges do not — than sending a broader message far beyond this state’s borders: voters can remove judges whose opinions they dislike.

Around the country, judicial elections that were designed to be as apolitical as possible are suddenly as contentious as any another race.

In Kansas, anti-abortion activists are seeking to recall a justice. In Illinois, business interests are campaigning against the chief justice after a case that removed a cap on malpractice liability, prompting him to run a television ad that opens with the declaration, “I am not a politician.” And a conservative group called Clear the Bench Colorado is citing a host of decisions in seeking to oust the full slate of justices on the ballot there, urging voters, “Be a citizen, not a subject.”



It goes on to point out that the laws many of them were using were designed to remove corrupt or incompetent judges but are now being used to send a message that judges who do not adhere to certain views will be kicked out of office.

It also points out that there is big money involved, with the campaigns being underwritten by corporate interests and wealthy Christian groups.

But they forgot to connect the dots in this story. Do you notice something that all these cases around the country have in common? Yes, I knew that you could -- they are all being waged by right wingers. This "trend" is decidedly one-sided, run by a minority faction in America who have decided that their interpretation of the laws and the constitution will be imposed upon everyone.

Far be it for me to suggest that intimidating judges and replacing ones you don't like with social conservatives might be just a little bit theocratic and surely nobody can believe thatcorporate sponsored removal campaigns are designed to make it impossible for moderate or conservative judges to compete against business friendly judges. It would be very impolite to point any of that out, which is why, I'm sure that the New York Times didn't bother to do it.

They simply left some little hints for the discerning reader to sift through:



Brian S. Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, which has spent $230,000 on television ads criticizing the Iowa judges, said he understood that removing the three judges would not change the same-sex marriage ruling. (It was a unanimous ruling by the state’s seven justices.) But Mr. Brown said he hoped the judges’ ouster would help prevent similar rulings elsewhere by making judges around the nation aware that their jobs are on the line.

“It sends a powerful message,” he said, “That if justices go outside the bounds of their oaths, if the justices go outside the bounds of the U.S. and state constitutions they’re going to be held accountable.”

Bob Vander Plaats, who made opposition to same-sex marriage a centerpiece of his unsuccessful run for governor in Iowa, is leading the ouster campaign on behalf of the political arm of the American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization based in Tupelo, Miss.

“My bigger fear isn’t about injecting politics into judicial retention elections. The bigger fear is that we don’t hold them in check,” he said, warning that gun and property rights could be at risk.



Make of that what you will dear reader. But never say that the NY Times stooped to the level of shrill bloggers who suggest that the far right might have a radical agenda. Let no one say that the old Gray Lady is anything but well mannered.




.

digby 9/25/2010 09:00:00 AM


|









robert shumake twitter


Macsimum <b>News</b> - Apple number 65 on &#39;Newsweek&#39; environmental ranking

MacsimumNews - Your Leading Apple News Alternative. Apple number 65 on 'Newsweek' environmental ranking. Posted by Dennis Sellers Apple ico Oct 19, 2010 at 7:59am. image Yesterday we noted that “Newsweek” has released its list of ...

The openSUSE Build Service 2.1 released - openSUSE <b>News</b>

This iteration has enhanced the web user interface of openSUSE Build Service with features that were previously only in the osc command line client. It now allows submitting of packages to other projects, showing a history of changes ...

ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>

Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...


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1. 
   
   
   

   Yep! Twitter is gonna make a fortune off your drunken night at Chili's

   
   
   

    Posted by: ZuDfunck |
   October 18, 2010 1:45 PM

   
   
















2. 
   
   
   

   Let's see. . . you use a free service and then want them to promote your restricted material and give you the profits. . . hmmm... yeah, I would like that deal also.

   
   
   

   This really sounds like much to do about nothing. Let me see, I have a photo that I want to sell at some point but show it off on twitter. How can I do that without loss of my property? Well, maybe make a low res thumb of your image and upload that with slight modifications, like a watermark, then the original image is still yours to do with as you please, isn't it?

   
   
   

   I don't know but this sounds a bit ridiculous. How many problems would arise if such services allowed everyone to copyright everything they submit? Well, when you think of it it's really funny. . . people complain about every company suing every other company over patents and how those sofware patents shouldn't be allowed yada, yada, but WAIT!!! when it comes to my precious picture that I'm going to upload via a free service. . . I WANT IT PROTECTED!

   
   
   

   Posted by: gpeasy |
   October 18, 2010 1:55 PM

   
   
















3. 
   
   
   

   This article, and all of the other articles that this stemmed from, contains a fundamental misunderstanding about the definition of "Content" in the context of Twitter. Twitter's "Content" is the 140 characters and any metadata stored and served by Twitter. Anything that requires a URL to access (i.e. a link shared on Twitter) is not considered "Content" in the context of Twitter's ToS (from http://twitter.com/tos "any information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as 'Content')").

   
   
   

   This may become an issue if Twitter were to—say for example—buy TwitPic or create their own Photo Sharing tool. And yes, there is potential legal concern with the way that their Media Pane system works in the #newtwitter UI design, as it does state "appearing on" but for their license to apply to the content of their Media Pane, it would require that the license from the service allowing their content to be displayed to be sub-licensed. Prior to the Media Pane in #newtwitter, I would have said this is a complete non-issue. Now, it's just something to "watch" and, if you're really worried about it, don't use services that work in the Media Pane.

   
   
   

   tl;dr: This article is vastly misleading. "Content" is the text in a tweet and anything you upload directly to a Twitter website, not to a third-party service or your own servers.

   
   
   

   You should know better, RWW.

