California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he plans to take his case with the Entertainment Software Alliance over the sale of violent video games to minors to the Supreme Court. Governer Schwarzenegger introduced and passed the bill in 2005, which was then challenged and defeated in court and subsequently thrown out and rejected. The law, which raises First Amendment issues, will probably not be passed as the courts have a history of rejecting laws that restrict the sale of video games.
Twitter's Biz Stone now says that the company is not opposed to all advertising. Stone noted that the company has no interest in banner ads, but would be open to forms of integrated, contextual advertising. Sources believe that this may leave Twitter to make a search ads deal with Google.
At the Reuters conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that it would "be a pretty natural extension" for Facebook to start an ad network. Zuckerberg essentially confirmed rumors that the social network would begin to build its revenue by rolling out a contextual ad network. He also noted that an IPO is still "a few years out", especially under current economic circumstances.
In what is becoming a weird, tangled web, Craigslist is now suing the state of South Carolina over the ruling of the site violating a state law. Not only that, but Craigslist is also seeking a restraining order to be placed on Attorney General Henry McMaster, in order to prevent him from filing charges against the web site. All this time and money spent with court proceedings is really going to be a waste of everyones time.
The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously voted to appoint Larry Strickling the head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration. Strickling will be responsible for handling billion dollar initiatives like broadband expansion and the DTV transition. The committee also approved Aneesh Chopra as the nation's first Chief Technology Officer.
Shelly Palmer is a consultant and the host of MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer a daily show featuring news you can use about technology, media & entertainment. He is Managing Director of Advanced Media Ventures Group LLC and the author of Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV (2008, York House Press) and the upcoming, Get Digital: Reinventing Yourself and Your Career for the 21st Century Economy (2009, Lake House Press). Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, NY (the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy Awards). You can join the MediaBytes mailing list here. Shelly can be reached at shelly@palmer.net For information about Get Digital Classes, visit www.shellypalmer.com/seminars