A ruling to change how royalties are collected from independent Internet radio stations has the potential to drive many of the sites out of business. The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), a U.S. government agency tasked with overseeing the royalty process, decided to change the way most small Webcast stations are charged from a percentage of…
Apple Hot Deals Update For J&R Computerworld, Sweetwater
The new J&R Computerworld Hot Deals page has offers on the ShuttlePRO 2 multi-button multimedia control device from Contour Design, Evolution TV from Miglia Tech, the JBL Spyro multimedia speaker system with subwoofer and two flower-shaped satellite speakers, and more. You can find the J&R Computerworld Hot Deals page at Appleis Web site. The new…
AirPort Extreme Update Addresses Wireless Router Compatibility
AirPort Extreme Update 2007-002 is free and available through the Software Update application, or as a standalone installer from the Apple Support Web site.
FAA Considering Alternatives to Vista
The Federal Aviation Administration’s CIO is examining the possibility of replacing his agency’s 45,000 Windows systems with Linux systems, a new browser, and Google’s online business applications. The story was posted by InformationWeek on Wednesday. The FAA’s David Bowen is taking a close look at the Premier Edition of Google’s apps as a possible replacement…
Hidden Dimensions - Illusion and Fear in the Entertainment Industry
“It is our illusions that create the world.” — Didier Cauwelaert I want to put a new twist on the whole DRM issue related to the music and movie industries. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to use the term “mm-industry” to refer to both of these industries. In this column, I’m going to…
Just A Peek - Belkin TuneTalk Stereo
When referring to the amount of accessories available for the iPod you can say it in so many ways. If, for instance, you were El Guapo (of The Three Amigos fame) you could say that we have a plethora of accessories. You might mention that there is a profusion of iPod prosthetics, a multitude, an…
Google CEO: Apple/Google Collaborating On More Projects
Speaking at a technology conference in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt confirmed that his company is collaborating with Apple Inc. on several more projects. His comments were in response to a question about rumors that the companies are co-developing a tablet-style computer, according to MarketWatch. Mr. Schmidt neither confirmed or denied that an Apple/Google…
Qnext Releases Major Update of P2Web Sharing Software
Qnext announced version 3 of its media sharing P2Web software on Tuesday. The new version includes an integrated Universal Contact Manager to manage friends and family and the eliminates the need for Qnext software on both ends. Qnext is a software package, written in Java, that generates a Webcast to deliver streamed music, shared photos,…
Analyst: Flash Memory Important for Future iPods, Macs
Flash memory prices are still relatively high compared to hard drive storage, which means that for now Appleis full-size video capable iPod will continue to rely on the same disk-based storage is has been using. As memory prices drop, however, that is likely to change. Mr. Wu commented “Our sources indicate that while AAPL plans…
Apple Hot Deals Update For AudioMIDI, Ramjet
The new AudioMIDI Hot Deals page has offers on Line 6 Variax 300 (Red), a Digimax FS and Firestudio bundle from PreSonus, the FireWire Audiophile compact audio/MIDI interface from M-Audio, the EZ Drummer drum sampler from ToonTracks, and more. You can find the AudioMIDI Hot Deals page at Appleis Web site. The new Ramjet Hot…
Living Without Safari Week 1: Firefox
Iive already written reviews for Firefox and OmniWeb, but testing, poking and prodding a browser for a review is one thing. Relying on it as your only interface to the Internet is something else entirely. To that end, I decided to totally immerse myself in several alternatives to Safari just to see how they really…
Apple CFO: Vista No Threat to Leopard
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Conference in San Francisco, Mr. Oppenheimer commented “We really have simplified the installation process in such a way we donit think itis a deterrent to sales.” Mac OS X 10.5, due sometime this spring, will likely help boost Appleis bottom line. Typically, Mac software sales slow leading up to…
