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When we first looked at the conviction of three Google employees by an Italian judge in late February, we agreed with Google's stance that the conviction attacked the very ideals of the Internet as we know it. The comments in reaction to this article were many and varied, often speculating on the reasoning behind the conviciton. Today, a CNet article identifies profit as the judge's reasoning behind the decision. Sponsor As Google stated when the convictions were first handed down, the case was concerned with a video of "students at a school in Turin, Italy [who] filmed and then uploaded a video to Google Video that showed them bullying an autistic schoolmate. The video was totally reprehensible and we took it down within hours of being notified by the Italian police." According to the Associated Press translation of the court document (pdf), the judge said Google's profiting off of the video was the reason behind the conviction. "In simple words, it is not the writing on the wall that constitutes a crime for the owner of the wall, but its commercial exploitation can," wrote Judge Oscar Magi, continuing to say that the Internet was no longer an "unlimited prairie where everything is permitted and nothing can be prohibited". Profit, especially that profit which is made from completely automated advertising systems, seems like an odd reasoning to hold a content provider responsible for the content uploaded by its users. The oft-quoted statistic to keep in mind here is that YouTube has more than 20 hours of video uploaded every minute to the service. Judge Magi, however, argues that "the overwhelming speed of technical progress will allow, sooner or later, ever more stringent controls on uploaded data on the part of Web site managers". Google gave CNET the following statement in response to the news: "We are reading the full 111-page document from the judge. But as we said when the verdict was announced, this conviction attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built. If these principles are swept aside, then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear. These are important points of principle, which is why we and our employees will vigorously appeal this decision." We have to say, we still agree with Google on this one, as far as the spirit of the conviction goes. Holding the content host, YouTube in this case, liable for the content of its users attacks the very foundation of the Web. If, as some claim, Google knowingly allowed the content to stay on the site, then its a different story. But if the company immediately responded to official requests to remove the video, it should not be held responsible for its users' content. Discuss
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Italian Judge Says "Profit" Behind Google Convictions
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Adobe will soon introduce its Creative Suite 5 to the public. A tool in the new suite will allow for easy import of Flash animations into HTML5 Canvas code. Once IE9 launches, all major browsers will support Canvas. At that point, any Flash creation can be viewable by just about anyone without downloading the Flash plugin. It also means, clearly, that devices that cannot accept the plugin can nonetheless run the animations built on it. Those who are excited about this probably think of Flash is a space hog. As ReadWriteWeb has discovered, it sometimes is, though not always. Sponsor One of the points of interest regarding this development is the fact that Apple products block flash from "access to the required APIs." HTML5 may prove a way around for Flash users and the users of Apple devices, like the iPhone and iPad who wish to use the content. On the video below, "Adobe Flash Platform Evangelist" Michael Chaize compares performance of Flash 10.1 and HTML5 on mobile devices. Comparison of performance of Flash Player 10.1 and HTML 5 on Mobile Devices from michael chaize on Vimeo . Discuss
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Flash Now Importable to HTML5 Canvas
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Last month the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab ran an event at the Stanford Business School, called The Internet of Things: Sensors Everywhere . The video of the event was recently put up on YouTube . We've embedded the entire hour-long video below, along with a 2-minute video snippet which we think budding entrepreneurs should take note of. If you have time, the entire event is worth viewing. It delves into current successful use cases for Internet of Things. Panelists include representatives from HP's sensor networks division, a medical software company, and a company which provides sensor-enabled products for vending machines. Sponsor The first speaker was Michael Chui, a Senior Fellow at McKinsey Global Institute. He explained that the Internet of Things is about incorporating sensors and actuators into physical objects, which "make the physical world part of an information system." Chui noted that the Internet of Things is ramping up for 3 main reasons: 1) sensors are getting better, faster, smaller, cheaper, more plentiful; 2) networks are everywhere (pervasive, if not quite ubiquitous yet); 3) our new ability to analyze data that these network sensors generate and being able to control the actuators. Chui then went over the report that McKinsey released last month ( our summary and analysis ). We've excerpted a couple of minutes from the end of Chui's presentation, when he talked about potential applications for Internet of Things. If you're an aspiring entrepreneur, this is well worth watching. The rest of the event focused on commercial solutions using Internet of Things. An example is vending machine software company Cantaloupe Systems . Co-founder Anant Agrawal said that for his company, "the Internet of Things eliminates the guesswork." Cataloupe Systems provides sensor-enabled software for vending machines, which gives vending machine companies hard data with which to run their businesses more efficiently. Here's the full video of the forum: Hat-tip Ethan Bauley from HP Communications, who pointed to the video in a RWW comment . Discuss
