X17 News

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Strike.tv, an online network formed by film and television writers during the writer's strike, announced on Wednesday that they will launch their website this summer, with projects from the writers behind The Office, Family Guy, and Die Hard, among others.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Strike.tv will feature over 40 shortform programs, including dramas, comedies and a game show. Participating writers include Lester Lewis (The Office), Rob Kutner (The Daily Show With Jon Stewart), Stephen E. de Souza (Die Hard), Karen Harris (General Hospital) and Ron Corcillo (Malcolm in the Middle). The site has also attracted talent including Bob Newhart, Timothy Dalton and Saturday Night Live's Kristen Wiig.

In a statement on the site, Strike.TV pledges to donate "all profits from the first three months to the Actors Fund, which aids Hollywood crew members affected by the strike." Strike.tv also allows participating writers to own their intellectual property.

LOS ANGELES (X17online) - You can now watch thousands of movies and TV shows for free on the IMDB.com website. More than 6,000 titles will be available, including recent popular TV shows like "24" and "The Office", the company said in a statement.
IMDB visiters will also be able to watch the first episodes of new fall shows like "Lipstick Jungle" and "30 Rock" before they are shown on broadcast TV.
IMDB is owned by web giant Amazon.com and has been looking for ways to increase its role in digital media.

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - China's Internet censors are apparently trying to block fans from accessing a website related to Guns N' Roses first album in 17 years called "Chinese Democracy," according to AFP.

The website chinesedemocracy.com was inaccessible in China and searches for "Chinese Democracy" were blocked to China's largest Internet portal.

Fans in China were still able to access the music through the band's MySpace page.

"This is the first time we've heard about it," a ministry spokeswoman said, when asked about the album and reports that it had been banned in China.

"I don't know if they're banned or not," she said. "It might be a rumor."

LOS ANGELES, CA (X17online) - “Hacktivist” group Anonymous has forewarned their destruction of Facebook on November 5th.

The hacking group, which gained notoriety for its cyber-attacks on the Pentagon and News Corp, declared in a Youtube video, "Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed."

The speaker in the video explains that so-called “Operation Facebook” is a response to Facebook’s distribution of its users’ personal information to government agencies and information security firms.

SILICON VALLEY, California (X17online) - Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple, the company announced Wednesday.

As recommended by Jobs himself, Apple COO Tim Cook will replace the iconic techie as CEO.

The news comes as little surprise in the tech world, as Jobs has been battling critical health issues for several years.

Though no mention of health is made in his letter of resignation, Jobs hinted: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.”

According to Apple board member Art Levinson, Jobs will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board and “serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Netflix is separating its DVD and streaming services, the company announced Sunday.

Netflix will launch a new company called Qwikster for its DVD-by-mail services, while streaming services will remain on Netflix.com.

The news has upset many Netflix customers, many of whom were already displeased with the company’s recent announcement that prices for its subscription service would increase by 60 percent.

Despite Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’s lengthy apology to disgruntled customers on the company’s blog, Netflix’s stock dropped over 7 percent Monday.

NEW YORK, New York (X17online) - ABC News and Yahoo! News have announced a partnership that will expand ABC News’ online presence.

Beginning today, the two media powerhouses will “enhance and transform the delivery of news and information across the digital landscape” by making ABC News content available on Yahoo! News.

ABC News and Yahoo! News are launching three online-first video series with ABC News correspondents and anchors. Among them is Newsmakers, which debuts today as George Stephanopoulos interviews President Barack Obama live from the White House. Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, and Robin Roberts are all slated to contribute to the video series, as well.

In addition to sharing content, the two companies will share “integrated bureaus” in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles.

NEW YORK, New York (X17online) - The Winklevoss Twins have been ordered to pay their legal team $13 million for services in their $65 million Facebook lawsuit.

After unsuccessfully charging their former law firm with malpractice at a N.Y. appeals court, the brothers are being forced to pay up to the tune of $13 million – 20 percent of their total winnings from Facebook.

The original case, in which the Winklevoss Twins claimed to have conceived the idea of Facebook, was famously portrayed in the Oscar-winning film The Social Network. The brothers’ subsequent attempts to squeeze money out of the social media giant have been ineffective.

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Bad news continues to stream in for Netflix.

