The Carriageworks in Leeds is hosting the Music Futures Conference event on 30th March, organised by Newcastle’s Generator.

The confirmed speakers list looks like their strongest line up yet for the Yorkshire area providing a unique opportunity for the region’s music businesses.

Music Futures is the last event of the current Plugged In Yorkshire Network.

Some of the Guest Speakers confirmed so far:

* Alison Wenham (AIM Chairman CEO)
* Caroline Elleray (Universal Music Publishing – Head Of A&R)
* Aaron Bogucki (Polydor – Head Of Digital)
* Ian Grenfell (SimplyRed.com / Suede Ltd)
* Steve Mayall (Music Ally)
* Scott Cohen (The Orchard )
* Malcolm Dunbar (Pledge Music)
* Gary Downing (Frukt)
* Gary McClarnan (MMF )
* Mark Wood (Radius Music – Manager Imogen Heap)

There will also be a room for networking, with A&R in attendance from Atlantic Records, Warner Chappell Music and Island Records. There’ll be representatives from Leeds based Get-Ctrl, Dance To The Radio, Musicians’ Union, PRS and Ward Hadaway as well as many others.

This is an opportunity to meet and network directly with the regional and national music industry and promote your business one to one.

To register for the event click here.

To view video footage from previous Music Futures events, click on the links below:

Will technology revive the industry? Monday 15 November 2010

Digital Platforms: Broadcast or distribute? Tuesday 16 November 2010

New markets for licensing and brands. Wednesday 17 November 2010

Is online media the industry’s gatekeeper? Thursday 18 November 2010

CNN is planning to integrate social media as a more substantial part of its website, Mediaweek reports.

In addition to new blogs being launched on food and health, regular columns from tech experts, such as Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore, Farhad Manjoo from Slate and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, are set to be kicked off.

Already up and running are ‘This Just In’ and ‘Afganistan Crossroads’, the first featuring the most immediate information on breaking news whereas the latter offers an in-depth in look into the ongoing war and its impacts.

The channel is also looking to introduce a new feature, dubbed ‘Trending Now’, to help visitors find the most commented-on topics both on the site itself and on social networking sites.

The future plans also include a full integration of Facebook as a permanent part of the site. CNN has already utilised the social media giant successfully, for example in its coverage of President Obama’s inauguration.

Source: Mediaweek

The Huffington Post launched in 2005 aiming to provide a commentary outlet for liberal viewpoints. What started as a project for a few enthusiastic writers is today a social hub with, according to the co-founder Ariana Huffington, an active community of over 20 million web users.

The monthly visitor numbers don’t fall too short of those of other media outlets either. According to the web researcher comScore, The Huffington Post had about 9 million unique visitors last November. In the same month, NYTimes.com, one of the biggest news website in the US, recorded 16.6 million unique visitors.

The Huffington Post offers a good example of how Web 2.0 gives anyone a chance to get their message heard – and to make money.

According to The Guardian, The Huffington Post had revenues of $12m-$16m last year. In total, the publication is estimated to be worth over $100 million.

So what was it that made the site such a hit?

Ariana Huffington herself believes that blogs appeal to a desire of the public to engage and comment, rather than just consume news.

During the BBC programme Virtual Revolution Huffington also stressed that transparency is an essential part of new media. Perhaps it is this openness and accountability to its readership which has made The Huffington Post a leader in its field.

Have a look at The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Feature article

With Web 2.0 no longer a cryptic name, blogging is as popular as it ever was. Thanks to the huge popularity of social media tools like Twitter, people seem to have got past the final remnants of web shyness and blogs are blooming.

Read our feature article – ‘Why do we need blogs?’

They plan to let loose with electronic messages – provided they aren’t so swept away by the afternoon liftoff that they fall uncharacteristically silent for a moment or two.

The tweeps, as they’re called, represent 21 states plus the District of Columbia, as well as five countries, including Morocco and New Zealand. They’re traveling at their own expense.

NASA estimates the 100 have more than 150,000 Twitter followers. It’s a dream outreach program for a space agency looking to drum up support.

“I’ll be uploading stuff as it happens,” promised Steve Wake, 38, a computer programmer who flew in from Denver. “On launch day, who knows? I may be too excited about everything else to even think about doing that stuff. When it’s over with, I’m sure I will.”

Laura Burns already has a strategy. She figures she’ll have the words typed in and her finger hovering over the button so she can send a tweet at the moment of liftoff.

