Sony has a unique perspective on the consumer-creator rights conflict being a manufacturer of computers, CD burners, DVD recorders and portable media players, in addition to owning a movie studio and a record company. The LA Times interviewed Kunitake Ando, Sony’s president and chief operating officer, on the prospect of …

Tough shit, but these cures may help.

My paternal grandmother, “Nana,” died at 95 in 1995. Though by the end she was frail and mostly not there, she was a sweet and strong woman, born in Norway, who came to this country in her 20s with very little formal education. She read, watched TV, and went to …

Despite TV, cable, computers, DVD, cell phones, terrorism, blogs and yo mama, more people went to the movies this year than any since 1959: By some estimates, admissions could climb more than 10% over last year’s record levels, with folks flocking to theaters more than 1.5 billion times. When the …

Shania Twain, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Paul McCartney all sell well, but a general holiday bonanza doesn’t come for the recording industry: Despite efforts by record executives to stanch declining CD sales by releasing a cavalcade of big-name artists during the critical Christmas shopping season, early sales figures show an already …

Billboards listen to your car radio, then pitch accordingly: For example, if the freeway were packed with country music listeners, the billboards might make a pitch for casinos. If National Public Radio were on, the billboards could change to ads for a high-quality car or a gourmet grocery. The billboards …

I am greatly relieved the federal jury in the Elcomsoft case found making a fair use backup copy of your own e-book to be a legitimate undertaking. As discussed in some length in the AP article on the subject, we think the DMCA’s ban on fair use copies of DVDs …

I’m very sorry to see Joe Strummer go – 50 seems ridiculously young to me now. I was an enormous Clash fan – while the Sex Pistols may have been more “punk,” the Clash were a real band, a rock ‘n’ roll band that transcended the strictures of punk to …

Realizing that double secret probation was not going to suffice, U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen in Chicago found Madster and Johnny Deep in contempt of court Friday: On Oct. 30, Aspen issued a preliminary injunction against Madster after finding evidence the Albany-based service had violated copyright law. The injunction called …

Ascending up from the broadcast pit of hell, there are reality shows, daytime talk shows, prime time news shows, the news. You expect crass exploitation down at the bottom, but I still have it in my mind that actual news shows should be different. Often, however, the morning talk shows …