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No more waiting for Bittorrent files to download; listen right away with Westream

Not to be confused with UStream, a new technology put together by the folks at BitLet (coverage) called Westream lets you listen to music files that are being distributed via Bittorrent. Up until now there hasn't been an easy way to listen to Bittorrent files without downloading the entire file, or group of files. In the case of Bitlet's system, all you have to do is drop in the URL link to a Bittorrent file, and the system will pull up the tracks, complete with a player that lets you pause, skip songs, and increase and decrease the … Read more

EasyShare and share alike: Kodak's new cameras and printer

Kodak just announced a slew of new digital imaging products at CES, including several cameras and an all-in-one photo printer scheduled to ship in the first half of this year.

The company caps off its CES announcements with the ESP 3 All-in-One Printer. This latest multipurpose consumer photo printer functions as a document printer, a photo printer, and a flatbed scanner. Kodak claims the ESP 3 can print 29 color documents in a minute, or produce a 4 x 6 borderless photo in as little as 30 seconds. A memory card slot lets the ESP 3 print photos directly from … Read more

Power Downloader finds a new online photo browser

With 2008 under way, Power Downloader knew it was time to get back to work. His first order of business would be to sift through e-mails that had piled up over the holidays. After scanning through the messages from various contacts around the world, Power came upon an e-mail from Francois Foto, one of Power's most trusted contacts from France.

After wishing Power Downloader a happy new year, Francois Foto mentioned that one of his new year's resolutions was to use his vast photo library in a some sort of project. One idea he thought of was to … Read more

RIAA shreds Washington Post story in debate

An executive with the music industry's lobbying group engaged in a verbal sparring match on Thursday with the Washington Post columnist who alleges that the organization is trying to outlaw the practice of copying CDs to a computer.

National Public Radio hosted in on-air debate between Marc Fisher, the Post columnist, and Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The way I saw it, Fisher was ill advised to debate. What was exposed was a reporter who doesn't want to admit to making a mistake and has dug his heels in. Meanwhile, according to … Read more

Washington Post sticks by RIAA story despite evidence it goofed

It's late on Wednesday evening and the Washington Post has yet to correct a story that accused the recording industry of trying to paint law-abiding music fans as criminals.

But the paper should make things right and soon.

Marc Fisher, a Post columnist, wrote on Sunday that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) asserted in a legal brief that anyone who copies music from a CD onto their computer is a thief. The document, filed last month, was part of the RIAA's copyright suit against Jeffrey Howell, an Arizona resident accused of illegal file sharing.

Quoting from … Read more

Apple stock hits the $200 mark

For those of you who pay attention to share price milestones in all multiples of $100, the Associated Press is reporting that Apple stock hit the $200 mark for the first time Wednesday.

The story says the bump coincides with rising investor confidence at the end of what has been a strong year for the company with the debut of the iPhone.

Read the full story via Yahoo, among other places: "Apple trades at $200 for first time"

Pownce beefs out its mobile presence (slightly)

While there's still not a short code service to send in Pownce updates from your mobile phone, yesterday the service quietly rolled out a new mobile interface (m.Pownce.com) to let members both post and browse Pownce updates, including files. While I couldn't manage to get any sort of attachment to load, the interface itself is a big step up from having to load the entire page--especially on BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices; however, iPhone users are getting the best end of the deal as the site seems designed specifically for fingers and the large, portrait screen.… Read more

The security problem with shared-source software

In reading through a larger article on open-source adoption in the US Department of Defense, I came across this interesting perspective on why shared-source software (which Microsoft and an increasing number of software vendors use to mimic open source without fully embracing its benefits and obligations) is bad for security:

Several large companies whose software is in heavy use in DOD advocate a shared source code model in which people can view the source code but not change it. This shared source code approach has some problems, though. By sharing source code with organizations, the users have the ability to … Read more

Smugmug adapts for large, small screens

Correction: I updated the blog to correct a misspelling of Don MacAskill's name.

SmugMug, a site popular among photography aficionados, has been retooled with a more adaptable interface and overhauled video-sharing technology.

The new interface, which the Mountain View, Calif.-based company calls SmugMungous, automatically displays one of nine different sizes of a photo on the screen, with a patch of thumbnails of related images to the left side. The reason for the SmugMungous name: the largest of these images is 1600x1200 pixels, enough to fill up very large monitors.

In addition, the new site comes with an iTunes … Read more