Italian quake spurs use of social networks

In today's podcast: Italian quake spurs use of social networks; AP goes after illegal use of content; and Google, Yahoo set up sites for Indian election.

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An earthquake Monday in the Italian region of Abruzzo, leaving a death toll of at least 150 people, had victims and concerned observers communicating through emergency use of mobile devices and reaching out for help and information via Facebook and YouTube. One seismologist, Giampaolo Giuliani, had a YouTube video warning just last week, predicting that an earthquake of at least 4.0 magnitude was imminent. Response to the video is causing controversy because authorities told Giuliani to take down his posting and chastised him for spreading panic. In the panic after the quake hit, authorities asked local inhabitants to avoid using cell phones when possible. One student, trapped under the wreckage of some university housing in Aquila, used his cell phone to give directions to rescue workers, helping them locate and dig him out. A Facebook network called Aiutiamo l'Abruzzo (Let's help Abruzzo) has been formed to share emergency phone numbers and information about where to give blood and get medical help. About 90 Facebook groups dedicated to discussing measures that could have been taken to prepare for the earthquake also have been formed.

The Associated Press plans to take legal action against Web portals and other sites that use its content without paying for a license. The announcement comes amid tough times for the news industry, which has been hurt by the loss of advertising revenue to the Internet. The AP also blamed the theft of news content for some of the news industry's misfortune, one reason it will go after Internet sites that fail to pay for licenses. Dean Singleton, chairman of the AP, in a speech on Monday said, "We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories," The AP plans to develop a system to track online content to make sure it's being used legally. It will also set up new search engine pages that point users to "the most authoritative sources of breaking news," it said in a statement.

Google and Yahoo have launched special sites dedicated to coverage of the federal elections starting April 16 in India in a bid to build their brands among Internet users in the country. The interest of the companies signals the growing importance of the role of the Internet in Indian elections. A number of Indian political parties are using Web sites, e-mail and videos on YouTube to reach voters. Last week, Yahoo set up a micro-site, Election '09 (http://in.elections.yahoo.com/), which offers election news coverage, schedules, online polls and discussion forums. Google launched on Monday an online elections center (www.google.co.in/loksabha2009) in both English and Hindi. The company has partnered with a large media company, Hindustan Times Media, to offer a co-branded site.

Continuing its focus on proving cost-savings, VMware announced on Monday a promotional program with the bold claim that it guarantees customers can save at least 50 percent on server hardware. IT shops sign up for VMware's Professional Services organization to tap the company's so-called best practices when deploying VMware's virtualization software. VMware said that those customers will not have to pay for design and implementation services until they have saved 50 percent on server hardware. VMware Guarantee Promotional Program is currently open to IT shops that want to virtualize no fewer than 200 but no more than 750 physical servers. The program adds another arrow to VMware's quiver for proving the savings and return on investment that using virtualization software can achieve. Late last month, VMware detailed a new "cost-per-app" calculator that it explained enables customers to estimate cost-savings for individual applications, and compare that to competing virtualization offerings