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Users will now be prompted before a widget downloads to their hard drive.

Another problem, besides "auto-install on download" is that Dashboard's "warning" to a user on newly-installed widget launch is a simple yes/no proposition without any indication of the access sought by the widget.

It would be nice to see Apple adopt something similar to Amnesty Widget Browser, which presents the following dialog on newly-installed widget launch.

was Cheney's attire

See for yourself: this scan shows some definite signs of instabilty.

As evidenced by this image.

As many people are learning these days, getting a recording contract is basically the same as getting a loan. But -- Courtney Love's ramblings notwithstanding -- a lot of musicians (like me and the others in my band) are willing to enter these deals because:

1) The "loan" buys you recording time, publicity, transportation, expenses, per diems, etc. Things that a starving band can rarely afford.

2) The "loan" is repaid from CD sales. And that's the fair trade because we realize that chances are slim to none we're going to sell enough CDs to cover our costs. But this isn't a bank we're talking about. Nobody's going seize your home or car because your CD sold 100 copies.

3) You typically get to keep merchandise revenue. And that's the silver lining: even though you never see money from your CD sales, you get to earn money on the road.

So, given that a band's goals are usually to afford to keep playing, recording and performing, a record deal sounds ideal. If you end up being the 1 in a million who "makes it" then you're obviously set. If you don't, then at least you got to "live the dream" for a lot longer than you could have you if you had to foot the bill. Along the way, you make some decent press, build up a fan base and basically have a great time.

Win-win I say.

(footnote: since we were dropped by our admittedly shitty label we've made decent money selling CDs and songs online at places like iTunes -- but still nowhere near the amount we received from our "free" loan which paid for our last CD's production and then some).

Or more accurately, guitar player in a local band selling CDs on the web and online stores like iTunes. And of course not for money, but certainly for the potential of "making it" (and thus making money). But given how long we've been at it such a reality is looking increasingly unrealistic. Though we did make some decent $ a couple of years ago when we were touring.

Like most indie bands of our ilk and time period we just wanted to be as "famous" as Pavement and as long-lived as Superchunk.

My band released our second CD (right before getting signed alas) independently and the seven songs on it (about 30 minutes worth) cost us about $15K of studio time. Note that this was a no-name studio, with a no-name engineer, and self-produced. We've known small bands that have been signed to semi-majors, and even a somewhat-known producer, engineers and studio time can easily cost $250K. I imagine top quality studios, engineers and producers cost much more.

And, if the label thinks you might actually move some units, they'll be paying expenses, per diems, touring costs and marketing. Believe me, that can cost a lot of $. Fact is, it costs a lot of money to put together a "best-seller."

FYI, signed bands actually pay for the recording costs (the money is "fronted" by your label) so the studio only pays if the album doesn't break even (most albums actually) -- and if the band never generates sales to cover it, the label will eventually eat the cost, but even in those cases it's a write-off

You would be surprised how many bands you know that have never made a dime from royalties because they owe their label for the recording costs. Hopefully most signed bands are smart enough to know that the only money they'll likely see is from sales of schwag.