Goodbye DRM, you won’t be missed

Posted on October 24, 2007 by Thomas Purves

“The slow death of digital rights” – The Economist

Radioheads success is just the latest signal that DRM is dying a welcomed if unanticipated early demise.

“iTunes Plus DRM-free tracks expanding, dropping to 99 cents” – Ars Technica

There’s now no reason to buy any other kind of music. I just thought I’d point this out.

And of course, there’s always been eMusic who’s been selling flat rate drm-free indie music for the better part of a decade now.

Highdef and DRM-free TV and movie distribution is only a matter of time.

Posted in Archive, drm, drmfree, media, music | Leave a comment

Lift 08 Program Announced

Posted on October 21, 2007 by Thomas Purves

lift07

The program looks fantastic.

more pics: Lift06 Lift07

Lift is a tech conference about “Life, Ideas and Futures Together”. And a massive annual dose of inspiration. Geneva, Feb 6-8.

UPDATE: Pricing has been announced for LIFT08. It’s gone up again (ouch). Fortunately the shining loonie is awesome against the CHF right now ( 1 CHF ~= 0.82 CAD), which makes Switzerland almost a bargain these days. Our American cousins, owners of the impoverished Yankee-peso are close, but will pay a few bucks more.

Early bird price:

  • 550CHF for former participants to LIFT06 or LIFT07 (in CAD) (in USD)
  • 650CHF for newcomers (in CAD) (in USD)

From December 15, price will be 850CHF (in CAD) (in USD)

Register here

Posted in Archive, lift, lift07, lift08 | 4 Comments

“Go, and never darken my towels again.” -Groucho Marx

Posted on October 16, 2007 by Thomas Purves

That being said,

Nokia is being handed a sharp lesson in business basics: don’t compete with your biggest customers.

In August, the Finnish phone giant announced it was going “beyond the phone” and creating an online portal called Ovi in a bid to become a major service company. This would offer music, maps and games – bringing it into competition with its biggest channel: the network operators.

Revenge has been swift… – Operators show Nokia who wears the housut* TheRegister

Sure, cracks are beginning to appear in the dominance of the carriers in the mobile value chain. But just yet, not very big cracks.

Who’s deck will win out in the end? the carrier’s? the handsetmaker’s? third players (appl’s, goog’s, yhoo’s, msft’s?) or the open internet?

Place your bets.

Posted in Archive, connectivity, mobile, n81, nokia, opendata, wireless | Leave a comment