   
   
   

    Posted by: Michael Owens |
   October 18, 2010 1:57 PM

   
   
















4. 
   
   
   

   This is a significant development for professionals, and it's worth noting to the general public. I wonder how often the people at Twitter might acutally take advantage of this...? The web seems to get more "open" every day, something we all need to be aware of.

   
   
   

   Posted by: David Perdew |
   October 18, 2010 1:57 PM

   
   
















5. 
   
   
   

   This is about lawyers and their constant need to prove value to their clients (whom they charge absurd hourly rates to).

   
   
   

   A number of lawyers take this approach (non-exclusive license; right to reproduce, sub-license, etc.). Other, more reasonable lawyers take more of the BasecampHQ approach to managing data on behalf of someone (albeit, under paid accounts).

   
   
   

   If Twitter ever tried to resell a photo that was uploaded, they would (most likely) run afoul of a range of Copyright Laws while they try to uphold their T&C which are one-sided and were never reviewed by their User's attorney's in a fair and reasonable negotiation. Additionally, if a Minor uploads photos, without parental consent, good luck appropriating those under their T&C.

   
   
   

   If Twitter had strong management, who had more experience, they'd fire the lawyer who wrote the T&C and say, "thanks, bye." Then, go find an attorney who's more forward thinking.

   
   
   

   Posted by: Bob |
   October 18, 2010 2:04 PM

   
   
















6. 
   
   
   

   I agree with @MichaelOwens on this, mostly a non-issue. From the TOS,

   
   
   

   "...information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as “Content”)."

   
   
   

   So it looks like photos you upload to Twitter (your profile pic and background image) can be used by them, but your linked photos are not uploaded to Twitter so they don't count as "Content" in the TOS.

   
   
   

   The only gray area I see is photos appearing in the media pane, since the definition of content includes "appearing on the Services," so avoid using twitpic and the like and there is no issue.

   
   
   

   tl;dr +1 to @michaelowens' point

   
   
   

   Posted by: aaron.pk |
   October 18, 2010 2:27 PM

   
   
















7. 
   
   
   

   So, if my photo is hosted at my paid Flickr account and it's labeled "All Rights Reserved" but I send a link to my photo to Twitter... who owns it now?

   
   
   

   Posted by: Erin |
   October 18, 2010 2:32 PM

   
   
















8. 
   
   
   

   Seriously? This is a surprise to anyone? People share pictures on Twitter (and third party pic services) because they want the world to see it and SHARE it. Professional photos aren't posting their masterpieces on TwitPic.

   
   
   

   Posted by: Russ Hill |
   October 18, 2010 2:39 PM

   
   
















9. 
   
   
   

   Michael Owens said much what I came to say so I won't repeat him.

   
   
   

   Based on the false logic of this article, you are implying that if I share a link to a NY Times article, Twitter can use the content from that article to their hearts content. Obviously false.

   
   
   

   Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its legal.

   
   
   

   Posted by: Jmartens |
   October 18, 2010 2:43 PM

   
   
















10. 
    
    
    

    I am not an expert on this topic, but I believe companies (like Twitter) need to have clauses like this in the TOS to protect themselves from copyright violations. They need the freedom to copy, modify, and reproduce contributed content as well as the right to move it around in on their servers. Technically wouldn't Twitter be violating copyright if the original author didn't approve of how their content was being used, displayed, or modified by Twitter? I was given this notion from different company's rep that deals with online content distribution. Although, the way companies word their TOS make many people worry about losing control of there IP.

    
    
    
    
    
    

    Posted by: bobsbag |
    October 18, 2010 3:32 PM

    
    
















11. 
    
    
    

    I don't believe this is as casual as some of the comments indicate; nor, is the Post so off-track.

    
    
    

    Twitter are acquiring both photo and video developers to bring this all in-house.

    
    
    

    To @bobsbag's point -- yes, Twitter need some non-exclusive publication right, within the boundaries of their service (even extended to the future to some degree); or, even a self-extending license based on a User not deleting files. What Twitter do NOT require is an unrestricted License coupled with the ability to sell, transfer or in any manner profit from the direct licensing of content (they can sell ad space around it and use it for promotional purposes).

    
    
    

    Now, yes, anyone would be a fool to post anything on nearly any "free" service out there if they intend to use it commercially themselves. But, I'd look to Flickr's T&C for a better model than what Twitter provide. There are a slew of alternatives out there, only a high paid lawyer will tell you they "must have these draconian T&C."

    
    
    

    Posted by: bob r. |
    October 18, 2010 5:33 PM

    
    
















12. 
    
    
    

    Obviously false.

    
    
    

    Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its lega

    
    
    

    Posted by: ogame |
    October 18, 2010 8:30 PM

    
    
















13. 
    
    
    

    Sorry but their is no way that this can be legit or enforced. adding a URL to a permalink that contains an embedded image and/or download links to higher quality versions of that image (or other media) does not give Twitter the rights defined in the ToS. Even if this were the legal intentions by Twitter's lawyers and business executives, I have to assume that this would not hold up in a court of law... that is if the terms are not properly modified before a case were to ever get that far.

    
    
    

    As for the issue of displaying media on the #NewTwitter Right Side Column used for presenting supplemental meta data, media and eventually ads..... This is not really an issue since only official content partners can use this real estate and those services ToS already apply. I have been waiting for over a month (contacted contentpartnerships@twitter.com) to learn more about the content embedding situation. I'd assume that their would be a whitelisting process and then twitter would utilize common tech to fetch and display media from approved domains (oembed, link rel & meta tags). Ideally, Twitter would also pull in License info when specified and content creators would use preview/watermarked versions of their media for display inside Twitter.com while reserving the high quality media as separate embeds/links on the URL/page.

