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FCC plans new broadband regulations

Associated Press | Federal regulators plan to change the way
they govern broadband services to ensure they can pursue their efforts
to bring high-speed connections to all Americans and require phone and
cable companies to treat all Internet traffic equally.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski on
Thursday will lay out a roadmap for regulating broadband that has been
eagerly anticipated since a federal court ruling last month cast doubt
on the agency’s authority over high-speed Internet access.

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Orbitz narrows loss, beats expecations

Dow Jones Newswires | Orbitz Worldwide Inc. significantly
narrowed its loss in the first quarter — its second-straight period in
the red — absent $331.5 million in 2009 write-downs partly related to
declines in the online travel company’s stock price. The results beat
analysts’ expectations, and Orbitz also reported significantly stronger
bookings.

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Groupon now inspiring deal aggregators

Groupon-Web.jpgAndrew Mason and his company Groupon have inspired clones and aggregators throughout the U.S. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

By Wailin Wong
| Chicago-based Groupon, the Web-based daily deal service, has inspired
dozens of clones. Now the number of Groupon-like websites has spurred
growth in an ancillary industry: deal aggregators.

Chicago-based Dealradar.com announced Tuesday that it has renamed and
overhauled its site, which was launched in February as Local Offer
Lounge. Dealradar covers daily deals from more than 80 websites in about
60 cities, including Chicago. According to Dealradar, some cities have
so many competing services that their residents would have to read at
least 15 e-mails every day to keep current on all the daily local
offers.

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Motorola not among top 5 cell phone makers

Droid-Web.jpgBy Wailin Wong |
Motorola Inc. is no longer one of the top five mobile phone makers
worldwide, according to a new ranking by research firm IDC.

The Schaumburg-based technology company has been in the top five since
IDC began its quarterly reports in 2004, and was in the No. 2 spot that
year. But Motorola’s well-documented woes of recent years — failing to
follow up the Razr with more hit products, and missing out on the
industry’s initial shift into sophisticated, Web-connected devices –
caused the company to slip in the rankings. Research In Motion, the
maker of the BlackBerry, replaced Motorola in the list for the first
quarter of 2010, according to IDC.

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Facebook expansion has Senators concerned

Associated Press | Four U.S. senators want Facebook to make it
easier for its more than 400 million users to protect their privacy as
the website develops new outlets to share personal information.

The call for simpler privacy controls came in a letter that the
senators plan to send Tuesday to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The
Associated Press obtained a draft of the letter signed by Sen. Charles
Schumer of New York; Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Sen. Mark Begich
of Alaska; and Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota.

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Newspapers, paid print circulation down again

By Phil Rosenthal | The latest news is old news in the newspaper business: Paid circulation at the nation’s daily newspapers continued to decline in the six-month period ending in March, according to figures released today by the Arlington Heights-based Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Get the full story: Tower Ticker.

Google opens YouTube rental store

Dow Jones Newswires | Google Inc.’s  YouTube on Thursday opened a
video rental store, the company’s latest step in its effort to
transform the popular video Web site into a profitable business.

The rental store features a variety of independent movies, Bollywood
content and television episodes. Rentals cost 99 cents to $3.99, with
fees paid through Google Check-out. Customers can view their rentals for
48 hours.

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Hulu to test $9.95 subscription fee

By Dawn C. Chmielewski and Meg James | Hulu, the popular online site for watching television shows, plans to begin testing a subscription service as soon as May 24, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

Under the proposal, Hulu would continue to provide for free the five most recent episodes of shows like Fox’s “Glee,” “ABC’s “Lost” or NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” But viewers who want to see additional episodes would pay $9.95 a month to access a more comprehensive selection, called Hulu Plus, these people said.

Get the full story: L.A. Times’ Company Town blog

See also
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• How the online sites compare
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• Gov. Quinn backs off download tax
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Dow Jones Newswire owner sues Briefing.com

From Bloomberg News | Dow Jones Newswire owner Newscorp. has filed suit against Chicago-based financial news Website Briefing.com, claiming it stole a significant amount of its content, often within minutes of it being published. A Briefing.com spokeswoman had no immediate comment.

Get the full story: businessweek.com

Appolicious signs agreement with Yahoo

By Wailin Wong | Chicago-based Appolicious Inc., whose websites help consumers sort through the growing market of mobile phone applications, has signed an agreement with Yahoo! where its content will be linked to on sites such as Yahoo News, Sports and Finance.

Appolicious, which was started last year by entrepreneur Al Warms, combines independent reviews with social-networking tools such as ratings and profiles. The bulk of the company’s content centers on apps for the iPhone, but it’s also adding information about apps for Android, Google’s operating system for mobile phones.

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Colorado man loses pinkie in iPad theft

ipad.JPGAssociated Press | A thief’s thirst for a brand new iPad cost a
Colorado man not only a much-coveted device but also two-thirds of a
pinky finger, police said.

Doctors had to amputate part of Bill
Jordan’s left pinky after a man yanked away a bag containing an iPad
that Jordan had just purchased at a Denver mall.

This image taken from video and released by the Denver police. (AP Photo/Denver Police) >>

Jordan, 59, had the cord of the bag wrapped around his left hand when
the thief “completely blind-sided” him and jerked the bag off his hand,
stripping the flesh of Jordan’s finger down to the bone.

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Google reports government requests for user data

Dow Jones Newswires | Google Inc. released data about the number
of requests it receives from government agencies for data about users
and to remove content, in a move it says is aimed at exposing the
growing problem of Internet censorship.

Through a new mapping
tool, Google is displaying the number of requests it receives for user
data related to criminal investigations as well as the number of
government requests it received for removing content from services such
as YouTube. The company also lists what percentage of the content
removal requests it complies with by country, except for China, where it
says numerating the requests would be illegal.

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Chicago an early market for ‘Google Places’

From the San Francisco Chronicle | Chicago will be one of the first markets in which businesses can become “Google Places” in Google Inc.’s revamped directory business. The change allows companies to create online profiles and advertise within Google maps.

Get the full story: sfgate.com.

Chinese hackers stole key Google program

Associated Press | Computer hackers stole a program that
controlled access to most of Google Inc.’s services when they attacked
the Internet company late last year, according to a report published
late Monday.

The story in The New York Times provided more details about an
intrusion that provoked a politically charged showdown between Google
and China’s government over Internet censorship and computer security.

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Blogs claim to have pictures of new iPhone

Associated Press | Technology bloggers have posted photos of
what may be the next version of the iPhone. If the gadget is real,
Apple’s next iPhone could have a longer battery life and be used for
video chatting. Analysts expect an updated iPhone this summer.

AOL blog Engadget posted photos
of the device
over the weekend.
Gizmodo, a competing gadget blog, obtained the phone itself and
published details Monday. Both blogs say the phone was found in a
Silicon Valley bar.

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