Internet & Media

U.K. gets its own Pirate Party

The Pirate Party UK, which is dedicated to technology and copyright-law reform, has become an official political party.

The party was registered by the Electoral Commission this week, the party's leader Andrew Robinson told ZDNet UK.

"We're still in the early stages of forming the party," Robinson said Thursday. "We're still very small."

The U.K. organization has around 250 active members, Robinson said.

Electoral Commission registration allows the party to raise funds and list Pirate Party UK candidates at the next general election, which must take place before June 2010. Similar parties … Read more

Getting shallow in the attention economy

Did we like music more back when we had to pay for it in bulk?

That's essentially the question writer Nick Carr asks in yet another provocative post on his Rough Type blog. "Slanted and Enchanted" revels in the one-hit wonder but also asks if we are losing something by dumping albums for tracks.

I've suggested that artists may find new ways to more deeply engage their fans by focusing on singles rather than albums, but there's something to Carr's logic:

Today, we're quick to dismiss those ancient days of "scarcity" … Read more

Has Wikipedia editing gone the way of government?

Oh, Wikipedia. Have you really become just another political organization?

I only ask because some clever people with nothing better to do have dedicated their bright gray matter to poring through Wikipedia's pages and drawing conclusions. The members of the Augmented Cognition Research Group at the Palo Alto Research Center could probably solve health care over a nonfat latte and a blueberry scone. Instead, they have examined who makes edits on Wikipedia and whose edits are reversed.

It makes for the same kind of dispiriting reading that you might once have expected from a Politburo travel brochure. You see, … Read more

Flaming Lips offer free recordings with concert tix

For several years now, musical artists have been experimenting with selling flash drives of concert recordings immediately after the show, but the Flaming Lips--whose latest tour starts this Saturday in Del Mar, Calif.--are taking it to the obvious next level.

Buy a ticket, and they'll send you a download code for six songs--three new ones from their upcoming album "Embryonic" (nice album cover!) and three B sides from old singles. After the show, they'll send you another link to download a recording of the show you attended. It's a great way to build on … Read more

Five million iPhones to return home

Finally, it seems the Chinese people are about to be able to legally get their hands on the phone they have been building: the iPhone.

According to International Business Times, Unicom, China's second largest cell carrier, has paid 10 billion yuan (about $1.46 billion) to buy 5 million iPhones from Apple. The first batch of the phones will be made available to Chinese customers as early as next month. Since March, the company has been posting the phone's images and specs at its stores.

This will be the first time the phone is legally available in the … Read more

Kindle rival Plastic Logic partners with Olive Software

So far, Amazon's Kindle has been in a safe position as one of the dominant electronic readers on the market. However, this may be changing because its rival, the Plastic Logic e-Reader, has been busy gaining prelaunch partners.

Plastic Logic, the start-up maker of the possible Kindle "killer" e-reader, announced Thursday that Olive Software will be a key service provider and partner for the Plastic Logic Publishers Program. The partnership means the two companies will develop content-publishing solutions for newspapers, magazines, and Web content providers, as well as other publishers that distribute their content via Plastic Logic'… Read more

Les Paul, recording-tech pioneer, dies at 94

Legendary jazz guitarist Les Paul, known for his contributions to guitar design and recording technology, has died at the age of 94, according to a joint statement released by Gibson Guitar, the company that produced his iconic Gibson Les Paul guitar, and New York's Iridium jazz club, where he continued to play weekly gigs almost until the end of his life.

Paul's reputation as a guitarist and recording artist are overshadowed by his contributions to music technology. He pioneered many sound recording techniques still in use today, and was also instrumental in developing the modern solid-body electric guitar, … Read more

New ICANN policy stops domain tasting

ICANN has won a major battle over the abusive tactic of domain tasting, said the organization in a report released Wednesday.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is responsible for managing and doling out Internet domain names.

It's not an easy job. And making it harder was a scheme used by some registrars known as domain tasting. Someone would buy up lots of domain names, try them out, and then get rid of the unprofitable ones, all without losing any money. As long as the registrar dumped the domains within the five-day grace period, known as the … Read more

Start-up helps teachers learn their lesson

What do you get when you cross teachers, tech, and social networking? A BetterLesson.

Although not the first or the only Web site that hooks teachers up with friends and new curriculum, BetterLesson takes a different approach.

"Teachers mine content on other sites," says Erin Osborn, the field director for BetterLesson, based in Somerville, Mass.

But here, teachers are compelled to create and add content, she says. The Web site, still in beta, has been built with a curriculum organizing and filing system specifically for teachers, that's done using cloud computing, so teachers don't need to … Read more