Showdown: Mobile App Stores Duke It Out

Inspired by Apple’s success in creating a mobile application marketplace, nearly every major smartphone platform now has an accompanying app store.

Seeing these stores launches has begun to resemble watching a marathon: Just when you think everyone’s crossed the finish line, you can see a few stragglers making their way to the end.

On Tuesday, Palm became the latest handset maker to launch its own marketplace to distribute mobile software from independent developers. It’s the third to do so, after Apple and Google’s Android. And it’s not the last. Application stores for BlackBerry and Microsoft phones are still waiting in the wings. read more

Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits, Cozy Up To ISPs Instead

After years of suing thousands of people for allegedly stealing music via the Internet, the recording industry is set to drop its legal assault as it searches for more effective ways to combat online music piracy. read more

Imeem Gobbles Up A Young Startup, Anywhere.FM

After less than a year in operation, the team at Anywhere.FM reached an early payday today when veteran social music service Imeem gobbled them up for an undisclosed sum, most likely in a cash and stock mix. The iTunes-style web music player had raised under $100,000 in financing from Y Combinator and angels, making an early exit likely below $5 million possible. Anywhere.FM with its 60,000 users and over 9 million uploaded songs will continue to exist as is, but the founders will be joining Imeem to complete their earnout and continue work on their iTunes-style music player at Imeem’s San Francisco office. read more

FREE BEATS

CBGB Making A Comeback Thanks To NY Entrepreneurs

The notorious urinal that served patrons of the famed New York rock club CBGB for 33 years now sits retired in a basement in Manhattan’s posh SoHo district.

Plucked from the graffiti-covered walls when the club closed in 2006, the urinal is among several CBGB artifacts — such as the gritty “CBGB & OMFUG” awning that hung over 315 Bowery and a phone booth covered with punk-rock band stickers — donated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC, which opened its doors last week. read more

Learn to Talk To Girls With This 9-Year-Old

Alec Greven, a fourth-grader at at Soaring Hawk Elementary School in Castle Rock, Colo., began writing the book “How to Talk to Girls” — about the dos and don’ts of dating — when he was 8 years old. The book came out of a school writing assignment, and he so impressed his teacher and principal that the book was sold for $3 at the school book fair and became the fair’s top seller. The book eventually made its way into the hands of a publisher, and Alec has since been doling out advice to boys of all ages all over the country. He spoke to TODAYshow.com about what inspired him to write this book, why boys should stay away from “pretty girls” and what the future holds for him as a dating expert. read more

Filmmaker Plans to Install Camera in His Eye Socket

Rob Spence looks you straight in the eye when he talks. So it’s a little unnerving to imagine that soon one of his hazel-green eyes will have a tiny wireless video camera in it that records your every move.

The eye he’s considering replacing is not a working one — it’s a prosthetic eye he’s worn for several years. Spence, a 36-year-old Canadian filmmaker, is not content with having one blind eye. He wants a wireless video camera inside his prosthetic, giving him the ability to make movies wherever he is, all the time, just by looking around. read more

Us Now – The Power of Mass Collaboration, Government and the Internet

US NOW is a film project about the power of mass collaboration, government and the internet.

Learn More Here

Sam Zell – From Real Estate To Newspapers

Before Sam Zell bought the Tribune Company last year, he said he was “skeptical” of using staff reductions to increase profit. He famously told the Los Angeles Times, “I promise you I did not come here to be the captain of the Titanic.”

Since then, however, the newspaper industry’s woes have intensified—and Zell has made numerous staff reductions at Tribune’s newspapers, which in addition to the L.A. Times also include the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun. The outspoken Zell, who made his fortune investing in real estate, has dubbed the Tribune purchase “the deal from hell.” read more

How Seth McFarlane Turned Family Guy Into $2 Billion

Family Guy = $2 Billion.

It’s not hard to find someone who delights in attacking the show Family Guy. Which isn’t a criticism, per se. Much of the animated sitcom’s purpose seems to be to stoke the opposition, to offend the easily offended. But that’s not the only reason it annoys people. There is a school of thought that says the show is hackish — crudely drawn and derivative of its cartoon forebears. Members of this school would include, most prominently, Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, and Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the fathers of South Park, which is probably the only show on television that rivals Family Guy for objectionable content per half hour. South Park has devoted entire episodes to attacking Family Guy, portraying the show’s writers as manatees who push “idea balls” with random jokes down tubes to generate plotlines. Kricfalusi has said, “You can draw Family Guy when you’re 10 years old.” read more

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