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Google has announced, via the Orkut team blog, that they will be shutting down the service in September, but keeping archives of everything on the site indefinitely. Don’t know what Orkut is? Well, neither do 99% of other Internet users. Which is why Google is closing its doors.

Orkut was started as a social network before social networks really existed. It never really caught on, and there were a lot of reasons for that – many of which revolved around clunky use and odd interfacing. The idea may be considered before it’s time, but it was not well implemented in comparison to other networks that have eclipsed it, including Blogger and Google+ – other Google projects.

On September 30, 2014, Orkut will close its doors but will otherwise remain normally operational until then. With one exception: you won’t be able to create any new accounts as of this morning. Current users can export their profile, data and uploads via Google Takeout until September 2016. An archive of the public communities on Orkut will be kept and available from the shutdown date, though users can still remove Orkut from their profile on Google and thus kill their link to Orkut permanently if they wish.

For ten years, Orkut was in operation as a little-known, generally ignored part of Google that is, ironically, getting more attention now that it’s shutting down than it did during most of its decade of operation. Thus goes the Internet news cycle.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a terrorist group so despised that even al Qaeda denounced them, is using social media to spread fear and recruit members to its cause.

However, experts say their propaganda war is far more sophisticated than those previously employed by other terror groups. For example, their video footage is much clearer than the grainy clips released by terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.

In fact, the group recently released an hour-long video that vividly portrayed killings, bombings and other terrorist acts. Known as “The Clanging of the Swords”, the video shows horrific scenes in a style similar to Hollywood movies like Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker, complete with intricate aerial shots.

Middle East Analyst Nadia Oweidat feels that this indicates ISIS is a well-funded group.

“This is geopolitics. There is money behind it. It’s not just idiots; these idiots have somebody controlling them and providing them with equipment that is very expensive. You can’t just get it in a cave.”

According to an ISIS defector interviewed by CNN in Turkey, the group also used Twitter to enlist the aid of Westerners.

“There was special treatment for the Europeans. One British guy said he was called Ibrahim, then told me he was from Manchester,” said the man, who defected after ISIS murdered two of his relatives.

Furthermore, the group also utilised an app in Google’s Play Store that updated users with ISIS-related news. Known as The Dawn of Glad Tidings, the application was removed by the search giant on Tuesday afternoon.

The mass collection of posts from social media sites such as Twitter, Google and Facebook is considered legal in the United Kingdom. This is because this type of communication is classified as external, according to Britain’s top security official.

Office for Security and Counterterrorism director general Charles Farr defended the UK government’s practice of gathering social media information without a search warrant in a 48-page declaration. Advocacy group Privacy International made this document public in relation to a case that challenged dragnet government surveillance within the UK.

In his statement, Farr revealed the secret government policy behind one of the government’s warrantless bulk surveillance programmes, which is known as TEMPORA.

Privacy International noted that this is the first time that the government commented on the legal justifications for their mass interception of communications.

Citing section 8(1) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), Farr explained that while internal communications among UK residents are subject to an individual search warrant, external communications like social media postings are not and can therefore be monitored indiscriminately.

Farr added that once a message is posted on a platform that offers wide accessibility such as Twitter or Facebook, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) does not consider the communication to have been made between “any particular person” but rather with “the platform itself”, making it an external communication that is not subject to the traditional warrant requirement.

Michael Bochenek, senior director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International, said: “British citizens will be alarmed to see their government justifying industrial-scale intrusion into their communications. The public should demand an end to this wholesale violation of their right to privacy.”

Hollywood, show business, call it what you will, it has lured millions of hopefuls and dreamers for well over a century now. Given its promises of fame, glamour and fortune, who wouldn’t want to work in entertainment?

Unfortunately, that cliché also suggests that dreams of entertainment success are almost always destined to fail, that there is no point in dreaming and that most aspiring actors, filmmakers, musicians, directors and producers would be better off getting a ‘proper’ job. However, with the advent of new technologies, it really does seem increasingly realistic to consider a role in the entertainment industry, even with minimal start-up resources. So is it true, can technology really help even the newbies find a place in the entertainment world?

Huge industries

Entertainment is a huge industry in the US, and is increasingly dominated by technology. As a result, large media and entertainment companies are key investors in technological innovation. Yet while technology has allowed entertainment companies to increase their profits, it has also generated threats to their welfare.

Film

The US film industry generated $31 billion in 2013, an increase on the previous year’s revenues, and the US domestic box office alone generated $10.7 billion. Clearly, there is strong demand for films, and the film companies are becoming increasingly reliant on digital means of production and distribution. Not only does this increase the quality of output and innate efficiency of the industry within the US, it also generates further opportunities to profit, as US-based digital expertise is much sought after by foreign entertainment firms.

