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An anonymous reader sent us a link to Wall Street Journal article about the music industry and MP3s. Talks about efforts by IBM and AT&T to create new formats that will successfully prevent the advancement of music and artistic freedom so that the industry can continue to overcharge consumers and rip off the people that make the music. Not that I'm biased. Update: 01/22 09:55 by B : There's another article in Wired about a recent panel discussion on standards in digital music: "It's become un-American to argue against security, but five companies sell 87 percent of the music. They'll say anything to protect their position." Update: 01/22 03:17 by S : An anonymous contributor emailed me his notes on the digital audio panel session of the Fashion Institute of Technology Software Summit yesterday: Industry in "sad state". The consolidation of music labels and radio stations has resulted in reduced variety.It is hard for artists, who must join the system to have a chance at success, but doing so requires giving up rights to master recordings (forever), royalties of 10-20 per cent, but only after paying back costs to producer, etc. Labels only interested in artists who can sell at least 250,000 albums.

Solution is "digital efficiency". For example, mp3 allows artists to leave at any time, artists get 50 per cent royalties, can have special targetting such as sending e-mail to all fans in a particular area where band is about to give concert.

Issue is that we have now way to separate bits from Intellectual Property via internet, and this will change the way that music is distributed. Music is the simplest case of this, in that it can be done "now". Similar problems with arise with video, etc at later time.

Can have multiple formats, but need means to transfer terms and conditions of use, such as "ok to play this song three times until next Thursday" -- this is goal of SDMI initiative.

Today have oligopoly -- 5 companies sell 87 per cent of the music. On pragmatic level, unrealistic to expect securitysystem that will restrict how people will use content. e.g., today cd discs are not encrypted, so people can make copies, but can't make cd from a2b music format. Result is that vendors will have to add value to maintain price (current model of $15/cd won't persist), or else reduce price.

Music industry is mature with structure that is decades old, with tight control of distribution. There will have to be new model for internet. For example, music is given away via radio, and broadcasters are given special exemptions, but there is yet no realistic solution/approach for internet radio.

Chase writes "Nation Public Radio reported this morning that the National Security Agency has deemed Furby's as a risk. The reason is each furby contains a microphone that records sound bytes from its environment and will play them back at any time. The NSA is concerned that a furby might over hear a classified conversation while in the building and then repeat it at a later time once it was removed from the building. As a response to the risk, the NSA has banned furbys from NSA buildings. " Update: 01/13 09:55 by B : Here's a CNN Story and a BBC Story for good measure.

Benjamin Saller Bender writes "This is just another sign that America is slowly weening itself off modems - Hayes is declaring bankruptcy."

India's Express Computer is carrying an article about preinstalled Linux for sub-$600 computers. They mention that "In the United States, many big systems vendors, as a part of their sub-$600 PC campaign are bundling Linux as the operating system."Does anybody know to whom he is referring? Thanks to Linux Reviews and Articles for the reference.

Mike Brady writes "Interesting link about wireless LANs including using your AC and phone lines. Would be ideal for home or small businesses... I've seen products like this in computer hardware catalogs but the prices wern't really attractive. "

Christopher Blizzard writes "It looks like SCO wants access to reverse engineer Microsoft's Remote Display Protocol to avoid the extraordinary licensing fees for their terminal servers. According to this article they may be willing to " offer a cash incentive to the open source programming community"." Note that the product is currently commercial and not open-source... but if SCO were to pay for its development and make it into free software, this would be a good move for all non-Windows OS's.

Christopher Blizzard writes "There's an excellent article by Jon Katz from Wired about how the public is slowly revolting against "mainstream" media. I don't know about all of you but I know that I agree 100% with the contents of this editorial. "

Our network of informants let us in on this: Linus was recently interviewed by Boot Magazine, but the interview was only available in the print edition until now. Check out the interview. It's one of the best I've read in a long time. Also, Christopher Blizzard (a truly cool man) wrote in to remind us about the (free) conference between Linus and other prominent figures in the Linux community tomorrow. It will be held in Santa Clara, California, and will be hosted by The Sillicon Valley Linux User's Group.

