News From Around The Industry:

• Sex, Nazi, burrito and marijuana:
Internet users in Egypt, India and Turkey are the world's most frequent searchers for websites using the keyword "sex" on Google search engines, according to statistics provided by Google. Germany, Mexico and Austria were world's top three searchers of the word "Hitler" while "Nazi" scored the most hits in Chile, Australia and the United Kingdom, data from 2004 to the present retrievable on the "Google Trends" Web site showed. Chile also came in first place searching for the word "gay," followed by Mexico and Colombia.
The top searchers for other keywords were as follows (in order from first to third place):
• "Jihad" — Morocco, Indonesia, Pakistan
• "Terrorism" — Pakistan, Philippines, Australia
• "Hangover" — Ireland, United Kingdom, United States
• "Burrito" — United States, Argentina, Canada
• "Iraq" — United States, Australia, Canada
• "Taliban" — Pakistan, Australia, Canada
• "Tom Cruise" — Canada, United States, Australia
• "Britney Spears" — Mexico, Venezuela, Canada

• Apple to open up iPhone software:
Apple boss Steve Jobs has said that outside developers will now be allowed to make add-on software for the iPhone. The move follows criticism that Apple was previously not allowing outsiders to make programs that would run easily on the popular mobile phone. With the upcoming introduction of an Apple-sanctioned iPhone software development kit in February, mobile application developers will no longer have to exploit a vulnerability to write iPhone applications. Apple CEO Steve Jobs made it clear that Apple is concerned about iPhone vulnerabilities. "Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones -- this is simply not true," said Jobs. "There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target."

• Apple cuts price of DRM-free music:
Apple is lowering the prices of songs it sells online without copy-protection to 99 cents from $1.29, a company spokeswoman said. The reduction, which started appearing on songs Tuesday, puts Apple closer in line with rival offerings. Amazon.com Inc., which opened its online music store in September, sells tracks without anti-copying software locks for 89 cents to 99 cents. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said the price cut was not in response to competition. "It's been very popular with our customers and we're now making it available at an even more affordable price," Kerris said. Apple dominates the music download market and became the third-largest overall music retailer in the United States in units sold earlier this year.

• Democrats Rip into Wireless Carrier Practices:
Lawmakers split sharply upon party lines Oct. 17 in their approach to improving U.S. wireless communications. The new majority of Democrats called for a host of regulations on wireless carriers while Republicans held steadfast to the concept of a light government touch. Democrats at the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on consumer wireless issues praised the industry for its explosive growth, but complained of deceptive billing practices, cancellation fees, misleading coverage maps and dropped calls. Others questioned Verizon's actions in rejecting text messages from a pro-abortion rights group in Sept., a decision it later reversed under public pressure. Republicans contended that the problems were minor and that competition between the carriers would resolve the issues. GOP members of the panel even found a rare reason to praise former President Bill Clinton, lauding his administration's decision to limit government regulation of the wireless industry.

• YouTube's Anti-Piracy Tool Fuels More Questions:
Google made good on its promise to unveil a "highly complicated" content-protection tool, but is this the olive branch anti-piracy activists have been looking for? Experts agree it's a step in the right direction but not a silver bullet. Patrick Ross, executive director of the Copyright Alliance, a trade group of media companies and other copyright holders said, "Anything that it stops before the infringement occurs is a benefit, but we have to acknowledge that this is still putting a significant burden on copyright holders," Ross noted that the rights owners have to provide their content to Google so the company can match the copyrighted work to material on YouTube. The Copyright Alliance's larger members can probably afford to do this, Ross said. However, smaller copyright holders, such as a startup that produces a syndicated television show or an independent filmmaker, could find this challenging.

• 802.11N promises to lift the muni Wi-Fi market:
Novarum's latest ratings on municipal Wi-Fi networks are out and, not only do they find that muni Wi-Fi is "far from dead," they found that muni Wi-Fi networks can operate as reliably as cellular data services if next-gen 802.11n client devices or high-performance adapters and high-gain antennas are used. These findings come as great news to an industry that's been questioning its business models since August when EarthLink announced its aproach to the muni market was unworkable. Novarum found that 802.11n client devices not only worked on current muni Wi-Fi networks, they were able to pull signals where traditional 802.11 a,b & g devices were not and worked without difficulty in areas where traditional devices registered weak signals. The company also compared the performance of the a, b, g, and pre-n devices to devices equipped with high-performance adapters and high gain antennas and to 3G cellular services in the 16 metro markets it tested.

• Law Firm Uses Copyright Claim To Say You Can't View Its Website's HTML Source:
he law firm that was recently challenged for claiming that it was a copyright violation to post its cease-and-desist letter also has some other interesting ideas about copyright, including banning people from looking at the firm's source code. You can view the entire user agreement, but the amusing part is:

As Glen Beck says, "That's kind of like a puppet show invoking copyright to prohibit the audience from looking at the strings. The user agreements of the law firm and one of its clients also contain a bunch of terrible terms that have become all too common: a prohibition on linking to the site, copying anything from the site (even if its fair use), and even referring to the website owner by name. The law firm doesn't even allow its own clients to say they're represented by the firm without permission." He also notes that the law firm in question is demanding that another website remove criticism of one of their clients because it did not receive permission to use the client's name or link to the website -- two things that the laws and the courts have been pretty clear in saying is perfectly legal over the years.

• Should the Gaming Industry Follow Radiohead in D2C?:
The game industry also has its own unique obstacle: the lack of an agnostic, standard platform for game software. For instance, I want to play the outstanding downloadable game, Everyday Shooter (see the lovely trailer), from 2007’s IGF winner Jonathan Mak. But I can’t, because it’s only available through the PlayStation Network, and I am not about to drop five hundred bucks to play one downloadable title. Another problem is that games make the bulk of their revenue through game sales. Kim Pallister, who works on strategy for Microsoft Casual Games, noted this when asked what he thought games could learn from the music industry. “A really interesting thing is to think about the ‘If it’s all free, the money’s in concerts/live performance’ angle for music. Is there an equivalent for games?” The answer, of course, is that there isn’t — at least not yet. Game developers are looking for it, but it’s a process, one that is expressed by what marketing analyst Seth Godin refers to as the “mediocre middle.” These are the mediocre members of the music industry that sit between the innovators and the winners, waiting and watching to see what will happen. The same is already proving to be true in gaming: The indies have jumped to digital distribution because they couldn’t get deals with publishers; and Valve, like Radiohead, has the clout to innovate without fear and with less risk. Everyone else is waiting, and watching. The question now is, how will the publishers respond? As Radiohead singer Thom Yorke said to Time Magazine, “I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one.”