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Apple Smacks Down iCommune

flipsidejones writes "Looks like Apple has killed iCommune. iCommune, as mentioned previously, allows users to share music libraries across a network from within iTunes. It seems the license for the iTunes plugin API does not allow for software-based plugins (only hardware: MP3 players, etc). Apple issued a 'Notice of Breach and Termination of License' to iCommune, who have since pulled the download. Something tells me that they won't be putting it back up anytime soon. Every time I forget about Mac OS X being proprietary, Apple does something to remind me." Well, in fairness, this could happen even if Mac OS X itself weren't proprietary, as iTunes still could be. For that matter, iCommune still is, too. Hm, none of that makes me feel any better ...

12 of 511 comments (clear)

  1. Re:iCommunista by MasterofVoid · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    What about iSue?

    --
    *You are not allowed to read this*
  2. Re:iCommunista by Pxtl · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    iCarramba!

  3. Re:Future Apple product? by jakobk · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    Here in Germany, the color magenta is a registered trademark of this company

  4. advice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Dear Dr. Fuck,

    The other day, when I was pleasuring my anus with a cactus stem, I accidently cut myself down there and now my dirt box is quite infected. It really hurts when I poop! What should I do? I've been giving myself daily hydrogen peroxide enemas, and although the searing pain is exquisite, my cuts don't really seem to be getting any better. What should I do?

    Sincerely,
    Bleeding Rectum in Phoenix, AZ

  5. Apple: The Little Microsoft That Couldn't by MattW · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    If Apple was a $300B software giant, they'd be as bad or worse than Microsoft is. They're an amazing example of all the things that are disgusting in the computer and software industry. Rampant litigation, weak patents, disdain towards users. A+, A+, A+. It's nice to know that if they ever did supplant Microsoft, they'd be able to do it so well we wouldn't even know the difference.

  6. Notice of breach and termination of license? by WetCat · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Slightly offtopic but should I (if I am a writer of GNU software) send such notice to the
    commercial exploiters of my program/library
    that do it without giving out the source code?
    How should it look like?

  7. firstp ost!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    MAINPAGE
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    Yao Ming's signing with the Houston Rockets has fueled interest in the NBA across China

    BEIJING, China (AP) -- Riding the wave of the soaring popularity of rookie center Yao Ming, NBA marketers are taking aim at the planet's biggest potential pool of basketball fans and encouraging them to adopt the league's mantra: "I love this game!"

    Expanding its campaign to make China's 1.3 billion people hungry for American basketball, the league on Wednesday launched its Chinese-language Web site -- and said the big man from the Houston Rockets was leading the way.

    "Our timing couldn't be better. Interest in the NBA in China is growing, driven in major ways right now by Yao Ming," said Michael Denzel, the league's vice president and managing director for Asia.

    For the last two decades, the NBA has tried to instill an interest in American basketball.

    Only recently, though, has it begun to see results -- it just opened an office in Beijing and now publishes a Chinese-language version of its official magazine. And NBA exhibition games could debut in China later this year, Denzel said.

    Star players visit regularly -- Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers among them -- and Chinese broadcasters have also signed on to show games, reaching nearly 300 million households so far. The NBA wants more.

    "Basketball in China is still a virgin land," said Jin Yong, who runs a fan club for the Shanghai Sharks, Yao's former team. "The more you spend to explore the market, the more you will get."

    Moneymaker
    The Web site was a natural progression, Denzel said -- a combination of the growing popularity of the Internet in China, which has 60 million users, and the popularity of Yao Ming, the 7-foot-5 Rockets rookie center.

    Like its American counterpart, the colorful Chinese site features game stories and results, player stats and bios, team rankings, transactions, schedules, lots of pictures -- and, naturally, a link to the NBA merchandise store, always a big moneymaker.

    Creative adjustments to accommodate the language barrier have also been made.

    NBA team names have been translated to their closest approximations, with sometimes poetic results: "Hot Fire" for the Miami Heat, "Brave Soldiers" for the Golden State Warriors, "Male Cow" for the Chicago Bulls and the phonetic "Ni Ke Si" (pronounced "nee-kuh-suh") for the New York Knicks.