“I’ll have to be like juggling my iPhone and my camera and my eyes, and trying to get everything all at once,” said Burns, 33, a software systems engineer from Columbia, Maryland. She’s using the Twitter name “moonrangerlaura” to chronicle her entire trip – including the drive to Cape Canaveral and a pit stop for MoonPie pastries.

For the first time ever, NASA last month invited its Twitter followers to sign up online for the chance to see a space shuttle launch up close.

The 100 slots – and 50 backup positions – filled in less than 20 minutes on Oct. 16.The two-day gathering got under way Sunday at Kennedy Space Center with talks by NASA officials, including the first Twittering astronaut, Michael Massimino, aka Astro-Mike. The discussions were streamed live on the Internet, and the “tweetup” gathering was near the top of Twitter’s trending topics Sunday morning.

Nearly half the attendees are from Florida, making for an easier trip, especially if the mission ends up being delayed. Atlantis’ six astronauts have thousands of kilos of spare parts to deliver to the International Space Station. The 11-day flight will keep the shuttle there over the Thanksgiving holiday.

With only six shuttle flights remaining and still no word from the White House on a future course for astronauts, NASA is tapping into social media – Twitter, Facebook and the like – to spread its stay-in-space message.

Astronauts have been tweeting from Earth and orbit since spring. While NASA already has held a few of the tweetups – so-called meet ups of people who use Twitter – it’s the first for Kennedy Space Center, a high-security area requiring government clearance.

Even the most staid NASA types see the benefit of reaching out to a younger, hipper crowd.

Atlantis commander Charles Hobaugh – who acknowledged last month he doesn’t even text message – assigned the crew’s Twittering tasks to Dr. Robert Satcher Jr. Satcher, who will become the first orthopedic surgeon in space, uses the handle ZeroG-MD.

“It’s exciting that this is generating more interest in space exploration and certainly interest in the last few missions of the shuttle, which we hope are not the last few missions of the shuttle,” Satcher said.

With five children of his own, the director of NASA’s space shuttle program appreciates the importance of reaching out to the next generation.

“It’s the right thing to do, is to use the tools available and get them excited about things that are real, not virtual,” program director John Shannon said.

Neal Wiser, a 41-year-old Internet marketing strategist from Philadelphia, is fulfilling a lifelong dream. The biggest thing he’s ever seen lift off is an 2.4-metre model rocket.

This is Wiser’s third NASA tweetup. He’ll be blogging and Twittering throughout.

“We’re all geeks together,” he said. “I actually joked to my wife that I’m turning into a NASA groupie.”

The first-person shooter sold an estimated 1.23 million units and grossed around £47m, according to industry body Elspa.

The game sold almost double that of the previous record holder, Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV).

Hundreds of gamers gathered at shops around the world ahead of its release at 00:00 GMT on 10 November.

“These first day sales figures are astonishing and clear evidence that videogames are now mainstream in the UK,” said Michael Rawlinson, director general of the entertainment and leisure software publishers association (Elspa).

“Our form of interactive entertainment has completely come of age.”

The publishers of Modern Warfare 2, Activision, have predicted total sales of 3m across the UK while some analysts believe it could sell 10m copies globally in the run up to Christmas.

Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision, described it as “one of the largest entertainment launches of any media of all time”.

Modern Warfare 2 is the sixth instalment in the Call of Duty series and gives players the chance to be a member of a military strike force that takes on a Russian ultra-nationalist terrorist group.

The game has drawn criticism because one section, prefaced by a warning screen, involves a player joining a massacre of civilians at an airport.

Labour MP Keith Vaz condemned the game saying he was “absolutely shocked” by its violence.

In response, Activision said the scene was “not representative of overall experience”.

Labour MP Tom Watson has set up a Facebook group to defend games such as Call of Duty from their critics.

“This is specifically intended for an adult audience and accordingly has emotional, adult content,” said Mr Rawlinson.

“As an 18-rated videogame, it is important that this game is not played by children, and parents should be appropriately vigilant.”

The application allows a 360-degree view of any street-level location.

“Numerous faces and vehicle number plates are not made sufficiently unrecognisable,” said data protection commissioner Hanspeter Thuer.

Google said it was disappointed by the move. The firm says it is sure that Street View is legal in Switzerland and will “vigorously contest” the case.

Line of sight

Mr Thuer is especially concerned about people shown in sensitive locations such as hospitals, prisons or schools.

