Video of the fake Apple Store, and customers' fight for a refund. We tip our hat to the intrepid American blogger who broke the story this week about an Apple store in Kunming, China, that turned out to be a fake.
She has caused a media firestorm and has created a story that continues to spawn new angles. Also, she's gutsy. She went back to the store and took the above video Friday evening. Earlier today we reported on a Taiwanese computer reenactment of the fake Apple Store news story, but the latest development comes to us from Reuters, which we applaud for having done some firsthand reporting. Because of all the attention the store has garnered thanks to the American blogger's original story (which has been re-reported by a multitude of news organizations), customers of the fake Apple Store are demanding their money back. Here are some choice quotes from the Reuters piece: "When I heard the news I rushed here immediately to get the receipt, I am so upset," a customer surnamed Wang told Reuters, near tears.
And: Fake Apple Stores popping up in China. On Succeeding Steve Jobs. Friday, 22 July 2011 On Wednesday, less than 30 minutes before Apple announced another record-breaking quarter of financial results, the Wall Street Journal published a story by Yukari Iwatani Kane, Joann S.
Lublin, and Nick Wingfield regarding the issue of Apple CEO succession. (You can circumvent the WSJ paywall using this link, which allows access to anyone coming to the story from Google.) Here’s the nut of it: Since Steve Jobs went on medical leave this winter, some members of Apple Inc.’s board have discussed CEO succession with executive recruiters and at least one head of a high-profile technology company, according to people familiar with the matter. As I wrote when the story broke, to say that the timing of the publication was suspicious is an understatement. Google Bows to Web Rivals. Google Inc. has made changes to the way its search engine displays information about local businesses, a move that follows the disclosure of a U.S. antitrust investigation of its business practices.
The company said it removed snippets of customer reviews that were taken from other Web firms for its Google "Places" service, which has millions of pages for local businesses. Google's practices have drawn fire from some of those Web companies, and is believed to be among the issues the Federal Trade Commission is investigating. What’s a book? It’s whatever you want it to be. As we’ve mentioned a number of times, the evolution of the book-publishing business has been accelerating recently, with more authors doing an end run around the traditional industry by self-publishing — or even setting up their own e-book stores, as Harry Potter creator J.K.
Rowling has done with her new Pottermore site. Now media companies seem to be showing an increasing interest in publishing their own e-books using content that they have already created, moves that are taking them into the growing market in between full-length books and magazine-style pieces. The latest move in that direction comes from Ars Technica, which is part of the Conde Nast magazine empire that includes Wired magazine and The New Yorker. A Bomb in Oslo? What Google Lost by Ending Real-Time Search - Nicholas Jackson - Technology. I had a sense that something was wrong pretty quickly.
In between checking my email and finishing up a story for the site you're reading right now, I was casually watching some tweets stream in through TweetDeck -- as I almost always am. Every 10th or 20th tweet posted by those I follow had something to do with Oslo. "Prayers are with those in Oslo," "Not sure what the situation in Oslo is but it doesn't look good" -- messages to that effect. Test of corporate Google+ accounts scaled back.
After first accelerating its plans for Google+ corporate accounts, Google said last night it's scaling back immediate tests of the feature.
Google launched Google+ three weeks ago with a focus on individuals, already exceeding 20 million users by one count, but the company now faces demand for accounts that businesses and other organizations can use. Why Google’s screwup on Google+ brand pages is a big deal. Google+ says it has fumbled business pages; blogs unhappy. After pulling the plug on Google+ pages set up for businesses on Thursday, Google laid out some details (and a bit of regret) on what it has done so far and hopes to do next to get companies, nonprofits, bands and other entities into the social network as soon as possible.
Almost two weeks ago, Google asked businesses eager to get started on Google+ to stay out of the fledgling social network. The reason? The Brilliance of Dwarf Fortress. More Signs of Google Plus Games Coming Soon: How Will G+ Gaming Differ From Facebook? Since the release of Google's new social network, there's been a lot of speculation about when and if Google Plus would get a gaming component.
Early inquiry into the site's code certainly hinted at the possibility, and now more signs have been uncovered. Slashgear reports that the Games Stream has been confirmed, pointing to wording on the Google Plus Help pages - now removed - that referenced games and potentially a separate stream for finding game-related updates. That news may come as a relief for some of Google Plus's early adopters, many of whom cited their preference for Google Plus over Facebook, as the former is a Farmville-free zone, if you will. Of course, Facebook users do have the option to hide the updates that come from their friends' gaming habits.
You can remove updates from individual games from your feed entirely or, of course, you can opt to just hide those friends whose Facebook activities seem to be solely comprised of casual gaming. Google Deletes Last 7 Years Of User's Digital Life, Shrugs. "Happy Birthday to You" copyright: Does the most infamous and resented copyright in musical history hold up to scrutiny? - By Paul Collins. Take pity on Florida musician Bobby Kent: He's a man trying to make a buck in the wrong era. In April, Kent filed a lawsuit over sports teams using that immortal fanfare: "Da-da-da-DA-da-DAA ... Charge! " As old as it sounds, Kent claimed he wrote it in 1978 while serving as the musical director for the San Diego Chargers—and he had a 1980 copyright filing to back it up. The only cavalry fanfare Bobby Kent should play, it seems, is "Retreat. " The "Charge!
" The Fall of Bebo and Rise of Google+ – Email is Social’s Secret Weapon. By Ben Popper 7/22/11 9:09am Share this: "So if this doesn't work out, we can keep the money right?
" Betabeat grabbed a coffee yesterday with a former AOL staffer who worked in the company’s corporate development arm. Naturally the conversation turned to Google+, which has been called the fastest growing social network in history. In one sense this is true, the service has registered more than 18 million members in its first few weeks. As Fred Wilson has pointed out, email is actually social’s secret weapon. “At the time AOL purchased Bebo, we were desperate to get into the social networking space. The bidding for Bebo was mediated by Allen & Co. Much like the marriage of Myspace and News Corp, AOL and Bebo failed to produce positive synergies for either party.
Source: Morgan Stanley via A VC Like Google, AOL had a base of more than 100 million users who went each day to their inbox and chat windows to communicate with friends, family and co-worker.