VLC Removed from Apple App Store
VLC, a very useful multi-format and Open Source media player, was removed from Apple’s App Store due to licensing issues. Usually, Apple is at fault in situations like this, but the situation here is a bit more complex. A Nokia employee by the name of Rémi Denis-Courmont basically twisted the rules a bit in order to get the free and open source VLC app removed, saying that the GNU General Public License that is tied to VLC conflicted with the terms detailed in Apple’s own App Store licensing.
Before anyone grabs a pitchfork and/or torch and starts marching toward Cupertino, it’s worth noting that VLC’s removal from the App Store has nothing to do with Apple’s preferences. Rather, it’s a direct result of one man’s misguided crusade… a man who, (perhaps) coincidentally, is an employee of Nokia, one of Apple’s competitors in the mobile space.
Even though VLC has been removed from Apple’s App Store, you can still get it on Cydia if you have a jailbroken device.
via Obama Pacman, TUAW
MySpace Lays off 47 Percent
Struggling to find themselves, MySpace has recently made major changes in direction and focus. The goal is to become an entertainment destination for Gen Y. CEO Mike Jones says this tighter focus also meant a “tighter ship with a smaller, nimble crew.” Jones added that MySpace will enter into strategic local partnerships in the U.K., Germany and Australia to manage advertising sales and content. On January 11th, MySpace cut staff by about 500.
Twitter Challenges Secret WikiLeaks Order
The U.S. government recently got a court order demanding that Twitter turn over information about a number of people connected to WikiLeaks: founder Julian Assange, accused leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, former WikiLeaks spokeswoman Birgitta Jonsdottir, and WikiLeaks activist Jacob Appelbaum. Attached to the records request was a gag order, a routine practice by law enforcement. Standard procedure for companies like Twitter and Google would be to notify a user before giving up their information, giving them a chance to protect themselves. The attached gag order would prevent them from exercising this policy. Instead of simply giving up the goods, Twitter successfully overturned the gag order and notified its users of the request. Wired writes that Twitter’s response should be the industry standard.
Google Drops H.264 Support From Chrome
Google has decided to remove H.264 support from the Chrome web browser. This has ignited a firestorm of comments from users speculating why they would make such a move. Others say that, since Google is citing “openness” as one of their motivations, they should go ahead and dump Flash as well. In dropping H.264, Google is attempting to put the focus on WebM, a video spec they can actually control. This is not really an immediate win for Google but, more likely, an investment into the future of web video.
So why did Google do it? One theory is to take a shot at Apple. But this announcement seems like a precursor to a very expensive exercise for Google itself: If Google is really serious about WebM, which this seems to indicate, they will have to transcode all their YouTube assets to the new format, and start building support for this into their other products, like Android. Seems too much like “Cutting off the nose to spite the face” kind of action.
A commenter on Reddit summarizes the situation very well:
In the short term. This is a power play. The market is fragmented (e.g., no Flash on iPhones) and things will eventually coalesce, and Google doesn’t want them to coalesce into video tag/H264. They’re gambling that they can use their position (the most-used browser by techies, plus the most-used smartphone OS in the world) to force everyone to move off of H264 and onto open codecs.
via ArpitOnline, Google