Written By Reprise Media | August 4, 2006 | Share This |

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It’s been a rough week for some major tech firms. Microsoft trumpeted their Spaces relaunch, only to run into several kinks almost immediately. Yahoo’s social bookmarking site, del.icio.us, has been in a slide since April (via TechCrunch). And Apple says they might have to “restate” four years worth of earnings due to stock-option grant snafus; Norway might even ban iTunes, says Techdirt. It’s a regular road of trials, as we head to the links:

“Uh, what country do you think this is?” It seemed more like the kind of move the Chinese authorities might make. Tuesday, blogger Josh Wolf was held in contempt and jailed for refusing to testify before a grand jury or hand over video footage he took at a protest rally last year. The feds said they wanted to see whether the video showed any crimes being committed - one person suffered a fractured skull at the rally - but Wolf claimed journalistic privilege, saying he had a right to protect his sources. This ignited a conflagration online, as bloggers and others struggled to define exactly who a journalist is, and what protections they should receive under the law; news.com rounds up some choice quotes.

Banned in the ~~USA~~ Wikiped-I-A A stunt earlier this week by TV satirist Stephen Colbert resulted in temporary chaos over at Wikipedia… coincidentally, Colbert has been dis-invited from editing the site while his identity is being verified (thanks, Newsvine). Well, who needs a Wikipedia for everyone when you’ve got your own? Head over to the decidedly less-factual-than-entertaining Wikiality, the Colbertized wiki-community where the elephant population has tripled over the last six months (via Digg).

Did I say Bill Gates? I meant Vill Vates. An interview with Bill Gates…it’s the stuff that could make a writing career. Only problem: how do you get the guy to sit down with you for a couple of hours? Well, who says he has to? Why not just say you met him on a plane, make up some stuff he might have said, and no one will be the wiser? A Norwegian journalist followed that plan to a ‘T’ - except for the part about nobody catching on. Says the AP, the bogus interview was printed in a Norwegian magazine (Mann) and a Swedish tabloid (Aftonbladet) before Gates’ personal assistant caught wind of it. The magazine will print a retraction, but the paper is standing by their man, saying they have no reason to doubt a reporter whose previous interviews include Tom Cruise and Oprah. On a personal note, we believe we’ve set a SearchViews record with two entirely separate mentions of Norway in the same post.

Topics: Blogging, Google, Interviews, Legal Issues, Microsoft, Publishing, Search: News, Yahoo! |