Apple Wants DRM-Free Music

In a surprising move Steve Jobs the CEO of Apple Inc. suggested that DRM (copy protection software) should be removed from music sold online. He said that ditching DRM is "clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat". He is joined in this sentiment by Dave Goldberg, the music manager at Yahoo! who has repeatedly called for the removal of DRM. Real's Rob Glaser said that "DRM-free purchases is an idea in ascendance and whose time has come."

The EFF(Electronic Freedom Foundation) an online consumer advocacy group "agreed wholeheartedly with Jobs" and even went one step further in suggesting that Apple remove the DRM on the independent label content in the iTunes Store:

We agree wholeheartedly with Jobs, since EFF has been making exactly the same points for several years now. As a first step in putting his music store where his mouth is, we urge him to take immediate steps to remove the DRM on the independent label content in the iTunes Store. Why wait for the major record labels? Many independent labels and artists already recognize that DRM is a dumb idea for digital music, as demonstrated by the availability of their music on eMusic. Apple should let them make that music available without DRM in the iTunes Store now.There are also bigger lessons here for policymakers. The harm done by DRM could be reduced by reforming the DMCA to allow the evasion of DRM for lawful purposes. Moreover, Jobs' remarks are another reason for policymakers to reject proposed government DRM mandates, which would only serve to further harm innovation, consumers, and artists. Clearly what's needed in the digital music world is less, not more, DRM.

This has put Steve Jobs squarely in the camp of those opposing the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) which uses DRM to protect its music from piracy. In response to the challenge by Jobs the Association fired back saying that Apple should open up its anti-piracy technology to its competitors:

Doing so, argued Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, would eliminate technology hurdles that prevent music fans from buying songs at Apple's iTunes Music Store and playing them on devices other than the iPod.

"We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen," Bainwol said in a statement.

The major record labels - Universal Music Group, EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group - control some 70 percent of the music market and have maintained that DRM safeguards are needed to stave off rampant piracy.

Most industry analysts agree that DRM is hurting digital music:

"Clearly, DRM is not working," said Ted Schadler, an analyst at Forrester Research. "It sends a message to the customer that 'we don't trust you."'

Phil Leigh, senior analyst at Inside Digital Media, suggested removing copy restraints would give the labels' music more exposure.

"Digital music has entered the mainstream," Leigh said. "The restrictions (the labels) require Apple and others to carry are preventing the market from developing to its full potential - it's retarding the growth."

Some however question the motives behind Jobs' statement. The iTunes store which sells music only for iPod users, because its built in DRM prevents other music players from playing those songs, has come under criticism in many European countries. They have been pressuring Apple to open up its iTunes store to manufacturers of other digital music players. Apple has so far resisted this. Steve Jobs could be trying to deflect the sentiment that Apple is engaging in monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior.

Columnist John C. Dvorak says: Jobs is no idiot and after already proving that selling music online is a money-maker you'd think the big labels would pay some attention to him when he tells them to get off this DRM nonsense. He argues that the music industry is strangling itself.

According to Boldrin and David K. Levine, both professors of economics in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis:

“Imposing copyright protection and anti-piracy restrictions, such as the DRM software, on this flourishing economic activity is a costly, silly and eventually useless tentative to block economic progress. To preserve the old rents of a few incompetent people who cannot, or are not willing to, adapt to the new ways of doing business is not the goal of a good property right legislation.

Haggard "Completely Heterosexual"

Ted Haggard "discovered" that he is completely heterosexual after undergoing three weeks of intensive counseling. Haggard was accused by Mike Jones, a male prostitute, of having a three year sexual relationship with him. Jones also said that he had bought drugs for Haggard. This led to Haggard's resigning from the New Life Church which he founded and today claims to have over 14,000 members. He subsequently placed himself under the supervision of an oversight board and went to seek counseling

The Rev. Tim Ralph, who was on the oversight committee, said the three week counseling had helped Haggard immensely....."He is completely heterosexual," Ralph said. "That is something he discovered. It was the acting- out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing."

