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CNET News Daily Podcast: Is free, ad-supported music downloading dead?

Editor's note: Today's whole podcast has now been uploaded. Enjoy!

On Thursday afternoon when SpiralFrog quietly closed down, it became the second free music downloading site supported by ad sales to bite the dust this year. CNET News reporter Greg Sandoval, who broke the story of SpiralFrog's demise, reflects on the future of free music online and whether any model can dislodge Apple's iTunes dominance.

Also in today's podcast, Steve Ballmer speaks publicly about Apple, checking in on the latest battleground in the ongoing browser wars, turning trash into ethanol, and a look at the … Read more

Sony Ericsson brings Flash, Java together for phones

Sony Ericsson wants mobile software developers to have the best of both worlds.

Next week at JavaOne, the company plans to demonstrate its Project Capuchin, which will allow software developers to create applications for mobile phones that can use pieces of both Java ME and Adobe Systems' Flash Lite to create their applications. The company plans to release a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) and a software development kit in the second half of this year to bring the two different mobile development styles together.

For example, Java developers could decide to use the richer user interface technology found … Read more

Sony puts TV on Symbian too

Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right?

Then Sling Media should be pink with pride today. The same day the Slingbox maker announced its video place-shifting technology would be available on mobile phones running Symbian OS, Sony announced that it too would make its LocationFree TV software available for download to a Symbian-based phone, the SonyEricsson P990 smart phone.

It's not immediately clear in what countries this will be available, or when the downloading can begin. A visit to the Sony support site says the software is "coming soon."

Click here for CNET Reviews' take on … Read more