Just when you think the RIAA and friends couldn’t become any more idiotic, incompetent, downright retarded, they go and out do themselves. The latest mad grab for money (and attempt to prop up their dying business model) is to use the US government to mandate that all cellphones be legally required to contain FM radio transmitters. At first, the idea seems somewhat novel and perhaps even useful in a few rare circumstances. That is, until reality sets in. There are...
Oh geeze. Another “When are the Beatles coming to iTunes” posts? Well, I haven’t actually written one yet, so I’m in the clear. But on that note of Beatles and iTunes, we do have to ask: What’s the holdup? According to a fresh Reuters posting all of the involved parties can’t reach a legitimate deal. Someone isn’t getting as much money as they feel entitled to. That’s what it really boils down to. It’s sad too. ...
If you thought RIM was going to cave to foreign countries’ demands to weaken the security of the BlackBerry platform, you were sorely mistaken. RIM’s response is actually quite refreshing (and comical) in an age where big business and government politics are trumping individual freedoms and privacy left and right. Specifically, when questioned about the recent BlackBerry bans spreading around the Middle East, Mike Lazaridis, RIM’s co-CEO had a few choice...
In a move that shouldn’t surprise many, it has come to light that Apple is finally unleashing the legal hounds on several iPhone/iPod/iPad accessory manufacturers for producing “sub-par” quality accessories. One example given by the lawsuit cites a case where an iPod user bought a third party battery charger from one of the defendants only to have the charger worsen his battery life. So far, there are over 20 different defendants named in the lawsuit. ...
Each and every day, it literally pains me to read headline after headline of some new boneheaded politician or government body who makes a law based solely on the persuasion of company lobbyists. We all know what I’m talking about — companies who “donate” money to politicians so they’ll push for laws that favor monopolistic ways for the company on top and just fuck over customers overall. But there is hope! The Library of Congress announced...
Yesterday Amazon announced that they scored an exclusive deal with publisher Andrew Wylie (clients: Oliver Sacks, Salman Rushdie, and Philip Roth plus more) that will give them the sole rights to distribute books by mentioned (and unmentioned) authors for a full 2 years. At first, it seems like a great way to push ebooks further and yeah, is a nice little nest egg for Amazon. But when you sit back and look at the bigger picture, it’s a very bad decision. First and...
