Europe Rejects ACTA: “Disappointment” For The Studios, But No “Substantive” Difference

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE

As expected, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), was rejected by the European Parliament today. An overwhelming majority voted against the treaty designed to establish international rules for cracking down on piracy and copyright infringement. Concerns raised over the agreement included a perceived lack of clarity and a window for misinterpretation that could jeopardize citizens’ rights.

The Motion Picture Association was active in developing the treaty, but MPA Europe president, Chris Marcich, tells me that while the outcome is a disappointment for the studios, the result does not “substantively” change anything. “Certainly we’re disappointed with the vote, but I don’t think it was based on the treaty itself, it was based on politics and institutional issues.


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Chrome for iOS: Not So Fast, Cool Features

By Daniel Ionescu, PCWorld

Google’s mobile version of its Chrome browser has now graduated out of beta and is now available for the iPhone and iPad from the App Store. I took it for a spin to see how it compares to Apple’s built-in Safari browser. In brief, the Chrome iOS mobile browser has some innovative features, but is hampered by the fact it can’t tap into Apple’s Nitro JavaScript engine to Safari.

Look and Feel

Chrome for iOS has a similar look and feel to the desktop version that you know and love, so it won’t look completely foreign.
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Billboard Hot 100 Singles – Week of June 16, 2012

1. Gotye f/ Kimbra, “Somebody That I Used To Know”
2. Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”

3. Maroon 5 f/ Wiz Khalifa, “Payphone”
4. fun. f/ Janelle Monae, “We Are Young”
5. Nicki Minaj, “Starships”
6. One Direction, “What Makes You Beautiful”
7. Flo Rida f/ Sia, “Wild Ones”
8. Justin Bieber, “Boyfriend”
9. Rihanna, “Where Have You Been”
10. The Wanter, “Glad You Came”

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BlackBerry in trouble: five reasons why

By Tom Chivers

BlackBerry’s latest offering, the PlayBook tablet, is being slammed by critics; its parent company, RIM, is crashing on the stock market. But where has it all gone wrong? We take a look.

For a while, BlackBerry had the world at its feet. Every City buffoon who thought that Gordon Gekko was some sort of role model had to have at least two. Students wrote badly punctuated essays on them. An infinitely serious future of people tapping away on tiny keyboards loomed. But in recent months it’s all gone a bit wrong for BlackBerry, as its share prices tumble and its latest hardware is panned by reviewers. So what were BlackBerry’s biggest mistakes?
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Iconic Atari turns 40, tries to stay relevant

By BARBARA ORTUTAY

NEW YORK (AP) — A scruffy, young Steve Jobs worked at Atari before he founded Apple. “Pong,” one of the world’s first video games, was born there, as was “Centipede,” a classic from the era of quarter-guzzling arcade machines. “Call of Duty” creator Activision was started by four of Atari’s former game developers.

The iconic video game company turns 40 years old this week, much slimmer these days as it tries to stay relevant in the age of “Angry Birds” and “Words With Friends.”

But Atari’s influence on today’s video games is pervasive.
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Windows 8 fear and uncertainty kicks in

Is Windows 8 really the makings of a fiasco? True or not, get ready to hear this more and more as the Windows 8 general release approaches.

by Brooke Crothers
Windows 8 FUD is starting to hit the fan.

That would be fear, uncertainty, and doubt. As in, “I think that Windows 8 is kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space.”

That was said yesterday by Gabe Newell, a former Microsoft employee and managing director of Valve Software, which makes games such as Half-Life and created the Steam gaming platform for Windows and Apple’s OS X.

Newell’s company is now moving Steam to Linux. Thus the comment, “we’re trying to make sure that Linux thrives” from Newell (in the same story linked above) before his Windows 8 critique.
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Facebook stock has highest close since May 21

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook closes at one of its highest prices since its initial public offering.

The stock rose $1.21, or 3.8 percent, to finish Friday at $33.05. It hasn’t closed above that price since May 21, the second day of trading.

The stock finished the week up 10 percent, the second straight week of increase.

Facebook is still 14 percent below its IPO price of $38 a share.

Facebook’s IPO has had a rocky ride. Its debut was delayed by trading glitches on the Nasdaq.

Investors have been concerned about its ability to increase revenue and make money from its growing mobile audience, though many analysts hold positive long-term opinions.

Facebook, along with investment banks that led the IPO, is the subject of dozens of shareholder lawsuits.

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‘Dark Knight Rises’ Producer: Nolan Will Never Direct Batman Again

by Ethan Anderton

It’s pretty bold to say that something will never happen whether you’re talking about something as simple as eating meat or making a movie. But in the case of The Dark Knight Rises producer Emma Thomas, who is also the wife of Christopher Nolan, we’re inclined to believe her statement that the filmmaker will never be in the director’s chair of another Batman film following the conclusion of his trilogy. In an interview with SFX Magzine (via Movies.com), Thomas was asked of the possibility of Nolan returning to the universe of the Caped Crusader and she definitively said, “No, never. No, that’s truly a never.”

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