E-scammer allegedly bilks wannabe WSJ advertisers
With all the troubles papers are having selling ad space in print publications these days, it may seem like an unlikely choice for a scam. Nonetheless, a woman allegedly sold fake ad pages in newspapers that she had no affiliation with. Julia Sorokin, a 38-year-old Californian, faces charges of identity theft in a New York court after allegedly selling ad spaces in non-existent special supplements in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, according to the North Country Gazette, a Westchester County paper. She allegedly set up internet sites with domain names that referenced these publications and then approached companies via email claiming to be employed by the papers. Prosecutors believe that she made nearly $48,000 on the scheme in just over a year.
YouTube rolls out high-definition video destination
YouTube users can now find all the popular online video-sharing site's high-definition videos in one place. In addition, the site announced yesterday on a company blog that it is also testing three new landing pages focused on news, movies and music. "The news page will be populated with breaking stories from around the world as well as news drawn from the Google News service; music will feature rising videos alongside playlists dedicated to different genres; movies will showcase some of the most popular short and full-length movies on YouTube today," the blog states. YouTube's HD player provides a widescreen window while also allowing users to avoid images surrounded by black bars. The HD-enabled videos began rolling out quietly earlier this month, and last month YouTube began expanding the width of all its videos.
MPAA targets three film-flammers with piracy lawsuits
Piracy is making a comeback on the high seas, and on the internet. Three more web sites have come under scrutiny from the Motion Picture Association of America for allegedly allowing the illegal downloading of movies. The MPAA sued campusist.com, movies-on-demand.tv and sswarez.com this week, Wired magazine is reporting. The movie organization has now filed 13 such lawsuits since 2007. The three new lawsuits accuse the U.S.-based web sites of providing unauthorized copies of films. But as illegal downloading continues to skyrocket, the lawsuits may not be nearly enough to stop the underground trading of the MPAA’s intellectual property. U.S. judges have closed down at least four sites since March and the MPAA has won a number of settlement agreements and been awarded millions in fines. But the major legal question of whether such sites violate U.S. copyright laws has remained unanswered by the courts.
New from NPR, make your own customized podcast
Remixes aren’t just for pop stars. Public radio fans can now create their own listening experience thanks to a new online feature launched this week on NPR.org. “Mix Your Own Podcast” makes it easier for public radio fans to customize their podcasts by choosing between subject, program, station and favorite personalities. Listeners can build their own podcasts by going to either the NPR.org Podcast Directory or the NPR API (Application Programming Interface) Query Generator. There they can customize based on more than 130 topics or by choosing their favorite stations and reporters. NPR currently serves more than 14 million podcast downloads of news and cultural programming per month, and has provided more than 300 million downloads since August 2005.