    
    
    

     Posted by: sull |
    October 18, 2010 9:19 PM

    
    
















14. 
    
    
    

    The problem is people don't try to understand legalise, and try to understand the tech terms for the same. Now lets look at the part of the ToS he has quoted.

    
    
    

    use, copy(copy from photo sites to display them within twitter, pic may be copied to cache), reproduce(retweet), process, modify and adapt (reduce 2mb pic to may be 100kb before displaying it), publish (just in case someone decides to print a twitterfeed from a browser?), transmit (send across the internetz), display (duh!) and distribute such Content (retweet!)

    
    
    

    
    
    "You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use"
    
    You know, people use Twitter API and I think that's what they are talking about here. So please stop freaking out, really!
    
    If there's a newsworthy pic you have taken, the agencies will contact you and not twitter. Do they really think Twitter would employ somebody to handle silly requests from media like this? Really?

    
    
    

    Posted by: | Balu | |
    October 19, 2010 12:08 AM

    
    
















15. 
    
    
    

    Non-issue.

    
    
    

    This is a standard language to protect company from people who would upload stuff onto a content distribution service and then sue the same service for copyright infringement. Check Yahoo's, for example:

    
    
    

    "With respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Yahoo! Services solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted or made available."

    
    
    

    Posted by: twitterer |
    October 19, 2010 12:30 AM

    
    
















16. 
    
    
    

    Well, Twitter can use the photos, and they can even sell them further. So if they appear on magazine covers, tough luck.

    
    
    

    However, for use in advertisements, pictures of people need a model release. So there are limits to what the images can be used for. But in general, yes. Twitter (and Facebook) can do pretty much what they want or dare with the content they are sent.

    
    
    

    Most of the legalese is there to make the actual service possible, but eg. Twitters ToS goes beyond that.

    
    
    

     Posted by: Tarmo Toikkanen |
    October 19, 2010 12:39 AM

    
    
















17. 
    
    
    

    This might be beneficial for twitter but I don't think that general public would like this. This seems disturbing to any pro photographers who tweet their photographs.

    
    
    

    Posted by: street bike accessories |
    October 19, 2010 2:18 AM

    
    
















18. 
    
    
    

    Seriously now, if you share your photos via Twitter or any other social media sites, you lose its rights exclusively and can be picked up by anyone and use it anywhere. If you have photos you don’t want to be used all over the internet, don’t share it or publish it anywhere. Once it is published, it’s gone unless you have stated on your own website against using the photos for other purposes other than yours.

    
    
    

    Posted by: Steve Jobs |
    October 19, 2010 9:18 AM

    
    
















19. 
    
    
    

    This is clearly a load of nonsense. Michael Owens above has debunked this misleading information nicely but I'll add some food for thought: if an article from the New York Times appears in the Twitter media pane can Twitter re-publish and sell that article? I think not. Nor do they "own" your photo. Photofocus did not "consult it's lawyers," Scott Bourne asked his buddy Larry to scan the TOS. Larry is obviously not an entertainment lawyer and knows little about content licensing. This scare mongering was well deconstructed by petapixel dot com yesterday, It's sad that this noise is still floating around and considered legitamate information.

    
    
    

     Posted by: Daniel K. Berman |
    October 19, 2010 9:39 AM

    
    
















20. 
    
    
    

    These are all great comments, and I'm glad to see people unpack this item -- though it's interesting to see where you all agree and disagree. The critiques of our coverage are compelling and much appreciated, though it's important to see that question mark in the title. I put it there for a reason.

    
    
    

    I don't think Twitter is "evil" nor do I think that the wildest interpretation of what can be enforced (or not) with the ToS changes are necessarily true. What is important is that a photo blog had consulted their lawyers about it. And lots of people (still) have questions about it. The coverage is the conversation, and we can all only weigh in until our questions are answered. PhotoFocus' means of getting these questions answered was to ask their counsel. And that's significant.

    
    
    

     Posted by: Violet Blue |
    October 19, 2010 4:10 PM

    
    
















21. 
    
    
    

    It we view this to the point of twitter then it's quite beneficial for them, they can do what they want with other photos but I don't think that public would like this.

    
    
    

    Posted by: flash banner |
    October 19, 2010 11:06 PM

    
    


























Hullabaloo










Saturday, September 25, 2010






 

NY Times Miss Manners Hints At Truth

by digby

The New York Times features an interesting story this morning about a move across teh country to remove judges by people who don't like their decisions:



After the State Supreme Court here stunned the nation by making this the first state in the heartland to allow same-sex marriage, Iowa braced for its sleepy judicial elections to turn into referendums on gay marriage.

The three Supreme Court justices on the ballot this year are indeed the targets of a well-financed campaign to oust them. But the effort has less to do with undoing same-sex marriage — which will remain even if the judges do not — than sending a broader message far beyond this state’s borders: voters can remove judges whose opinions they dislike.

Around the country, judicial elections that were designed to be as apolitical as possible are suddenly as contentious as any another race.

In Kansas, anti-abortion activists are seeking to recall a justice. In Illinois, business interests are campaigning against the chief justice after a case that removed a cap on malpractice liability, prompting him to run a television ad that opens with the declaration, “I am not a politician.” And a conservative group called Clear the Bench Colorado is citing a host of decisions in seeking to oust the full slate of justices on the ballot there, urging voters, “Be a citizen, not a subject.”



