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A recent court decision allowing an on-line financial newsletter to report analysts’ ratings changes on stocks may have a larger negative impact on independent boutique research firms than the big Wall St. firms that originally brought the suit . In Barclays Capital Inc. v. Theflyonthewall.com, Inc. , decided earlier this week, a three judge panel of the US Court of Appeals in New York reversed an earlier ruling that had required the on-line newsletter to wait until 10:00 a.m., 30 minutes after the New York markets open, before reporting on sell side analysts’ ratings changes, and to wait two hours before reporting ratings changes that occur intraday. The Appeals Court found that reporting a ratings change without distributing the underlying analyst report did not violate existing copyright laws. ‘It’s certainly clear that this is not a good thing for research providers,’ observed Michael Mayhew, CEO and founder of Integrity Research Associates which advises institutional clients on th...

Facebook has started shutting down apps with tens of thousands of active users left and right, AllFacebook writes . The reason is Facebook didn't really police these "small" apps before and now has rolled out an algorithm that automatically shuts them down if they post too often to users' walls, etc. The problem is that Facebook didn't tell app makers it was going to do this, so these just woke up Friday and saw their app had been shut down, and very understandably freaked out. This isn't too big a deal -- most app makers will simply tweak their app to get them back in compliance and move on -- but it shows how miscommunication can turn a routine adjustement into a big freakout. Don't Miss: How Zynga Makes Millions Off A Stupid Game Like CityVille → Please follow SAI on Twitter and Facebook . Join the conversation about this story » See Also: Meanwhile…This Guy Wants To Buy Facebook Employees' Stock Coca-Cola's Smart Campaign To Promote Recycling...

Benjy Sarlin notes that one GOP Presidential hopeful is being criticized by GOP economists: Tim Pawlenty drew widespread ridicule from experts across the political spectrum on Wednesday for his wildly optimistic economic plan. Pawlenty unveiled his platform at a speech in Chicago, a combination of tax reforms and budget cuts that he said would yield an explosive economic recovery. The centerpiece of his proposal was setting a goal of 5% economic growth per year for a decade. "Growing at 5% a year, rather than the current level of 1.8%, would net us millions of new jobs," he said. "Trillions of dollars in new wealth. Put us on a path to saving our entitlement programs. And balance the federal budget."But a group of former CBO directors, who are chosen by Congress to analyze the budget from a nonpartisan perspective, are lambasting the number, saying it's completely out of line with any mainstream assessment of the American economy."The trend growth rate is ...