Tuesday, January 18, 2011

West Virginia county commission says MagicJack skipped out on 911 fees

Engadget
MagicJack has found itself in more than a few contentious confrontations before, and it looks like it's now landed in another with the Kanawha County Commission in Florida West Virginia. It's alleging that MagicJack has failed to collect 911 fees and in turn pay the funds to the county, which relies on the fees to fund its 911 emergency center -- or, as Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper succinctly puts it, "there's nothing 'magic' about Magic Jack." For it's part, the MagicJack insists that it is not a "voice-over-Internet" provider and therefore isn't required to pay 911 fees, and it further adds that it isn't even able to collect the fees due to the way its product is sold. We'll just have to wait and see how well that argument holds up when MagicJack faces the state's Public Service Commission on March 1st -- which, incidentally, has already denied MagicJack's request to dismiss the case.

West Virginia county commission says MagicJack skipped out on 911 fees originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |  sourceCharleston Gazette  | Email this | Comments
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Netflix removing 'Add to DVD Queue' button from streamers, execs debate the company's future

Engadget
If you rely on a mobile device to manage your Netflix DVD queue, adding entries for titles that aren't available for instant streaming, then you should get ready to get mad. The company has, bizarrely, decided to nix that button on what it calls "streaming devices," which seems to be a blanket term for anything that isn't the Netflix website. So, soon when someone at dinner mentions some movie with an obscure title that you'll never remember you won't be able to add it from your phone's mobile app, nor your Roku, nor your Xbox 360.

Curious decisions like this aside, The Hollywood Reporter recently ran a fun story describing what various Hollywood executives make of the company's chances. For its part the company plans to keep on expanding and adding more content, like the recent deal with ABC/Disney. TBS CEO Phil Kent made a thinly veiled threat to not license any content available on Netflix, while HDNet's Mark Cuban (who recently thought Netflix was set to implode) subscribes to the opposing camp's newsletter, saying Netflix is "absolutely a friend to producers and distributors -- they are found money that is monetizing library assets as DVD sales fall." What's your call?

Netflix removing 'Add to DVD Queue' button from streamers, execs debate the company's future originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 15:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  sourceThe Netflix Blog, The Hollywood Reporter  | Email this | Comments
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Finally, a live feed of adorable firefox cubs. Check it out!

@tonyburkhart: Finally, a live feed of adorable firefox cubs. Check it out: www.FirefoxLive.org

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I Can Has Funding: Cheezburger Raises $30M For LOLcats, FAIL Blog And Other Memes

TechCrunch

Cheezburger, the internet publisher responsible for LOLcats, FAIL Blog, and other memes, has raised a whopping $30 million in new funding led by the Foundry Group with Madrona Venture Group, Avalon Ventures, and SoftBank Capital participating in the round. Brad Feld of Foundry Group, Greg Gottesman of Madrona Venture Group, and Rich Levandov of Avalon Ventures will be joining Cheezburger’s board of directors. This latest investment brings the startup’s total funding to $32.5 million

Founded in 2007 by former journalist Ben Huh, Cheezburger has grown from a small site to a network of fifty sites that have brought internet memes and tech culture mainstream. Cheezburger’s network of sites has a total user base of 16.5 million people who upload more than 500,000 pictures and videos as well as view 375 million pages and 110 million videos each month.

Humor aside, Cheezburger success can be partly attributed to the fact that Huh is a savvy business man. Huh actually acquired I Can Has Cheezburger? and the FAIL Blog, and steadily built out its network. The company has been profitable since its inception with revenue from three sources—advertising, traditional media publishing including books, and merchandising.

And Huh, who famously offered to buy Reddit from Conde Nast last year, built this humor empire in only three years.

So what does Cheezburger plan to do with all that money? He tells is that the funding will be used to “hire, hire, hire,” hoping to expand the company’s existing staff of 50 employees. Another area Huh is eyeing is international expansion, which Japanese-based Softbank Capital was particularly interested in given its investment.

In terms of actual site expansion, Huh says that he has a hard time imagining that Cheezburger will have hundreds of site but he does think the network will probably expand within the year to just under one hundred sites. In the end, Huh explains, it’s not about the quantity of humor-based sites and memes but about providing a quality experience for visitors on a per site basis.

Of course, the funding will also be put towards infrastructure and technology to mitigate Cheezburger’s millions of users and visitors. Huh plans to launch official iPhone and Android apps, and will be rolling out an improved tools to caption photos.

When asked what his goals are for the future, Huh’s response was simple. “I want Cheezburger to be the ultimate leader and influencer in internet culture,” he explained. “We’ve only reached the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we can do.”

Photo credit/Lolcats


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FastMac U-Socket now shipping out to the world, making it a better place

Engadget
Celebrate, oh U-Socket faithful, for thy object of convenient desire has finally started shipping. FastMac's wall socket that serves up a pair of standard 110V power outlets alongside two USB juice ports is today taking the final steps to reaching its expectant owners' homes. Confirmation emails have been sent out to those who ordered earliest (we've got one for your perusal after the break) and the retail site promises a three- to four-week delivery time for orders placed today. The price is still just under $20, while the utility of being able to plug your USB device directly into the wall has probably never been higher.

[Thanks, Gareth]

Continue reading FastMac U-Socket now shipping out to the world, making it a better place

FastMac U-Socket now shipping out to the world, making it a better place originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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