It goes on to point out that the laws many of them were using were designed to remove corrupt or incompetent judges but are now being used to send a message that judges who do not adhere to certain views will be kicked out of office.

It also points out that there is big money involved, with the campaigns being underwritten by corporate interests and wealthy Christian groups.

But they forgot to connect the dots in this story. Do you notice something that all these cases around the country have in common? Yes, I knew that you could -- they are all being waged by right wingers. This "trend" is decidedly one-sided, run by a minority faction in America who have decided that their interpretation of the laws and the constitution will be imposed upon everyone.

Far be it for me to suggest that intimidating judges and replacing ones you don't like with social conservatives might be just a little bit theocratic and surely nobody can believe thatcorporate sponsored removal campaigns are designed to make it impossible for moderate or conservative judges to compete against business friendly judges. It would be very impolite to point any of that out, which is why, I'm sure that the New York Times didn't bother to do it.

They simply left some little hints for the discerning reader to sift through:



Brian S. Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, which has spent $230,000 on television ads criticizing the Iowa judges, said he understood that removing the three judges would not change the same-sex marriage ruling. (It was a unanimous ruling by the state’s seven justices.) But Mr. Brown said he hoped the judges’ ouster would help prevent similar rulings elsewhere by making judges around the nation aware that their jobs are on the line.

“It sends a powerful message,” he said, “That if justices go outside the bounds of their oaths, if the justices go outside the bounds of the U.S. and state constitutions they’re going to be held accountable.”

Bob Vander Plaats, who made opposition to same-sex marriage a centerpiece of his unsuccessful run for governor in Iowa, is leading the ouster campaign on behalf of the political arm of the American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization based in Tupelo, Miss.

“My bigger fear isn’t about injecting politics into judicial retention elections. The bigger fear is that we don’t hold them in check,” he said, warning that gun and property rights could be at risk.



Make of that what you will dear reader. But never say that the NY Times stooped to the level of shrill bloggers who suggest that the far right might have a radical agenda. Let no one say that the old Gray Lady is anything but well mannered.




.

digby 9/25/2010 09:00:00 AM


|









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Macsimum <b>News</b> - Apple number 65 on &#39;Newsweek&#39; environmental ranking

MacsimumNews - Your Leading Apple News Alternative. Apple number 65 on 'Newsweek' environmental ranking. Posted by Dennis Sellers Apple ico Oct 19, 2010 at 7:59am. image Yesterday we noted that “Newsweek” has released its list of ...

The openSUSE Build Service 2.1 released - openSUSE <b>News</b>

This iteration has enhanced the web user interface of openSUSE Build Service with features that were previously only in the osc command line client. It now allows submitting of packages to other projects, showing a history of changes ...

ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>

Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...


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Macsimum <b>News</b> - Apple number 65 on &#39;Newsweek&#39; environmental ranking

MacsimumNews - Your Leading Apple News Alternative. Apple number 65 on 'Newsweek' environmental ranking. Posted by Dennis Sellers Apple ico Oct 19, 2010 at 7:59am. image Yesterday we noted that “Newsweek” has released its list of ...

The openSUSE Build Service 2.1 released - openSUSE <b>News</b>

This iteration has enhanced the web user interface of openSUSE Build Service with features that were previously only in the osc command line client. It now allows submitting of packages to other projects, showing a history of changes ...

ABC <b>News</b> Exclusive: Tea Party Candidate in Nevada Senate May Tip <b>...</b>

Scott Ashjian calls himself the “Tea Party of Nevada” candidate for US Senate, but he tells ABC News that he would be “at peace” knowing he helped re-elect Harry Reid by siphoning votes away from Sharron Angle. The Note, authored by ABC ...


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Comments




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1. 
   
   
   

   Yep! Twitter is gonna make a fortune off your drunken night at Chili's

   
   
   

    Posted by: ZuDfunck |
   October 18, 2010 1:45 PM

   
   
















2. 
   
   
   

   Let's see. . . you use a free service and then want them to promote your restricted material and give you the profits. . . hmmm... yeah, I would like that deal also.

   
   
   

   This really sounds like much to do about nothing. Let me see, I have a photo that I want to sell at some point but show it off on twitter. How can I do that without loss of my property? Well, maybe make a low res thumb of your image and upload that with slight modifications, like a watermark, then the original image is still yours to do with as you please, isn't it?

   
   
   

   I don't know but this sounds a bit ridiculous. How many problems would arise if such services allowed everyone to copyright everything they submit? Well, when you think of it it's really funny. . . people complain about every company suing every other company over patents and how those sofware patents shouldn't be allowed yada, yada, but WAIT!!! when it comes to my precious picture that I'm going to upload via a free service. . . I WANT IT PROTECTED!

   
   
   

   Posted by: gpeasy |
   October 18, 2010 1:55 PM

   
   
















3. 
   
   
   

   This article, and all of the other articles that this stemmed from, contains a fundamental misunderstanding about the definition of "Content" in the context of Twitter. Twitter's "Content" is the 140 characters and any metadata stored and served by Twitter. Anything that requires a URL to access (i.e. a link shared on Twitter) is not considered "Content" in the context of Twitter's ToS (from http://twitter.com/tos "any information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as 'Content')").

   
   
   

   This may become an issue if Twitter were to—say for example—buy TwitPic or create their own Photo Sharing tool. And yes, there is potential legal concern with the way that their Media Pane system works in the #newtwitter UI design, as it does state "appearing on" but for their license to apply to the content of their Media Pane, it would require that the license from the service allowing their content to be displayed to be sub-licensed. Prior to the Media Pane in #newtwitter, I would have said this is a complete non-issue. Now, it's just something to "watch" and, if you're really worried about it, don't use services that work in the Media Pane.

