creativity

Collectible tech: Creative Zen Vision:M

Spotted on Shopper: the Creative Zen Vision:M in the 30GB black variety. No, I am not playing a cruel joke on Zen lovers. You really can still buy the player. Of course, you'll be shelling out more than $500 for one, but that's worth it for a piece of tech history, right? Or...no? You tell me. I can't be the only one that mourned the retirement of this chunky-yet-fabulous portable media device, but I won't be shelling half a grand for one anytime soon. Of course, I still have a functioning one (in green, … Read more

Readers reveal their iPod habits, desires

Very few people have sat out the iPod revolution.

At least, very few people who read CNET News.com and took the time to answer a poll about iPods, that is. Last week we asked readers to participate in an iPod survey to help inform a separate story on the future of the iPod, which ran over here.

A few disclaimers: this survey was not sanctioned by The Official Group That Makes Surveys Officious, and should not be viewed as a competitor to data complied by professional survey companies or market research firms. I think it is more representative of … Read more

Nine Inch Nails releases another online album--this one's free

Declaring digital sales a success, rock veterans Nine Inch Nails have released another online album, The Slip. Unlike their last album, this one is totally free, and, according to front man Trent Reznor, is a thank-you to the band's fans.

The Slip is available from Nine Inch Nails' Web site in a number of DRM-free formats: MP3, FLAC, M4A, and WAVE. The band is also streaming the album on music social network iLike.

In March, no longer affiliated with a record label, Nine Inch Nails released its album Ghosts I-IV on its Web site. An assortment of payment options … Read more

Creative TravelSound i80 for Nano

If you're an iPod owner searching for a way to share tunes, there's no shortage of iPod speakers from which to choose. The problem is distinguishing them from one another, and one of the easiest ways is to look for something with a unique or innovative design. Creative Labs manages to do both with the TravelSound i80 for iPod Nano, an ultracompact speaker that sells for $80 and gets surprisingly loud. It's only compatible with the third-generation iPod Nanos and it doesn't sound great, but it's cute and travel-friendly, so it's still a solid … Read more

You think you know copyright?

Today on the Real Deal podcast, Tom and I interviewed Colette Vogele, attorney, Fellow at Stanford's Center for Internet and Society, and host of the Rules for the Revolution podcast. We started to cover the concept of copyright from the perspective of the content producer separately from that of the consumer, but found that the line between the two is increasingly fuzzy. We all consume content. But with digital technologies, almost every one of us also produces, copies, or otherwise mangles the content that we are consuming.

We talked with Vogele about this, and went over not just the … Read more

Adobe leads high-quality raw video format initiative

Adobe Systems thinks we can do better with the quality of digital video images. It is also developing a way to search on the audio within video clips.

At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show 2008 in Las Vegas this week, Adobe will announce a joint initiative to develop a specification that it hopes will eventually lead to a file format for higher image quality.

The effort is called CinemaDNG, named after the DNG (Digital Negative) raw digital still image format designed by Adobe. The company is working with others in the industry including camera makers and software developers, … Read more

Murderer Charles Manson issues digital album

The Web enables anyone to communicate with the masses, even serial killers.

Charles Manson, convicted murderer and leader of the infamous Manson Family, has released the digital album One Mind over the Web.

Manson, who ordered the deaths of actress Sharon Tate and seven others including Tate's unborn son, has issued the album under the Creative Commons license, which means anyone can listen or copy it as long as they don't use it for commercial purposes.

It's doubtful that anyone would want to buy Manson's music. Indeed, one of the reasons that Manson sent his minions … Read more

Creative Commons gains $4 million grant, loses CEO Lessig

Creative Commons, the nonprofit dedicated to reforming copyright in the digital age, said Tuesday it has received a $4 million grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

The money will bolster Creative Commons' five-year financial plan, which has also seen support or pledges of support from Google, Mozilla, Red Hat, and the Omidyar Network.

Out of the $4 million from the Hewlett Foundation, $2.5 million will go to the main Creative Commons organization over the next five years, and the remaining $1.5 million will go to its CCLearn education project.

Meanwhile, Lawrence Lessig, the organization's founder, … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 692: Shine on, Chumby

Chumby is the wave of the future, Shine is...shiny? And tomorrow is Molly's Day Without Google--and maybe yours, too. In other news, if you can call it that, Adobe Systems changes its Photoshop Express terms of service, while the rest of the Internet keeps theirs the same. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 692

Yahoo targets women with 'Shine' http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9905786-7.html http://www.calacanis.com/2008/03/31/ content-owners-should-drop-yahoo-for-google/

Dignan: Yahoo brings media sense to the table http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8329

Vista eventually goes down in pwn to own http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/03/29/ pwn_to_own_vista_finally_falls_when_adobe_flash_is_installed.html… Read more