Thursday, August 22, 2002

News.com: "The vast potential of broadband has so far benefited nobody as clearly as it's benefited downloaders of pornography and pirates of digital content," [News Corp. President Peter] Chernin told an audience of about 200. Herein lies the conflict between Hollywood and the technology industry in a nutshell... [Werblog]

DVRs tune in to integration. Digital video recorders like TiVo are finding their way into PCs, TVs and other consumer electronics as a low-cost, or even free, feature. [CNET News.com]

Liquid Audio Sues Shareholders. REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) -- Liquid Audio Inc. filed suit Wednesday against two large shareholders for allegedly violating federal securities laws in their efforts to block the online music company's planned merger with media distributor Alliance Entertainment Corp. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Technology]

Branford starts a label. From my old stomping grounds: Marsalis Music opens its doors. Whatís interesting is that Branford explicitly bitchslaps the record labels in the press release: "The consolidation of the record industry into major conglomerates has turned the business into a mega-hit pop music machine with a very short term focus. Artists who want to be musicians, not marketing creations, have very few places to record anymore," Branford notes. "We formed Marsalis music to provide a real alternative. This is a very exciting time and I am thrilled to be doing this." This probably explains why ìFootsteps of Our Fathersî was in pre-release so longÖ [jarretthousenorth News] Don't tell Wynton :) Visit Dave Stewart's Artist Network, to see another model of next-generation record labels.

Bracing for the Digital Crackdown. The recording industry, with Congress as its weapon, is waging war against file traders. The coming battle looks eerily like the national crackdown that smashed the hacker networks in 1990. By Brad King. [Wired News]

Salon: From February 4, 2000; The Napster files. Scott Rosenberg. [Tomalak's Realm] A fun way-back-machine trip! Seems so long ago, now...2000. Oy!

News.Com: Wi-Fi and free lunches. John Patrick. Not that everyone needs to be connected all the time, tethered to the Internet. But if people want or need to be connected to the Internet, they should be able to plug in. The Internet has transferred power from institutions to people. Isn't it time to enable this power to become pervasive? [Tomalak's Realm] Many articles speak about the wave of people using public WiFi access. I do, but no one else I know personally does! And I work for a "big 5" technology consulting firm. There's a long way to go before its anywhere near pervasive.