Apple has gone into contract with NewsCorp's Fox.  The contract stipulates that FoxDVD releases will be available to rent on iTunes.

Currently, only Walt Disney is selling their new movie releases on the popular Apple platform iTunes.  Other hollywood studios, MGM, Paramount and LionsGate are only selling older titles on iTunes.

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Radiohead is probably the biggest music band by Web2.0 standards.  After releasing an album on the internet and having downloaders pay whatever amount they like for it, Radiohead single handedly brought down the music industry distribution cartel.

With all the attention and the phenomenal success they had with the pay-what-you-download stint they pulled, they are now going to do something similar with a free worldwide concert over the internet.

We've all seen how internet TV affected the world wide broadcast with live video streaming and its effects on TV and movie have been controversial.  Now, instead of going against that flow, Radiohead will beexploiting that phenomenon to promotheir new album.  Their free on the wire concert will be broadcast on New Year's eve via CurrentTV, Current.com and their website .  Frontman Thom Yorke had this to say, "This is a wee celebration of the release of the physical manifestation of 'in rainbows.'" ...more

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Japan - the world's second largest economy and 100 million can-afford and savvy mobile phone users .  Japan's largest mobile provider NTT DoCoMo has been a very hard telco to work with considering that they have their own system and very stiff rules and regulations, typically Japanese.  However, DoCoMo shouldn't be the one bending over for anybody.  They are using the most efficient and most advanced technology and network.  While the world was using 2G they were a step ahead in 3G and already on the verge of crossing into 4G.

Anyway, signs of opening up have been positive so far.  DoCoMo is now in talks with Apple Inc. for the iPhone release in Japan but nothing's confirmed yet.  Though there might be a silver lining for Apple.

NTT DoCoMo has partnered up with Google Inc to make available Google mobile applications on the Japanese iMode mobile network according to the AP news report . ...more

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If you've been reading the blog Mashable , you'd know that there's this Open Web Awards. Users like you and me are free to nominate any site we think deserves an award and the rest of the world votes. It's actually a 2 tiered contest, nominations are rated and only a couple of hundred get to join the voting round. Aside from the people's choice awards there is also a judged round where nominees face criticism of Mashable's top 30 critiques.

Anyway, it's all done now and here are the results. The Winners will be awarded on January 10 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and will receive the honor and bragging rights (there's also some prize money that I don't know about).

1. PEOPLE’S CHOICE

Mainstream and Large Social Networks
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Many did not see it coming, so did I.  A couple of weeks ago, Kayak was raising more than $100 million.  It seemed odd for the to be doing this given that they already have more than $20 million in VC funding. It was only today that their reason for mising has been revealed.

It hasn't been officially announced yet but somebody leaked the information out, Kayak just bought SideStep.  The official announcement will be tomorrow but the information leaked when CEO of SideStep  Rob Solomon told SideStep employees in an all-hands meeting.

Anyways, Kayak and SideStep are the leaders in online vending of airline tickets capping off at $2.5 billion and $1 billion respectively every year.  Though SideStep is also profitable, they have never surpassed Kayak in sales even if they have received more VC funding ($32 million). ...more

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Apple has finally won the court battle it started with the blog site ThinkSecret after 2 years of squabbling.

ThinkSecret was a blog dedicated to leaking out information from Apple regarding software and hardwware technologies. Aside from that, they have also been the loudest blog to speak against the Apple brand. In 2005, Apple sued ThinkSecret for leaking apple products that were yet to be showcased in MacWorld Expo 2005. Since then ThinkSecret was able to continue doing what it did until today.

ThinkSecret may have been the most hated blog of Apple but it was probably the most loved technical review and update source of Mac users everywhere. ThinkSecret tried to have the suit dismissed under the First Ammendment but to no avail. ...more

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"Microsoft, Google and Yahoo agreed Dec. 19 to pay a combined $31.5 million to resolve government claims that they promoted illegal gambling by receiving advertising payments from online sports books, casinos and poker sites between 1997 and June 2007."  -eWeek.com

The internet giants did not put up a fight against the allegations and volunteered to pay.  Microsoft $21 Million, Yahoo - $7.5 Million, and Google - $3 Million.  U.S. Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway of the Eastern District of Missouri led the investigation to the conclusion that the internet companies violated the Federal Wire Wager Act and gambling laws.  It turns out that unregulated commercial gambling is prohibited throughout the states.

Hanaway said in a statement that over $40 Million has been collected in this manner from operators of these illegal remote controlled online gambling sites.  She added, "Honest taxpayers and gambling industry personnel who do follow the law suffer from those who promote illegal online behavior." ...more

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The FCC's deadline for submitting applications for the 700MHz auction expired last Monday.

As expected, the big players are in, Google (as Google Airwaves), AT&T, Verizon, Qualcomm and most notably, Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft.

There was a total of 266 applications. 96 were accepted, 170 are pending completion. ...more

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