If you wanted to catch a TV show or movie for free, Megaupload was the place to go. If you wanted to view something that was on a long time ago (Rambo movies in my case, for example), somewhere on the Megaupload website someone had uploaded that file for you. Others used it for other purposes, including file storage and home video and photo uploading, for example.

Those days are now over. The US government has shut down the website. The homepage is gone, replaced with a notice saying “This domain name associated with the website megaupload.com has been seized pursuant to an order issued by a U.S. District court.”

The Associated Press is reporting the government wants to begin deleting data stored on the site as early as Thursday. What does this mean for users? This will not be the last attempt by the government to shut down file-sharing sites. Those of us older than 20 recall Napster and the RIAA’s filing of lawsuits against every single person in America who downloaded one too many songs from the site. More recently, Limewire was taken down by the Feds. Owners of file-sharing sites will have to take care to either not store consumers’ data, or else will need to change business practices.

Consumers should keep in mind the government will likely come after other sides which give customers free data, such as alluc.org and crackle.com. My personal recommendation is to not share credit card info or personal data on these sites. Not only for security reasons, but if the government goes after those sites as well, they will have a list of who was using the site and for how much. Who knows, depending on what you did, the government could be after you next.

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by Sam Friedman

If you’re a shareholder with Apple, you’re quite happy: shares are up about $30, or 4.3%, since Tim Cook took over as CEO of Apple from the late Steve Jobs. If you’re a fan of the iPhone, you’re in good shape: the iPhone 4S sold over 4 million units in its launch weekend, even without the presence of Jobs. Apple said about 20 million people activated their free iCloud accounts in its first week, a record for mobile software.

Cook has big shoes to fill. People associated Apple computers with Jobs, who along with Steve Wozniak (who actually built Apple I) and “adult supervisor” Ronald Wayne (who later sold his share of Apple stock for $800 and received a total of $2,300 from the whole ordeal-his 10% stake would have made him $22 billion now), designed the first Apple computer in 1976. Although Jobs was exiled from Apple’s management from 1985-199 , he returned with a new vision-to make Apple and its Macintosh computers the most dominant OS on the market. For the next 15 years, Jobs oversaw the rise of Apple from a second-tier program to Bill Gate’s Windows PC giant to the most dominant and wealthy corporation on the planet.

Tim Cook, who has been with Apple since Jobs hired him in 1998, served as Apple CEO briefly in 2004 when Jobs was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He also served a brief stint as CEO in 2009 when Jobs underwent a liver transplant, so it isn’t as if Cook is a stranger to running Apple. The question is: how will he manage Apple’s success following Jobs’s death? Whereas Jobs was visible, and associated with Apple, Cook is described as being more reserved, someone who is laid back and prefers things to be kept in the boardrooms until the final moment. Gartner analyst Michael King is quoted in a CNN story as saying by August 2013, 2 years after Jobs resigned as CEO, his effect on the company will have worn off, and everything after that will be part of the Cook legacy.

Cook has been handed a gifted opportunity as CEO of a corporation even the other 499 Fortune 500 CEOs would love to have. So far, all indications appear to show Cook is prepared to continue the work Jobs did, and not make any bold, radical changes to a winning formula.

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Technorati Tags: Apple, Consumer, iPhone, Mobile, Steve Jobs, Tech, Tim Cook

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In this episode of PRobecast, Renatta Siewert and Caitlin Smith join me in discussing Milwaukee Health Department’s new co-sleeping ad campaign, O.co reverting back to Overstock.com and Justin Bieber’s paternity suit being dropped.

Milwaukee’s Co-Sleeping Ad Controversy – The city of Milwaukee’s Health Department is under scrutiny after its recent ad campaign warning parents about the dangers of co-sleeping. Their advertisement shows a baby sleeping next to a knife – not the normal picture you get in your head when thinking about an infant dozing off. The Commissioner of Health says that while the image is shocking, what is more shocking is the fact that 30 developed and underdeveloped countries have better infant death rates than the city. However, some parents are outraged and think that co-parenting is a good bonding ritual between mothers and their child. Is Milwaukee in a PR-mess that it can handle? How should the city move forward?

Overstock Backs Off O.co Name Change – About six months ago, Overstock.com started branding it O.co – in online ad, tv ads and during sporting events. They’re reverting their branding and bringing back their Overstock.com messaging because a “good portion” of those watching to o.co ads, started going to o.com. Obviously, that is a problem. Some experts are saying that by going back to Overstock.com branding, for the time being, is going to cost a lot of brand confusion with their customers. What do you think?

Justin Bieber’s Baby Drama– Looks like Justin Bieber might not have as much baby mamma drama going on as he has had in recent weeks. Mariah Yeater, the 20-yr old that accused Biebs of fathering her 4 month year old child, has quietly dropped her lawsuit. According to Yeater’s lawyer, his client was receiving death threats and decided to pursue privately. How do you think Bieber’s PR camp handled the allegations? Is this girl just looking for 15 minutes of fame?

Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Is it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.

This week’s winner was Overstock. Too often brands have messaging that doesn’t work, and instead of addressing the problem – the messaging is never altered. While Overstock is still keeping O.co, they are addressing the problem by bringing back the more well-known Overstock.com URL. It’s a win-win for them. People know it and now consumers can get to their site.

Who do you think should have won?

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Technorati Tags: Justin Bieber's baby, milwaukee's co-sleeping campaign, o.co, Overstock.com

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