Voices

Say It Loud: ATD Relaunches the “Voices” Section

Today, we relaunch a fresh, new “Voices” section to bring you even more writing and information from outside sources. Offering six regular features, Voices will be run by senior editor Beth Callaghan.

News Byte

I Hope You Know This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record

When it comes to copyright protection, YouTube has long had a policy of suspending users with three uncontested notifications of infringement. Until now. Starting today, offending users will instead be required to attend “YouTube Copyright School,” which consists of an online tutorial and quiz that must be completed successfully before more uploads can be made. Users with past strikes can also endeavor to have them removed via copyright school, but, as with all things regarding permanent records and the powers that be, forgiveness of past behavior is not guaranteed.

News Byte

Google Domains for Iraq and Tunisia

Google announced two new localized search domains today, for Iraq and Tunisia. The search giant’s regional domains provide people within a given area with locally relevant results and in their preferred languages. Google now has a total of 184 local search domains worldwide.

News Byte

Facebook Removes "Third Palestinian Intifada" Page

Facebook removed a page today titled “Third Palestinian Intifada” after a direct appeal to CEO Mark Zuckerberg by Israeli Cabinet Minister Yuli Edelstein. The page started out as a call for peaceful protest but had devolved into direct calls for violence by the page creators and its more than 350,000 fans, according to Andrew Noyes, Facebook’s public policy communications manager.

News Byte

Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin Leads Funding for Jumio

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, whose version of the company’s early history informed the plot of Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Network,” and who still owns five percent of the company, is putting that stake to work. He just led a $6.5 million round of funding in online and mobile payment service Jumio. Saverin, who lives in Singapore, will also join the company’s board and work on its entrance into the Asian market.

News Byte

Nvidia CFO David White Resigns

Nvidia announced late Tuesday that CFO David White has resigned for personal reasons. He’ll remain at the company until May 31, and controller Karen Burns will replace him as interim CFO.

News Byte

A Totally Metal Town Hall

And they said rap metal was dead. Today at 3 PST, Southern California band Linkin Park will join U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for a live Town Hall event on Facebook designed to update and engage people around the ongoing rebuilding efforts in Haiti. Linkin Park has a charity, called Download to Donate, that benefits five organizations working in Haiti.

News Byte

Twitter Restores Two UberMedia Apps

Twitter has given the all clear to two of the UberMedia apps it shut down Friday morning. UberSocial for BlackBerry, the app formerly known as UberTwitter, is back on, as is Twidroyd, No word on yet UberCurrent, Uber’s iPhone app, which Twitter also put in the penalty box three days ago.  UberMedia has just finished raising a $17.5 million funding round, and plans on buying TweetDeck, yet another Twitter client, for $30 million in cash and stock.

News Byte

New Version of Twitter for Android

According to a post on Twitter’s Web site, six months ago, Twitter for Android didn’t rank among the top 10 Twitter apps. But usage has doubled in the last couple of months, and now it’s in the top five. Accordingly, the company is launching a new version of the Android app that looks and feels more like its other official apps and offers design improvements, along with username auto-completion and universal search.

News Byte

3-D Network to Launch on DirecTV

A new 3-D television network called 3net is set to launch Sunday on DirecTV. It’s the first distribution deal for the network, which is a joint offering from Sony, Imax and Discovery Communications announced in early 2010. 3net will reach 18 million homes in the U.S., and will debut with two original 3-D shows Sunday night, “China Revealed” and “Forgotten Planet.”