p2pnet World Headlines: Nov 20, 2009, #1
Howdy, everyone:
As I posted yesterday, I have a lot of stuff happening in the background (as well as being hit by this bug that’s going around) so from today until next week, sometime, I’ll mainly be posting headline roundups, although they’ll be interspersed with stories, if and when I can manage it.
But normal service WILL be resumed, and as soon as possible. 
If you want to help out in the meanwhile, please send submissions (anonymous or named) to p2pnet @ shaw dot ca.
Cheers! And thanks …
Jon
____________
Sony Unveils Its Answer to Apple’s iTunes BusinessWeek
Sony is taking a page from Apple’s playbook (AAPL). On Nov. 19, Sony said it plans to launch an online store selling music, movies, and books as well as other downloadable applications for mobile products. Sony’s top executives didn’t specify when the Internet store, tentatively called Sony Online Service, would go live or what it would look like. But the online storefront, announced at a management strategy meeting in Tokyo, is likely to bear some similarities to Apple’s iTunes store and would be Sony’s most ambitious attempt to link its products to its own vast library of digital content. Coming up with a software strategy for Sony has been Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer’s mission since taking over in mid-2006. The adjustment hasn’t been easy. Long known for the world-class designs of its flat-screen Bravia TVs, Walkman music players, and Cybershot cameras, Sony has struggled to use software to its advantage.
Google Says It Doesn’t Want to Be a Utility New York Times
Ed Lu, the former astronaut and now program manager for advanced products at Google, wants to be clear: Google is not interested in competing with utilities. ‘We are not in the business of providing electric power,’ Mr. Lu said in a discussion this morning at the GreenBeat 2009 conference in San Mateo, Calif. The assertion came in response to a line of questioning by the conference organizer, Matt Marshall of VentureBeat, who ticked off Google’s dominance in search, online advertising, and other Internet markets — and its more recent foray into cellphone operating systems.
Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos CBC
A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer’s insurance company cut them, she says, because of photos posted on Facebook. Nathalie Blanchard, 29, has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Que., for the last year and a half after she was diagnosed with major depression. The Eastern Townships woman was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from Manulife, her insurance company, but the payments dried up this fall. When Blanchard called Manulife, the company said that “I’m available to work, because of Facebook,” she told CBC News this week. She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on the popular social networking site, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said. Blanchard said she notified Manulife that she was taking a trip, and she’s shocked the company would investigate her in such a manner and interpret her photos that way. [Cheers, Marc]
Power-guzzling TVs to be banned BBC
Energy-hungry television sets will soon be banned across California in a landmark move by state legislators to reduce energy consumption. The state will be the first in the US to impose a mandatory energy curb on TVs, an often-overlooked power drain. Supporters say the move will help save California residents more than $8bn over 10 years in energy costs. But some 25% of TVs currently on sale would not meet the minimum standards, an industry group in Virginia said.
Prince of Persia: Original Source Code Documentation [PDF] – Reddit
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/nov2009/gb20091119_588376.htm
Sony is taking a page from Apple’s playbook (AAPL). On Nov. 19, Sony said it plans to launch an online store selling music, movies, and books as well as other downloadable applications for mobile products. Sony’s top executives didn’t specify when the Internet store, tentatively called Sony Online Service, would go live or what it would look like. But the online storefront, announced at a management strategy meeting in Tokyo, is likely to bear some similarities to Apple’s iTunes store and would be Sony’s most ambitious attempt to link its products to its own vast library of digital content. Coming up with a software strategy for Sony has been Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer’s mission since taking over in mid-2006. The adjustment hasn’t been easy. Long known for the world-class designs of its flat-screen Bravia TVs, Walkman music players, and Cybershot cameras, Sony has struggled to use software to its advantage.
Google Says It Doesn’t Want to Be a Utility New York Times
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/google-we-dont-want-to-be-a-utility/?partner=rss&emc=rss
Ed Lu, the former astronaut and now program manager for advanced products at Google, wants to be clear: Google is not interested in competing with utilities. ‘We are not in the business of providing electric power,’ Mr. Lu said in a discussion this morning at the GreenBeat 2009 conference in San Mateo, Calif. The assertion came in response to a line of questioning by the conference organizer, Matt Marshall of VentureBeat, who ticked off Google’s dominance in search, online advertising, and other Internet markets — and its more recent foray into cellphone operating systems.
Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos CBC
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/11/19/quebec-facebook-sick-leave-benefits.html
A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer’s insurance company cut them, she says, because of photos posted on Facebook. Nathalie Blanchard, 29, has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Que., for the last year and a half after she was diagnosed with major depression. The Eastern Townships woman was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from Manulife, her insurance company, but the payments dried up this fall. When Blanchard called Manulife, the company said that “I’m available to work, because of Facebook,” she told CBC News this week. She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on the popular social networking site, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said. Blanchard said she notified Manulife that she was taking a trip, and she’s shocked the company would investigate her in such a manner and interpret her photos that way. [Cheers, Marc]
Power-guzzling TVs to be banned BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8367545.stm
Energy-hungry television sets will soon be banned across California in a landmark move by state legislators to reduce energy consumption. The state will be the first in the US to impose a mandatory energy curb on TVs, an often-overlooked power drain. Supporters say the move will help save California residents more than $8bn over 10 years in energy costs. But some 25% of TVs currently on sale would not meet the minimum standards, an industry group in Virginia said.
Prince of Persia: Original Source Code Documentation [PDF] – Reddit
http://jordanmechner.com/wp-content/uploads/1989/10/popsource009.pdf
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