Wednesday, 08 September 2010 02:46

Amazon has acquired music startup Amie Street, which the company actually helped fund. Unfortunately for Amie Street users, the service will be shut down.

Amie Street has an interesting business model, which lets musicians upload music, which starts out free to users. The more downloads the songs get, the more the price goes up (up to a $1). Interesting as it may be, it apparently didn't work. 

According to Michael Arrington, the Amie Street team will focus on Amazon's Songza, a custom playlist-based music service.  He says, "While the users and the brand are being acquired, Amazon will most likely ditch the business model, say the founders (stressing that they don’t know for sure)."


Peter Kafka shares a letter from Amie...

Read more: Amazon Acquires Amie Street Music Startup

Wednesday, 08 September 2010 01:54

Google is holding an even later today in which it is expected to unveil some new search-related product. Yesterday's highly publicized Google doodle, which had the Google logo turning into a bunch of balls flying around as your mouse got closer to it, is presumed to be a clue to the new product launch. 

Google has another logo change today. It simply displays the Google logo in a a gray hue, which turns into the standard Google colors as you type. This is thought to be another clue. 

Yesterday, a mysterious Google Labs experiment appeared, called Google Scribe, which gives you suggestions for your next words and phrases as you type, based on several factors. This may also be a clue, because another Google experiment was recently...

Read more: Is Google About to Give Results While You Type Your Query?

Tuesday, 07 September 2010 09:59

According to the EFF, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled that federal law allows judges the discretion to require that the government obtain a probable cause search warrant before accessing cell phone location data. 

Reuters reports that the U.S. Justice Department is looking into Google's acquisition of ITA software. Google made it pretty clear from the beginning that it expected heavy scrutiny. 

PayPal expects to be a significant part of paying for video content streamed to televisions. In a post on the company blog today, PayPal VP of Global Product Strategy, Sam Shrauger, says, "We're sure that PayPal will play an important role in removing the friction and letting consumers enjoy their TV and movies, where...

Read more: Court Rules Government Must Get Warrant to Access Cell Phone Location Data