] A group of media and
] technology companies including Microsoft and Walt Disney
] have agreed in principle to allow consumers to make legal
] backup copies of next-generation video discs and share
] their content on portable devices.
]
] The group, which also includes International Business
] Machines, Intel, Matsushita Electric Industrial and Time
] Warner's Warner Bros., will not have any technology to
] license until the end of the year.
]
] But the announcement, released late Tuesday, marks a
] shift in the way the movie industry has reacted to the
] threat of online piracy of its films.

WOW! The industry is FINALLY coming to grips with the whole fair use concept and the fact that consumers have a RIGHT to legal archival copies of their media. -LB

Industry deal set on allowing limited DVD copying

] The United Nations is aiming to bring a "modern day
] epidemic" of junk e-mail under control within two years
] by standardizing legislation to make it easier to
] prosecute offenders, a leading expert said Tuesday.
]
] "(We have) an epidemic on our hands that we need to learn
] how to control," Robert Horton, the acting chief of the
] Australian communications authority, told reporters.
] "International cooperation is the ultimate goal."
]
] The International Telecommunications Union is hosting a
] meeting on spam in Geneva this week that brings together
] regulators from 60 countries as well as various
] international organizations, including the Council of
] Europe and the World Trade Organization.
]
] The U.N. agency said it would put forward examples of
] anti-spam legislation which countries can adopt to make
] cross-border cooperation easier. Many states currently
] have no anti-spamming laws in place, making it difficult
] to prosecute the international phenomenon.
]
] Top priority is "pornographic material ... that may come
] to the attention of children," said Horton, who is
] running the meeting. "I think it's time we did something
] formally about this. We will have to come to some sort of
] general understanding."

UN aims to bring spam under control within two years

] 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

] 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

] 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?

] All those years on the couch playing Nintendo and
] PlayStation appear to be paying off for surgeons.
]
] Researchers found that doctors who spent at least three
] hours a week playing video games made about 37% less
] mistakes in laparoscopic surgery and performed the task
] 27% faster than their counterparts who did not play video
] games.
]
] "I use the same hand-eye coordination to play video games
] as I use for surgery," said Dr. James "Butch" Rosser, 49,
] who demonstrated the results of his study Tuesday at Beth
] Israel Medical Center.

I told you so, mom! -LB

Research shows video games lead to fewer mistakes on the operating table

Neoteric wrote:
] Wilpig was
] nice enough to set up a recorder on ConTV, but unfortunately
] it crashed a couple of times. Some of the best attended talks
] were lost.

TIP - next time consider rolling VHS alongside the DVR just to play it safe. That way if the DVR crashes, you have an analog backup that you can digitize later. Not trying to criticize Wilpig in any way. It was beyond cool of him to take the time to do this! But I've had numerous bad experiences with DVR software and learned this tip the hard way - this software is still very much in its infancy and just too prone to crash - as was found out at PN7. -LB

RE: Videos from PhreakNIC 7 Online

Decius wrote:

] ] "These people don't tune into today's radio channels
] ] which are aimed at a young audience. Our service allows
] ] them to discover their own music," Ashcroft said.

Good concept. **Bad** name for a spokesperson. -LB

RE: Sony to deliver collaborative filtered music over cellphones.

Elonka wrote:
] ] For some little girls, it's a favorite doll; for others,
] it's a
] ] dress-up set. But when Elonka Dunin of St. Charles,
] Missouri,
] ] was little, her favorite toys were puzzles.
]
] Let's hear it for geek girls! :)

w00t!!!!!!! Go Elonka go!!! -LB

RE: Elonka in 'Woman's World' magazine