stores

Eliot Van Buskirk over at Wired has an interesting post today about Seattle band Presidents of the United States of America.

In addition to selling its songs on iTunes in the normal fashion, PUSA has just released a $2.99 application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that will let you stream songs from four albums (the ones whose rights are owned by the band), plus assorted other flotsam (live tracks, demos, whatever).

The application was built by Melodeo, whose vice president of business development is none other than PUSA's Dave Dederer.

The songs are streamed, not downloaded, which … Read more

A new medical wiki will tell you why you shouldn't have painted your sister's toes purple, but apparently all online medical advice pages tell Natali she's pregnant. She's not. Facebook also backed down on its terms of service and Telstra is in trouble with Microsoft.

Facebook backs down http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=54746167130

Grand Theft Auto IV adds episodic content http://www.cnet.com/8301-18603_1-10165231-73.html

Telstra boss Sol Trujillo’s mobile phone loaded with top-secret software stolen by pickpocket http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25076154-5014239,00.html… Read more

That and other important questions are answered in today's show, where we're joined by John C. Dvorak in dissecting the new Facebook Terms of Service, the New Zealand blackout over copyright law, and the last-minute saving of SiriusXM. Also, give your boys the violent video games. They need them.

Day one of U.S. TV transition only 114 more to go http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

Facebook’s new terms of service: “we can do anything we want with your content. Forever.” http://consumerist.com/5150175/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever

Facebook … Read more

Apple has made it clear that South Park must respect its authority.

The company has now twice rejected an iPhone application designed to let iPhone owners watch clips of the long-running show featuring the exploits of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. Apple apparently feels that South Park's content is "potentially offensive," according to Boing Boing, and will not allow it onto the App Store.

Once again, Apple's taste-making policies for the App Store leave it in a curious position. The company's decision to ban a book from the App Store for using dirty language, yet … Read more

BARCELONA--Nokia is taking on smartphone rival Apple with its own version of an application store.

On Monday, the world's largest cell phone maker, which has been losing market share at the high end to devices like Apple's iPhone, announced here at the GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 that it will follow Apple and a few other handset makers in launching a virtual storefront where developers can upload applications and consumers can easily download them.

The news of Nokia's Ovi Store is hardly a shock. Several news agencies had reported that the company was expected to announce the store here at MWC.… Read more

BARCELONA--If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Apple's biggest competitors are laying on the love a little thick.

It seems like handset makers aren't just trying to match Apple in terms of developing cool new touch screen devices, but now they're all clamoring to develop their own version of an application storefront, where users can easily discover and download applications for their smartphones and developers can easily create and monetize those apps.

Rumors have been flying around that Nokia, the largest handset maker in the world, will unveil its plans for its own application store … Read more

Microsoft Entertainment unit president Robbie Bach fielded some tough questions on Friday.

Then, after that go-around with the crowd of high schoolers, Bach signed up for round two and spoke with a few Seattle-area reporters. In the follow-up with the reporters, Bach discussed upcoming updates to Windows Mobile as well as the company's just-announced move into retail and its Zune efforts.

I wasn't there, but enjoyed the team coverage from TechFlash's Todd Bishop, The Seattle Times' Ben Romano, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Joe Tartikoff.

Bach told the reporters that the move into retail, unlike Apple's, … Read more

Apple has started rolling out a major redesign of its retail stores in order to focus on software and switchers.

IfoAppleStore, which tracks the Apple retail operation almost as closely as Cupertino does, first noticed the switch. It's already underway at the downtown San Francisco Apple store, with signs placed near the front of the store designed to entice new converts to the Mac with slogans like "It's easy to love a Mac" that highlight the differences between Windows PCs and Macs.

Apple's retail operation is a very important part of its marketing strategy, beyond … Read more

While I got a little steamed at the Author's Guild, and Natali essentially admitted she's a runaway bride, the big event in this show is the possessed computer. It appears some 404 friends of guest Jeff Bakalar monkeyed with Nat's computer during the show. Unprofessional, I say! We will get to the bottom of this.

New CNET widgets http://www.cnet.com/widgets/

Report: Sirius XM preparing to file for bankruptcy http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/10/report-sirius-xm-preparing-to-file-for-bankruptcy/ http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10161185-93.html

Authors Guild upset with … Read more