Free, from the big labels

Well my post from a couple of days ago should have had a couple more links to free music downloads, in particular this one, as BGG noted:

Big Acts Follow Radiohead’s Lead: Let Their Music Go Free

Rock group Radiohead has started a trend. Nine Inch Nails announced it will release its upcoming album online and ask fans to pay what they want for it – instead of charging a set fee. Other major recording artists Oasis and Jamiroquai are also considering following Radiohead’s lead.

These bands are stealing a page from Radiohead’s playbook. Last week Radioahead announced it would be releasing its new album online, bypassing its label, and ask fans to set a price they wanted to pay. As of this morning Radiohead’s album In Rainbows is available for download via the band’s Website.

Now, I just can’t wait to hear what the IP maximalists like Chris Castle and the IPCentral gang have to say about this.

Microsoft dooms Software Patents, forever, everywhere

Groklaw has the news about Novell and Red Hat being hit by a Patent Infringement lawsuit from a certain ‘IP Innovation LLC”, noting that Ballmer has been making threats in the last week or so:

IP Innovation LLC has just filed a patent infringement claim against Red Hat and Novell. It was filed October 9, case no. 2:2007cv00447, IP Innovation, LLC et al v. Red Hat Inc. et al, in Texas. Where else? The patent troll magnet state.

Of course, PJ posts the links to the Patent involved, which has been used as an example of misuse of the Patent system by others already:

You might recall the patent was used in litigation against Apple in April 2007, and Beta News reported at the time that it’s a 1991 Xerox PARC patent. But ars technica provided the detail that it references earlier patents going back to 1984. Appropriately enough. If you use Google to search for “IP Innovation LLC 5,072,412″ you’ll find more. Note that it’s IP Innovation, not plural. There is another company using IP Innovations. I gather Apple paid them to go away in June.

This patent has been pointed to as an example of the need for patent reform. Now, Patent Troll Tracker claims that IP Innovation LLC is a subsidiary of Acacia. More here. Law.com did a story on Acacia in February, “Extreme Makeover: From Patent Troll to the Belle of the Ball.”

The next interesting item to note is Acacia’s ties to Microsoft (duh!)

Dennis Kucinich: 3, Bill Richardson: 1, All the rest: 0

Hat Tip: TLF

An interesting web application that the New York Times put on their website allowing you to search the transcript of the Presidential debates for any particular word. You can roll your cursor over the highlighted portions of the text, and you will see that snippet of text, which you can click on to go to that section, and see that portion of the debate.