iTunes vs Palm Pre

In what is shapping up to be another example of the back and forth one-upsmanship between companies, Apple and Palm are fighting over access to the iTunes music store.

Palm started the action when the new Palm Pre could access directly into iTunes, as though it were a iPod or iPhone device. Apple promptly updated iTunes to disallow this action. Palm responded with a software update of their own, in which the Palm Pre spoofs itself to appear as a iPod in iTunes. This will certainly go back and forth a few more times, as Apple is agreesively insistant in keeping the iTunes/iPod vertical a locked experience.

On one hand this is typical Apple behavior, but in this case there is a more important factor to consider. Apple generates very little income, if any, from the iTunes store (most of that goes to the record companies). Apple cashes in from the sale of devices that interface with the store, so it's even more important for them to keep the store "locked".

I have no idea what the actual end game will be, but I think Apple could be in a nice position if they would licence out limited connectivity to certain companies, before Amazon gets the obvious idea of specialized store front for their music offerings.

When Real Life and Second Life Collide

Seems in the new techno-world of the 21st century, fidelity isn't just limited to the real world...

Case in point, a British couple are divorcing after 3 years of marriage when the wife repeatedly caught her husband's Second Life avatar having sex with various women (including prostitutes).

My question... in the divorce settlement, who gets the computer?

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE4AD39U20081114?feedType=nl&feedName=ustechnology&sp=true

Speaking of Podcasts...

I recently stumbled across a new podcast from the Quick and Dirty Now group. Along with shows about grammar (Grammar Girl), personal manners (Modern Manners Guy), and even Second Life (Traveling Avatar), the newest podcast offers great tips and thoughts about one aspect of life (personal and professional) that cause may people a lot of anxiety: Public Speaking.

Take a listen to The Public Speaker... hope you get something out of it (I know I have).

Steve Jobs - Still Alive After All These Years

Contrary to the report, Steve Jobs is not dead!

You can now return to listening to music on your iPod...

Throttled For Throttling...

Seems Comcast got into a little bit of trouble recently with the FCC. Turns out they were arbitrarily disconnecting high-band with BitTorrent uses for no legitimate reason.

They claim they were only trying to "keep the pipes open" for the majority of users. First, this seems to be a violation of terms of service, since they never informed customers that such a practice was in place. Unfortunately, the FCC did not hand down a fine with there order, but it does set a precedent against future such actions.

Now I'll put my conspiracy cap on and wonder... why target just BitTorrent? Because it's the belief that the majority of torrent traffic is illegal music and movies? But at no point did Comcast try to determine if the torrents where transmitting legal or illegal content. Either way, I'm sure the RIAA and MPAA would be giddy to see BitTorrent rendered a useless Internet tool with these heavy handed approaches.

For more details: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072902077.html?wpisrc=newsletter

For All the Scrabulous Fans Out There

From the Washington Post:

A Few Cross Words

Updated: Seems you can't keep a good game down... Wordscraper is a retooled version of Scrabulous, that is hopefully different enough to keep the wolves at bay.

A Bit of Tech Humor

Here's one you may have seen before, but it's certainly funny enough for a second viewing.

The Web Site Is Down

Note: This is NSFW (you've been warned)