However, alongside this pleasing growth, the film industry is plagued by illegal downloads and unauthorized distribution that result directly from the very technology that powers it.

Music

With US music incomes having dipped somewhat since 2008, the industry rallied in 2013 to make $15.1 billion, an increase on 2012’s figures. The music industry is now heavily tech-based, with digital production and high quality, low cost recording and distribution being the norm. Although big media companies, such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, still dominate the recorded music industry, the US has a large and thriving independent sector, and the easy availability of digital recording and distribution makes this ripe for growth.

On the flip side, illegal music downloads and file sharing are the bane of the music industry and incredibly difficult to police.

Gaming

Few industries are as tech-driven as gaming, and this has been particularly marked in recent years. The combined revenues from entertainment software expanded by 10% between 2005 and 2009, reaching $10.5 billion. This sector employs more than 120,000 people either directly or indirectly, and has heavy overlaps with the film and music sectors.

Like film and music, the gaming industry is susceptible to copying and illegal distribution of its products, but in reality this occurs to a much lesser extent in the gaming sector than elsewhere.

Room for any more?

While the entertainment industry is clearly doing well, the question for would-be entrepreneurs or employees is simple – is it saturated, or is there room for new entrants? The answer would appear to be ‘yes’, based on the facts that (a) revenues seem to be on a generally upward trend, suggesting a continued, if not increasing, demand for products and (b) modern technology makes it easier and more affordable than ever for those wishing to enter these sectors to equip themselves with essential skills and resources.
For example, those wishing to enter the gaming, animation or CG sectors can now access motion capture animation software, which is a key resource, easily and for relatively little cost. Indeed, the advent of open source gaming has opened the way for virtually everybody to become a game designer or developer, and thus to threaten established providers, but the extent to which this will become a reality has yet to be seen. Would-be musicians can, quite literally, establish a music studio and publishing hub in their own kitchen using consumer-level recording tech and online distribution. Aspiring filmmakers can achieve that goal with a standard hand-held digital camera, or even – at a push – a smartphone.

What of the future?

Whether any of this accessibility will lead to the development of an indie entertainment sector that genuinely challenges the dominant corporations, has yet to be seen: it seems unlikely in the short term, but the democratization of entertainment via technology is growing. Will the big corporations still dominate the industry in ten years’ time, or by an assortment of indie set-ups at various stages of development? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure – now is a great time to be getting involved.

The social aggregation platform RebelMouse has re-launched and is now designed for media companies who want to control the social ecosystem around their content.

Founded by former Huffington Post chief technology officer Paul Berry, RebelMouse was originally launched about two years ago with the goal of allowing publishers to integrate their social media presence into one platform. It did well, though not exceptionally so.

Now, the site is re-launched, this time with a bigger focus on integration and a new additional focus for advertisers as well as media companies. The idea is to give more control over real-time social networking across platforms.

According to an interview with Berry, “There are very few media companies that are also awesome technology companies. You can see that in the NYT’s innovation report: even with hundreds of developers you can have difficulties adapting to the way things work online. And the place where they usually fall down is community and social engagement — and that’s the focus of the new RebelMouse.”

Basically, large media companies can use the RebelMouse platform to better interact with comments and sharing for their publications while advertisers can better see what’s happening with their investments regarding that social interaction.

Where RebelMouse really shines, Berry says, is in viral management. Although it’s tough for marketers to predict what, if anything, is going to “go viral” when published, once it does show signs of doing so, RebelMouse allows you to see that easier and capitalize on it with increased attention via interaction and encouraged sharing.

It will be interesting to see how well RebelMouse does in its new rendition.

Bids for on-demand car service app Uber are said to be valuing the company at $17 billion, rumors say. Some are walking away, having reached their limit for the app’s valuation well below that (but still, many say, ranking it in the billions with an “s”).

General Atlantic, Blackrock, and Technology Crossover Ventures are said to have interest in Uber with investment in the half billion range and valuation over $10-12B. Recently, however, General Atlantic pulled from the bidding without citing a reason, though likely because the valuations kept climbing.

Last summer, Uber had a valuation of about $3.5 billion, but this latest round seems to see the app as being far more profitable now that it’s globally accessible. Currently, the three most valuable startups in terms of valuation are Airbnb, Dropbox, and Xiaomi, all given valuations of about $10 billion (each) in the last year.

To put that into perspective, Spotify’s latest valuation had it at only $4 billion, Elon Musk’s SpaaceX at just $4.8 billion, and Uber at just $3.8 billion in their last rounds of funding.

Uber is aiming to raise about $500 million this round, but may have to “settle” for more than that if its valuation continues upward and investors go along with that.

Things are certainly getting crazy in the startup world. Let’s see where this leads.