Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

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iTunes Music Store takes off, but will Napster roar? "Napster's reincarnation as a pay music store is less than 10 days away. Much like iTunes, Napster will purportedly offer $1 tracks and $10 albums, with 3-machine authorization and unlimited device transfers. It will also offer a larger catalog, initially weighing in at 500,000 songs. [...] I'd put my money on Napster and iTunes before I'd put it on Rhapsody or BuyMusic.com." [Ars Technica]

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Low-Cost Supercomputer Put Together From 1,100 PC's: "A home-brew supercomputer, assembled from off-the-shelf personal computers in just one month at a cost of slightly more than $5 million, is about to be ranked as one of the fastest machines in the world." (New York Times via MyAppleMenu) [MyAppleMenu]

Another great story about the G5 supercluster at Virginia Tech.

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Copy iTunes 4.1 Music Store URLs: '[...] you can control- (or right-) click songs and albums, select "Copy iTunes Music Store URL," and send these links to your iTunes-using friends.' [macosxhints]

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What the heck was that? A USB wristwatch?: "I just saw an engineer take his watch off, untuck a small USB cable, and pass it to another. The second guy plugged the watch into his notebook. I'm a little stunned and puzzled by this. I suddenly feel like I've been living in an electronics junk yard. What are these USB watches?" [Jeremy Zawodny's blog]

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Microsoft Lassos Music Customers: "A Windows XP feature forces consumers to use Internet Explorer to purchase music online, even if they specify that they prefer a competitor's browser. The feature also steers users to a Microsoft-owned website. The DOJ and 19 attorneys general are not amused." [Wired News]

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Tech spending 'to surge in 2004': "Technology spending will pick up in 2004 after a protracted slump in the wake of the dot.com crash, a consultancy says." [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]