independence

Accused 'Hurt Locker' pirates turn to law school

Confused, angry, and scared is how the accused film pirates come to Robert Talbot.

As of last week, Talbot, a law professor at the University of San Francisco, was representing 23 people accused by independent film studios of copyright violations. In lawsuits filed against thousands of people from across the country, the filmmakers allege that the defendants distributed unauthorized copies of their movies, such as the Academy Award-winning "The Hurt Locker," across file-sharing networks.

Talbot guesses that no other copyright lawyer in the country defends as many accused file sharers. His program's allure is obvious. He possesses … Read more

A VW Rabbit gets independent throttle bodies

So as we saw in Monday's video blog, there are some car owners who not only love their Volkswagen Rabbits, but also want to update and upgrade their European bunnies. Well here's another adventurous Rabbit owner who sought to give his cottontail a power boost under the hood and did so with a little help from some independent throttle bodies.

For those of you not familiar, a throttle body controls the air intake into the engine in correlation to the pressure put on the accelerator. And this VW Rabbit gets blessed with a few Suzuki GSXR 650 throttle … Read more

Red, White and Blue + Palm Pre = Independence

I consider myself a geeky sort of gal with a good understanding of technical gadgets. Technology just makes sense to me. I tell people I was raised not only on a farm, but also on a computer. My dad is a mechanical engineer. When I was a child he taught Computer Aided Crafting (CAD) at a local college, and sometimes he'd take me with him. TSTC's Computer Lab is where I was first introduced to the wonders of technology.

Fast forward a few decades and here I am, twenty-five years old, a business owner and manager, graphics designer for web and print, web hosting provider, and blogger. I do some short run printing for local clients and I modify Wordpress themes for people all over the world.

Today's technology not only allows me to work from anywhere, it keeps me in touch with clients, friends, and family. This is why the Palm Pre is a perfect smartphone for me to test drive. (Thanks to CNET and the Sprint Now Network for the phone and 3 months of service!) … Read more

Independence Day downloads

Red, white, and blue flags flapping in the breeze, smoking grills, and blazing sunshine. There's no better time to celebrate America's 233rd birthday. And what better way to wish Uncle Sam (and ourselves) many happy returns than a schmaltzy screensaver for your desktop? Show off your patriotism and passion for dazzling explosives with this collection of Independence Day downloads.

Liberty Shines Screensaver See an entire Fourth of July day from the water, looking onto Manhattan's shoreline. Lady Liberty and New York are the daylight stars in this well-animated screensaver. As dusk falls, the buildings light up and … Read more

CD Baby will let bands sell singles, download cards

CD Baby remains an essential part of any independent musician's toolbox, offering musicians an easy and relatively inexpensive way to sell CDs and MP3 downloads from a personalized Web page. It's not necessarily the cheapest way to sell music online, but its long track record and wide variety of services, including digital distribution through iTunes and other stores, and short-run CD manufacturing (provided by Discmakers, which bought the company last August), still make it my top recommendation for independent artists.

This July, the site will relaunch with several significant improvements, including more attractive artist pages, the ability to … Read more

MacHeist 3 brings back the great software deals

For the past two years, several independent Mac software developers have teamed up to put together a bundle of award-winning Mac apps at a vastly reduced price--with 25 percent of the purchase price donated to the charity of your choice (chosen from a list). The whole thing takes place at a very well-designed site called MacHeist.com and over the past two years, thousands of Mac users have snapped up the limited time offer--it's really a great deal! The fun part about the MacHeist offer is the developers of MacHeist make it into a kind of scavenger hunt. They … Read more

No up-front costs to sell music on Audiolife

Update, Thursday 1/30: Today, I received a followup e-mail from Audiolife CEO and co-founder Brandon Hance. Audiolife has changed its cut on digital album downloads from $3.50 to $3.00, and on digital singles from $0.35 to $0.30. The company has also posted a detailed price list, including prices for different configurations of t-shirts. I've modified the original post accordingly.

I stumbled across a new service on Wednesday that, at first glance, seems to trump CD Baby for selling CDs online.

Audiolife not only lets you create an online store to sell CDs and digital … Read more

Obama orders review of California emissions bid

Update 10:30 a.m. PST: Added new information, including comments from Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

President Obama on Monday signed an executive order directing the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately review its denial of California's request to set auto emissions standards stricter than the national standards, saying, "the days of Washington dragging its heels are over."

Obama commended California for trying to forge tougher fuel efficiency standards and said, "Instead of standing as a partner, Washington stood in their way."

The president also said new fuel efficiency standards should … Read more

Reddit goes 'Independent,' says more deals to come

Social news site Reddit, which was acquired by Conde Nast's Wired Digital division two years ago, has announced the start of a new strategy to distribute its technology around the Web. It's partnered with the U.K.'s Independent newspaper to install Reddit technology on its Web site and encourage readers to vote up and down on the news.

While a prominent button for the Independent's internal voting system will appear on each of the publication's online news stories (these will show up in a few weeks), it will also accept links submitted from around the … Read more

iLike, TuneCore make indie music together

Hey, indie bands. Does MySpace Music's big focus on the major labels make you sad? iLike wants to hear from you--literally.

The "social music" company, best-known for its add-on apps for Facebook and iTunes, has partnered with music distribution start-up TuneCore so that unsigned artists can market their music through iLike and get royalties when it's streamed there.

TuneCore already lets independent artists sell their music through iTunes, Amazon MP3, and Rhapsody, which has a deal with iLike (and MTV and Yahoo).

It's not surprising that a company such as iLike would choose to make … Read more