New technology enables reporters to broadcast solo on the (cheap) fly: Armed with $15,000 in satellite phones and computers, Preston Mendenhall calls himself a “one-man band” who writes stories, snaps photographs and shoots video in combat zones. The international editor for MSNBC.com spent most of February traveling alone in Syria, …

The Media Technology Research Group of Sweden has published a fascinating study on “Usability Factors in Digital Music Distribution Services and Their Relationships with Established and New Value Chains in the Music Industry.” The name is unwieldy, but the research is powerful: This report has evaluated the available digital music …

All the award shows have come and gone, the hangovers but a memory. Time for the FINAL AWARDS: the Book-Film-TV-Video Critiquees, the Best of 2002 as selected by your Blogcritics. Please note the votes for Critiquees were in before the Academy Awards Please take these awards as hearty recommendations and …

New company to stuff spam: On Monday, Phil Goldman, whose career as a software designer has included stints at Apple, General Magic, WebTV and Microsoft, will introduce a service that he says will permanently end e-mail spam for consumers who are being driven to distraction by unsolicited pitches for diet …

mi2g reports that criminal syndicates are using the cover of war to work the Internet: Thousands of eCommerce servers with credit card databases and customer addresses have been attacked by anti-war and pro-Islamic hackers since 19th March. This is proving to be a useful lever for criminal syndicates with a …

The war has sent people scrambling to the Internet for information, community, and expression. It is not a little ironic and troubling that the worst of times for the real world is the best of times for the media, including the new media of the Internet. News sites have been …

The best tribute album I have heard in a very long time (better than Making God Smile, even) is dedicated to …. Lee Hazlewood. Lee whom, you may well ask? Producer, songwriter, artist, label owner, Hazlewood was an original Cosmic Cowboy, best known for his work with Duane Eddy and …

My general feelings toward the pampered poodles of Hollywood have changed dramatically for the better after a decorous Academy Awards presentation last night. Whatever their personal feelings about war and politics, all but Michael Moore put tradition and reverence for their art – obviously genuinely felt – above self-indulgence in …

We are watching the Oscars because everyone is too sick to go to the Glass Harp reunion show in Cleveland tonight. I’m taking notes and will have a report later, but I am telling you right now we just saw an ALL-TIME OSCAR HIGHLIGHT: Fat, greasy Michael Moore won for …

Anti-war left, check your assumptions. Leftist Paul Berman: in Islamism we face a threat not unlike such 20th century totalitarian movements as fascism and communism. Berman feels similarly about Baathism, the nationalist ideology of Iraq’s ruling party. In fact, Berman believes that Islamism and Baathism emerged from the same great …