] Some of the world's largest record companies are testing
] a new music format in Europe known as the pocket CD to
] spin new life into faltering music singles.
]
] At three inches in diameter %u2014 or roughly half the
] size of a conventional compact disc %u2014 the pocket CD
] carries a selection of music tracks and mobile phone ring
] tones from a host of artists ranging from 50 Cent to
] Black Eyed Peas.
]
] The technology made its debut in Germany last summer with
] Universal Music, Sony Music and later EMI and BMG, all
] selling a limited number of the CDs to test the public's
] appetite.
]
] Now, Universal Music, for one, is introducing the format
] in the United Kingdom next month. A spokesman said it
] will ship 1,000 units of the pocket CD for 16 of its
] artists including 50 Cent and The Rasmus. Pricing has yet
] to be determined, he added.
]
] With ringtone sales on the rise and CD single sales
] plummeting, record executives are hopeful the new format
] will reverse the fortunes of an industry beset by rampant
] piracy and slumping sales.
]
] The discs can be played on a PC where the ringtones can
] be downloaded and then transferred to a mobile phone.
]
] The pocket CD is viewed as a way to recapture the market
] for tech-savvy teenagers and twentysomethings %u2014 the
] same group that has abandoned record shops in favour of
] downloading songs off the Internet.

Wow. Someone FINALLY smaked the music industry upside the head with the clue stick. I've said it for years - the only 100% effective counter measure to piracy is "value added" to their product. Forget trying to stop people swapping the songs. Never gonna happen. Instead, make people WANT to buy the disc. Ringtones are a good first step, now how about guitar tabs... music videos... exclusive interviews and behind the scenes videos... raw track parts for remix contests... vouchers for free swag (tshrits, concert tickets, backstage passes, et al) in every X'th disc...

In short - package them with so much stuff as to make piracy of the whole thing #1 - impractical or inapplicable, and #2 just so damn cool that kids WANT the real deal. -LB

USATODAY.com - Music labels aim to pocket a comeback with new CD

Awesome! -LB

World's first civilian space shot launches from Mojave Desert

] SALT LAKE CITY %u2014 SCO Group posted a
] larger-than-expected loss in the second quarter as
] revenue dropped and expenses mounted in its legal fight
] over claims that the Linux operating system infringes on
] the company's intellectual property.
]
] Lindon, Utah-based SCO lost $14.9 million, or $1.06 per
] share, in the three months ended April 30. That compared
] with a profit of $4.5 million, or 33 cents a share, for
] the year-earlier quarter, the company said Thursday.
]
] Revenue decreased by more than half to $10.1 million from
] $21.3 million.
]
] Analysts were expecting a loss of 33 cents per share on
] sales of $11.6 million, according to a survey by Thomson
] First Call.
]
] Shares of SCO closed at $4.89, down 55 cents, or more
] than 10%, in Thursday trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Good news. Maybe they go bankrupt.

SCO Group reports quarterly loss amid legal battle against IBM

] Lake Worth resident Norm Gitzen didn't mind the more than
] half-million bees living in the roof of his house until
] recently. But when the bees started coming into the
] house, stinging him and his nephew, his love of that
] cohabitation changed.
]
] Local beekeepers started removing at least 700,000 bees
] from a tower above his breakfast nook on Tuesday, filling
] four buckets with honey weighing close to 65 pounds.
]
] "This will become a fantastic nuisance ... because they
] will grow and grow," said Palm Beach County Beekeepers
] Association President Ute Hartmann.
]
] The weight of the hives could collapse Gitzen's roof,
] while the honey could attract ants and rodents, Hartmann
] said.
]
] Gitzen said at first the bees were "kind of mesmerizing,"
] and he often sweetened his morning coffee with honey
] dripping from the hives.

Workers removing 700,000 bees from home

] Online porn sites get about three times more visits than
] the top Web search engines, including market leader
] Google, a research firm said Thursday.
]
] Visits to the top three Web search engines %u2014 which
] virtually dominate their sector %u2014 accounted for 5.5%
] of all Internet visits by U.S. users during the week
] ending May 29, said Hitwise, a California-based company
] that tracks such activity.
]
] During that time, Google garnered 2.7% of all Web visits
] while Yahoo Search and MSN Search received 1.7% and 1.1%
] respectively, Bill Tancer, vice president of research at
] Hitwise, told Reuters.
]
] Google, which has become so popular that its name is
] synonymous with search, is moving toward an initial
] public offering that is expected to be a blockbuster.
]
] The three leading search providers fall into a
] subcategory Hitwise calls "Search Engines and
] Directories," which covers 1,944 Web search and directory
] sites. The subcategory, which accounted for 13.8% of all
] Internet visits, also includes AskJeeves.com, Yahoo.com
] and Microsoft's MSN.com.

There is pornography on the web? Who knew? - LB

Study: Web porn entices far more surfers than search

] By waving the Nokia 3220 camera phone from side to side,
] the LED lights of the Nokia Xpress-on FunShell light up
] to "write" a message that appears to float in mid-air.

Joi Ito's Web: Will airtexting BlackBerry become the mobile hecklebot?

] A privately-developed rocket plane will launch into
] history on June 21 on a mission to become the world's
] first commercial manned space vehicle.
]
] The pilot of the craft, still to be announced, will
] become the first person to earn astronaut wings in a
] non-government sponsored vehicle, and the first private
] civilian to fly a spaceship out of the atmosphere.
]
] That's the word on Wednesday from Scaled Composites in
] the Mojave, California desert -- designer and builder of
] SpaceShipOne. The announcement is the first time the
] group has pre-announced a high-altitude run of its
] piloted rocketship.
]
] Investor and philanthropist Paul Allen and aviation
] technologist Burt Rutan have teamed to create the
] program, which will attempt the first non-governmental
] flight to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

KICK ASS!!! -lb

Private spacecraft blast offs June 21 - Jun 2, 2004

While it's a well done costume, this is yet another case of costuming-for-your-body-type nightmare scenarios.

'eh, who among us has anything that even REMOTELY resembles a "perfect body". He'd have been fine if he'd have left out the side profile shots! :) -lb

TRON Costume - 4 pictures you *don't* want to see

] A New York man convicted of using the network of Internet
] service provider EarthLink to send out hundreds of
] millions of unsolicited commercial (spam) e-mail was
] sentenced to between three-and-a -half and seven years in
] prison Thursday, according to Brad Maione, a spokesman
] for New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Hope he gets raped repeatedly and mercilessly. Often. -lb

Buffalo spammer gets 3.5 to 7 years

] SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- Ramona Trinidad Iglesias
] Jordan, who at age 114 was recognized as the world's
] oldest person, has died after a bout with pneumonia, her
] family said Monday.
]
] She enjoyed a beer with meals, Matos said.
]
] "Even when she was over 100 years, every time we took her out to
] a restaurant, she always like to have a beer, a small beer, a 7-
] ounce beer with the food," he said. "That was the first thing she
] asked for when she got to a restaurant."

See??? BEER = GOOOOOOD!! -LB

World's oldest person dies at 114 - May 31, 2004