Science and Technology

How does a spunky, slightly melancholy, New York-based alt-pop-rock singer-songwriter who looks like a cross between Marshall Crenshaw and John Cazale differentiate himself from the dozens of others who fit the same description? If you are Sam Bisbee you make a very fine album called High, with songs like “High …

It is very easy for us to forget how remote many parts of the world still are, and few places are more remote than island chains like the Solomons in the South Pacific. With email carried by radio waves, the Solomons are a little less remote than they used to …

This is hysterical: a drug-addled loon who gets arrested for trying to tote a loaded gun onto an airplane has the unmitigated gall to give the beatdown to file sharers. Here is his “Open Letter to File Sharers” which appears in the April 10 issue of Billboard: From Hugh Prestwood …

Information wants to be free and all of that: When Apple opened the iTunes Music Store, they licensed a technology called “FairPlay” from a company called “Veridisc”. FairPlay is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system that limits a users rights on a digital media file that they’ve purchased and presumably …

Rob Pegoraro says why bother? The idea of renting movies online seems a lot less silly than it did two years ago, when a site called Movielink debuted. Internet connections have gotten a little faster, we’ve had time to get used to the idea of the computer as home theater …

FlashMob Computing is a fascinating concept and the first attempt on April 3 was at least partially successful: Results: FlashMob I was very successful and a lot of fun. Over 700 computers came into the gym and we were able to hook up 669 to the network. Our best Linpack …

In July Microsoft will offer technology – code named “Janus” (this article will now self-destruct) – that will bring all-you-can-eat digital music service songs to portable players: Janus would add a hacker-resistant clock to portable music players for files encoded in Microsoft’s proprietary Windows Media Audio format. That in turn …

I have now heard from about 600 people regarding the good old Top Ten Bands list story, and while some came to scorn, my winning personality (or simply the fact that I wrote back) has turned some into new pals (I have only threatened one emailer this time). New bud …

This letter was addressed to former MP3.com (which doesn’t exist anymore) artists: We have good news! We’ve just launched the Download.com Music Artist Beta, and you are invited to come upload your music now. We’ve been working ’round the clock in an effort to help you get your music back …

Leave it to Google to have the temerity to rename email in their own image. But maybe it WILL be different enough to warrant the new moniker: Amidst rampant media speculation, Google Inc. today announced it is testing a preview release of Gmail — a free search-based webmail service with …