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June 2002
- Gator Sued: More Anger at Gator
Several online publishers have filed a suit that calls
Gator a "a parasite on the Web
that free rides on the hard work and the investments
of plaintiffs and other Web site owners." Gator
was accused
of illegal business practices in 2001 for its software
program (labeled as scumware by many) that
covers up the banner ads of other websites.
Critics also argued that Gator.com's Companion Pop-up
Banner software is difficult to remove and is secretly
bundled with other software so users don't realize
they have downloaded it. The publishers claim that
Gator even publishes marketing materials offering to sell
ads on their websites.
The publishers hope to get an order to block Gator from being
able to serve pop-ups over their websites. The publishers
going after Gator include The Washington Post, the
New York Times, Dow Jones, Tribune Interactive,
Gannett, Knight Ridder Digital, Condenet and American
City Business Journals Inc.
Source: News.com, Washington Post, New York Times 6-28-02
- CNet is laying off 10% of its workforce, about
200 employees. CNet's stock price recently fell to the
$2 per share range.
Source: Philly.com 6-27-02
- Salon Auditors Doubt Salon Will Survive
Salon, an online media company,
is down to its last $1.5 million and its
auditors don't think Salon can make it
as a going concern. Salon has been close
to the end before, but maybe not this close.
Source: Reuters
on News.com, 10-K Filing 6-26-02
- Online Publishers: Unite or Die
Are online publishers like Salon and Slate
going to die? Some will die
according to Business 2.0 writer Jimmy Guterman --
unless they band together.
Source: Business2.0 6-26-02
- Adelphia Communications, the nation's six largest
cable company, has filed for bankruptcy.
Source: New York Times, L.A. Times,
Boston Globe 6-26-02
- Yahoo is terminating
several of its broadcast
programs including FinanceVision and Yahoo Radio.
Less than 30 employees will be let go as a result.
Source: News.com 6-25-02
- President Clinton Needs Extension on Book
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is having no trouble
finishing her book on time and will probably even
finish early. Former President Clinton, however, has
barely gotten started. But even if President Clinton
is not finished until 2005 that is OK with Knopf.
Source: New York Times 6-25-02
- Patriot Act: FBI Searching Library Records
The FBI is visiting libraries and checking the records
to determine what 'suspected' terrorists are reading.
At least 85 libraries have been visited so far.
The FBI says the Patriot Act allows them to examine
library records, but laws also prevent librarians
from releasing the information. According to the
Washington Post, some librarians plan
to resist the government's attempts to examine
the library records. The American Library Association (ALA)
has set up a special section on its website about the
Patriot Act and library records.
Source: The Washington Post,
ALA 6-24-02
- Motor Service magazine will cease publication
with its June 2002 issue. The title has been
acquired by Advanstar Communications from
MCA Communications, LLC (formerly Adams Business Media).
As a result of the acquisition, Motor Service will be
incorporated into Advanstar's Motor Age publication.
Source: The Write News 6-21-02
- Gay Bookstores Struggling
Independent gay and lesbian bookstores are struggling
primarily from diminished tourism, generational
problems and increased competition
as gay and lesbian books become mainstream
and are more readily available at the large
bookstore chains and other retail outlets.
Source: New York Times 6-21-02
- A Web spammer attacked AOL Search and search listings
provider Inktomi to vault its webpages in the search engine
rankings. AOL downplayed the spamming and called it a
minor incident.
Source: News.com 6-21-02
- Earful of Books Inc., an audiobook retail chain, has
closed several stores and filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection.
Source: Publishers Weekly 6-21-02
- iUniverse.com
is centralizing its U.S. operations
at its Lincoln, Nebraska facility and closing
its Campbell, California offices. Publishers
Weekly reported that the company is laying
off 36 employees and is closing its corporate
documents business to focus on its publishing
services for authors. iUniverse said it will be
recruiting new management positions in the
Lincoln-Omaha area.
Source: Publishers Weekly, The Write News, Wired 6-21-02
- Bounced Checks at Impact Weekly
Bounced checks and other problems plague workers
at the Impact Weekly, a Dayton, Ohio alternative
newsweekly published
by Yesse! Communications. Some employees have quit and
don't plan on returning. Yesse!, which is based in
Carmel, Indiana, filed for bankruptcy
protection last year.
