Friday 9 February 2007

February

Television:
The UK Government announce an Ofcom review of Murdoch's BSkyB pirchase of a 17.9% stake in ITV (to thwart Virgin's interest). This is the first review of its kind, only possible after 2002 legislation (27th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2022313,00.html

Music:
An article on the changing relationship of music companies and bands (26th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2021280,00.html

Internet:
US golfer, Fuzzy Zoeller, angered by remarks on Wikipedia and finding he can't sue the site instead sues an IP address from which the defamatory remarks are said to have come (25th Feb): http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/9913/53/

Television:
An article on the breakdown of talks between Branson's Virgin Media (formerly NTL) and Murdoch's Sky about rights to show certain Sky channels on Virgin's cable television (24th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2020364,00.html

Internet:
An Egyptian blogger is sentenced to 4 years for insulting Islam by an Egyptian court (23rd Feb): http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2019746,00.html

Future Technology:
A breakthrough in computing ...? Scientists have written a message into the DNA of a living organism and retrieved it, though it's a slow process and still experimental. They ssuggest it may serve as the basis for organic computing more resistant than current hard drive technology. 'Information storage using DNA is robust for more than one hundred million years' (22nd Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2018550,00.html

Music:
US music companies target colleges in new crackdown on illegal downloads(22nd Feb): http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2018621,00.html

Cinema:
An article on the hacking of Blu-Ray/HD-DVD DRM and its implications for Hollywood (22nd Feb): http://film.guardian.co.uk/piracy/story/0,,2018631,00.html

Internet:
Jaron Lanier criticises Web 2.0's 'digital Maoism' (22nd Feb): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6379621.stm

Music:
A ruling against Microsoft for infringing copyrighted MP3 technology (22nd Feb): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6388273.stm plus a story about its implications (23rd Feb): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6389501.stm See also (24th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2020362,00.html

Internet:
A 'bidding frenzy' erupts on ebay with sellers offering locks of Britney Spears' hair after she shaved it off in a Los Angeles hairdressers. The genuine locks, however, have been put up on a separate website to attract bids (20th Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2016859,00.html

War:
'Virtual Iraq' images are being used to treat real stress disorders (20th Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2016911,00.html

Print:
The Daily Mail launch 'The Mail eReader', as a downloadable digital version of the daily newspaper and Mail on Sunday, combining the print with the web experience as users click through stories or flip through the pages (19th Feb): http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2015928,00.html

Television:
The on-going battle between Virgin (and NTL) and Sky continues as Virgin launch a video-on-demand service called 'Virgin Central'. Sky's 'Sky Anytime' isn't accessible through TV's until March (19th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2016063,00.html

Internet /Television:
The BBC and Endemol plan a new show, The Signs of Life, for Spring. It is to be the first fully fledged interactive drama, launched first on the internet. The BBC also just launched Wannabes, a new broadband drama, last week (18th Feb): http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2015701,00.html

Print / Internet:
An article on print readers migrating online and its implications for the print industry, especially magazines (18th Feb): http://media.guardian.co.uk/advertising/story/0,,2015489,00.html

Internet:
Cameron Diaz wins a libel claim against a US website that claimed she had been caught cheating with a married man (17th Feb): http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2015235,00.html

Future Technology:
Six blind people regain partial sight thanks to 'bionic eye' implant (17th Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2015269,00.html

Music:
Warner chief vows to defend copyright and DRM on music against Steve Jobs' call for DRM to be removed (15th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2013165,00.html

Security:
An article about the use of number plate recognition technology in the UK today (15th Feb): http://society.guardian.co.uk/e-public/story/0,,2012997,00.html

Music:
EMI issues a profit warning as its US sales collapse (15th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2013167,00.html within a few days Warner had shown an interest in a bbid for EMI (20th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2017108,00.html and gathered support from Impala, the independents' lobby group (21st Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2017602,00.html

