U.S. Album Sales Fell 9.5% in 2007  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Album sales in the United States plunged 9.5 percent last year from 2006, as the recording industry had another weak year despite a 45 percent surge in the sale of digital tracks, according to figures released Thursday.

Source:   Associated Press
Link:   http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/business/media…

Today is My Last Day at Google  —  After a life-changing four and a half years of working with the most talented group of people I have ever met, I’ve decided to take the plunge and do it all over again, working for a very small start-up.  Today is my last day at the Big […]

Sony BMG Plans to Drop DRM  —  The last major label will throw in the towel on digital rights management and prepare to fight Apple for valuable download revenues  —  In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without …

Source: […]

Sony BMG Lets the Music Play  —  The last of the major labels finally throws in the towel on DRM, and prepares to fight Apple for valuable download revenues  —  In a move that would mark the end of a digital music era, Sony BMG Music Entertainment is finalizing plans to sell songs without …

Source: […]

(WO/2008/003095) RECOGNIZING TEXT IN IMAGES  —  Publication Number:  —  WO/2008/003095  —  International Application No.:  —  PCT/US2007/072578  —  Publication Date:  —  International Filing Date:  —  Int.  Class.:  —  G06F 17/30 (2006.01)  —  Applicants:

Source:   wipo.int
Link:   http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/ia.jsp?IA=US2007072578

Google Patent Imagines Robots Indexing The Grocery Aisle  —  The two computer scientists behind “recognizing text in images” search technology also worked on Google Street View and Google Book Search.  —  A patent application filed by Google with the World Intellectual Property Organization …

Source:   InformationWeek
Author:   Thomas Claburn
Link:   http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml…

Microsoft Takes Heat for Office 2003 SP3 File Format Blocking  —  CorelDraw .CDR files are one of the formats that have been blocked.  —  Microsoft is facing criticism from a competitor and some customers for its decision to block some older file formats with Office 2003 Service Pack 3, which it released last September.

Source:   […]

Intel Leaves Group Backing Education PCs  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Intel said Thursday that it had chosen to withdraw from the One Laptop Per Child educational computer organization, which it joined in July after years of public squabbling between Intel’s chairman, Craig R. Barrett, and the group’s founder, Nicholas P. Negroponte.

Source:   New York Times
Author: […]

“Major Nelson” emerges as face of Xbox  —  REDMOND, Washington (Reuters) - Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and sporting unkempt graying hair, Larry Hryb looks like just another guy in Microsoft’s corporate headquarters.  —  But Xbox 360 players know Hryb by his alter ego, “Major Nelson,” …

Source:   Reuters
Author:   Scott Hillis
Link:   http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080103/wr_nm…

CES gadgets: Sling Media unveils new Slingbox PRO-HD for moving HD video around the home  —  Sling Media, the local outfit recently acquired by Echostar, is benefiting from our urge to watch videos anytime, anywhere, and to sling it around the house so we can watch it in whatever room, except maybe the bathroom.

Source:   […]