The company’s stock was down 35.9 percent at $76.15 as of this morning, a number it hadn’t been traded at since April 2010.

Netflix’s stock and membership have steadily declined – by 810,000, to be exact - since the company announced a price hike for its services in July.

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Media powerhouses Disney and Youtube will collaborate in launching a new video series.

Disney Interactive Media and Google-owned YouTube will invest a combined $10 to $15 million on the original series, which will be viewable on both Youtube and Disney.com.

“It’s imperative to go where our audience is” and to “bring Disney’s legacy of storytelling to a new generation of families and Disney enthusiasts on the platforms they prefer,” said co-president of Disney Interactive, James A. Pitaro.

The partnership - which the companies are expected to announce today, Nov. 7 – will begin early next year.

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Google is set to unveil its digital music store this afternoon.

Google Music will feature an MP3 music store to supplement the cloud-based storage service and music player already included in the product’s beta version.

The music product is also expected to boast sharing capabilities in conjunction with Google+, Google’s increasingly popular social networking site.

Google will announce the launch of its digital music store at an event in Hollywood today, November 16 at 2PM PST.

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Facebook has gotten inappropriate, if you haven’t already noticed.

The social networking giant has called attention to a “coordinated spam attack” that posts pornographic and violent images to users’ profiles without their knowledge.

Bypassing web browsers’ security controls, the spam attack dupes users into copying a malicious code into their browser windows and inadvertently sharing the content with other users.

Facebook is assuring its users that it is addressing the issue.

"We've put in place back-end measures to reduce the rate of these attacks and will continue to iterate on our defenses to find new ways to protect people,” a Facebook spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - The CEO of News Corps. is now on Twitter.

After creating his @RupertMurdoch account on New Year’s Eve, the 80-year-old media mogul first Tweeted, “Have just. Read The Rational Optimist. Great book."

He has since Tweeted his thoughts about Steve Jobs's biography, the Oscar-worthiness of George Clooney's performance in The Descendants, and his political support for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Murdoch is currently under fire for his alleged implication in News Corp.’s phone-hacking scandal, which he has yet to speak out about.

Although he follows only four individuals – Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus, technology entrepreneur Lord Sugar, and a fake account of Google co-founder Larry Page – Murdoch’s Twitter has already racked up 64,000 followers in its two days of activity.

Among them is former British deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who sarcastically Tweeted, “Hey @rupertmurdoch. I’m surprised you’re only following two people. The police said it was at least 800.”

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Google and Wikipedia are among the many websites that are ‘going dark’ today in protest of the U.S. House of Representatives' Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate's Protect IP Act.

For 24 hours, a black bar will cover Google’s logo and Wikipedia will direct users to a message that urges them to contact their representatives.

The two websites join nearly 7,000 others – including Reddit, Wordpress, TwitPic, and Flickr – that are protesting the acts, which, if passed, would grant the government and large corporations the power to shut down websites accused of copyright infringement without due process.

LOS ANGELES, California (X17online) - Amazon.com has landed a content licensing deal with Viacom that will expand its streaming video offerings.

Amazon’s Prime Instant Videos library, available only to Amazon Prime members ($79/year), will now feature hit shows from Viacom properties – BET, Comedy Central, LOGO, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike, TV Land, and VH1, among others – including Jersey Shore, iCarly, and Mob Wives.

“This deal with Viacom brings Prime customers and Kindle Fire users thousands of comedies, kids' shows, reality TV and much more from some of the best cable networks available,” Amazon’s director of video content acquisition Brad Beale said in a statement. “We now offer more than 15,000 movies and TV shows in Prime Instant Videos and are working hard to add even more great content."

LOS ANGELES, California (x17online) - Facebook is planning to go public on May 18 in what's considered the most anticipated public offerings since Google went public in 2004.

The social networking site is ready to start an IPO road show beginning May 7, where they will hold a series of meetings with prospective institutional investors to stir interest in the company's stock. Facebook's founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is expected to attend some of the meetings.

The news follows Facebook's purchase of the mobile photo-sharing application Instagram for $1 billion last month, their largest acquisition to date.

With going public, the company hopes to raise around $5 billion through this move, boosting Facebook's value to $100 billion.