Ski operations president named
The new president and CEO of Schweitzer Mountain ski operations is Tom Chasse, who held a similar position with the Attitash Ski Area in New Hampshire, the North Idaho resort announced Wednesday.
Chasse will take over the operations Aug. 14.
For the past 14 years, Chasse has been with American Skiing Company’s Attitash Ski Area for 14 years, serving as managing director since 1998.
A press release said Chasse has a strong background in coordinating lodging, food and beverage and summer activities while maintaining a balance within a rapidly growing community.
Schweitzer, owned by a Seattle-based investment group, has launched a 10-year plan to make the resort a four-season destination.
Oslo, Norway
Apple defends iTunes monopoly
Apple Computer Inc. has struck a defiant stance with Scandinavian regulators, staunchly defending its right to make its iPod the only portable music player compatible with songs purchased from the company’s iTunes music store.
Norway’s consumer agency on Wednesday released non-confidential portions of Apple’s 50-page response to their claims that the company is violating contract and copyright laws in their countries.
The Norwegian regulators expressed disappointment with the limited concessions offered in the response, received Tuesday. In Sweden, Bjorn Smith of the Swedish consumer society said that Apple had “given in to some demands but not to others.”
In June, the consumer agencies in Norway, Denmark and Sweden claimed that the iPod maker’s product usage restrictions go against Scandinavian laws. Apple’s letter indicated it is not willing to change its business model by opening its iTunes downloads to rival portable players that cannot play music recorded in the iTunes digital format.
It also asserted that the demands of the Scandinavian agencies are outside of their authority.
San Francisco
‘Click fraud’ initiative begins
The Internet’s leading search engines are teaming up with an advertising trade group to find a better way to identify and measure “click fraud,” a scam that has raised doubts about the Web’s trustworthiness as a marketing vehicle.
The initiative, announced Wednesday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, will draw upon the expertise of Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. – the owners of the top online search engines – to attack a problem threatening to erode their profits. Combined, the three companies control 86 percent of the lucrative U.S. search engine market, according to comScore Media Metrix.
Two smaller search engines, InterActiveCorp.’s Ask.com and LookSmart Ltd., also have joined the alliance along with the Media Rating Council, a nonprofit group formed 42 years ago at the urging of Congress to help track and validate the sizes of advertising audiences.