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Audible and its consultant — I usually don't quote flamers here, but these comments by Mitch Ratcliffe, in a rather longish response to Jeff Jarvis, Staci Kramer, Om Malik, Doc Searls and myself, says everything wrong about who I am and what I do. I think people might miss this, so here's the quote.
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More on the future of podcasting — You will forgive me recalling that Bill Gates, richest guy in the world, once said that no one would need more than 640 Kb of RAM on a personal computer. As I read some of the responses to the Audible Wordcast announcements, I am repeatedly reminded of the folly of Gates' view.

Yo, Libraries: say No to DRM — My sister pointed me to this notice about downloadable audiobooks from the Central North Carolina Regional Library. Here it is: … That last item is the chocolate-coated spider. No iPods? "Copyright compliance" problems? wtf? So I looked around.

Audible's unPodcast effort? — Audible, the company known for offering downloadable books is now getting into the tracking business. A report in Wall Street Journal says that the company will charge 3 cents a show to track information such as how many people download the podcast …
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Scripting News

Microsoft will wipe Sony's 'rootkit' — Microsoft will update its security tools to detect and remove part of the copy protection tools installed on PCs when some music CDs are played. — The Redmond, Wash., software maker has determined that the "rootkit" piece of the XCP software …
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Microsoft to Zap Sony DRM 'Rootkit' — Microsoft Corp. will start deleting the rootkit component of the controversial DRM scheme used by Sony BMG Music Entertainment. — The software giant's Windows AntiSpyware application will be updated to add a detection and removal signature …
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Netcraft, Neowin.net, GROKLAW, TechSpot, SeattlePI.com Buzzworthy and Smalltalk Tidbits …

Sony Shipping Spyware from SunnComm, Too — Now that virus writers have started exploiting the rootkit built into Sony-BMG albums that utilize First4Internet's XCP DRM (as I warned they would last week), Sony has at last agreed to temporarily stop shipping CDs containing the defective software:

Watching all six Star Wars movies simultaneously — I'VE BEEN SLASHDOTTED! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!&nbs p; — So I got on the front page of digg, which I'd never even heard of before this happened but apparently is wicked popular, when a friend of a friend who didn't know this was …

What Lurks in Its Soul? — The soul of the Google machine is a passion for disruptive innovation. — Powered by brilliant engineers, mathematicians and technological visionaries, Google ferociously pushes the limits of everything it undertakes. The company's DNA emanates from its youthful founders …

To be released mid-November 2005 — Check out the flyer — ITU Internet Reports 2005: The Internet of Things — is the seventh in the series of "ITU Internet Reports" originally launched in 1997 by the International Telecommunication Union. For previous titles in the series …

Mobility Special: Plugged into it all — To listen to a group of students at the University of California's Berkeley campus talking about their obsessive communications habits, you would think you had stumbled into a meeting of recovering alcoholics. Rich Brown, a graduate student …

Audible's Podcast Tool Tallies Listeners — Audible Inc. is introducing a tool to help advertisers measure how many people are listening to podcasts, the Internet-based audio shows that are downloaded to listeners' computers. — That means advertisers will be able to get a handle on how many people are really listening to shows.

Are U.S. Innovators Losing Their Competitive Edge? — WHEN James E. West was 8 years old, he propped himself on his bed's brass footboard one afternoon and stretched to plug the cord of a radio he had repaired into a ceiling outlet. It was one of his first experiments.

BestBuy Store Xbox360 Unit Allocation Numbers — This is the list of core and premium systems being shipped to BestBuy stores nationwide...the list is categorized by store #...to find your Bestbuy store number visit www.bestbuy.com and go to store locator. Pro means a premium pack and core means, well you can figure that out.