Citigroup Earns $2.9 Billion In Q2, Beats Estimates

AP buys stake in live video service Bambuser NEW YORK (AP) — The Associated Press said Thursday that it has bought a minority stake in the live video service Bambuser, boosting its ability to acquire and distribute video collected by people who have witnessed news events. Last year, the AP signed a deal with Bambuser giving the agency exclusive syndication rights to user-generated content video posted on the service, meaning that if users want to share their video with a news agency, they do it only with the AP, MacIntyre said. Access to user-generated content has become increasingly important for media companies like the AP, which has growing demand for live video from its broadcast and online customers. The AP noted that it already uses verified user-generated content regularly, citing the civil war in Syria, the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings and recent storms in Oklahoma as examples of recent stories where such content played a role.

France threatens Google with privacy fines The chief of the French agency that regulates information technology says that five other European countries are taking similar steps in a staggered offensive against Google's privacy policy between now and the end of July.

The Associated Press said Thursday that it has bought a minority stake in the live video service Bambuser, boosting its ability to acquire and distribute video collected by people who have witnessed news events.

France is giving Google three months to abide by the country's data privacy laws or be fined.

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is holding a hearing on Green Mountain Power's request to allow its wind power project on Lowell Mountain to kill up to four bats a year. The utility says it would have to stop its turbines from spinning at night for six months to a year to eliminate any risk to the little brown bats known to fly on the mountain. Idling the turbines would cost the utility about $4 million a year in reduced power output. The request comes as bat populations in the Northeast have been decimated by a fungal disease called white nose syndrome. The draft permit says GMP will pay $18,000 a year to protect other bat colonies.