Monday, February 3, 2003

VLC 0.50 multimedia player gains new features [The Macintosh News Network] 6:01:48 PM

Cannabis Economy Worth £6bn/year. The Observer is reporting on a "major new study" which includes some interesting figures on marijuana usage in the UK, and takes a look at the relationship between that drug and certain consumer spending patterns. According to the article: Britain's 'cannabis economy' is worth £5 billion (US$8 billion) a year in sales. There are six million regular users, more people than attend church, play amateur football or go jogging. £6B (US$9.8B) of consumer expenditure each year is 'closely linked' to the cannabis market. A quote from the article: "'Businesses targeting the youth market can no longer ignore the fact that almost half of their customer base is getting stoned every day. They need to make specific projections about how that affects them.' " A frank look at a topic which until now has only been openly "researched" by stoned and paranoid teenagers. Unfortunately the research doesn't seem to be available online. [kuro5hin.org] 1:18:24 PM

TiVo: The Rise of 'God's Machine'. Personal video recorders like TiVo and Sonicblue's ReplayTV are here to stay. Media companies would do well to work with them -- and with consumers -- rather than against them. A commentary by Lauren Weinstein. [Wired News] 1:17:51 PM