Apple drops price of DRM-free music

Feeling the pressure of new rival Amazon, Apple has decided to drop the price of it's DRM-free music from $1.29 to $0.99, bringing it's prices in line with the competitors offering. In this Globe and Mail article an Apple spokeswoman is quoted as saying "It's been very popular with our customers and we're now making it available at an even more affordable price,". While they may deny that the move is motivated by competition, it's hard to ignore the fact that the music industry is in flux and with more competition and bands going it alone, it will be interesting to see what happens over the next little while.

Led Zeppelin to sell back catalog online

One of the last big holdouts, Led Zeppelin, said their back catalog, including "Communication Breakdown," "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway to Heaven," will be available from online music stores Nov. 13th. The two-CD retrospective, "Mothership," will be released the same day. It appears as though they are going digital in a big way, also signing a deal with Verizon Wireless to offer their songs as ringtones and downloads to mobile phones. Wired News story here.

YouTube creates filters to identify copy righted video

YouTube has created new tools to help clamp down on the posting of copyrighted materials without permission on the site. Dubbed "Video Identification", the tools "also give copyright owners the chance to leave their video on the service and to sell advertising around the content" according to this BBC article. Until now YouTube had no automated means of determining what is copyrighted and what is not, and relied on copyright owners to identify their works which would then be removed from the site. The new tools still rely on buy in from the owners, as they are required to provide copies of their works to be used for comparison by Video Identification, but at least it is a more proactive stance. YouTube is currently being sued by Viacom for allowing that companies copyrighted content to be viewed on the site.

Proof now available, politicians are zombies!

With titles like "Mindless Liberal Zombies Rise From The Grave!" and "Brainless Conservative Ghouls Attack!", JibJab.com allowes you to put your face on a monster killing character and take on the ghastly political party of your choice in their latest "Starring You!" video production. If you are not politically charged, "you and four friends can-can do the Can-Can, and you will-will. Petticoats optional!" Share the fun, and laugh until you wet yourself!

Britain starts digital switch over

Britain will start the switch away from analogue television signals on Wednesday, when residents of Whitehaven are turned off. The process will take 4 years to complete with the entire country being digital by 2012, which will see the project completed just as Canada's switch over begins in the summer of 2011. Finland has lead the way completing its Digital implementation in August of this year. Governments are mandating the change because digital cable is a more efficient use of the broadcast airwaves, with several digital channels using the same transmission space as one analogue channel. Cable companies and television manufacturers are no doubt pleased with the change as well, as new equipment is required and higher premiums are involved. The CBC has more details here.

Note taking advice from lifehacker

Here is an interesting article from lifehacker.com with some practical note taking tips. There are a couple of different strategies represented and for those who wish they'd taken better notes, it's not important which one you chose. Pick a system you like and put it to good use! I expect it might take a little practice to get you away from your old system, if indeed you had one, but in time you too can take notes like Bill Gates! They even have links to a few webapps that might help...

What's in a domain name?

The Globe and Mail is reporting about the intentions of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to launch 11 test sites today in languages that don't use the Roman alphabet. "Until now, addresses on the World Wide Web used Roman alphabet-based suffixes – .com, .org or .net – even if the rest of the domain name appeared in a language such as Japanese, Russian or Arabic." The move makes sense for those in countries that don't use the Roman alphabet but is it a decision based on pure motives or is it a chance to sell more domain names?

“If I don't do it, and somebody else does it, people will be misguided,” Vadim Sloutsky of torontovka.com, said.

“It forces me as a business owner to go out and book that domain and pay that additional money for that domain name.”

Failing to secure his domain name with Russian Cyrillic letters would open the door for squatters to set up a competing site that could leach traffic from his site. It's always been a bit like the wild west out there, looks like another gold rush might be looming.

Junk food performance art!

Another amazing YouTube video! I'm glad I don't do laundry for these guys!

Belkin's n52te SpeedPad for hardcore gamers

Belkin International, Inc., has announced the new n52te, a hybrid gaming keyboard built for gamers who wish to dominate in "FPS (first-person shooter), MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role-playing games), and RTS (real-time strategy) computer games." Looking like a control from Darth Vader's Tye fighter the n52te is a pretty piece of technology. The controller hits the streets in the US, Europe, Australia, and Korea in November and Canada, Asia, and Latin America in February. The suggested retail is $69.99 US. The device boasts the following features (according to the press release):

• Backlit keypad and scroll wheel for total control in dark conditions
• Enhanced tactile feedback and button responsiveness for rapid key presses
• 15 fully programmable keys built for speed
• Adjustable soft-touch wrist pad for maximum comfort and endurance
• Programmable 8-way thumb pad with removable joystick
• Nonslip rubber pads grip in place for aggressive fragging
• Easily toggle between 3 keymap states
• Razer software provides:
• Personalization of multiple player profiles
• Razer Synapse™ onboard memory enables plug-and-play versatility with no additional software installation
• Unparalleled customization tools for intuitive setup and performance

It sure is pretty!

credit: Belkin

Appliances of the future found in present day Japan

c|net's news.com has an interesting video of innovations in appliances and furnishings that are finding their way into the Japanese households. From space saving kitchen appliances to bedrooms designed to put you to sleep and gently wake you up, it's all ingeniously thought out. I can't wait to see these products hitting the North American market!