As someone who grew up working on newspapers and still loves to get ink on his hands, the current state of the print industry buffeted by the explosion in online media on one hand and the recession on the other, is worrying. There’s even talk of the NY Times going under. Michael Hirschorn in The Atlantic has some interesting thoughts on the death of newsprint and why it might not all be bad news.
Surprised this never caught on in Bermuda ….
Motorcyclists in Nigeria have been wearing dried pumpkin shells – or calabashes – on their heads to dodge new laws forcing them to wear helmets, according to a report on the BBC website. Apparently passengers fear that the helmets could be used by motorcyclists to cast spells on their clients, making it easy for them to be robbed.
Finally, the iTunes store is to ditch DRM. One of the few highlights of today’s snorer of a keynote at Macworld was that 8 million of the 10 million songs available on iTunes will immediately be DRM-free with the remaining 2 million DRM-free by April. Apple is also introducing three prices for songs – 69c, 99c and $1.29. iPhone users can now also buy songs over a 3G network (dream on, Bermuda …) and not just over wi-fi connections. But if you’re thinking of upgrading your library to DRM-free using Apple’s iTunes Plus service, think again, according to Macworld magazine – it is far from a bargain.
Also announced today: an expensive new 17-inch MacBook Pro, long overdue updates to iLife and iWork plus the beta of a new online collaboration service, iWork.com, in competiton with Google Docs and Microsoft’s Live Office Workspace.
Breezeblog 