Amazon follows Apple to $1.29

 

     

 

As expected, Apple on Tuesday introduced variable pricing on iTunes, meaning that some popular tracks now cost $1.29 instead of $0.99. Less expected: Amazon.com has followed Apple into the fray. Scroll down today’s listof top downloads, and you’ll see a few tracks at $1.29.

Did Obama Violate Copyright Law With iPod Gift?

President Barack Obama gave Queen Elizabeth II an iPod on Thursday with some 40 Broadway songs from popular musicals like West Side Story and the King and I.

Yet convoluted U.S. copyright laws make it unclear whether the chief executive is a copyright scofflaw. Fred von Lohmann, a copyright expert at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, explains:

“You know your copyright laws are broken when there is no easy answer to this question,” he wrote.

Read his Thursday blog post here.

Twitter, the Friendly Ghost

                                                      

Following your favorite celebrity on Twitter? Maybe not! While the whole world is a ‘twitterin’…was it any wonder that a certain level of the elite twitterati would eventually find a way to game the system. The latest trend a foot is “Ghost Twittering.” The term was coined to describe when someone, usually a celebrity, politician, sport figure or a corporate brand pays another person or persons to update their Twitter account on their behalf. The use of ghostwriters has been around in the literary world since literature was first penned. Now,it appears it is prevalent in Twitterdom as well. But, while it may make sense for our busy world leaders to farm out their tweets, when celebrities engage in this practice it really seems to be defeating the purpose.

Optus Whale Song

Australian telecommunications company Optus asks the question, “What if you could write a love song for a whale, and an orchestra went out into the ocean to play it?” Film director David Denneen worked with composer Bruce Heald and a specially selected chamber music group to perform music that both whales and humans could appreciate.

   

 

An orchestra was placed on a barge with film crew and sent out to serenade the whales, emulating the sounds made by male humpback whales as they migrate along the coast of Queensland. “When it comes to communication, anything is possible.”