Culture and Society

The combination of inexpensive speedy computers with burgeoning storage capacity, the wide availability of high-speed Internet connections, and the public’s growing familiarity with digital music formats (like MP3) and the portable hardware on which to play them (such as Apple’s iPod) have set the stage. Add to that the recording …

Being American, I don’t give a damn about the rest of the world, but this is significant: The Supreme Court of the Netherlands today reaffirmed that it is lawful to make the filesharing software KaZaA publicly available. This court is the first Supreme Court or other national high court ruling …

It’s funny how the marketplace sorts itself out – the net result of this activity isn’t all that dfferent from what we’ve seen for the last few years: free music via the Internet. The great digital music giveaway is about to begin. In the new year, some of the world’s …

This kid has more teflon than a Ronald Reagan convention: Norway’s most famous computer whiz got an early Christmas present on Monday. An appeals court in Oslo upheld Jon Lech Johansen’s earlier acquittal on all counts of alleged copyright violations. A verdict in the case, which has caught international attention, …

Microsoft is sued for antitrust once again: RealNetworks filed an antitrust suit against Microsoft on Thursday, alleging that its competitor illegally monopolized the growing field of digital media by requiring every Windows user to take Microsoft’s media player, whether they want it or not. RealNetworks alleged that the software giant …

This sounds all good – the FCC wants to know what you think: FCC OPENS PROCEEDING ON SMART RADIOS In light of the ever increasing demand for radio spectrum, and to facilitate new technologies and services and permit more intensive and efficient spectrum use, the Federal Communications Commission today adopted …

The Wharton School takes at look at the digital music biz for 2004: Indications are strong that the companies behind the services have reason to think that profits can be made in online music. iTunes sold 20 million tracks in its first seven months of operation. Rhapsody’s 250,000 subscribers paid …

The Wharton School peers into its collective crystal ball and checks a few chicken guts to get a bead on the status of the economy for 2004. Remember, they only THINK they know more than you do: After a slow and confusing economic recovery, 2004 will be a year of …

The Downhill Battle org continues its amusing campaign against the RIAA record labels: Do you really want to deal with this? “I got that on the computer like two months ago” Kids today are so good at downloading music from the internet that most of them already have all the …

Mac Diva wrote an interesting and thought-provoking post on the issue of picture phones and privacy yesterday. The spread of these phones is being driven by creative and novel applications. Piturephoning.com has a fascinating list: — Women have been taking shots of clothing items in stores, then e-mailing them to …