According to Piper Jaffray’s latest semiannual survey of American teens, the most important social networks among teenagers are Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, in that order. One-third indicated that they found photo-sharing app Instagram to be their most important social network, while 20 percent cited Twitter and 19 percent listed Snapchat. Only 15 percent said that Facebook was their most important social app. “The findings support the view that younger users are less engaged with Facebook and prefer alternate sites,” reports The Wall Street Journal. However, “this spring, Pew Research Internet Project found Facebook the site used most frequently by U.S. teens between 13 and 17.”

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), which protects University of Wisconsin’s intellectual property and patents, won a lawsuit last week against Apple after a jury decided that Apple’s A7, A8 and A8X processors used in iPhones and iPads violate a WARF patent for improving chip efficiency. The same jury ruled on Friday that Apple would have to pay $234 million in damages for using the microchip technology without permission. Although the amount is less than the $400 million sought by the university’s patent licensing arm, “WARF praised the verdict and said it was important to protect the university’s inventions from unauthorized use,” reports Reuters. Apple said it plans to appeal the decision.

Comcast’s NBCUniversal plans to debut a Web-only subscription video service in January called Seeso that will offer comedic fare such as standup specials, original series, select movies, and NBC classics like “The Office” and “30 Rock” along with late-night hits including “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” The ad-free channel, which will cost $3.99 per month, will offer more than 20 exclusive original series during its first year. NBCU said it does not have plans to remove its content from other digital services such as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. Continue reading NBCUniversal to Launch Ad-Free Streaming Comedy Channel

Forbes has compiled its first-ever list of the world’s highest-paid YouTube stars. To appear in the ranking, Internet celebrities had to make at least $2.5 million in earnings for the year ending June 1, 2015. The top 13 DIY videomakers, most under the age of 30, have earned a combined total of $54.5 million. The group includes gamers, singers, comedy teams, pranksters, a beauty blogger and a dancing violinist. While most make their revenue from online advertising, some are also branching out into traditional media such as film, TV, music and publishing. Continue reading Top YouTube Stars Using Online Success to Launch Careers

Amazon continues to combat the problem of fake customer reviews with a new lawsuit filed in Washington on Friday against more than 1,000 Fiverr.com freelancers who are offering to write phony product reviews for a fee. This spring, the e-commerce giant went after services that offered fake reviews. Now, after an investigation into Fiverr, the company is targeting individuals. “While small in number, these reviews can significantly undermine the trust that consumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn tarnishes Amazon’s brand,” states the complaint, posted on GeekWire. Amazon is not suing the Fiverr site, but the individuals that are offering the service.

With Paper (originally named Notes), Dropbox is making the transition from file storage provider to all-in-one collaboration service. “The premise of Paper is simple,” explains Digital Trends. “It’s a place where you can create, edit, tag, and chat all in one document. It essentially combines the aesthetic of Medium with the collaboration features of Google Docs.” Paper has been in closed beta for a few months, during which Dropbox added new features, and cut down on the toolbars and settings clutter, in order for the service to better compete with established offerings such as Google Docs, Evernote, Slack and OneDrive. Dropbox Paper is now in open beta.

North American pay TV providers recently experienced their worst quarter ever, losing nearly a half million subscribers. But where are these subs going for video services? Recent figures point to Internet TV. Juniper Research, for example, projects that subscriber numbers to over-the-top TV services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime will increase from 92.1 million in 2014, to 332.2 million globally by 2019. Netflix alone will generate $31.6 billion by 2019, up from just under $8 billion in 2014. The recent Netflix Earnings Call provides a revealing portrait that points out challenges and opportunities that reflect the state of the industry. Continue reading Execs Discuss the Future of SVOD in Netflix Q3 Earnings Call

As part of its push to stream more video to Internet users in China, Alibaba has made a $4.6 billion offer to acquire the 81.7 percent it does not already own of YouTube-like video site Youku Tudou. Alibaba CFO Maggie Wu said the deal would be paid in cash. “Ownership of Youku Tudou would help Ma deliver U.S. films and drama series to more than a third of China’s population as Alibaba battles Baidu Inc. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. for the attentions of Internet users,” reports Bloomberg. “The deal comes after he toured Hollywood to meet with studio executives, took control of a Chinese movie studio and invested in the latest ‘Mission: Impossible’ film.”