The Economic Times have an in-depth look at Linux, first throughout the world, and then in India. The articles are full of interesting tidbits, for instance that the largest UK ISP runs Linux, or that Suse is 40% of the German market. One less certain fact is their statement that Intel will help port Linux to Merced. IsdMag is covering Linux from the EDA perspective. This is their third article on the subject. Some of the surveyed engineers go so far as to state they'll quit if put in front of an NT box. With that kind of resistance, lots of little fabless companies seem likely to me to back down.

Technetcast reveals the truth behind the Beowulf coverup at NASA. Over at News Observer you can find out what Robert Young and Marc Ewing of Redhat fame look like in red hats. And Betamag shows that Linux reverses obsolescence. After so much positive press, there is however one rotten apple.

These links were first reported by Linux Reviews and Articles, and Linux Resources.

Apparently June is Officialy the Lets-Talk-About-Linux month in the mainstream press, cuz we've got a steady stream of them. Christopher Blizzard sent us an article on NASA, Linux and Multiprocessing and one called Is Linux the Business? from ZDUK's Linux Focus Week. We also have a Freeware Roundup over at InfoWorld. Aaron Stone sent us another InfoWorld article, this one examines Linux and Business and comes up positive.

Eric Stephens wrote in to tell us that InfoWorld is running this story on the Open Group's release of the UNIX 98 specs.

Jamie Zawinksi wrote in to tell me to tell everyone to lay off Mozilla.org and try one of the many mirrors- the huge demand has crippled the machine. Hit the link below to get a decent list of com and edu mirrors. Update:Couple of neato things, A screenshot of NS5 was sent in by Christopher Blizzard, and an insider who requested anonymity sent us a picture from this mornings big event, wrote "The main three people in this picture are Jim Barksdale, Jamie, and Tara Hernandez. Tara is manager of the build team. Just to the left of JimB is Jim Roskind, who led the Java-ectomy." Thanks guys.

ftp://odin.appliedtheory.com/pub/mirrors/mozilla/

http://www.gbnet.net/public/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.landfield.com/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.epix.net/pub/mozilla/

ftp://netscape.primehost.com/pub/ftp.mozilla.org/

ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/packages/www/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.muc.muohio.edu/pub/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.bogalusa.com/mozilla/

ftp://sod.off.net:211/pub/mozilla/

ftp://mirrors.javanet.net/pub/mirrors/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.cache-world.com/mirror/mozilla.org/

ftp://ftp.dqc.org/pub/

ftp://powermike.com/powermike.com/pub/ftp.mozilla.org

ftp://ftp.tos.net/pub/ftp.mozilla.org/

ftp://pfaffben.user.msu.edu/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.shuttle.org/mozilla/

ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/mozilla/

http://www.us.inside.net/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.cise.ufl.edu/pub/mozilla/

http://sunsite.utk.edu/ftp/netscape-source/

ftp://mirror.tummy.com/pub/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.one.net/pub/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.mindwell.com/pub/mirrors/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.ntr.net/pub/mozilla/

ftp://ftp-netscape.connectnet.com/pub/netscape/source/

ftp://mozilla.meer.net/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.inetdev.org/mirrors/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.yggdrasil.com/mirrors/site/ftp.mozilla.org/pub/

ftp://mozilla.savages.com/

ftp://mirrors.xmission.com/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.dsnet.net/pub/

Jamie Zawinksi wrote in to tell me to tell everyone to lay off Mozilla.org and try one of the many mirrors- the huge demand has crippled the machine. Hit the link below to get a decent list of com and edu mirrors. Update:Couple of neato things, A screenshot of NS5 was sent in by Christopher Blizzard, and an insider who requested anonymity sent us a picture from this mornings big event, wrote "The main three people in this picture are Jim Barksdale, Jamie, and Tara Hernandez. Tara is manager of the build team. Just to the left of JimB is Jim Roskind, who led the Java-ectomy." Thanks guys.

