The Pirate Bay has confirmed the news (see their commentary below) :

Last April, the founders of The Pirate Bay were sentenced to one year in jail and a fine of $3.6 million for running the site, which is one of the world largest for downloading files on the Internet (one of the 100 most visited websites in the world according to the press release). The case had been brought on by a number of groups from the music and movie industry.

For that reason, GGF has stated that The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which “satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary.”

Global Gaming Chief Executive Hans Pandeya didn’t give a lot of detail about what type of business model it has planned for the file-sharing service, and only said:

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Almost immediately following Twitter coming back from a planned downtime this afternoon, co-founder and current Chairman Jack Dorsey sent out a tweet letting his followers know that he was, “Getting ready to embark on something new and entirely different. Excited!” Dorsey is getting ready to launch his next startup, he’s confirmed to us. As the guy who actually invented Twitter, this is notable.

Though Dorsey declined to comment on what his new startup is right now, we hear from a source knowledgeable about the new company that it’s code-named Squirrel. Here’s what else we know so far: It’s a service that allows anyone with an iPhone to become a merchant. Just like the wireless credit card swipers you see at certain shops and restaurants, you can carry around your iPhone and take payments. Apparently, the idea is that this will allow any individual to take credit card payments on a mobile device, kind of like what PayPal does for the web.
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The content discovery service, StumbleUpon, has gotten itself back to start-up status, after being bought by eBay two years ago. According to a press release, today SU returned to being and “investor-backed startup” by a roster of well-known Silicon Valley investors, including Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures, Accel Partners and August Capital.

Its founders, Garrett Camp and Geoff Smith are also back, with Camp now in place as CEO.

“We are grateful to eBay for its guidance. However, we realized there were few long-term synergies between the two businesses. It is best for us to part ways and focus on our respective strengths,” said Camp, stating the very obvious.

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Currently there just a few rumors, nothing for 100% sure. According to what i’ve heard, Google is in talks to aquire micro-blogging service, Twitter, for over 250 million dollars. Two sources familiar with the matter said that Google would be making an offer below the 500 million dollars Facebook proposed to Twitter a few months ago, and would pay in cash or publicly valued stock.

“Why would Google want Twitter? We’ve been arguing for some time that Twitter’s real value is in search,” said the blog’s Michael Harrington.

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I am no sure when was this feature added but while I surfing my stumbleupon account (by the way, don’t forget to add me as a friend), i’ve noticed something new. Basically, all you need to do is to acces “favorites” and then put the mouse scroll over the image and then a “share” button will appear.

From there, you can choose what friends to share with and there you go! Well, the days of seding to sharing one friend at a time are over. Enjoy this new feature guys! Read the rest of this entry »

You finally have your own online presence for your business. Unfortunately, a little more work lies ahead. There are literally thousands of different web hosting companies to chose from. How do you decide which one is right for you? Most-Best-Host-Test.Com recently conducted a study of various web hosting companies and small business owners like yourself to find the answer.The first thing they discovered was that word of mouth played a huge role. So ask your business associates and fellow entrepreneurs which web hosting company they recommend. You will probably have a much greater sense of trust in a company that comes recommended by someone you trust. The CEO of UpLinkEarth.Com said, Our research is pretty clear that referrals are our number one source of new customers by almost three to one over other marketing avenues.Furthermore, every year the Internet is around, all the e-companies offering services must get that much better to stay competitive. The chances are greater today of finding a reputable web hosting company than they were last year or the year before. One of those tools that has seen amazing advancements is the efficiency of the search engine. As you know, Google’s famed algorithm is still, to this day, a work in progress.With better search engines, a small business owner can better find the right web hosting company. A few years ago it would have seemed ridiculous to sit down in front of Yahoo and type ” web hosting”. Not today. Most Best’s research also discovered that many small business owners are interested in local web hosting companies. Again, it is easier today to sit down at the computer and type “Seattle web hosting company” than to open the dusty, old phone book.Another tool that is available to you is bypassing the search engines and letting someone else put all the research in one place for you. There are a number of thorough web hosting directories online for your convenience. The best of these is http://www.most-best-host-test.com.

Here is what people wants to find on Yahoo!:

1. Britney Spears
2. WWE
3. Barack Obama
4. Miley Cyrus
5. RuneScape
6. Jessica Alba
7. Naruto
8. Linsday Lohan
9. Angelina Jolie
10. American Idol

Did you ever searched this ?

The Pulitzer Prize, the prestigious award for excellence in print journalism, is being expanded to include online-only publications. If you ask me, that is wonderful because people are starting to understand that online journalists worth more than just views for their blogs/sites/articles. They are journalists too, not fool people without a social life.

This isn’t a new thing, because the award committee has accepted submissions from stories appearing on the websites of newspapers, such as The New York Times, but the new guidelines would seemingly open up the prize to online-only outlets. Excellent! Read the rest of this entry »

Well, yes! Soon, the App Store version of Qik will also be available for free (hmm…not so sure about that, but let’s trust Kevin Rose). Until now, the Qik application was only available for jailbroken iPhones. Bhaskar Roy, the Co-founder of Qik, has commented on this matter : “we are looking into having Qik be available on App Store, but at present are not sure when and how this will be happen”. Read the rest of this entry »

Important Legal Notice Regarding Commission Junction’s Affiliate Network

If you joined or were a member of the affiliate marketing networks operated by ValueClick, Inc., Commission Junction, Inc. and/or Be Free (collectively, “Defendants”), between April 20, 2003 and the present, you may be a class member in Settlement Recovery Center et al. v. ValueClick, Inc. et al., No. 2:07-cv-02638-FMC-CTx, a lawsuit which is pending in the Central District of California. The Settlement Notice informs you of the Court’s certification of a class for settlement purposes; the nature of the claims alleged; your right to participate in, or exclude yourself from, the class; a proposed settlement; and how you can claim an award of advertising credits under the settlement or object to the settlement.

The proposed settlement will resolve claims that Defendants failed to adequately monitor Commission Junction’s Network for the use by third parties of software that does not comply with Commission Junction’s (“CJ”) Publisher Code of Conduct and that is intended to steal or divert commissions from publishers on CJ’s network (“Non-compliant Software”), failed to adequately monitor or prevent third parties from engaging in the theft or “hijacking” of commissions from Advertisers and Publishers on CJ’s Network, and failed to make sufficient disclosures regarding the existence of Non-compliant Software and commission theft, resulting in losses to both advertisers and publishers on the CJ Network.

The proposed settlement will provide a monetary recovery to eligible class members. For class members that currently maintain an account on the CJ Network will receive payment through payments or credits deposited or applied to their CJ accounts; eligible class members that no longer have accounts on the Commission Junction Network will receive a check for an equal amount.
http://www.cjsettlement.com/

According to this postcard i received today in my mailbox, CJ is having serious legal problems. Their system has allowed comissions to be hijacked or stolen which ultimately lead to lost comissions for both advertisers and publishers. The official hearing starst January, 2009 and they’re supposedly going to pool out $1,000,000 to all of its members or old members that could have been effected. The affiliates who earn the most will most likely get the highest payouts.

My opinion? Well, i don’t think a lot of it to be honest with you. I’ve been a CJ affiliate for quite some time now and run their ads on a couple of sites. They have been honest with me and paid out the amounts they owe. The reason why people are going after them is because they’re one of the best affiliate networks on the internet and are the most popular.