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Internet of Things: Opportunities For Entrepreneurs
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On the one hand, when we hear about Facebook making Facebook Connect an opt-out experience , we feel a little chill run through our bones and we want to commit Facebook suicide. And then again, every time we hear about another big player on the web implementing Facebook Connect, we smile, because for us and so many others, our Facebook friend list is our de facto representation of our real-life friends on the Web. YouTube this weekend announced that it would be stepping up its Facebook integration, allowing you to see what YouTube videos all of your friends are sharing on Facebook. Sponsor It's only been since last December that the video-sharing site has had Facebook Connect capabilities, but now, as YouTube says in its blog, "when you log in to your YouTube account, you'll get a prominent invitation in the Recent Activity module (see below) to connect to Facebook, which we highly recommend that you do. In fact, we hope to integrate more social networks with YouTube going forward". The blog also highlights "real-time sharing", saying that now, when you share YouTube videos on other social networks, it happens immediately and not 10 minutes later. We have to imagine that this has lowered the number of exasperated support requests from impatient users, as we've all come to expect things to happen instantaneously and not when the server feels like getting around to it. As for sharing, users can automatically share videos they post on YouTube to Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader. This new feature twists around the usual, making it possible for users to see what their friends are sharing on Facebook. In this case, it does not mean that they have to create the video for you to see it - if they share it, you can see that. Discuss
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YouTube Steps Up Facebook Integration, Shows Shared Videos
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The Google Apps Marketplace has launched a YouTube channel to promote its third-party partners. Less than a third of the vendors have posted videos to the YouTube channel. Google Apps is not rocket science but the idea of integrating third-party applications into Google Apps is a new concept for most customers. The YouTube channel will by no means make an app successful. But it does provide a channel to explain what the product does and how it fits with Google Apps Marketplace. And the video can be used in different channels, too, such as on a blog or Facebook. Sponsor So far, the YouTube channel includes 16 videos. Overall, 60 vendors are now part of the Google Apps Marketplace. Some of the videos are pretty professional, done in the Common Craft vein. But surprisingly, many are pretty mediocre, telling us little about the products and how they integrate with Google Apps Marketplace. Others tell too much about how the product works, not providing a clear value statement about the integration. Of the videos on the YouTube channel, Aviary is one of our favorites. Aviary is a service with tools to create graphics, edit images and do basic design. In smart fashion, Aviary then uses its blog to show how they used their own tools to produce the video. Jira Studios from Atassian is a service to manage software development projects. It's short and to the point, telling us why the service is a value to customers. The YouTube video from Concur Breeze is entertaining but it does not explain the product at all. Only in the last few seconds do we see someone doing their expenses online using the Concur product. On the contrary, Expensify gets right to the point. It's just 32 seconds. It looks like a video the founder made it with a USB microphone but that's okay. He gets to the point - fast. Mindmeister is mind mapping tool. They show the problem that comes when fleshing out ideas then go directly into a demo of how the product work and fits with Google Apps Marketplace. Drawloop has a complex product to explain but 2:42 is a bit too long for most people. Tell this story in less than 90 seconds and we think it could have a lot more value for the viewer. Conclusion The vendors that created videos for Google Apps Marketplace deserve some credit for at least taking advantage of the YouTube channel. But what is it about trying to be cute? Some of these videos are like advertisements. That can be fine and well for a blog or for an event but it seems like a lost opportunity for a YouTube channel on Google Apps Marketplace. Discuss
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The Good and the Bad of a new YouTube Channel for Google Apps Marketplace
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