    "We're providing a one-stop shop for everything you'd want to know about the NBA," Denzel said at a news conference filled with Chinese faces -- reporters and businesspeople alike.

    The league is running the site with the help of Sohu.com, one of China's largest Internet portals. Charles Zhang, Sohu's chief executive officer and president, said a test version of the site has received 1.2 million hits in the three weeks since it was put online.

    Shanghai Sharks
    More than 40 percent of hits on the main nba.com Web site come from outside the United States, and China's 7 percent makes it the largest contributor, Denzel said. Specially designed Web sites also target audiences in Latin America, Spain, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom.

    Yao, 22, was already a star at home with the Shanghai Sharks before becoming the NBA's No. 1 draft pick this season. He is only the third Chinese to play in the U.S. league, after Wang Zhizhi of the Los Angeles Clippers and Menk Bateer of the San Antonio Spurs.

    He has quickly become one of the league's most recognizable marquee performers, and was named the Eastern Conference's player of the month for December, even as American sportscasters keep referring to him erroneously as "Ming" -- his given name in Chinese, where the last name is said first.

    Yao, who leads Shaquille O'Neal for the starting Western Conference center spot in fan balloting for the NBA All-Star game, meets O'Neal for the first time Friday when the Rockets host the Los Angeles Lakers.

    On the new Chinese Web site, Yao is shown on the front page wearing a bright red Houston Rockets "Authentic Shooting Shirt." One click sends users to the online store, where it's on sale for $59.99. Clearly, the league knows he's the ticket to Chinese fans' hearts.

    "I don't think the NBA has much appeal to us without Chinese players like Yao Ming," said Fei Fusheng, a member of the 100-strong Shanghai Sharks fan club.

    But Fei acknowledged increasing NBA promotions in local markets will attract Chinese audiences.

    "Compared with the Chinese Basketball Association, the NBA cares more about their fans. They know much better how to draw audiences," he said.

    "Their posters, advertisements, commodities are all different. If they can put all these colors on Chinese players, I am sure they would win more hearts in China."

    Jin, the fan club's president, said he sees a bright future for the NBA in China.

    "NBA is true basketball, but it is still unknown to most Chinese fans," he said. "If it comes closer to China, I am sure it will have the biggest population of NBA fans in the world."

    Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

    Story Tools

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    Terms under which this service is provided to you.
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    CNN.com U.S.
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    Languages --------- Spanish Portuguese German Italian Korean Arabic Japanese
    Time, Inc. --------- Time.com People Fortune EW Time Asia Asiaweek

    NBA launches Chinese-language Web site
    Thursday, January 16, 2003 Posted: 12:26 PM HKT (0426 GMT)

    Yao Ming's signing with the Houston Rockets has fueled interest in the NBA across China

    Story Tools

    BEIJING, China (AP) -- Riding the wave of the soaring popularity of rookie center Yao Ming, NBA marketers are taking aim at the planet's biggest potential pool of basketball fans and encouraging them to adopt the league's mantra: "I love this game!"

    Expanding its campaign to make China's 1.3 billion people hungry for American basketball, the league on Wednesday launched its Chinese-language Web site -- and said the big man from the Houston Rockets was leading the way.

    "Our timing couldn't be better. Interest in the NBA in China is growing, driven in major ways right now by Yao Ming," said Michael Denzel, the league's vice president and managing director for Asia.

    For the last two decades, the NBA has tried to instill an interest in American basketball.

    Only recently, though, has it begun to see results -- it just opened an office in Beijing and now publishes a Chinese-language version of its official magazine. And NBA exhibition games could debut in China later this year, Denzel said.

    Star players visit regularly -- Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers among them -- and Chinese broadcasters have also signed on to show games, reaching nearly 300 million households so far. The NBA wants more.

    "Basketball in China is still a virgin land," said Jin Yong, who runs a fan club for the Shanghai Sharks, Yao's former team. "The more you spend to explore the market, the more you will get."

