By Cynthia Herbert :: 1:44 PM
Italian company Ferrero, the parent behind the Nutella brand, that deliciously sweet hazelnut chocolate spread, has decided that it doesn’t want fans online to honor the chocolatey goodness of its product.
Ferrero sent a cease and desist letter last week to a woman who runs the website “World Nutella Day.”
The day, an event that the owner of the site has been running for about seven years, started out simply as Nutella fans sharing recipes and swapping tips for baking with the spread. Over the years, along with the spread of online social networks, the event has morphed into an online gathering with thousands of fans Tweeting about it, sharing recipes on Pinterest, and posting pictures to Facebook.
“On May 25, 2013, I’ll be darkening the World Nutella Day site, nutelladay.com, and all social media presence (Facebook, Twitter), in compliance with a cease-and-desist I received from lawyers representing Ferrero, SpA (makers of Nutella),” she posted on her website. “The cease-and-desist letter was a bit of a surprise and a disappointment, as over the years I’ve had contact and positive experiences with several employees of Ferrero, SpA., and with their public relations and brand strategy consultants.”
Although Nutella’s official Facebook page does not allow fans to post, it does allow fans to comment on posts made by the page, and right now, they’re getting an earful from customers who are upset with their plans to cancel future instances of World Nutella Day.
By Paul Thomson :: 10:35 PM
A series of tornadoes tore through parts of the midwest today, with states like Kansas and Oklahoma among the hardest hit.
Many amateur and professional weather spotters took to their cameras and captured footage of the storms as they swept through their towns. Below are some of the videos, which were posted to YouTube.
Large tornado near Wichita, Kansas
Rope tornado near Viola, Kansas
Tornado in Carney, Oklahoma
By Gilbert Falso :: 9:29 PM
As Google’s developer conference, I/O, took place in San Francisco last week, a gathering of a different kind was happening across the country in Washington, D.C. Eight members of Congress penned a letter to Google’s CEO, Larry Page, with concerns about how the company would address the privacy implications of its new Google Glass product.
The letter provided eight questions for Google, and requested that the company provide a response by the middle of June. The questions ranged from a followup to Google’s unintentional collection of WiFi data from 2010, to how the new device might make use of facial recognition technology, and to what extent Google would protect non-Glass users from privacy infringement.
“As members of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus,” the letter reads, “we are curious whether this new technology could infringe on the privacy of the average American. Because Google Glass has not yet been released and we are uncertain of Google’s plans to incorporate privacy protections into the device, there are still a number of unanswered questions.”
The letter is signed by legislators Joe Barton, Bobby Rush, Richard Nugent, Steve Chabot, John Barrow, Walter Jones, Hank Johnson, and Loretta Sanchez.
Steve Lee, Google’s director of product management for Glass, addressed some of these concerns at the I/O conference, including issues around the availability of facial recognition technology.
“We’ve consistently said that we won’t add new face recognition features to our services unless we have strong privacy protections in place,” he stated.
Other than Lee’s remarks at I/O, Google has not publicly responded to the Congressional request yet.
By Cynthia Herbert :: 1:59 PM
If all of the news so far has been correct, Yahoo’s board of directors will meet tonight to discuss, and likely approve, the company’s $1.1 billion acquisition offer for start-up blogging site Tumblr.
The deal, the first major one of new CEO Marissa Mayer’s tenure, is an all-cash purchase, and will be a huge win for Tumblr investors if it is approved. Tumblr has raised about $125 million since 2007. It sits with a valuation around $800 million. Its investors includeĂ‚Â Union Square Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Greylock Partners, among others.
Tumblr’s CEO, David Karp, will most likely remain in a leadership position at the acquired company, according to sources familiar with the agreements. Tumblr will have a certain level of autonomy within Yahoo, but sources also say Mayer expects Tumblr technology to integrate closely into Yahoo’s current business operations. Karp will be given a four-year contract that can reward him for positive performance of the site.
With the Tumblr acquisition, Yahoo could open itself up to a younger, web-savvy audience that to this point, has largely discounted the company. With many Tumblr users in their teens and early 20’s, Yahoo is almost their parents’ company – not a name that has been hip or cool in their lifetimes. However, Yahoo will have to work to keep this audience from jumping ship once the acquisition occurs.
Tumblr users have long been resistant to advertising on the site. Within the last year or so, the site has slowly begun showing ads on Tumblr user dashboards, and this modest effort has returned about $13 million in revenue, with the potential to hit close to $100 million this year. The new Yahoo-owned Tumblr will have access to Yahoo’s advertising network and tools, which could be a blessing or a curse, depending on how the platform is rolled out.
If the deal is approved by Yahoo’s board, it will be publicly announced at a press event that Yahoo has already scheduled for Monday.
By Gilbert Falso :: 3:31 PM
The Pentagon announced yesterday that it has approved the use of certain Apple mobile devices on military and government networks. This paves the way for Apple to compete in the government arena with devices from rivals like Samsung and BlackBerry.
In a statement released by the Pentagon, the Department of Defense declared that Apple products running iOS 6 as the operating system have been vetted by military and government IT tests to access restricted government networks.
BlackBerry has long been a favorite platform for military use, but has fallen out of favor as many employees prefer Apple and Android devices on their personal time. Until the recent BlackBerry upgrade and offering of its new Z10 handset, much of BlackBerry’s technology was dated, compared to other offerings. Earlier this month, the Pentagon approved military use of several of Samsung’s Android-based devices.
According to statistics published by the Department of Defense, there are about 600,000 mobile devices in use across the agency. These include 470,000 BlackBerry handsets, 41,000 Apple devices and 8,700 Android devices. Until now, most of the Apple and Android products at the agency were not connected to military networks.