Stefania Spagnuolo

At last week's shareholders meeting, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel got less-than-rave reviews. As a result, his resignation may turn shareholders frowns upside down. In his place, Semel leaves co-founder Jerry Yang to take over the executive duties. He also ... announced that Susan Decker, the company's former chief financial officer who recently became the head of Yahoo's advertising and publishing segment, will fill the role of president. (Source: mediaweek.com ) The announcement came in a memo issued to Yahoo's board of directors on June 18th. Semel wrote, "As you know, we have long talked about the ... (view more)

The European Union's head justice official has applauded Google on its decision to reduce the amount of time it keeps the personal data of Internet users. "I think it is indeed a good step," said EU justice and home affairs commissioner Franco ... Frattini at a news conference in Luxembourg. His comment was in response to Google's decision to only keep the data for 18 months, a modest improvement from Google's original plan to keep the data for 18 to 24 months. (Source: mercurynews.com ) "I have appreciated the commitment of Google not only to meet our expectations in terms of protection of ... (view more)

Microsoft has admitted that many customers are reluctant to switch to Windows Vista because of its sub par reputation, and the company is now trying to convince customers that there is no need to worry. In a newsletter, Microsoft said, "some ... customers may be waiting to adopt Windows Vista because they've heard rumors about device or application compatibility issues, or because they think they should wait for a service pack release." Although Microsoft will be releasing a Service Pack later this year, the company is anxious for users to adopt the new operating system now. (Source: slashdot.org ... (view more)

Blockbuster is stepping up its game. The movie rental giant has decided to lower online rental prices in an attempt to battle competitor Netflix. Up until recently, Blockbuster only offered the Total Access plan, which allowed customers to utilize ... an online rental system in addition to in-store rentals for $17.99 per month. On Tuesday, the company announced that it would drop the price by a dollar for customers who do not use the in-store portion of the deal. (Source: betanews.com ) Netflix, which does not have any retail stores, offers a similar online-only plan for $17.99 per month. But ... (view more)

Google vice president Laszlo Bock testified before Congress on Wednesday, urging the legislative body to allow for more foreign hiring. Bock, vice president of people operations at Google, said that the company may not exist if co-founder Sergey ... Brin and his parents had not been able to flee from the Soviet Union to the US decades ago. Bock's testimony was part of a hearing focused on business community perspectives of immigration law alterations. "Within Google, there are countless examples of immigrants and non-immigrant foreign workers playing a vital role in our company," Bock said. "It ... (view more)

Although they once fought for more than a century during the Hundred Years' War, it seems sports copyrights have been enough to unite old foes against a common enemy. The Federation Francaise de Tennis and Ligue de Football Professionnel (France's ... tennis and soccer organizations) have joined England's Premier League in a lawsuit against YouTube. The lawsuit was filed last month in a US District Court. The Premier League is aiming to gain class-action status for the suit, which argues that it is YouTube's responsibility to use the necessary tools to prevent copyright-protected material from ... (view more)

Some tech critics believe Apple TV will be nothing less than a flop. How bad could it be? Recent reports suggest it might hurt the company behind the device more than they ever imagined. The components and materials to make Apple TV cost $237 ... apiece. Apple is selling the product for $299, leaving a gross profit of only $62, or about 20 percent. And that's before marketing costs. (Source: theinquirer.net ) The razor thin profit margin is especially uncharacteristic for Apple, which is used to gross margins above 50% for products outside its computer line. The iPod has proven to be a high ... (view more)

Music buffs unite! Microsoft has just launched Ignition, a new music initiative aimed at giving new recording artists exposure via various Microsoft channels. The Ignition program will utilize Zune, Xbox and MSN to offer exposure to new artists for ... over a month. Zune Marketplace and Zune.net will offer free downloads and features, Xbox LIVE Marketplace will feature video downloads, and MSN Video and MSN Music will provide promotional video and music streams. (Source: tech2.com ) As Microsoft's director of music marketing Christina Callo explains, "the Ignition program is designed to help ... (view more)

Many music lovers were happy to hear that Apple would be using DRM-free music. However, smiles turned into frowns last week when it was revealed that Apple is labeling the unprotected music files with the buyer's details, including names and email ... addresses. If the user uploads the song to another file-sharing network, he could get into some seriously hot water. Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that Apple has remained mum about the reason for obtaining the information. However, defending their position is Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg. Gartenberg said that there are numerous ... (view more)

A survey by UK human resources firm Croner revealed that an astonishing 39 percent of bloggers have written something sensitive or damaging about the people they work with. That's a lot of office gossip leaking into the public -- and that could be ... quite dangerous. (Source: arstechnica.com ) But why would so many people write unflattering information in such a public place? According to Croner, many are treating blogs the same way that email was first treated when it was new. When email first came out, "many recipients received rude, angry or otherwise inflammatory emails which had been ... (view more)