   
   
   

   tl;dr: This article is vastly misleading. "Content" is the text in a tweet and anything you upload directly to a Twitter website, not to a third-party service or your own servers.

   
   
   

   You should know better, RWW.

   
   
   

    Posted by: Michael Owens |
   October 18, 2010 1:57 PM

   
   
















4. 
   
   
   

   This is a significant development for professionals, and it's worth noting to the general public. I wonder how often the people at Twitter might acutally take advantage of this...? The web seems to get more "open" every day, something we all need to be aware of.

   
   
   

   Posted by: David Perdew |
   October 18, 2010 1:57 PM

   
   
















5. 
   
   
   

   This is about lawyers and their constant need to prove value to their clients (whom they charge absurd hourly rates to).

   
   
   

   A number of lawyers take this approach (non-exclusive license; right to reproduce, sub-license, etc.). Other, more reasonable lawyers take more of the BasecampHQ approach to managing data on behalf of someone (albeit, under paid accounts).

   
   
   

   If Twitter ever tried to resell a photo that was uploaded, they would (most likely) run afoul of a range of Copyright Laws while they try to uphold their T&C which are one-sided and were never reviewed by their User's attorney's in a fair and reasonable negotiation. Additionally, if a Minor uploads photos, without parental consent, good luck appropriating those under their T&C.

   
   
   

   If Twitter had strong management, who had more experience, they'd fire the lawyer who wrote the T&C and say, "thanks, bye." Then, go find an attorney who's more forward thinking.

   
   
   

   Posted by: Bob |
   October 18, 2010 2:04 PM

   
   
















6. 
   
   
   

   I agree with @MichaelOwens on this, mostly a non-issue. From the TOS,

   
   
   

   "...information, text, graphics, or other materials uploaded, downloaded or appearing on the Services (collectively referred to as “Content”)."

   
   
   

   So it looks like photos you upload to Twitter (your profile pic and background image) can be used by them, but your linked photos are not uploaded to Twitter so they don't count as "Content" in the TOS.

   
   
   

   The only gray area I see is photos appearing in the media pane, since the definition of content includes "appearing on the Services," so avoid using twitpic and the like and there is no issue.

   
   
   

   tl;dr +1 to @michaelowens' point

   
   
   

   Posted by: aaron.pk |
   October 18, 2010 2:27 PM

   
   
















7. 
   
   
   

   So, if my photo is hosted at my paid Flickr account and it's labeled "All Rights Reserved" but I send a link to my photo to Twitter... who owns it now?

   
   
   

   Posted by: Erin |
   October 18, 2010 2:32 PM

   
   
















8. 
   
   
   

   Seriously? This is a surprise to anyone? People share pictures on Twitter (and third party pic services) because they want the world to see it and SHARE it. Professional photos aren't posting their masterpieces on TwitPic.

   
   
   

   Posted by: Russ Hill |
   October 18, 2010 2:39 PM

   
   
















9. 
   
   
   

   Michael Owens said much what I came to say so I won't repeat him.

   
   
   

   Based on the false logic of this article, you are implying that if I share a link to a NY Times article, Twitter can use the content from that article to their hearts content. Obviously false.

   
   
   

   Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its legal.

   
   
   

   Posted by: Jmartens |
   October 18, 2010 2:43 PM

   
   
















10. 
    
    
    

    I am not an expert on this topic, but I believe companies (like Twitter) need to have clauses like this in the TOS to protect themselves from copyright violations. They need the freedom to copy, modify, and reproduce contributed content as well as the right to move it around in on their servers. Technically wouldn't Twitter be violating copyright if the original author didn't approve of how their content was being used, displayed, or modified by Twitter? I was given this notion from different company's rep that deals with online content distribution. Although, the way companies word their TOS make many people worry about losing control of there IP.

    
    
    
    
    
    

    Posted by: bobsbag |
    October 18, 2010 3:32 PM

    
    
















11. 
    
    
    

    I don't believe this is as casual as some of the comments indicate; nor, is the Post so off-track.

    
    
    

    Twitter are acquiring both photo and video developers to bring this all in-house.

    
    
    

    To @bobsbag's point -- yes, Twitter need some non-exclusive publication right, within the boundaries of their service (even extended to the future to some degree); or, even a self-extending license based on a User not deleting files. What Twitter do NOT require is an unrestricted License coupled with the ability to sell, transfer or in any manner profit from the direct licensing of content (they can sell ad space around it and use it for promotional purposes).

    
    
    

    Now, yes, anyone would be a fool to post anything on nearly any "free" service out there if they intend to use it commercially themselves. But, I'd look to Flickr's T&C for a better model than what Twitter provide. There are a slew of alternatives out there, only a high paid lawyer will tell you they "must have these draconian T&C."

    
    
    

    Posted by: bob r. |
    October 18, 2010 5:33 PM

    
    
















12. 
    
    
    

    Obviously false.

    
    
    

    Anyone can put anything they want into a TOS but that doesn't mean its lega

    
    
    

    Posted by: ogame |
    October 18, 2010 8:30 PM

    
    
















13. 
    
    
    

    Sorry but their is no way that this can be legit or enforced. adding a URL to a permalink that contains an embedded image and/or download links to higher quality versions of that image (or other media) does not give Twitter the rights defined in the ToS. Even if this were the legal intentions by Twitter's lawyers and business executives, I have to assume that this would not hold up in a court of law... that is if the terms are not properly modified before a case were to ever get that far.

