"Last week, however, under Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse (a former Wilson Sonsini attorney -- Google’s law firm), the DOJ announced that, going forward, it intends to interpret the Consent Decrees to require ASCAP and BMI to only issue licenses for songs they control 100%, up-ending decades of custom and practice." By Savan Kotecha. (July 20, 2016)

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Submitted on July 23rd 2016 by AdelleChattre with 5 comments

Dollar Shave Club, a start-up built on the idea of inexpensive razors, has sold itself for a rich price. Unilever, the European consumer goods giant, said late on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to buy the five-year-old company. While the financial terms were not disclosed, Unilever paid about $1 billion in an all-cash deal, according to people briefed on the matter. The transaction is a high point for digital commerce start-ups like Dollar Shave Club, which have gained popularity for coming up with new ways to sell consumer goods...

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Submitted on July 20th 2016 by baron778 with 1 Related Links:

1. The lesson entrepreneurs should take from Dollar Shave Club’s big $1 billion win Added by baron778 on July 22nd 2016.

It’s the end of the line for Yahoo as an independent company, once valued at $125 billion.

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Submitted on July 24th 2016 by gladsdotter with 5 comments and with 3 Related Links:

1. Yahoo Sells To Verizon In Saddest $5 Billion Deal In Tech History Added by ckshenn on July 25th 2016.

2. Marissa Mayer's payday: 4 years, $219 million Added by ckshenn on July 25th 2016.

3. Why Verizon wants to buy an ailing Yahoo Added by gladsdotter on July 24th 2016.

Insect populations are declining dramatically in many parts of the world, recent studies show. Researchers say various factors, from monoculture farming to habitat loss, are to blame for the plight of insects, which are essential to agriculture and ecosystems. By Christian Schwägerl.

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Submitted on July 20th 2016 by gladsdotter with 2 comments

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is suing the US government over ‘unconstitutional’ use of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

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Submitted on July 22nd 2016 by kxh

There are literally hundreds of choices in your supermarket, but this is only the illusion of choice. These products all come from the same 10 corporations.

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Submitted on July 24th 2016 by Appaloosa

The Ogallala aquifer turned the region into America's breadbasket. Now it, and a way of life, are being drained away.

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Submitted on July 24th 2016 by gladsdotter with 3 comments

There’s a revolution brewing on the animal farm. By Nico Pitney. (July 6, 2016)

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Submitted on July 20th 2016 by AdelleChattre with 2 comments

The diary of a desperate mother trying to put food on the kitchen table. By Fabiola Zerpa.

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Submitted on July 20th 2016 by AdelleChattre with 3 comments

Verizon is forcing heavy data users to get off its unlimited plan or get off the carrier's network entirely. Verizon's continuing its ongoing mission to pare down the number of customers on unlimited data plans by migrating them to ones with hard limits. Recently, the company came up with a way to get rid of its biggest data hogs. Verizon is notifying customers using an “extraordinary” amount of data per month that they must move off their unlimited data plan by August 31. If they don’t switch, the carrier will disconnect their accounts, though they’ll have 50 days to reactivate them on a limited plan, as first reported by Droid Life.

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Submitted on July 22nd 2016 by Apolatia

It’s 40 years ago and a fraudster goes into your local bank branch. He forges your signature and makes a withdrawal from your account. When you discover the crime and report it to the bank, your account is naturally refunded at once. It’s the bank’s problem. It’s also the bank’s fault, you’d probably say. Today, much has changed. It’s still the bank’s job to safeguard clients’ money. But because we access our cash and accounts in so many different ways, and can transact so much more quickly, the issue of who carries the risk of fraud has become blurred.

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Submitted on July 24th 2016 by Vandertoolen

Nintendo continues to break all sorts of records with its unbelievably popular Pokémon Go mobile game. On Friday, Nintendo became the most traded company by value of shares traded this century on the Tokyo stock market, beating out the likes of Tokyo Electric, SoftBank and Nippon Steel, according to Bloomberg.

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Submitted on July 18th 2016 by jedlicka

As we noted last week, China continues to find new ways to bring the online world under control. A post on the Adblock Plus blog has spotted yet another sector the Chinese authorities are bringing to heel: Internet advertising. Last week, China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued "Interim Measures for Internet advertising" (original in Chinese.) As the Adblock Plus blog post explains, the rules seek to pin down what exactly Internet advertising is, what is allowed, and what isn't:

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Submitted on July 22nd 2016 by socialiguana

Three people have been charged in an unprecedented $1 billion health care fraud scam, accused of using dozens of Miami nursing homes to bilk the taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs, according to an indictment unsealed Friday. "This is the largest single criminal health care fraud case ever brought against individuals by the Department of Justice," Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Criminal Division Leslie Caldwell announced in a statement.

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Submitted on July 24th 2016 by doodlegirl with 1 comments

Rupert Murdoch and his two sons have decided to remove Roger Ailes as CEO of Fox News following a sexual harassment lawsuit by former anchor Gretchen Carlson, New York Magazine reported Monday. The three are in agreement that the 76-year-old executive should go, but they haven’t agreed on the timing, the magazine reported, citing anonymous sources. Lachlan Murdoch, executive chairman at parent company 21st Century Fox, is in agreement with his father that no action should be taken against...

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Submitted on July 18th 2016 by canuck with 1 comments and with 1 Related Links:

1. NYT’s ‘Journalistic Detachment’ Before Iraq War Is Detached From Reality. By Adam Johnson Added by AdelleChattre on July 22nd 2016.

Before the games even begin in Brazil’s most famous coastal city, there are winners and losers. By Stephanie Nolen. (July 19, 2016)

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Submitted on July 24th 2016 by AdelleChattre

For years, Facebook has courted publishers of all sizes, asking them to depend more and more on the social media giant to expand their audiences. Now, Facebook has a new message for publishers: Tamp down your expectations.

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Submitted on July 19th 2016 by LisMan

An Italian restaurant in New Mexico has come under fire for a punny billboard playing off the Black Lives Matter slogan amid nationwide outcry over the recent fatal shootings of black men by police officers. Paisano’s in Albuquerque posted “Black Olives Matter, Try Our Tapenade” on a marquee last week advertising one of its specials and reportedly posted a picture of the sign on social media.

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Submitted on July 20th 2016 by doodlegirl

The complex transactions add up to a meaningful loss of revenue from dividend taxes Danish taxpayers would otherwise get. By Cezary Podkul, Anne Skjerning and Tor Johannesson. (July 12, 2016)

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Submitted on July 20th 2016 by AdelleChattre

Facebook’s gamble of forcing users to download Messenger has paid off. Despite the backlash, Messenger has doubled its user count in 20 months to reach the one billion user mark five years after its debut. Messenger joins Facebook, its acquisition WhatsApp and Google’s YouTube in the billion user mobile user club. The app has racked up some other impressive stats. Each month, 17 billion photos are sent and 1 billion messages pass between people and businesses, 380 million stickers and 22 million GIFs are sent each day and 10 percent of all VoIP calls go through Messenger.

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Submitted on July 21st 2016 by messi