Haggard also sent an email message to the congregation of his former church:

Jesus is starting to put me back together. I have spent so much time in repentance, brokenness, hurt and sorrow for the things I've done and the negative impact my actions have had on others. That sadness continues as my family and I, along with so many others, go through the painful consequences of my actions. Jesus and his followers, though, have saved my life. As part of New Life's efforts to help me, they sent Gayle and me to Phoenix for a three week psychological intensive that gave us three years worth of analysis and treatment. We all wanted to know why I developed such incongruity in my life. Thankfully, with the tools we gained there, along with the powerful way God has been illuminating His Word and the Holy Spirit has been convicting and healing me, we now have growing understanding which is giving me some hope for a future.

The email goes on to discuss his plans for the future:

Jesus is starting to put me back together. I have spent so much time in repentance, brokenness, hurt and sorrow for the things I've done and the negative impact my actions have had on others. That sadness continues as my family and I, along with so many others, go through the painful consequences of my actions. Jesus and his followers, though, have saved my life. As part of New Life's efforts to help me, they sent Gayle and me to Phoenix for a three week psychological intensive that gave us three years worth of analysis and treatment. We all wanted to know why I developed such incongruity in my life. Thankfully, with the tools we gained there, along with the powerful way God has been illuminating His Word and the Holy Spirit has been convicting and healing me, we now have growing understanding which is giving me some hope for a future.

The oversight committee is said to have encouraged Haggard to leave Colorado Springs. "It's hard to heal in Colorado Springs right now. It's like an open wound. He needs to get somewhere he can get the wound healed." said Rev. Mike Ware of the oversight committee. They recommended that Haggard join a different church and continue Christian counseling. They also suggested that his next job be in the secular realm.

Haggard's accuser, Mike Jones, thinks that Haggard has not been completely honest:

Jones, 49 and a self-admitted gay man all his life, told talk show host Peter Boyles on radio station KHOW he believes Haggard has "more demons and dirt" he needs to clean out. He's still lying to himself. If he's not truly honest with himself, he'll never be over it. If I was going to issue an apology, it would be a paragraph long, Jones said. "He was definitely pulling the emotional strings for his followers. Ted, you need to be honest with yourself," Jones said over the air. "If you're a gay man, you're a gay man."

Go Daddy at Super Bowl XLI

Go Daddy still knows how to get your attention. From the "Behind the Scenes" to "The Final Cut" here are the Go Daddy Super Bowl 41 Ads featuring of course the Go Daddy Girls: Rachel Storm, Candice Michelle and Danica Patrick:

The Final Cut

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=PWVhFoWB1N8]

Behind the Scenes

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=1S096R3aiZ0]

This One Was Banned

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=T2vWVth9abA]

Still didn't get enough? Here are some More and More and More and More

Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the US

The two major powers in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have vital interests in the Iraqi situation. They happen to be supporting opposite sides, aligned along religious affiliations. Saudi Arabia is a majority Sunni country that has tribal and religious ties to the Sunni minority in Iraq. Iran on the other hand is a majority Shiite nation just like Iraq.

There have been high level contacts between the governments of both Iran and Iraq and both countries seem to be on the verge of economic and security agreements. All this in spite of the US attempt to isolate and punish the Iranians over their nuclear program. The US also claims that the Iranians are helping the insurgency in Iraq and providing weapons and technology that have been used to kill American soldiers. President Bush has issued orders to engage and kill Iranians found to be involved in the insurgency.

Saudi Arabia has until now been a passive observer in the Iraqi situation. Although its sympathies would normally lie with the minority Sunnis, and some of its citizens have aided them, The Saudis have not been implicated in any organised plot to support them in the sectarian conflict raging in Iraq. They have also not shown any great interest in resolving the conflict......until recently.

Now the Saudis and the Iranians seem to be conferring with each other to try to find a settlement to the Iraqi war and the situation in Lebanon.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said Tuesday that Iran had approached his country to "cooperate in averting strife between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq and Lebanon."

"Saudi Arabia wants only peace in the region," al-Faisal said. "Contacts are ongoing between Riyadh and Tehran."
A Saudi envoy is in Iran studying all the efforts being exerted to calm the situation in Iraq and Lebanon and "exploring what Iran can contribute," he said.

This would ordinarily be a good thing except that the US seems to be left out of the discussions. As the US has become more belligerent towards Iran, both the Saudis and the Iraqis seem to be getting closer to the Iranians. As much as the Arab leaders have been trying to talk to each other, the US has been trying to alienate Iran. There seems to be a divergence of views, perceptions and intent among the Arab countries and the US.