    
    
    

    As for the issue of displaying media on the #NewTwitter Right Side Column used for presenting supplemental meta data, media and eventually ads..... This is not really an issue since only official content partners can use this real estate and those services ToS already apply. I have been waiting for over a month (contacted contentpartnerships@twitter.com) to learn more about the content embedding situation. I'd assume that their would be a whitelisting process and then twitter would utilize common tech to fetch and display media from approved domains (oembed, link rel & meta tags). Ideally, Twitter would also pull in License info when specified and content creators would use preview/watermarked versions of their media for display inside Twitter.com while reserving the high quality media as separate embeds/links on the URL/page.

    
    
    

     Posted by: sull |
    October 18, 2010 9:19 PM

    
    
















14. 
    
    
    

    The problem is people don't try to understand legalise, and try to understand the tech terms for the same. Now lets look at the part of the ToS he has quoted.

    
    
    

    use, copy(copy from photo sites to display them within twitter, pic may be copied to cache), reproduce(retweet), process, modify and adapt (reduce 2mb pic to may be 100kb before displaying it), publish (just in case someone decides to print a twitterfeed from a browser?), transmit (send across the internetz), display (duh!) and distribute such Content (retweet!)

    
    
    

    
    
    "You agree that this license includes the right for Twitter to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals who partner with Twitter for the syndication, broadcast, distribution or publication of such Content on other media and services, subject to our terms and conditions for such Content use"
    
    You know, people use Twitter API and I think that's what they are talking about here. So please stop freaking out, really!
    
    If there's a newsworthy pic you have taken, the agencies will contact you and not twitter. Do they really think Twitter would employ somebody to handle silly requests from media like this? Really?

    
    
    

    Posted by: | Balu | |
    October 19, 2010 12:08 AM

    
    
















15. 
    
    
    

    Non-issue.

    
    
    

    This is a standard language to protect company from people who would upload stuff onto a content distribution service and then sue the same service for copyright infringement. Check Yahoo's, for example:

    
    
    

    "With respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on publicly accessible areas of Yahoo! Groups, the license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Content on the Yahoo! Services solely for the purposes of providing and promoting the specific Yahoo! Group to which such Content was submitted or made available."

    
    
    

    Posted by: twitterer |
    October 19, 2010 12:30 AM

    
    
















16. 
    
    
    

    Well, Twitter can use the photos, and they can even sell them further. So if they appear on magazine covers, tough luck.

    
    
    

    However, for use in advertisements, pictures of people need a model release. So there are limits to what the images can be used for. But in general, yes. Twitter (and Facebook) can do pretty much what they want or dare with the content they are sent.

    
    
    

    Most of the legalese is there to make the actual service possible, but eg. Twitters ToS goes beyond that.

    
    
    

     Posted by: Tarmo Toikkanen |
    October 19, 2010 12:39 AM

    
    
















17. 
    
    
    

    This might be beneficial for twitter but I don't think that general public would like this. This seems disturbing to any pro photographers who tweet their photographs.

    
    
    

    Posted by: street bike accessories |
    October 19, 2010 2:18 AM

    
    
















18. 
    
    
    

    Seriously now, if you share your photos via Twitter or any other social media sites, you lose its rights exclusively and can be picked up by anyone and use it anywhere. If you have photos you don’t want to be used all over the internet, don’t share it or publish it anywhere. Once it is published, it’s gone unless you have stated on your own website against using the photos for other purposes other than yours.

    
    
    

    Posted by: Steve Jobs |
    October 19, 2010 9:18 AM

    
    
















19. 
    
    
    

    This is clearly a load of nonsense. Michael Owens above has debunked this misleading information nicely but I'll add some food for thought: if an article from the New York Times appears in the Twitter media pane can Twitter re-publish and sell that article? I think not. Nor do they "own" your photo. Photofocus did not "consult it's lawyers," Scott Bourne asked his buddy Larry to scan the TOS. Larry is obviously not an entertainment lawyer and knows little about content licensing. This scare mongering was well deconstructed by petapixel dot com yesterday, It's sad that this noise is still floating around and considered legitamate information.

    
    
    

     Posted by: Daniel K. Berman |
    October 19, 2010 9:39 AM

    
    
















20. 
    
    
    

    These are all great comments, and I'm glad to see people unpack this item -- though it's interesting to see where you all agree and disagree. The critiques of our coverage are compelling and much appreciated, though it's important to see that question mark in the title. I put it there for a reason.

    
    
    

    I don't think Twitter is "evil" nor do I think that the wildest interpretation of what can be enforced (or not) with the ToS changes are necessarily true. What is important is that a photo blog had consulted their lawyers about it. And lots of people (still) have questions about it. The coverage is the conversation, and we can all only weigh in until our questions are answered. PhotoFocus' means of getting these questions answered was to ask their counsel. And that's significant.

    
    
    

     Posted by: Violet Blue |
    October 19, 2010 4:10 PM

    
    
















21. 
    
    
    

    It we view this to the point of twitter then it's quite beneficial for them, they can do what they want with other photos but I don't think that public would like this.

    
    
    

    Posted by: flash banner |
    October 19, 2010 11:06 PM

    
    


























Hullabaloo










Saturday, September 25, 2010






 

NY Times Miss Manners Hints At Truth

by digby

The New York Times features an interesting story this morning about a move across teh country to remove judges by people who don't like their decisions:



After the State Supreme Court here stunned the nation by making this the first state in the heartland to allow same-sex marriage, Iowa braced for its sleepy judicial elections to turn into referendums on gay marriage.

