The DRM walls are tumbling?

Looks like 2008 might well be the year the DRM wall comes down.

Amazon announced today they plan to (licensing allowing) to extend DRM music sales beyond the US.

As the DRM free purchase model market expands via different suppliers, I suspect a segment of people who have legitimately purchased music in the past from say, iTunes, will now become aware of the DRM locked-in library they have invested in. They might not want to pay again, or perhaps they wont care....

iTunes Plus for a few months has opened a route to allow users to "upgrade" to some previously purchased music to DRM free, but I've not seen any news on the uptake of that service.

Joost feeling the squeeze?

Joost have just lost/pushed their CTO, Dirk-Willem van Gulik. He's jumped over (or been snapped up by) to the BBC to work on a range of back-end infrastructure to support their interactive services.

Joost, with its required client-side install, and funky UI, and un-compelling content has never seemed to have caught the masses attention. I have it, I played with it, I don't use it. With my various other video options (YouTube (& variants), AppleTV, OnDemand via cable, BBC iPlayer, etc.) it wont get my attention. Rumours imply their money is running out fast too.

Blodgett labelled it for me, "Joost is the PointCast of 2007".

Deadpool contender.

BBC - Press Office - Dirk-Willem van Gulik: Future Media & Technology Chief Technical Architect

A Soap recipe

Courtesy of Jim Shelley, The Guardian, if you're not in the UK, adjust the ingredients to fit your equivalent cultural stereotype.

Facebook Widget Installing Spyware

The first of many? Another good reason to be wary of pimping out your Facebook profile!

Fortinet Global Security Research Team discovered a malicious Facebook Widget (officially, a "Platform Application") actively spreading on the social networking site which ultimately prompts users to install the infamous "Zango" adware/spyware.

FortiGuard Center - FortiGuard Advisory - Facebook Widget Installing Spyware