1. Google News says ‘adiós’to Spain in row over publishing fees
Internet search company shuts Spanish operations and other sites threaten to follow suit in dispute over new publishing law (www.theguardian.com)
Google has axed its news service in Spain before a new intellectual property law is
introduced. Photograph: Dusko Despotovic/Corbis
Google News shut has its Spanish operations and similar sites are contemplating their
future as the country prepares to usher in a law requiring aggregators to pay publishers
for linking to their content. On Tuesday morning, the news stories that normally fill the
Google News page were replaced by the following message: “We’re incredibly sad to
announce that, due to recent changes in Spanish law, we have removed Spanish
publishers from Google News and closed Google News in Spain.” The law, set to come
into force in January, requires services which post links and excepts of news articles to
pay a fee to the Association of Editors of Spanish Dailies (AEDE). Publishers cannot opt
out or offer their content for free.
“As Google News makes no money (we do not show any advertising on the site) this new approach was not sustainable,” the
company wrote on its Spanish site. It took aim at the law’s insinuation of a parasitic relationship between media and aggregators:
“Google News creates real value for these publications by driving people to their website, which in turn helps generate advertising
revenues.” The shutdown affects only Google News in Spain – news stories from Spain can still be accessed through the company’s
main search engine.
The smallest New Testament (www.newsinlevels.com)
A company from Israel makes a chip. It is really small. It is like a square. Each side is 4.76 millimetres long. People write the New
Testament on the chip. All 27 books are there. It is the smallest version of the New Testament. It is in Greek. The company wants
to produce many of these chips. They want everyone to have one. The chip is small – it can fit into watches, for example. The
company has big plans. They want to make another chip. This chip will have the Old Testament on it.
