Vivendi Universal has announced that it will offer its music catalogue for free in a legal download site in exchange of advertisement. This could be a tremendous hit for other legal download sites. This may be an indication that some music executives could be throwing in the towel in their Read more
Wikipedia has millions of articles, but what do people actually read? The recently created Wikipedia charts may give us a rough idea of user’s real interests. As of today, the top articles are: 1. Main Page2. JonBenét Ramsey3. United States4. Wikipedia5. Pluto6. Irukandji jellyfish7. Wii8. Jeff Hardy9. Pokémon10. Neighbours I Read more
This is the last week of registration for the VI Computer Law World Conference. If you’re anywhere near Edinburgh, be sure to drop by and join us in this event.
I have been enjoying watching the Dragon’s Den on BBC2. This is a TV program where inventors pitch their ideas to a group of potential investors. The combination of wacky inventions, nervous pitches, colourful personalities and some memorable put-downs make this a quite enjoyable program. Last night’s winner was one Read more
Apple is settling a patent dispute with Creative, the makers of rival digital player ZEN. According to reports, Apple will pay $100 million USD to Creative in an amicable solution to the patent infringement suit. Creative Technology owns U.S. patent 6,928,433 which protects an “Automatic hierarchical categorization of music by Read more
Two comedy items received through the Cyberprof mailing list, one intentional and one not (we hope). Behold the Campus Downloading video, a release by the RIAA to scare students into not downloading music on campus. I bet that this video will acquire cult status only equaled by Reefer Madness, due Read more
This is a thorough yet slightly panicky report from the New York Times about online paedophile chat rooms and fora. We are told about the strange world of the paedophile support groups online, where participants exchange stories, fantasies, technology tips and discuss job offers. Some experts are called to give Read more
Milton Keynes is set to be the first UK city to be covered by a WiMax network. Telecoms firm Pipex is planning to join Intel to roll out the network on the unsuspecting Milton-Keynesian public. With 3G sales lagging, WiMax could still try to corner the hi-speed wireless network market. Read more
I love phishing and Nigerian scam letters. I love receiving letters from the late wife of the former president of Burkina Faso, when they cannot even spell “Burkina Faso” correctly. There is something to be said for human stupidity and greed. I’ve just received a new scam letter. It is Read more
Some news from LinuxWorld, which is taking place in San Francisco. When Larry Lessig began by calling open source to arms, the tone for the meeting was set as a defining event for the community. One of the goals of open source developers has been to produce a user-friendly Linux Read more