Culture and Society

The U.S. Justice Department seized the Iso News site , which features info on bootlegged video games and movies, but it is still up right now. I am looking at it. Reuters reports: The Justice Department said it had taken over the Web site (http://www.isonews.com) after its owner pleaded guilty …

AOL offers MusicNet service with 250,000 songs beginning today: In the strongest attempt yet to create a legitimate alternative to free music-trading sites, America Online will introduce a service today that lets users download and listen to a large catalog of songs. For $8.95 a month, users will be able …

In their clueless arrogance, Microsoft has decided there is such a thing as “information rights” – information is free, o great Satan: It looks like the “rights management technology” that Microsoft has been rumored to be building into Office is on the cusp of debuting in Office 2003. The Windows …

Spanish computer claimed to picks hits with 93% accuracy: Scientists in Barcelona, Spain, have created a new “tune technology” to accurately pinpoint which songs will be hits, using 22 variables, such as melody, beat, harmony and the distance between the singer and the microphone. Researcher Mike McCready says the computer …

I am mortified by the big paraphernalia bust – I didn’t even know this was federal law. In this time of terror and rampant white collar crime, does the Justice Department really have nothing better to do? Three years in federal prison for selling bongs??? There goes another one of …

Interesting approach: The White Stripes are letting fans hear tracks from their forthcoming album ‘Elephant’ first. We wanted to thank all the people that have supported The White Stripes by buying their albums and signing up to our mailing lists, so we have created a secret area only for you! …

John Borland reviews the situation: Those persistent types of programs, frequently operating on computers without owners’ knowledge, have spread quickly in the last year, evolving as rapidly as anti-spyware software has been able to find them. EarthLink executives estimate that 40 percent to 50 percent of the Internet service provider’s …

There seems to be a direct relationship between online and offline attacks.

Napster has been buried in the “Pet Sematary” and is now coming back to walk the earth once again. Does Stephenen King own stock? Controversial song swapping site Napster, the former nemesis of the music industry, is set to relaunch before the end of the year with whizzkid founder Shawn …

Glenn Reynolds reports that Sonic Foundry, maker Acid music creation software and lots of other cool stuff, is in financial trouble: Well, lots of companies are, these days, but they have terrific products in their Acid music software (I did the music for my wife’s documentary, largely using Acid Pro …