He also said that the height of the camera was problematic because it allowed a view over fences, hedges and walls, meaning that more could be seen from Street View than by a normal passer-by.

The commissioner said Google was asked in August to take various measures and had not complied with the requests.

It is likely to take months before any court case actually starts, but it could have a more immediate impact on the Swiss availability of the service.

Mr Thuer has asked a tribunal to order Google to remove all pictures of Switzerland and to cease taking any more until a ruling has been made.

Microsoft told BBC News that banned machines will be permanently barred and “unable to connect to Xbox Live”.

A message displayed on affected consoles said there was “no recourse for terms of use violations”.

Microsoft has barred as many as 1m gamers from Xbox live for modifying their consoles to play pirated games.

“Users of banned Xbox consoles can recover their profile to another, unmodified Xbox 360 console to resume their Live service,” the firm told BBC News.

“The banned console will be unable to connect to Xbox Live.”

However, modified consoles will still work offline.

‘No recourse’

Microsoft said barring gamers was part of an ongoing drive to curb piracy.

But a statement from them suggests this latest wave was timed to prevent people from playing pirated versions of the widely-anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

We believe that even one modified console on the system is one too many Microsoft

“We can assure you that if an Xbox Live member follows the Xbox Live terms of use, purchased a retail copy of Modern Warfare 2 and played the game on an unmodified Xbox 360, no action will be taken,” the firm said.

Microsoft said that it had banned a “small percentage” of the 20 million Xbox Live users worldwide.

Many gamers modify their consoles by installing new chips or software that allows them to run unofficial – but not always illegal – programs and games.

Some BBC News website readers claimed that they had “modded” their consoles to allow them to make back-ups of games that they had already bought.

“Discs are very fragile things and some users like to have their games backed up,” said Donald Glass of Aberdeen.

“After all you will have paid £40 for a new disc. It is my opinion that once you buy a disc you should be allowed to do whatever you want with the media as long as you do not break copyright laws.”

Microsoft has not said how it was able to determine which gamers to disconnect.

“We do not reveal specifics, but can say that all consoles have been verified to have violated the terms of use,” the firm said in a statement.

It said that gamers who had been barred were using their modified consoles to “play illegally pirated games”.

“We believe that even one modified console on the system is one too many”.

Industry figures suggest that piracy may cost the video game industry as much as £750m a year.

Reports have speculated that new “mods” could soon be on the market that allow gamers to get round the blocks.

FLING! £0.59 Puzzle game featuring thousands of different challenges ? a great value app.

Social networking is one of the fastest-growing activities among mobile users around the world. And as one of the primary ways mobile users communicate with one another, it is proving a significant driver of Internet usage on mobile devices.

eMarketer predicts the number of mobile users accessing social networks from their mobile devices will reach 607.5 million worldwide by 2013, representing 43% of global mobile Internet users. In the US, mobile social networkers will total 56.2 million by 2013, accounting for 45% of the mobile Internet user population.

“Combining two much-hyped, but still-emerging channels—mobile and social—results in a developing opportunity for marketers,” said Noah Elkin, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Mobile Social Networks: Marketing by Location Shows Potential.”

The big three destinations of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter dominate the US mobile social networking space as they do the desktop world.

Location-based networks such as Loopt and foursquare have not yet reached critical mass, but are worth keeping an eye on as they work to link people, places and interests. In addition, location-based services can also be used in other contexts to help marketers target social network users with relevant information and offers.

“Location-aware branded applications and utilities that include a social component provide an avenue for marketers to engage their audience directly,” added Mr. Elkin.

But the combination of two emerging channels means that estimating the market for mobile social advertising and marketing is premature, despite the promising user base.

Marketers are talking a lot about social and mobile and, on a slightly smaller scale, preparing to incorporate both environments into their marketing mix. But since both channels are still evolving, combining mobile and social together puts many marketers into a gray area from both a budgetary and oversight perspective, and programs remain small and experimental.

Nintendo is launching a dedicated channel for the BBC iPlayer on the Wii next week as it looks to grow the 900,000 users the service has had since becoming available on the Wii browser in April 2008.

The iPlayer channel will be available to download from the Wii online store for free from 18 November.

When the iPlayer was first made available on the Wii web browser, users reported struggling with the interface. The relaunched iPlayer has been designed to address these problems, placing a stronger emphasis on service and more convenient navigation.