Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO–A schoolboy and his father have unleashed software that lets people listen to YouTube’s vast collection of music videos as if it were a private collection.

Muziic software created by 15-year-old David Nelson enables computers to mine YouTube’s rich database of songs and play customized lists of tunes free of charge.

“The Muziic player is a pretty cool little thing,” said analyst Matt Rosoff of technology industry tracking firm Directions On Microsoft.

“It looks and works a lot like iTunes in that it is a downloable desktop application; but you get all the content from YouTube. You have an all-in-one-place library of music for free.”

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By Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON–TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington announced Wednesday he is taking a break from writing for his influential technology blog after being spat on at a conference and getting death threats.

Writing on techcrunch.com, Arrington, 38, said an unidentified man “walked up to me and quite deliberately spat in my face” on Tuesday at the Digital, Life, Design conference he was attending in Munich, Germany.

“In the past I’ve been grabbed, pulled, shoved and otherwise abused at events, but never spat on,” Arrington said. “I think this is where I’m going to draw a line.

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By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net

REALIZING the power of blogging to disseminate information, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is tapping the Elections Education and Information Department (EID)’s blog to give updates on the ongoing voters’ registration.

“Now that we have the technology available and stable, the Comelec will use the bagongbotante.ph blog website to give voters here and abroad updates about the ongoing registration and at the same time, to gather feedback from voters, especially the youth,” said Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez.

Jimenez said the Comelec aims to educate the youth on how registration is being conducted in the National Capital Region and to encourage them to register as voters.

“Unlike before when technology is unavailable to us and blogging is a domain for hobbyists and experts, now is the right time–when we have access to technology and blog systems are more stable–to fully utilize the power of blogging to encourage Filipinos to register and exercise their rights of suffrage,” said Jimenez.

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JUST a day after a golf club mauling incident was reported, dozens of blogs are denouncing alleged perpetrators who happen to be high-ranking government officials.

Masui, Lanao del Sur Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr. and several of his golf companions and bodyguards figured in an altercation last December 26 with Delfin de la Paz and his 14-year old son Bino at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo City.

It was later found out that Department of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman Sr. was also present at the golf club but was said to have not been part of the alleged mauling.

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By Agence France-Presse

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s leading blogger, Raja Petra Kamaruddin, was Friday released from detention under controversial internal security laws after a court ruled the government had no right to hold him.

Raja Petra, a vocal government critic who had been held at a notorious detention camp since September, wept and embraced his family after being freed by the Shah Alam High Court.

“I’m realy glad it’s over. I’m really tired. The judge’s decision proves that there was no justification for my detention,” he said, calling for an end to the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for detention without trial.

“We have to fight all-out and get the ISA abolished,” he told reporters.

Looking haggard and dressed in a brown T-shirt and jeans, Raja Petra was garlanded by dozens of supporters outside the court before stepping into a maroon Rolls Royce provided by a supporter to ferry him home.

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AT least two bloggers, a journalist, and one opposition politician were arrested under Malaysia’s Internal Security Act (ISA) on September 12 in what media and activists are afraid may be the start of a wider crackdown ahead of an anticipated opposition push to gain control of parliament next week, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) said.

SEAPA said in a statement that Malaysia’s leading blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who is also a staunch government critic on his website “Malaysia Today,” was the first to be arrested in this week’s arrests.

Journalist Tan Hoon Cheng who works Sin Chew Daily, a Chinese-language newspaper that had recently covered a controversial outburst from a ruling party member who called the ethnic Chinese community “squatters,” was also reportedly arrested, SEAPA said quoting reports from. Malaysiakini.com.

Lawmaker Teresa Kok of the Chinese-based DAP and Deputy Chief Minister in Selangor was also arrested under the ISA, SEAPA said.

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BLOGCRITICS.ORG, an online blog community of bloggers providing news and reviews, announced that it has been acquired by blog search service Technorati.

Blogcritics joined the Technorati Media Network in June but there are no plans to merge the two properties, Blogcritics said.

In an e-mail newsletter to its subscribers and contributors, Blogcrritics said Technorati intends to grow the Blogcritics community, where more than 2,000 bloggers and authors contribute.

Blogcritics said it has been providing “bloggers with an entry point to publish their content to a much broader audience than their own blogs afford.”

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By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

How do you create blog? What copyright rules should be followed? How can you earn from blogging?

Blogger and editor of Digital Filipino Janette Toral hopes to answer these questions in her latest book “Blogging from Home,” which she launched at the recent Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines Summit in Makati City.

Toral, who has been blogging for the last five years, said that she has been thinking of coming out with a book on blogging since 2006 but realized she needed to understand the blogging community more in particular its dynamics.

“I hope to share how [people] could make a presence in the blogosphere and perhaps earn a little, without having to be so gung ho,” Toral said in an interview.

Watch this video interview with Toral.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SOCIAL networking is getting ever more confusing as new services are activated at breakneck speed. In the past, there was Friendster.com, then LinkedIn.com, MySpace.com, Flickr.com, and now Facebook.com. The growth phenomenon of social networking services is so fast people are just having a hard time monitoring their accounts one by one. So they have turned to social networking aggregators that make it easier to access all these networks.

Welcome 3GLifestore, a social networking aggregator created by Ericsson, a provider of telecommunications infrastructure. The company has been testing this online service for a year but has not opened it to the public. Only a select few Ericsson employees and business partners are able to access the site, which requires a username and password.

The company showcased 3GLifestore to some telecommunications providers in Manila.

Ericsson regional sales and business development manager Rahul Hukku gave a few reporters a glimpse of 3GLifestore.

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By Agence France-Presse

SINGAPORE - A US national said Tuesday he will be tried in Singapore next month for allegedly insulting two judges who had presided over cases involving an opposition leader.

Gopalan Nair, a former Singaporean lawyer who is now a US citizen, told Agence France-Presse he has not yet hired a lawyer to represent him in the trial from September 8 to 19.

“At this moment, I am representing myself,” he said.

Nair faces two charges of insulting judges on his blog. Each charge carries a jail term of up to one year, S$5,000 fine (US$3,676) or both.

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