BigConna.com

(Reuters) -- Universal Music Group, the world's largest music label, said yesterday that it will test the sale of songs from artists such as Amy Winehouse, 50 Cent and the Black Eyed Peas without customary copy-protection technology.

The New York-based subsidiary of Vivendi said in a statement that it will allow the sale of thousands of its albums and tracks available in MP3 form without copy protection software known as digital rights management (DRM) over a trial period. Universal's test run marks a departure for the music industry's common practice, in which most major recording studios insist that music sellers use DRM technology to curb online piracy.

"The experiment will run from August to January and analyze such factors as consumer demand, price sensitivity and piracy in regards to the availability of open MP3s," Universal said.

Vendors including Google Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. will participate in the DRM-free trial, Universal said. But missing from the list of participants is Apple Inc.'s iTunes online music store, the third-largest music retailer in the U.S.

Songs purchased through the program can be played on a range of MP3 players, including Apple's popular iPod, Universal said.

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My Spanish teacher sent this to me at 11pm:

"Hey guys,
sorry, it is kind of late but, this is the format for the quiz tomorrow.
1. you'll have to write down the word that goes with my definition.
2.Study the meaning of the words in SIN DUDA 3.Study the page that follows SIN DUDA and the vocab. chapter 11.

Ms.Lundy :)
PS: Don't forget our party. You know what I mean. ;)"

College rules. my 45 year old spanish teacher from peru is using emoticons in her mass emails to her students. I mean, could life get better than that? She's even referencing her secret Spanish party we're having tomorrow. What a good girl.

(IDG News Service) -- "Ed," a retired spammer, built a considerable fortune sending e-mails that promoted pills, porn and casinos. At the peak of his power, Ed says he pulled in $10,000 to $15,000 a week, storing the money in $20 bills in stacks of boxes.

It was a life of greed and excess, one that preyed especially on vulnerable people hoping to score drugs or win money gambling on the Internet. From when he was expelled from high school at 17 until he quit his spam career at 22, Ed -- who does not reveal his full name but sometimes goes by Spammer-X -- was part of an electronic underworld profiting from the Internet via unsolicited commercial e-mails.

"Yes, I know I'm going to hell," said Ed, who spoke in London today at an event hosted by IronPort Systems Inc., a security vendor owned by Cisco Systems Inc. "I'm actually a really nice guy. Trust me."

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(IDG News Service) -- Efforts to unlock Apple Inc.'s iPhone continued on Monday, with hackers claiming "very significant progress."

The locked iPhone works only with AT&T Inc.'s EDGE network, and cannot be used with cellular service from other providers. Locked phones are generally used to help operators recoup the cost of subsidizing handsets for their customers, but AT&T is not subsidizing the iPhone, which is priced at either $499 or $599, depending on the model. Instead, the phone is locked because AT&T has a five-year agreement with Apple to be the sole iPhone provider in the U.S.

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(Computerworld) -- Privacy activists have been lamenting increasing surveillance by cameras and warn of abuse by authorities who have access to them. But two additional trends portend a disturbing new direction.

The first trend: Cameras are increasingly monitoring noncriminals engaged in technically legal behavior. The second trend: Special new artificial intelligence software is processing video feeds to look for unacceptable behavior. The machines are watching us, and they are making judgments about what we do.

Another way of looking at these colliding trends is that we are beginning to offload the human capacity for ethics, morality and good citizenship to computer systems. At the very least, these systems are replacing the traditional role of the nosy neighbor.

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That's right, folks. Tuesday, September 18th, 2007. Bijou Theatre.