Briefly: SMS widget; Warner to buy EMI?
updated 02:05 pm EST, Tue February 20, 2007
Warner to buy EMI?
In brief: TxtDrop.com today released a free text messaging dashboard widget for Mac OS X, record label EMI confirmed that it was approached for a possible takeover by Warner Music Group, Google has conducted a study on the frailty of hard drives exposed to high temperatures, and Lexar kicked off its releases in advance of PMA 2007 by delivering a pair of updates to its card readers for pro photographers.... TxtDrop.com's new widget enables users to send free text messages directly from the desktop, and supports receiving replies to text messages via email. The widget follows callwave's recent release of an iPhone-like voicemail system for Mac users, and provides similar functionality to that company's free text message widget for Mac OS X, Yahoo, and Google (Gadget).
Warner Music approaches EMI
EMI today confirmed that Warner Music approached the major record label for a possible takeover in a move that could have serious repercussions for the future of digital rights management (DRM) technology. Industry watchers suggested that EMI may prove to be the first record label to allow third-party websites to sell its music without any DRM copy protection, while Warner Music is flatly opposed to abandoning the controversial anti-piracy measures.
Google study
A long-term study conducted by Google suggests that hard drives are more resilient to high temperatures than was once believed. The study also discovered that SMART predictive analysis used to calculate the chances of drive errors is almost entirely ineffective, while basic disk checks can reveal whether a drive is about to fail.
Lexar updates card readers
Lexar has updated its card readers for professional photographers, offering an entirely new Professional UDMA FireWire 800 Reader with support for Ultra Direct Memory Access (UDMA) CompactFlash cards. The company also unveiled its new Professional Dual-Slot USB Reader that plugs into a USB 2.0 port, offering a pop-up adapter that accepts CF cards -- including UDMA models -- as well as SD or SDHC cards in another slot.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2006
It makes one wonder
if Warner may want to buy EMI because EMI isn't opposed to releasing non-DRMd tracks. If one of the major 4 drops DRM, DRM will be near completely doomed in the music industry, and it seems that a company lke Warner might be willing to buy a competitor to keep DRM the status quo, rather than giving up the "technology."