You're Getting Sleepy...Sleepy: Pzizz
I was devastated when Omni shut down. While the magazine made stale and stodgy science look like a lot of fun it also poked and prodded at the fringes of science, covering topics that few “serious” science and technology journals would touch: flying saucers, cryptozoology (i.e. Big Foot, The Loch Ness Monster, and so on),…
California Demanding Open Document Standard - Microsoft Resists
California has introduced a bill that would make the Open Document Format (ODF) a mandatory requirement for its state agencies when procuring software. This is putting heat on Microsoft which is promoting its own OOXML standard, according to a report in ITWire Monday. “The new bill, introduced by Californian Democrat Mark Leno, does not name…
How Steve Jobs Threw Away $2.7 Billion
Steve Jobs, back in 2001, was granted a set of stock options which at the time Fortune magazine calculated were worth US$872M. But with Apple stock doing poorly in 2003, Mr. Jobs surrendered the options. Today, they would have been worth US$2.5B, according to a Fortune Magazine story Monday. In fact, Mr. Jobs, in response…
Newest Apple AirPort Extreme Exceeds Apple's Claims
The Apple AirPort Extreme (Wi-Fi) base station has at least fives times the throughput and twice the range of the previous 802.11g model, according to Tom Yager at InfoWorld. Apple claims that the new AirPort Extreme with 802.11n tests out at five times the top speed of 54 Mbps in the previous generation. The actual…
Just A Peek - Glance
I was chatting with a friend of mine recently and I was telling her about this sudoku habit I’ve developed and that I can’t seem to get enough of the puzzles. “I’ve never really looked at them,” she told me. “But I’d like to learn how to play.” So I started to explain some of…
PDFpenPro 3.1
We already have Preview, Acrobat, and Adobe Reader. Why do we need another application that reads PDF documents? Because PDFpenPro lets you edit, modify, and sign the PDFs you work with – and it does all that with a user-friendly interface and an affordable price – thatis why. PDFpenPro is a full-on PDF editor that…
Scripting Mac Applications with Ruby
For those whoid like to explore alternatives to AppleScript, the OiReilly Mac devcenter has posted an article Tuesday by Matt Neuburg on how to script Mac applications with Ruby. Often, programmers with Unix experience in Perl, Python or Ruby come to the Mac, are unaccustomed to AppleScript and looking for familar ground. It all started…
Optometrist Has Eyes Only For Macintosh
When Mark Botwin decided to launch his optometry practice in Santa Fe, New Mexico, he put his life long love for Macs into practice. The story was posted at Appleis Hot News site on Wednesday. Historically, there has been a dearth of software of optometrists. But thatis been changing. From the time patients come into…
DEVONthink Pro 1.3 Improves AppleScript, Firefox Support
DEVONthink Professional Office, which includes email archiving, document scanning with OCR, and an integrated Web server, now adds French and Danish localizations, improves the OCR (optical character recognition) process, and supports drag-and-drop importing of Unix mailbox files. Both applications are available at the DEVONtechnologies Web site. DEVONthink Professional is priced at US$79.95, and the Office…
RIAA Opposes Bill Reinforcing "Fair Use"
A bill before Congress that would allows customers to affirm their Fair Use rights of digital media is being opposed by the RIAA according to InfoWorld on Wednesday. The goal of the Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship (FAIR USE) Act, introduced by Reps Rick Boucher (R-VA) and John Doolittle (R-CA), is to exempt the…
iPhoto 6 Review, Part 2
There is also way too much to cover in a simple column.? Last week I taught a two hour iPhoto class for beginners and had a 15 page handout.? I canit put all that in a column!? Besides, there are commercial books by respected authors that do a better job than I can do.? My…
RadTech BT500 Mobile Mouse
Iim always a bit leery of “portable mice” and “travel mice” because more often than not those terms really mean “too small to use, and uncomfortable, too.” Thatis why Radtechis BT500 Mobile Mouse was such a surprise: It is actually a usable travel-size mouse. The BT500 is an 800dpi optical Bluetooth mouse with rechargeable batteries.…