The three Supreme Court justices on the ballot this year are indeed the targets of a well-financed campaign to oust them. But the effort has less to do with undoing same-sex marriage — which will remain even if the judges do not — than sending a broader message far beyond this state’s borders: voters can remove judges whose opinions they dislike.

Around the country, judicial elections that were designed to be as apolitical as possible are suddenly as contentious as any another race.

In Kansas, anti-abortion activists are seeking to recall a justice. In Illinois, business interests are campaigning against the chief justice after a case that removed a cap on malpractice liability, prompting him to run a television ad that opens with the declaration, “I am not a politician.” And a conservative group called Clear the Bench Colorado is citing a host of decisions in seeking to oust the full slate of justices on the ballot there, urging voters, “Be a citizen, not a subject.”



It goes on to point out that the laws many of them were using were designed to remove corrupt or incompetent judges but are now being used to send a message that judges who do not adhere to certain views will be kicked out of office.

It also points out that there is big money involved, with the campaigns being underwritten by corporate interests and wealthy Christian groups.

But they forgot to connect the dots in this story. Do you notice something that all these cases around the country have in common? Yes, I knew that you could -- they are all being waged by right wingers. This "trend" is decidedly one-sided, run by a minority faction in America who have decided that their interpretation of the laws and the constitution will be imposed upon everyone.

Far be it for me to suggest that intimidating judges and replacing ones you don't like with social conservatives might be just a little bit theocratic and surely nobody can believe thatcorporate sponsored removal campaigns are designed to make it impossible for moderate or conservative judges to compete against business friendly judges. It would be very impolite to point any of that out, which is why, I'm sure that the New York Times didn't bother to do it.

They simply left some little hints for the discerning reader to sift through:



Brian S. Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, which has spent $230,000 on television ads criticizing the Iowa judges, said he understood that removing the three judges would not change the same-sex marriage ruling. (It was a unanimous ruling by the state’s seven justices.) But Mr. Brown said he hoped the judges’ ouster would help prevent similar rulings elsewhere by making judges around the nation aware that their jobs are on the line.

“It sends a powerful message,” he said, “That if justices go outside the bounds of their oaths, if the justices go outside the bounds of the U.S. and state constitutions they’re going to be held accountable.”

Bob Vander Plaats, who made opposition to same-sex marriage a centerpiece of his unsuccessful run for governor in Iowa, is leading the ouster campaign on behalf of the political arm of the American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization based in Tupelo, Miss.

“My bigger fear isn’t about injecting politics into judicial retention elections. The bigger fear is that we don’t hold them in check,” he said, warning that gun and property rights could be at risk.



Make of that what you will dear reader. But never say that the NY Times stooped to the level of shrill bloggers who suggest that the far right might have a radical agenda. Let no one say that the old Gray Lady is anything but well mannered.




.

digby 9/25/2010 09:00:00 AM


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Last summer, before I took full advantage of the benefits provided by e-mail filtering and multiple accounts, I was getting a ton of daily SPAM (I still get a ton of SPAM, only now it goes where it should: into its own dedicated e-mail account). Much of this unsolicited e-mail had to do with achieving wealth over the internet, usually effortlessly - a concept I had always summarily dismissed. But one day, all booted up with no place to go, I decided to take a trip into internet money-making land just to see where it would lead. Though I can identify, and know the pitfalls of a sexy come-on when I read one, I've never been averse to making money. So I set out on a crash course of making money online, starting with Google. I entered that exact phrase, "making money online", and got some 15 million results. Wow, I thought. Either I wasn’t the only one with time on my hands, or something about this concept was sucking people in. Eventually, I would click my way to an online world that I had no clue even existed. And I spend a lot of time online.

In the days and months that followed, I became intrigued with one online money making venture that had gained phenomenonal popularity: HYIPs, or “High Yield Investment Plans”. In retrospect, HYIPs had probably reached their peak right about the time I learned of them. Chances are you're familiar with the phrase, "High Yield Investment Plan." Perhaps you've seen it while skimming a prospectus or some other form of investment literature. For the record, legitimate high yield, short term investments do exist, and they are a totally different animal from what I'm talking about.

HYIPs - the acronym is pronounced, ironically, just the way you think - are tailor-made for our Right Here, Right Now generation. That's right. One of the many things the World Wide Web has brought us is the expectation of instant access. We want our information, our relationships, and our wealth at the click of a mouse. HYIPs provide this immediacy by giving you the ability to watch your money grow exponentially, incredibly, and even better, daily - online.

That is, assuming everything goes according to plan. Frequently it does not, however, and that's when many a starry eyed wealth builder runs into trouble. Fortunately, I happen to be more parts cynic than idealist, so it didn’t take a great deal of sleuthing to find that these are essentially thinly disguised ponzi schemes - which, according to the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, are illegal.

Simply by virtue of the way they are structured, even the best run ponzis are destined to fail because in order for someone to win, someone else has to lose. It is also important to note that the fact that there may or may not be deception involved about the nature of a ponzi (false claims of investing in goods or services) makes it no less illegal.

Step right up...

The infamous scheme named after Carlo Ponzi was first launched in 1920 to great success. Brilliant in its simplicity, it worked on a simple premise: get people to invest in a nonexistent product or service, promise an outrageous return after a specified number of days or weeks, and use the money from new investors to pay off old investors who cash out. Ponzi’s plan did have one fatal flaw, though. When new money stopped coming in at a rate sufficient to pay out people who wanted to withdraw, the cycle collapsed. This was inevitable, for the simple reason that no investment vehicle can have a steady inflow of new investors forever; if for no other reason than the fact that the Earth's population is not infinite. But here's a funny thing about human nature: Where money is involved, it is not highly unusual to see ethics and common sense take a flying leap. What this means is that people may be aware that they are building their dreams on a house of cards, but will tend to ignore that fact and take their chances until they’ve been burned themselves.