Those who preach reconciliation with local forces based on mutual recognition of legitimate interests, on good neighbourliness and an equitable balance of power are dismissed as appeasers and defeatists.

The US and Israel seem determined to ignore the lessons of the wars they have waged, and lost, in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories - namely that occupation breeds insurrection; that blatant aggression and injustice create terrorists; that an elusive "guerrilla" enemy is difficult to subdue; that states faced with the danger of war will seek deterrence; and that the merger of nationalism and Islam can forge ferocious militancy.

The Saudis have been America's staunchest ally among the Arab states in the Middle East and have even gone along with the Bush Administration's plan to increase troop levels by 21,000 in Iraq, although they have expressed doubts that such a strategy will succeed. Now it would appear that the Saudis have decided to try diplomacy with Iran as a way to lessen the tensions in the region. They no longer seem to share the American view that Iran is a destabilizing force in the region. Quite the contrary, the Saudis seem to be looking for an alliance with Iran to foster stability in both Iraq and Lebanon. Other nations have also acknowledged the increasing influence that Saudi Arabia now wields.

The German chancellor Angela Merkel will pay a state visit as have others......High-profile visitors to Riyadh in the past two weeks alone have included the new US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, his counterpart at the State Department Condoleezza Rice, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Following on the heels of Merkel's trip will be a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The US is having trouble gaining support for its plan to isolate and punish Iran and some have even wondered if the Bush Administration has other motives, perhaps political motives, for its continuing belligerence towards Iran.........Is the US rattling the sabre in advance of an attack on Iran? Or is it merely rattling its cage, as it pretends still to be a power in the region in spite of being locked into an unwinnable war in Iraq?

The real purpose of Washington's heightened talk of Iranian subversion seems to be twofold. The administration is playing the blame game. When the "who lost Iraq?" debate develops in earnest as the presidential election contest hots up, Bush's people will name its fall guys. Number one will be the Democrats, for failing to fund the war adequately and allowing the "enemy" to take comfort from the sapping of American will. Number two will be Iran for its alleged arming of militias and insurgents. Number three will be Syria for allowing suicide bombers through Damascus airport and into Iraq.

The second purpose of Washington's anti-Iranian claims, as the former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski recently suggested, is to prepare a case for a US military strike on Iran. It will be described as defensive, just as the first attacks on North Vietnam two generations ago were falsely said to be an answer to the other side's aggression.

The safest conclusion is that Washington remains confused about what Iran is doing, and frustrated by its own inability to find allies to support a response. All options are being prepared, along with their "justifications". The International Institute for Strategic Studies' annual survey rightly pointed out this week that US power is fading. It can shape an agenda but not implement it globally.

And The Winner is - Shilpa Shetty!

Shilpa Shetty is the winner of Celebrity Big Brother 2007. For her it was not an easy win. She was reduced to tears, she was made fun of, she was the object of racial remarks and yet through it all she handled herself with the dignity and poise befitting a queen. She is a real class act. She deserved to win and that is the way the voting viewers saw it. She won with 63% of the vote.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=gIOuYSkVGmA]

In second place was Jermaine Jackson, who more than anyone else held the group together and tried to diffuse the tensions between the other participants. They all looked to him for advice and guidance.

With her popularity soaring as a result of her performance on the show, Shilpa Shetty is set to cash in.

The offers are already trickling in, with the Daily Mirror bidding £150,000 (Rs 1.2 crore) for the first interview after the reality show, surpassing The Sun’s £100,000 (Rs 80 lakh) bid.

Shilpa, who was paid Rs 3 crore to appear on Celebrity Big Brother, will have advertisers lining up outside her door back home too, said industry sources. In fact, agents said, she is likely to be sought by advertisers across Asia and would command fees of several hundred thousand pounds.

In India, the choice of products she would endorse could range from designer apparel to jewellery and personal care products.

Nirvik Singh, chairman (South-East Asia) of Grey Global Group, said: “The opportunities could range from Shilpa becoming the face of an international cosmetic brand to financial institutions targeting Indians abroad.” Her income, said Singh, could be as high as Rs 4 crore per endorsement.

Shetty has hired British celebrity publicist Max Clifford to help develop her career in Britain. He estimated Sunday that she could earn 2 million dollars in the next year from new contracts after appearing on the show.

"It's been a huge success for her because of how she's handled these nasty attacks with dignity," Clifford said on British Broadcasting Corp. television.