Source: AAN 6-17-02
- Random House
apparently had good reason
for its stream of layoffs last December. The
book publisher reported an operating loss of over
$14 million for the second half of 2001.
Source: New York Times 6-17-02
- Microsoft Ships Nimda Worm with Software
People who ordered the Korean version of
Microsoft's Visual Studio
.NET on CD software received a free (but unwanted!)
worm with their orders. Only the Korean version
was infected with the Nimba Worm virus. Microsoft
quicky notified customers and provided a patch.
Source: Newsfactor.com 6-17-02
- Books Blamed For Nightmares
Books can cause nightmares in children
according to a recent study. And fantasy novels cause
more lucid dreams that are more likely to be remembered.
The study (called Dream Lab) was conducted by researchers
from the University of Wales.
Source: BBC 6-17-02
- The Washington Post newsroom union leaders are urging
reporters not to write for the newspaper's website,
washingtonpost.com.
The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, which has
over 1,400 members, is currently involved
in contract negotiations with The Washington Post.
Source: Washington Post, Washington-Baltimore Newspaper
Guild 6-15-02
- The Fox News website was hit by a
denial-of-service on Friday, June 14, 2002.
The website either lowed slowly with missing graphics
or did not load at all for several hours.
Source: News.com 6-14-02
- Beijing Paper Admits Error With Onion Story
The Beijing Evening News has finally admitted its error
after running a rewritten story about Congress threatening a
move to Memphis unless a new Capitol building with a
retractable roof was constructed.
The L.A. Times reported that the Beijing paper was very
critical of The Onion in its apology to readers:
"Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat
news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of
making money," the paper said. "This is what the Onion does."
Source: L.A. Times
6-13-02
- Magazine Agony Continues
Magazine ad pages have continued dropping this year
for the 18th straight month. Ad pages for May were
down 6.6% from last year.
For the entire year ad revenues are down 3.3%
and ad pages are down 11.6%. However, ad revenue
did increase for May 2002 vs. 2001 by 2.4%.
Source: Meda Life,
Publishers Information Bureau
6-11-02
- CMP Media, a high-tech media company,
laid off 30 employees last month. The company
laid off numerous employees in 2001 and has dropped
to 1,800 employees from 2,700 in a little over a year.
Some of CMP's titles include New Architect, EE Time, CRN
and Information Week.
Source: Newsday 6-11-02
- A class-action lawsuit against Primedia's About.com
is still being pursued. The lawsuit concerns about 50
About.com guides with claims they were not paid correctly
and that About.com engaged in improper accounting. Leon Greenberg,
the attorney representing the disgruntled About.com guides, is
also represent ex-AOL volunteers in a class-action lawsuit that
claims AOL violated labor laws.
Source: Wired.com 6-7-02
- Beijing Paper Runs Onion Story
The Beijing Evening News, with a circulation over
1 million, has published a modified story
from the Onion,
a satirical weekly paper, about Congress threatening a
move to Memphis unless a new Capitol building with a
retractable roof is constructed.
Source: CNN 6-7-02
- The McGraw-Hill Bookstore in New York, which employed
19 people, is closing June 14th.
The bookstore's website will also close.
Source: Publishers Weekly 6-7-02
- Dow Jones is ceasing publication of the Asian
Wall Street Journal Weekly on July 1st. Four employees
will be let go and two will be reassigned. Subscribers
will be offered the Far Eastern Economic Review as
a substitution.
Source: WSJ.com 6-7-02
- Excite@Auction. People tried to find good deals
from the Excite auction last week including tripods, camcorders
and desktop computers. Excite@Home ceased operations in
February.
Source: News.com 6-7-02
- Britney Spears and the music companies representing
her have been sued for a copyright violation for the
songs What U See (Is What U Get) and Can't Make You Love Me.
The two songs were part of Britney's
Oops! ... I Did it Again album.
Source: BBC 6-7-02
- Trolls Try to Spoil the Fun
Trolls and hackers are trying to ruin online games.
The hackers use special cheats to create powerful characters
that can destroy beginner's characters in games like
Ultima Online.
Source: News.com 6-6-02
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