Was that you who was named as a defendant by Raw Films for downloading Bareback Street Gang using Bittorrent? Chances are, if you download enough free porn, you’ll eventually become one of the 220,000 (and counting) defendants in piracy lawsuits filed by porn publishers. These plaintiffs have had mixed success enlisting the courts to compel ISPs to disclose names of customers based on their IP addresses. If you live in the Eastern District of New York and Magistrate Judge Gary Brown catches the case, you’re in good shape: he recently slapped down an attempt to sue multiple anonymous porn pirates. You’re out of luck, though, if you live in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where U.S. District Court Judge Mary A. McLaughlin ruled that “A ... Continue reading →

Austin, Texas-based social software company Bazaarvoice announced last night that it would acquire PowerReviews, a social reviews platform, for $152 million. You probably haven’t heard of either company, but know this: the name of the game is customer interaction and insights. Six-year-old PowerReviews’ platform includes capabilities for ratings and reviews, Q&A, loyalty, discovery, and measurement. The company services about 1,100 retailers — primarily small and mid-size North American retailers, but also big dogs like Gap, R.E.I., Staples and Toys ‘R’ Us. The acquisition gives Bazaarvoice — which is primarily focused on larger online retailers like Costo, Home Depot, Best Buy and Crate & Barrel — an opening to sell to PowerReviews’ extensive list of small- and medium-sized retailers as well as a turnkey technology platform ... Continue reading →

We humans love to root for the underdog — David and Goliath, anyone? — and in the business intelligence space, there are a lot of hulking giants. To address the better-than-a-spreadsheet but not-quite-an-aircraft-carrier market, Ann Arbor, Mich.-based startup GPX Software has released a business intelligence tool suite called Xambrosius that it says is designed and priced specifically for small businesses, e.g. accountants, consultants, and bankers. (Where’s the name come from, you ask? Xambrosius is derived from Ambrosius, one of the names for the soothsayer of Arthurian legend. He’s more popularly known as Merlin the wizard.) The GPX team hopes that its software-as-a-service offering is positively ambrosial (sorry, couldn’t resist) compared to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, thanks to tools that help forecast balance sheets, income statements ... Continue reading →

Amid a wave of legislative measures that came close to to crushing online file-sharers backed by copyright owners and entertainment companies, it would likely come as little surprise to see music, film and television studios featuring on the high-end of the list of those issuing takedown requests to search engines like Google. But of all companies, Microsoft hit the number one spot of all companies asking Google to remove search results that could be used to download its products and software illegally. Ergo, Microsoft does more to ‘censor’ the Web than most copyright holders put together. Each year, Google releases a transparency report in efforts to open the doors to the complex, dominant market figure. While government takedown requests have been noted in its annual ... Continue reading →

As of last week, this was the old Polycom: As of today, this is the new Polycom: The company still calls itself “the global leader in open standards-based unified communications solutions for telepresence, video, and voice,” but the approach is all different. It doesn’t take a graphic designer to understand the differences in the logos above. (And to be clear, a logo is just one component of branding. But it’s the hood ornament to the whole thing.) The old Polycom stood for a 22-year-old tech stalwart that appeared to do its job in a no-bull matter. The triangular shield and serif font said, simply, “this is what we do, we don’t care how it looks, all we care about is trust.” The usual enterprise M.O., ... Continue reading →

Quiterian, a European developer of predictive analytics software for business, announced this morning that it was partnering with Wipro to bring its products to to the Indian IT giant’s clients on all corners of the globe. For Quiterian, it’s a quick way to stoke growth beyond its EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) home region; for Wipro, it’s a way to bring advanced analytics development under its own roof — at least temporarily. (If you’re familiar with our daily business coverage here on ZDNet’s Between the Lines, you’ll know that these partnerships often, but not always, result in acquisitions down the line. No predictions here, but just saying.) Quiterian’s main product is called, simply, Analytics 3.0. It’s a self-service platform that integrates data from multiple sources ... Continue reading →

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views. I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose. I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010. No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever. As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, ... Continue reading →

Facebook Camera was just release for any iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS 4.0 and later. The new Camera app from Facebook allows you to upload and share multiple photos, where as the Facebook app restricts you to uploading only one photo at a time. In addition to being able to upload multiple photos, the app also comes with the ability to crop, rotate, and even add 1 of 14 total filters to a photo. Even with having just bought Instagram, Facebook has proceeded to release an app that some would say competes directly with Instagram. If you're curious about the look and feel of the app, watch the video below for a complete walkthrough of Facebook Camera. Or check out the slideshow below. 1-2 ... Continue reading →

1. Say goodbye to the individual investor on Wall Street. Whatever positive impression they had of the IPO market and the stock market in general was just torched to the ground. When everyone you know associated with the stock market is telling you and the media is confirming that this could be a huge IPO that will make money for those lucky enough to get shares and the opposite happens, goodnight. All confidence in the stock is destroyed. Put your money in the bank or if you want to gamble, at least slot machines in Vegas pay out 98pct. 2. The Valuation Bubble in Silicon Valley is bursting – but not for the reasons you think. Historically IPOs function as a means of getting stock ... Continue reading →

HP’s move to cut 27,000 jobs, reinvest in research and development and generally get the company on better footing sounds promising on paper. Unfortunately for HP CEO Meg Whitman too many people have heard this song and dance before. In other words, there’s a lot of skepticism about whether HP can get its innovation mojo back. To recap, HP posted better than expected earnings and announced a restructuring. To its credit, most of the restructuring savings will go to R&D. Former CEO Mark Hurd cut 50,000 jobs in five years and cut R&D. Related: HP cuts 27,000 jobs, to plow savings into R&D | HP beats the odds on Q2 earnings despite looming layoffs | CNET: Hewlett-Packard just whacked the wrong executive Whitman said on ... Continue reading →