The TV's Eye Is Set on You 
Americans have been watching television commercials for more than 50 years. Pretty soon, commercials will be watching them. Cable and satellite giants are installing technology that will enable them to zap targeted TV commercials to different homes based on the occupants' age, gender, ethnicity, income and other personal details, including what shows they watch. Eventually, companies hope to refine the technology to target different viewers in the same family. They might send ads for the new PlayStation 2 to the teenager's room while reserving the life insurance pitch for mom and dad in the den.
http://www.latimes.com/business/cutt...s.topstory.htm
Electronic paper now works in full colour, thanks to a fine filter
The day you can download print onto "electronic paper" and take it anywhere to read just got a step closer. E Ink of Boston has announced that it has succeeded in making electronic paper work in full colour. Like ordinary paper, electronic paper works entirely by reflection. This means that, unlike competing electronic displays like LCDs, it never needs a backlight. In addition, it only needs power when the image changes. Once an image has been produced it will remain visible even with the power switched off.
http://www.newscientist.com/dailynew...p?id=ns9999837
Music Downloads Breathe New Life Into Minidiscs
Though repeatedly decked in showdowns with CDs and, to an extent, cassettes, the decade-old format that uses digital discs encased in 2 1/2-inch plastic squares is back. Analysts say that minidisc recorders are finding fans among young folks who want an economical, portable device for music stored in their PCs. A new generation of the recorders, just hitting the shelves, could be intriguingly attractive rivals to MP3 and recordable CD players. Sony and Sharp, the leading makers of minidisc recorders, now offer units that squeeze 5 hours of music on a disc.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166691.html
Study Shows 429 Million Net Users In 27 Countries
Some 429 million people in 27 nations have Internet access, and North America's 41 percent chunk of the total is shrinking, an Internet measurement service said today. Twenty-seven percent of the total is in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, followed by the Asia-Pacific region's 20 percent and 4 percent in Latin America, Nielsen//NetRatings said in its Global Internet Trends report for the first quarter of 2001. In terms of penetration, nearly half the homes in the U.S. have Internet access, while one-third of Asia-Pacific households are Net-equipped. Just over one-quarter of European homes have online access, the tally said.
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166705.html
Why Parenting is More Important Than Making Law
Wes Royer, a Zeropaid Columnists writes about the latest Federal Trade Commission report criticizing the music industry for supposedly continuing to market violent music to children. Wes explains how its not the governments responsibility to pass laws in order to censor what our children listen to, he points out that its the parents responsibility to guide our children in making good choices.
http://www.zeropaid.com/news/news.php3?id=06102001a
European Music Sites to Merge
Buoyed by a market-defying share price, the Italian music site Vitaminic plans to acquire its U.K. rival, Peoplesound.com, in a stock-swap worth $29 million (34 million euros). In the last six to 12 months, we’ve seen that the largest players are the ones that are winning the game," said Ernesto Schmitt, CEO of Peoplesound. By merging with Vitaminic, the two independent companies might have a chance to fight against the online distribution services backed by the major labels, he said.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,27062,00.html
Napster-MusicNet Deal Is a Real Help
When executives at Warner, EMI and BMG formed MusicNet with RealNetworks in March, few envisioned that the deal also meant climbing into bed with Napster. But two months later, Rob Glaser used his dual capacity as CEO of both RealNetworks and MusicNet to sign a deal that contractually links the outlaw song-swap company with three of the five major music labels. When news of the deal first leaked into the press, Warner Music Group issued its own release to throw cold water on the development.
http://www.thestandard.com/article/0,1902,27069,00.html
Next-generation ‘buddy lists’ could transform phone habits
Early versions of "presence" technology will appear on mobile phones later this year. Motorola Inc., for instance, will begin tests next month of a system that will inform you ahead of time whether your sister has her phone turned on and, if so, whether she is on a call. That way, you’ll know when to make the call, instead of guessing and trading voice mail messages all day. Ultimately, the system should be offering data that discloses a cell phone user’s geographic location, mood and availability. You may, for example, want to take only emergency calls from the office on weekends - but all calls from family and friends.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/584725.asp?0dm=C14OT
MP3 gone from WinXP, and it's not coming back
MP3 ripping is gone for good from the Windows XP beta, and will not return in the shipping product. WinXP will include instructions on how to install third party MP3 encoders, which will then allow Windows Media Player to rip MP3, but quite clearly development is proceeding according to a tried and tested blueprint, and MP3's air supply now stands in some peril. Microsoft's story is that the MP3 encoder that shipped with earlier builds of WinXP was there simply to test that the functionality worked. That encoder wasn't capable of high quality recording, so it did rather look like Microsoft was shipping it deliberately in this form to make WMA sound better.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/19603.html