Internet:
A Belgian court rules that Google infringed copyright over its Google news service (14th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2012370,00.html

Internet:
Film makers and networks accuse google of encouraging pirates through sponsored advertising (13th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2011680,00.html

Mobile Phones:
UK's Vodafone wins control of the 4th largest Indian mobile phone company, Hutchinson-Essar with an offer valueing the company at £9.6bn (12th Feb): http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2011224,00.html

Mobile Phones / Music:
A British company is launching MusicStation in the UK in the Spring, a new mobile music service giving fans access to over 1m tracks for £1.99 a week, being made available over the major existing phone networks as a direct competitor to Apple's iphone service (12th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2010875,00.html

Internet:
The rise of video downloads threeatens gridlock on the net, a structure that isn't designed for mass consumption of heavy file loads. Already most internet traffic is peer to peer with Bit Torrent responsible for more than 50% of all net traffic ... increased video/television/film downloading could see high-speed broadband connections 'slow to a crawl' in the future ... (10th Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2010031,00.html

Future Technology:
A team of neuroscientists have developed a technique allowing them to look into a person's brain and read their intentions before they act... (9th Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2009229,00.html

Music:
Steve Jobs' call for an end to DRM (8th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2007973,00.html His original article can be found at: http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/ . Articles discussing his ideas and the future of DRM include (8th Feb): http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,2008343,00.html ... And (15th Feb): http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/comment/0,,2013530,00.html

Mobile Phones:
Vodafone and Orange plan to share mobile phone networks to cut costs and increase 3G services (8th Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2008067,00.html

War:
Video game expert Stephen Poole asks whether virtual warfare is blurring the army's view of the real battlefield after the release of the cockpit video from one US plane after the friendly-fire death of a UK soldier. Straneg how everything that produced such moral indignation in 1991 when Jean Baudrillard pointed out the processes of virtualisation happening around us and in our production and reception of warfare now seems quite obvious ... (7th Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2007402,00.html

Internet:
Paedophiles jailed after hatching plot on the internet to rape two teenagers. This is the first case of anyone in the UK being convicted of such an offence on the basis of online contacts between the three men alone (6th Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2006752,00.html

Music:
A settlement is reached between Apple records and Apple computers, in preparation for the Beatles music being available for downloading and for an expected dominance of the charts by their singles (6th Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2006630,00.html

Video Games / Internet:
A ban has been imposed by eBay on auctions of virtual items from online games such as EverQuest. For years, players have sold virtual items that can give an edge. On eBay last week a pair of EverQuest game accounts had a first bid of $200 before they were removed. 'Our standpoint is that everything in our games is the property of Sony Online Entertainment,' said Greg Short, director of web development at Sony, which publishes EverQuest. 'We can't say definitely if it's illegal,' said eBay spokesman Hani Durzy. 'It's complex. And when something is complex like this, we have a history of disallowing the items' (4th Feb): http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2005598,00.html

Future Technology:
A story about a woman with a new, pioneering bionic arm (2nd Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2004357,00.html

Internet:
Tagging takes off for web users (1st Feb): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6318531.stm
Future Technology:
A story on new developments in nano technology that could power molecular machines (1st Feb): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6318531.stm

Television:
BBC prepares to launch 'iplayer' downloads (1st Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2003039,00.html

Internet:
UK Police claim to have foiled a plan to kidnap a UK muslim soldier and broadcast his beheading on the net (1st Feb): http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2003208,00.html

Television:
A story on Sky and its competition with NTL - currently being relaunched as Virgin Media (1st Feb): http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2003098,00.html

Internet / Cinema:
An article on Loose Change, a conspiracy-theory film about 9/11 . Since August 2006 it has been viewed online over 4m times - a good case study about how individuals are able to bypass traditional structures, gate-ways and modes of distribution (26th Jan): http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1998179,00.html

Security:
An article on facial recognition technology (25th Jan): http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1997488,00.html