This is the reason countless variations of Ponzi's scheme have been able to proliferate for nearly a century after his death. From day one, there has never been any shortage of dreamers and schemers in the world. And conveniently, the World Wide Web has given them all one huge playground in which to romp.

The blueprint...

The way a HYIP works is as follows: Using an online payment processor, you make a “spend”, or a deposit, into the plan of your choice. Generally, there will be a variety of plans, all displayed on the home page of the program (In November 2005, a typical HYIP offered plans ranging from 35% profit after four days, to 450% or more after 10 days). After your plan has matured, you have the choice of either withdrawing the money or rolling it over into another plan. By the way, if you are thinking four or 10 days is a very short time for an investment, I want to reiterate that there are no similarities between the way a HYIP operates and the way a stock, mutual fund, or certificate of deposit does, so throw out that whole paradigm. The only common element is that with all of them, you hope to eventually take more money out than you put in.

The potential returns are mind boggling. Enough to make many take the plunge, ponzi or not.

HYIPs are run by an administrator, or “Admin“. This would be anyone who woke up one morning, bought a template, or script off the web, and decided to start one up. The lifespan of a HYIP can range anywhere from a few hours to several months, depending upon how quickly it runs into problems. The main reason for the demise of a HYIP is always money. Because they act on Ponzi’s Principle, once the withdrawals start exceeding deposits, you can kiss the program goodbye, along with your money.

Also, since these are businesses run almost exclusively over the Internet, other problems can come into play that don’t even involve a faulty business model. Databases can be hacked, money stolen. More than one HYIP has been permanently disabled when the admin’s payment processor account - the one that holds all the money - was emptied because a security vulnerability in the script was exploited. Or so many an admin has claimed. The hacker alibi has been used so often as the reason for a HYIP’s demise that members have reasonably speculated as to whether or not an Admin simply ran off with all the cash before it had a chance to die of its own accord. And members have also had the unpleasant experience of discovering their own payment processor accounts were hacked. You can never be certain as to why a HYIP collapses, just that it will.

Trust me...

Admins frequently make posts on message and discussion boards devoted to the subject of online investing, and, early in a program, will work to gain the trust of online speculators by cultivating an image of accessibility, honesty, and program transparency. They encourage people to make spends into programs they have just started. An admin may have other people assisting her in this regard, people who will regularly make posts about how excellent the program is and attesting to the admin’s good character. Recently, many HYIPs have attempted an image makeover: they now define themselves as “games” or "programs" rather than investments. You are a “member” making a “spend” into said “game” or "program". There are a couple of reasons for this: 1) The Securities and Exchange Commission requires that one have a license to sell securities and generally speaking, HYIP administrators do not. A typical admin may never have even bought a share of stock in his life, let alone possessed a Series 7 license. An admin could be your barber, your babysitter, or a barber or babysitter in another country. 2) By stating that it is a game, this supposedly eliminates the obligation on an admin’s part to disclose how your money is being “invested” (Some still, however, will claim that at least a portion of member spends are being invested in the forex market, though I have not found a single instance where that could be verified). Again, such simplistic nods to disclosure do not provide a safe haven for these schemes under the law. "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" is not a legally viable foundation upon which to build a business.

If you wander to the discussion board of any HYIP - and there are hundreds of them, though decidedly fewer than just six months ago - chances are you will find several lively threads debating the merits of “xyz HYIP” and whether or not the Admin is a scamster. This discussion becomes most lively when payments start to slow, as that is a clear indication that the clock is running out on that program. But sometimes there is no forewarning at all; the program just vanishes. You find out by reading an apologetic note posted on the website by the admin: “Sorry. Hackers kept getting in my back office. I tried to keep this going as long as I could…” or something equally succinct.

Occasionally, there will also be a promise to refund those who had active spends or were due money when the program ended. Then again, sometimes there won't, and you will never "see" that admin on the internet again, at least under the same handle. In the end it doesn’t matter, though, because even if promises were made, they will likely not be kept. Assuming the admin didn’t outright rip everyone off and, indeed, could be trusted, the program ran out of money because that's what happens. As a result, there are better-than-average odds that you will never see a refund of any money you lost. Seriously. If you think I’m being redundant, I could point you right now to discussion boards of HYIPs that folded months ago, and you will find people posting who still believe they will be paid. They are believers, and anyone who disagrees is, to them, a naysayer. Can I get an Amen dot com?

Stuff happens?

If you got burned by a HYIP, then chances are your feelings are, Darn tootin’ it was a Ponzi, and the admin is a bleeping thief (I‘ve cleaned up your feelings for you). You might even be kicking yourself for being so greedy or naïve and have taken a blood oath to stick to Certificates of Deposit from now on. 3% a year may not be much, but you don’t have to worry about the bank president stealing it out of your account and running away to Cancun.

On the other hand, if you think you lost money because you had bad timing, or bad luck, or Mercury was in retrograde; if you believed in the admin, or if you happened to actually be in the money at the time the HYIP went under; if you are convinced that, despite the outcome, the admin ran an excellent program, and he was a stand-up guy... well, I can guarantee you that there is an admin out there right now hoping that you’ll visit her website. And you might want to do that soon, because, as I write this, internet schemes are being investigated with unprecedented vigor by the SEC, and in several cases, the FBI. The outcome of it all will undoubtedly influence how the "game" is played in the future, or if indeed, it will be played at all. Stay tuned.




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