Viacom vs YouTube exposes Google’s data retention policy by ZDNet’s Steve O’Hear — In the ongoing litigation between Viacom and YouTube (Google) over alleged copyright infringement, a US court has ruled that Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube. The one thing that bothers me more than the court ruling itself, however, is the fact that Google retains this amount of user data in the first place.

Eight long years have passed since Blizzard sucked away months of our lives with Diablo 2. Look out because they are prepared to do just that again. Diablo 3 was announced yesterday in Paris at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational.  

We are incredibly excited about this announcement and it appears that Blizzard has taken the time to create a successor that is not only worthy of it’s past but takes RPG gameplay to the next level.  The environments appear rich and hauntingly beautiful.  Thanks to the 3D game engine that not only simulates advanced animation sequences and sound effects, but also uses a custom physics engine that allows for realistic object dynamics and cloth simulation.  

Blizzard also announced 2 of 5 new classes.  The Barbarian and the Witch Doctor.  We are hoping that some of our other favorites (Druid and Paladin anyone?) make an appearance as well.  In addition players can choose either Male or Female models, a thankful addition as this was always a point of contention for players of the previous versions.

However we at GeekEdition are intrigued by the statement that: “Diablo III will benefit from Battle.net upgrades that will provide some exciting new features for players.”  With all Blizzard has learned from World of Warcraft and the MMO market, it will be exciting to see these “new features”.

Head over to Blizzard’s Diablo 3 micro-site to see tons of screenshots and some awesome trailers.

Firefox and Thunderbird phone home daily by ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes — Several of you have emailed me to let me know of a Firefox and Thunderbird feature that you might not be aware of - both applications phone home on a daily basis.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos invests in Twitter by ZDNet’s Steve O’Hear — Everybody’s favorite micro-blogging service, Twitter, has confirmed its much rumored third round of funding, which includes two new investors: Spark Capital and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Bezos Expeditions.

Enterprise 2.0: Lively conversations driving change by ZDNet’s Dion Hinchcliffe — Last week’s Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston has been over for a few days and coverage continues to pour out in the mainstream press and the blogosphere, including here on ZDNet where fellow bloggers Dennis Howlett, Oliver Marks, and others have had excellent coverage. I was there early in the week and there was a palpable sense of interest from attendees to understand the current state of this emerging industry.