More music download site musical chairs: CNET Networks will buy MP3.com, one of the first online music services, from Vivendi Universal Net USA. AP reports that CNET, an online magazine/download site, will launch new digital music service launching next year. Vivendi acquired MP3.com in May 2001 in a $372 million cash-and-stock deal.
Further to my recent column on e-voting in FEER and WSJ.com (my apologies; available on subscription only), the story continues. Avi Rubin, the Johns Hopkins University computer scientist who identified security lapses in the voting system Maryland is adopting appeared before state legislators in testimony that illustrates the issues involved, and entrenched positions of those… Read More »
Sometimes I wonder whether it’s ever going to be possible to produce a watertight way of limiting access to digital music. Take Apple’s very popular iTunes, for example. CNET reports that an independent software developer has created a program that lets users of iTunes for Windows grab song files from other people on a computer… Read More »
Seems that Nokia may have been right about those exploding batteries being fakes. The Register reports that the Belgian consumer organisation which last week claimed that three Nokia batteries were unprotected against short-circuiting is to re-examine its findings. It seems that Test-Aankoop may well have been hoodwinked and tested fake Nokia batteries instead of the… Read More »
Nokia has confirmed a story doing the rounds yesterday: that hackers have cracked the copy-protection codes for its newly launched N-Gage gaming device, allowing copied games to be downloaded over the Web, according to Reuters. Nokia has high hopes for N-Gage, aiming to challenge market leader Nintendo’s Gameboy Advance. A vital part of… Read More »