City-owned power utility Chattanooga Electric Power Board is introducing 10-gigabit municipal broadband connections for about $300 per month. The service is almost 1,000 times faster than the average U.S. broadband connection. Tennessee’s “Gig City” will also add 3- and 5-gigabit connections to its current 1-gigabit offering. EPB claims the new fiber optic network is the “world’s first” to offer community-wide 10-gigabit Internet service. “Chattanooga was one of the first cities to bypass large commercial Internet service providers and start offering city-run gigabit-speed fiber services for its citizens back in 2008 — about five years before Google Fiber brought comparable speeds to Kansas City,” notes Wired.

Two years after government contractor Edward Snowden famously leaked secret NSA documents, another release of classified information has occurred. This time, The Intercept — which is staffed by journalists who previously worked with Snowden — has published what it claims is a comprehensive breakdown of the U.S. government’s military drone program. The report, featuring documents provided by another whistleblower, offers details regarding U.S. strategy to kill foreign targets in Afghanistan, Somalia and Yemen — and highlights the unintended consequences involved with drone wars. Continue reading Leaked Documents Offer Details of U.S. Military’s Drone Wars

CBS chief exec Les Moonves says that discussions with Apple about TV programming for a streaming service will likely lead to a deal, but he does not know when. The tech giant pushed the launch of its planned live Internet TV service until 2016, reportedly due to stalled discussions with media companies regarding licensing agreements. Moonves indicated that his network is also having similar licensing discussions with companies including Facebook and Netflix. “CBS, with popular shows like ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘Criminal Minds’ is one of the key elements to a live subscription service that Apple hopes to use to revolutionize TV,” according to Bloomberg.

A six-part docu-series titled “Sherman’s Warriors” will debut this Sunday following the “Sunday Night Football” telecast. Each episode of the series, which follows former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman leading the Nauset Warriors high school football team, will run “6-8 minutes, accompanied by 1-2 minute behind-the-scenes clips,” explains Variety. “NBC Sports plans to launch about a half-dozen original series produced for digital platforms in the next year.” The various series will cover “different categories, including special packages of highlights and exclusive interviews.” Content will be made available for desktop, mobile, smart TVs, and via Yahoo and Comcast’s Watchable service.

Apple could be liable for up to $862.4 million in damages after losing a patent lawsuit to the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), which protects the University of Wisconsin’s patents and intellectual rights. A jury in Madison, Wisconsin this week “found the iPhone maker used technology owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s licensing arm without permission in chips found in many of its most popular devices,” reports Reuters. Apple denied any infringement regarding its A7, A8 and A8X processors used in iPhones and iPads, and argued that the 1998 WARF patent for improving chip efficiency was invalid. Earlier this year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected Apple’s bid to review validity of the patent.

The Department of Justice and FBI are investigating whether daily fantasy-sports sites such as DraftKings and FanDuel are operating in violation of federal law. FBI agents have reportedly been in contact with fantasy sports customers to begin the probe. “Congress in 2006 prohibited financial companies from transferring money to online gambling sites and several were shut down,” notes The Wall Street Journal. “But so-called games of skill were exempted.” While DraftKings and FanDuel have been operating under the exemption, government agencies are looking “to determine whether daily fantasy games are a form of gambling.” Major media companies are among the investors in the booming industry.

Apple is introducing 4K Retina screens for its 21.5-inch iMacs and 5K resolution for its 27-inch iMacs. Displays also tout a 25 percent increase in color gamut. Larger iMacs will feature enhanced graphics capabilities and Intel’s new Skylake processor. And now that the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus offerings include the ability to record 4K video, an updated iMovie supports 4K footage and 1080p HD video at 60 fps. The company has also redesigned its Magic line of keyboards, mice and trackpads to include new features, including the ability to recharge batteries with the same Lightning plug used by the iPhone. Continue reading Apple Goes All Retina with iMac Displays, Updates Peripherals