    Moneymaker
    The Web site was a natural progression, Denzel said -- a combination of the growing popularity of the Internet in China, which has 60 million users, and the popularity of Yao Ming, the 7-foot-5 Rockets rookie center.

    Like its American counterpart, the colorful Chinese site features game stories and results, player stats and bios, team rankings, transactions, schedules, lots of pictures -- and, naturally, a link to the NBA merchandise store, always a big moneymaker.

    Creative adjustments to accommodate the language barrier have also been made.

    NBA team names have been translated to their closest approximations, with sometimes poetic results: "Hot Fire" for the Miami Heat, "Brave Soldiers" for the Golden State Warriors, "Male Cow" for the Chicago Bulls and the phonetic "Ni Ke Si" (pronounced "nee-kuh-suh") for the New York Knicks.

    "We're providing a one-stop shop for everything you'd want to know about the NBA," Denzel said at a news conference filled with Chinese faces -- reporters and businesspeople alike.

    The league is running the site with the help of Sohu.com, one of China's largest Internet portals. Charles Zhang, Sohu's chief executive officer and president, said a test version of the site has received 1.2 million hits in the three weeks since it was put online.

    Shanghai Sharks
    More than 40 percent of hits on the main nba.com Web site come from outside the United States, and China's 7 percent makes it the largest contributor, Denzel said. Specially designed Web sites also target audiences in Latin America, Spain, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom.

    Yao, 22, was already a star at home with the Shanghai Sharks before becoming the NBA's No. 1 draft pick this season. He is only the third Chinese to play in the U.S. league, after Wang Zhizhi of the Los Angeles Clippers and Menk Bateer of the San Antonio Spurs.

    He has quickly become one of the league's most recognizable marquee performers, and was named the Eastern Conference's player of the month for December, even as American sportscasters keep referring to him erroneously as "Ming" -- his given name in Chinese, where the last name is said first.

    Yao, who leads Shaquille O'Neal for the starting Western Conference center spot in fan balloting for the NBA All-Star game, meets O'Neal for the first time Friday when the Rockets host the Los Angeles Lakers.

    On the new Chinese Web site, Yao is shown on the front page wearing a bright red Houston Rockets "Authentic Shooting Shirt." One click sends users to the online store, where it's on sale for $59.99. Clearly, the league knows he's the ticket to Chinese fans' hearts.

    "I don't think the NBA has much appeal to us without Chinese players like Yao Ming," said Fei Fusheng, a member of the 100-strong Shanghai Sharks fan club.

    But Fei acknowledged increasing NBA promotions in local markets will attract Chinese audiences.

    "Compared with the Chinese Basketball Association, the NBA cares more about their fans. They know much better how to draw audiences," he said.

    "Their posters, advertisements, commodities are all different. If they can put all these colors on Chinese players, I am sure they would win more hearts in China."

    Jin, the fan club's president, said he sees a bright future for the NBA in China.

    "NBA is true basketball, but it is still unknown to most Chinese fans," he said. "If it comes closer to China, I am sure it will have the biggest population of NBA fans in the world."

    Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

  8. a new trend deserves a new slogan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    "Apple Macintosh: What, you thought it was going to stay that way? Grow up, shut up and fork over. ...Buncha whiny losers."

  9. Ahh... well. by Jethro+On+Deathrow · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    If you want to add editorial content to the stories, don't sell yourself as a news site.

    Why not post the story, then grab the first post?

  10. Re:once again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    You stupid twat. You missed a perfectly good "First Reply!" oppurtunity there.

    You goatse zealot.

  11. Re:I may be missing the point but... by mbbac · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Mozilla is too complex for most users. Phoenix is the only hope for unseating Internet Explorer on Windows.

    I hope the Phoenix team creates a Mail and Address Book client to go along with it. Mozilla Calendar is already very nice. It looks like it is based off of iCal.

    --

    mbbac

  12. Re:Wow by cioxx · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Karma Whore Spotted!