“Just as technology has made leaps and bounds over those last two years, plans
for the download and release of Conspiracy Of One are significantly more
sophisticated. Anyone who purchases the actual CD will have the opportunity
to use proprietary new technology, located directly on the physical compact
disc, to launch into a coded part of the band web site and become a member of
The Offspring Nation. The Offspring Nation is a digital fan club offering
incentives and benefits including subsequent exclusive downloads, animated
films, gated chats with the artist, advance ticket sales and more. Dexter
Holland says, “We decided that we would create a super fan club for those of
our fans who actually buy our CD. The CD has a key in the CD-Extra section
that registers members to The Offspring Nation, our fan club. We figure
since we make our music available to everyone for free this will act as a
special acknowledgement to our fans who go to the trouble to buy our CD.“”

“In the nine months since it filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against MP3.com
(MPPP), Universal Music Group has said over and over again that it is battling the
online music portal to protect the financial interests of its legendary stable of
performers. After it said as much in court papers, a federal judge ordered MP3.com
to pay Universal between $120 million and $250 million in damages on Sept. 6.

But Universal recording artists will never see a dime of that cash, one of the label’s
most prominent musicians, Courtney Love, now says. And so, the Grammy
Award-winning singer says she will turn the tables on Universal and ask a court to fine
the company for stealing her music. ”

“This project is a stand alone MP3 player, designed for home, car, or portable use. It plays a group of MP3 files stored on a standard or laptop IDE hard disk drive… hundreds of hours using even today’s low-cost drives. The firmware is available under the GPL, for anyone who want to really customize the player. High quality audio output is provided by a 24 bit DAC, using both standard line-level outputs and an amplified headphone output. The large capacity allows the use of very high MP3 quality settings, that would reduce flash based players to only a few songs. Because it’s a complete stand alone player usable in a variety of applications, you can have your entire MP3 music collection anywhere away from your computer. ”

“Last November, as reported in Google likes directory sites, I discovered that Google had the uncanny ability to sniff out high-quality, but little-known directory sites. As I discussed in that article, Google was able to do this because it ranks sites according to how many people make links to them, and smart people everywhere learn that directories are important, so they make many links to them. Now, however, I’ve found solid evidence that Google’s new alliances, especially the pact with Yahoo! that was announced in June, seem to have compromised its ability to find directories.”

“Standards like XML and SOAP make it easier for systems to make remote procedure calls across the Internet. For example, corporate systems will allow customers to make calls that check real-time inventory levels. Your car’s navigation system will check local traffic reports when planning the quickest route. These are all “services”. This site helps you find services that are publicly accessible.”