Top News:
John Jurgensen / Wall Street Journal:
U2, Apple and the Deal Behind Getting ‘Songs of Innocence’ Free of Charge — A decade after releasing “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” U2 was front and center in a presentation that could have been called “how to hype a new tech product.” — Along with Apple's announcement …
Discussion:
Billboard, Adweek, Showbiz411, Quartz, Billboard, AppleInsider and TIME
RELATED:
Joe Pompeo / Capital New York:
Full memo from Politico CEO Jim VandeHei and editor-in-chief John Harris on European expansion — POLITICO partners with Axel Springer for European expansion — POLITICO is teaming up with the Berlin-based media company Axel Springer to launch a European edition.
Discussion:
FishbowlNY, Politico, New York Times, The Huffington Post, FishbowlDC, @atossaaraxia, Washington Post, @raju, The Daily Caller and The Huffington Post
RELATED:
Georg Szalai / Hollywood Reporter:
Viacom Closes $725 Million Acquisition of U.K.'s Channel 5 — It will start airing “SpongeBob” and the “Turtles” and send contestants of a new show back to the Stone Age — Viacom said Wednesday that it has closed its $725 million (£450 million) acquisition of British broadcaster Channel 5.
Discussion:
Broadcast, Guardian and MarketWatch
Ben Woods / The Next Web:
Grooveshark no longer supports Chromecast following RIAA claim it infringes artists' copyright — Grooveshark's streaming music and radio service no longer supports casting to the big screen via Google's Chromecast dongle. — While support to cast “content licensed from thousands of artists …
Discussion:
Softpedia News, TorrentFreak, RAIN News and hypebot
Michael Isikoff / Yahoo! News:
In high-tech battle, Washington and Islamic State compete over hearts and minds — Yahoo News 4 hrs ago — While President Obama prepares to lay out his military strategy on Wednesday to bomb, “degrade” and ultimately “defeat” the Islamic State, U.S. government officials are already locked in an intense …
RELATED:
Capital New York:
The 60-second interview: Kevin Roose, writer, New York Magazine — ROOSE: It's something I used to struggle with. Silicon Valley is much thinner-skinned than Wall Street, and it's less accustomed to criticism. So you write something mildly negative about a tech company, and suddenly your emails aren't getting returned.
Discussion:
Talking Biz News
Jonathan Mahler / New York Times:
Celebrity gossip site TMZ extends reach and earns some credibility with scoops on NFL scandals — TMZ Broke Ray Rice, Donald Sterling and Jameis Winston Stories in 10-Month Span — Last November, TMZ broke the news that the Heisman Trophy candidate Jameis Winston was being investigated …
Discussion:
Philly.com, Strupp Blog, @lisatozzi, @mrmichaellee, @cthagod and National Sports …
Andy / TorrentFreak:
BBC: ISPs Should Assume Heavy VPN Users are Pirates — After cutting its teeth as a domestic broadcaster, the BBC is spreading its products all around the globe. Shows like Top Gear have done extremely well overseas and the trend of exploiting other shows in multiple territories is set to continue.
Discussion:
PC Pro, The Register, Computing, TechWeekEurope UK, Boing Boing and Softpedia News
Reuters:
White House doesn't believe slain U.S. journalist was ‘sold’ to Islamic State — (Reuters) - The United States has no information indicating beheaded American journalist Steven Sotloff was “sold” to Islamic State militants by moderate Syrian opposition rebels, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.
Kevin Rawlinson / BBC:
Twitter supports Internet Slowdown campaign along with Netflix, Reddit, Wordpress, Digg, more — Twitter, Netflix and Reddit hold net neutrality protest — Protesters rally in support of ‘net neutrality’ in May this year — Twitter, Netflix and Reddit will take part in an “internet slowdown” …
Discussion:
USA Today, Guardian, Boing Boing, @neeliekroeseu, TIME, RT, Washington Post, CBS Chicago, BetaNews and Free Press Blog
Jeff John Roberts / Gigaom:
Wordpress uses Hall of Shame to highlight people, companies overzealous with takedown notices — WordPress shames Janet Jackson for bullying bloggers and issues a new takedown report — Powerful celebrities and companies are bullying some of the millions of bloggers who use …
Joe Parkinson / Wall Street Journal:
Turkey Tightens Grip Over the Internet — Government Augments Its Web Censorship to More Quickly Block Content — Turkey tightened control over the Internet and expanded the powers of its telecoms authority, augmenting the government's web censorship regime to allow it to more quickly block content without legal delays.
T.C. Sottek / The Verge:
Reddit uses “free speech” to defend the site's unsavory uses while ignoring the victims — Reddit is a failed state — The “front page of the internet” is run by warlords — As Reddit trips over itself trying to contain its stolen nude photo problem, CEO Yishan Wong finally addressed …
Discussion:
The Awl and @ma_franks