I'm sure you've heard the news that Microsoft must pay $1.5B as the result of a lawsuit brought by Alcatel-Lucent. You can read about it, but it sure is a good lesson. You better do your homework before licensing patents. I encourage everyone to look into the use of Vorbis Ogg format. First, it sounds very good. And it's patent...

MTV recently turned 25. The cultural behemoth has morphed many times since its initial coming out, when it woke up a whole generation to the power of music videos, and played a key role in music discovery and promotion. To this day, there is no underestimating the power of MTV's brand; it's one of the most widely recognized around the...

According to the Associated Press, BitTorrent Inc will start selling TV shows and renting movies tomorrow. The BitTorrent Entertainment Network will include films from Warner Bros, Paramount, Fox, MGM and Lionsgate. TV shows will include 24 and Punk'd. For $1.99 you can "own" a copy of a TV show. For $3.99 you can "rent" a film. Right now, there's not...

Welcome to this week's edition of Friday Napster Freebies. These un-DRMed MP3 files are free for a limited time and can be downloaded from just about any country. Enjoy! "Within a Mile of Home" by Flogging MollyThis genre-defying septet got its start playing countless gigs at the L.A. bar Molly Malone's. They've been compared to raucous Irish rockers The Pogues...

Folk-rock artist Jimmy Camp was recently evaluating options for recording his demo album. In frustration at not being able to find an affordable commercial recording studio that met his budget, he wound up recording using only his iPod. He purchased a Belkin Tune Talk ($70) mic accessory for his video iPod, connected it to a basic mixer, and was able...

Sophie, a project to create multimedia books, is now available in Alpha release. Based on Squeak, Sophie is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Sophie is not a tool to render traditional paper books to read on your PC. The Sophie project is aimed to go beyond print and utilize the interactive capabilities...

Location, location, location: In this brief online video, podcaster David Adam Weiss demonstrates how to improve your voiceovers dramatically just by tweaking your mic position. Weiss makes his point with a $65 Giant Squid mic taped to a ballpoint pen, but says it works equally well with the $15 mic he uses for Boston Behind the Scenes. After watching the...

The next Maker Faire will be on May 19 and 20, 2007 at the San Mateo Fairgrounds in Northern California, USA. Organized by the staff of Make and Craft magazines, Maker Faire is a newfangled fair that brings together science, art, craft and engineering in a fun, energized, and exciting public forum. The aim is to inspire people of...

Welcome to this week's edition of Friday Napster Freebies. These un-DRMed MP3 files are free for a limited time and can be downloaded from just about any country. Enjoy! Be aware, however, that the Napster site is pretty slow and unresponsive today, so if you're having any problems with downloads, you might want to try again later. "The House Under...

Recording voiceovers for podcasts can be tricky, because it's so easy to pick up background noise, slapback echo from your desktop, and room reverberation. Here's an ingenious solution hacked up by a professional voiceover artist. Harlan Hogan's voiceover porta-booth uses a collapsable storage crate lined with acoustic foam to isolate the microphone from its surroundings: The porta-booth set up in...