ftp://odin.appliedtheory.com/pub/mirrors/mozilla/

http://www.gbnet.net/public/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.landfield.com/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.epix.net/pub/mozilla/

ftp://netscape.primehost.com/pub/ftp.mozilla.org/

ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/packages/www/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.muc.muohio.edu/pub/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.bogalusa.com/mozilla/

ftp://sod.off.net:211/pub/mozilla/

ftp://mirrors.javanet.net/pub/mirrors/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.cache-world.com/mirror/mozilla.org/

ftp://ftp.dqc.org/pub/

ftp://powermike.com/powermike.com/pub/ftp.mozilla.org

ftp://ftp.tos.net/pub/ftp.mozilla.org/

ftp://pfaffben.user.msu.edu/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.shuttle.org/mozilla/

ftp://mirror.neosoft.com/pub/mozilla/

http://www.us.inside.net/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.cise.ufl.edu/pub/mozilla/

http://sunsite.utk.edu/ftp/netscape-source/

ftp://mirror.tummy.com/pub/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.one.net/pub/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.mindwell.com/pub/mirrors/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.ntr.net/pub/mozilla/

ftp://ftp-netscape.connectnet.com/pub/netscape/source/

ftp://mozilla.meer.net/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.inetdev.org/mirrors/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.yggdrasil.com/mirrors/site/ftp.mozilla.org/pub/

ftp://mozilla.savages.com/

ftp://mirrors.xmission.com/mozilla/

ftp://ftp.dsnet.net/pub/

Christopher Blizzard wrote in with this link where you can read that PGP is now planning to export encryption products. They're playing with fire, but we all benefit if it works. It's time Uncle Sam realizes that a program that wiggles bits around has subtle differences from say an uzi or guided missle.

Christopher Blizzard wrote in to tell us that RedHat has updated their Linux Marketshare page with new and improved 1998 numbers. There are a ton of interesting numbers in here ranging from Linux's share of Unix users, circulations of various magazines, FTP downloads, Mirror sites, CD sales.

This article was sent to us by Christopher Blizzard. It is a Sunworld write up comparing GUI toolkits. They cover everything from MFC to MacOS to Java to GTK and Motif. Interesting stuff.

Christopher Blizzard sent us This link to wired where you can read about the PalmPilot and why it has developed such a huge geek following. Things like using it as an instrument tuner, a web graphical web browser and a thousand other apps. Also mentions the Linux Port. Very interesting reading about a very interesting piece of hardware. Note to self:Pilot doesn't help you if you leave it at home.

Everyone's favorite operating system received more positive press over at The Irish-Times. Christopher Blizzard was the first of several to send in the story. Chris says there are a few inaccuracies and no real revelations, but it's always swell to see the positive press.

This story over at the Boston Daily Globe talks from a fairly non technical viewpoint about the problem with Microsoft and it's operating systems. The author suggests that the answer is Macintosh *giggle* but at least the first part of the article shows the entertaining stuff that all us Linux Users don't worry about (BSoD? Wierd Crashes that require a reinstall? Registry Corruption?) Thanks to Christopher Blizzard for sending this our way.

The bad boys at l0pht have announced yet another massive IE security hole. This is a new way to download and execution of arbitrary code on both NT and 95 machines. Thanks to Christopher Blizzard for sending me this one.

This one is quite interesting- it is an intereting article from Christopher Blizzard speaks about Microsoft Temp Employees who are contracted. In this case for over 6 years- all in what seems to be a plot to save a few bucks on benefits packages and stock options. It's not uncommon in corporate america, but MS has been sued and lost over it.

Christopher Blizzard sent me This Link where you can read about Microsoft's latest project- scanning the entire IP space with some sort of robot that is listed as tide*.microsoft.com. The USER_AGENT val is "http generic" so your guess is as good as mine.