Science and Technology

Our friends at the RIAA seem hell-bent on ramming their worldview down every customer, former customer, or potential customer’s throat. I see this as a problem from a marketing, customer service and legal standpoint since their methods infringe upon the privacy and civil liberties of everyone who uses the Internet, …

It’s ALL ambiguous right now. Hollywood asked that the DVD decryption code be declared a trade secret and banned from the Internet – they got part of that: The case has pit freedom-of-speech arguments against an entertainment-industry effort to protect what it says are trade secrets. Hollywood is happy because …

One of the recurring arguments that the music industry makes about its legal campaign against file sharers is that they can’t compete with free. This is, of course, crap, because you can compete with free with a superior product, service, convenience, etc. Now in the arena of DVR’s, TiVo must …

Don’t look now, but the woman in the sidebar ad over there on the left for FriendSurfer.com just grew antennae with Christmas bulbs attached to them. I think I am more than six degrees separated from her.

Into the ring to take a swing: The first individual to fight back against a flood of subpoenas issued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) lodged a motion in the name of ‘Jane Doe’ with a Washington court on Thursday, seeking to prevent her ISP handing over her …

Since the president relies on aids to do everything but wipe his butt, (one assumes, no pun intended), it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that he doesn’t have much hands-on experience with tech gadgets: No pager or PDA hangs off his belt and there’s no cell phone in his suit …

Sobig.F shrivels and fizzles: The fast-spreading Sobig.F e-mail virus slowed on Sunday and failed for a second time to launch a remote data attack using thousands of infected personal computers, computer security experts said. Sobig.F, which first emerged on Aug. 18, was programmed by an unknown creator to unleash a …

Total recall from a singing head: I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of tech-savvy people smugly showing off that new hunk of entertainment hardware, the iPod personal stereo. Well, I might not have the scratch to get one, but frankly, I don’t want the white-corded wonder. I have my very …

With the critical and political tide (other than Democratic entertainment industry teat-hounds) turning against them – as evidenced by the Sen. Coleman statements and others from key Republicans, editorials from coast to coast, and across-the-board condemnation in the tech, education, and youth communities – the RIAA is busy backpedaling furiously …

The Rolling Stones, holdouts against the great digital music revolution, have joined us in the new millennium. Besides the obvious significance of Stones songs finally being legitimately available in digital file format, this should also inspire other holdouts, most notably the Beatles, to get with the program. Starting today, subscribers …