CoreMedia interview: Multimedia and DRM - Part 1

With digital downloads remaining a big issues and Sony's DRM implementation in particular making headlines for the wrong reason, we have a timely interview with Dr. Willms Buhse, director products & marketing for CoreMedia, a company specialising in DRM systems. In part one of two, the topics of discussion are music, Vodafone Live! and Microsoft, with 3G and wider DRM issues to follow. ...more

CDs that glow in the dark

There are some pretty weird and wonderful gadgets on the market, but none so weird as a product from CD duplicator Optech. The LumiDisk takes optical disc technology and turns it into something you'd least expect. Building a special phosphor layer into its CDs, Optech has come up with a way of transforming the humble CD into, of all things, a nightlight. ...more

Chicago up for sale on eBay

What is a city council to do when faced with an arts and culture budget deficit? In the case of Chicago, it is turning to eBay to auction off city-related events and memorabilia. Among the items for sale, reports the New York Times, is the chance to pour green dye into the Chicago River to mark St Patrick's Day celebrations, bid for a walk-on role at the city's Goodman Theatre, take a behind the the scenes tours of the city zoo or buy a decommissioned city parking meter. The report says that the Chicago-based Playboy Enterprises and Opra Winfrey show have also agreed to join in, offering a vintage Playboy Bunny costume or the dinner party services of Oprah's chef. ...more

Apple cries down tax dodge news

Apple UK has denied that it plans to move some iTunes Music Store operations to the Channel Islands. The Daily Telegraph claimed that the computer maker aimed to exploit tax loopholes to sell music VAT-free from Guernsey. The newspaper said that the company had confirmed the plans but Apple said it was completely false. ...more

Aiming for two-dimensional sound

Electronics giant Philips has unveiled a new technology to optimise sound quality from compressed audio files. The Sound Agent 2 software takes a 'two-dimensional' approach to decoding and analysing sound files. It looks first at the source file - whether MP3, WMA, WAV, DVD or a game for example - and then at the where the sound is going to be played - speakers or headphones. ...more