Music

Want to buy a new song or video from iTunes even though you're offline? A new Apple patent envisions a way, at least sometime down the road.

Granted to Apple today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, the patent appropriately named "On-device offline purchases using credits" describes a system of using credits to purchase iTunes content that's stored on your device but which you don't already own. The goal is to allow you to unlock and play iTunes songs, videos, and other items without having to be online.

You would first buy credits … Read more

Spotify is trying something new to promote its service to would-be users.

The company today has overtaken YouTube with a large documentary ad at the top of the video site's page. The ad encourages YouTube visitors to "follow" the band Phoenix throughout the day to see what a typical day is like for the members. This morning, only a portion of the 18-minute documentary is available, but as the day goes on, users can come back and watch more. By the end of the day, all 18 minutes will be viewable.

Spotify's ad takes up the … Read more

Do you believe in life after death?

I believe that several fans of singing icon Cher have had such beliefs bolstered by events that occurred today on Twitter.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher passed away today.

She was admired and derided in almost equal measure. Some adored how she assaulted entrenched British institutions with her handbag. Others thought she was a petty and divisive shopkeeper's daughter.

One Web site that espoused the latter view is called Is Thatcher Dead Yet? It rather looked forward to her passing to the Safeway in the sky.

So when her death was announced, it immediately created the hashtag #nowthatchersdead.… Read more

In the wild, sea lions are kept busy with hunting prey, caring for young, and swimming about in the great big ocean. In captivity, they have more time to devote to activities like sunning themselves, playing, and rocking out.

Ronan the California sea lion lives at the Long Marine Laboratory at the University of California in Santa Cruz. University researchers have studied Ronan's ability to keep the beat of musical tracks by nodding her head. She seems to particularly enjoy upbeat, jazzy disco numbers.

Ronan was first trained to bob her head to a simple metronome-like sound. Once she figured that out, she was able to find and keep the beat of more complex music all on her own. Previously, this ability has only been observed in parrots and humans.… Read more

When you work at one of the world's most successful -- and occasionally silliest -- companies, it's hard to create wonderful April Fool's pranks.

After all, you're supposed to contribute your best ideas to the company, so that they might be selected as one of the 15 or so that are used to fool the world on April 1.

It's astonishing that any Googlies have time left over for personal japes. You know, like punking the boss, for example.

And yet, evidence has emerged that members of the Google(x) team -- which I believe … Read more

You may have been one of those who felt enthralled and delighted at Mark Zuckerberg's launch of Facebook Home yesterday.

You also may have felt appalled and slighted. Especially if you worked at Microsoft in 2011.

The morning after the morning before, Microsoft's forthright head of PR, Frank X. Shaw, offered words to suggest he'd have liked to X-out most of Zuckerberg's wide-eyed unveiling.

On the company's own blog, he wrote: "I tuned into the coverage of the Facebook Home event yesterday and actually had to check my calendar a few times. Not to … Read more

If you're 13 years old, live in Wilmington, Ind., and it's cold outside, it surely makes you wonder about this global warming thing.

How can there be global warming when your personal globe is freezing?

How can you find out whether all this scientific mumbo-jumbo is just a giant gumbo of mumbling nonsense?

You do it the old-fashioned way: You go to the library.

Once you've found the evidence, you call Rush Limbaugh and tell him. This is extreme wisdom, as Limbaugh has -- at least in the past -- been very skillful at raising issues and … Read more

Congrats to Cheryl W. of Irvine, Calif., for winning a Bem Wireless Bluetooth boom box in last week's giveaway. This week, we've got another prize your ears will like: a pair of sturdy and stylish Boom headphones from Swedish company Coloud.

The Boom over-ear 'phones come in all sorts of fun color combinations for a contrasting look, or in similar hues for a more tonal look. You get to choose. They have a mic and remote for additional functionality, and a special little thingamabob at the end for tangle-free cord management.

Normally, a pair of Coloud Boom headphones would run you $40, but you have the chance to get your ears on them for absolutely nada. How do you go about doing that? There are a few rules, so please listen up. … Read more

Apple is close to striking a streaming deal with two of the major music labels that could end up far sweeter for the music industry than what the labels currently get from Pandora, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.

Much has been made in recent weeks of Apple trying to squeeze the labels on terms, and the deals do have Apple paying the labels a per-stream rate that's half of what Pandora pays. But CNET has learned that Apple's planned music service would offer new revenue streams as well.

That includes a quick way for consumers … Read more