iPod Lights Man's Pants On Fire

Danny Williams's taste in music is so wretched, his own iPod tried to kill him. Very recently, the Douglasville, Georgia native looked down to find his pants pocket engulfed in flames. The culprit: his year-old iPod Nano.

Williams walked away from the incident uninjured thanks to a piece of glossy paper in his pocket, which he believes spared him from being badly burned. But, as if having your iPod try to immolate you isn't frightening enough, consider where this episode took place: Williams works at a kiosk at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As Williams said himself:

"If TSA had come by and seen me smoking, they could have honestly thought I was a terrorist."

This fire is just the latest in a series of recent lithium-ion battery flame-ups. After smoke and flames were reported by consumers last August, Sony has since been forced to recall more than seven million laptop batteries it made for its own computers as well as for Dell, Apple, Gateway, Toshiba and several others. This summer, a Chinese man was killed when his cell phone battery exploded in his chest pocket, sending a broken rib tearing into his heart.

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Apple offers iPhone customers $100

Eager customers who bought their iPhones before August 22nd are to receive $100 of store credit from Apple, it has been announced.

Apple has said that the phones must be activated with the device's exclusive carrier, AT&T, before they are eligible to receive the credit. The credit can be used either at an online Apple store or an Apple retailer. Requests for the credit must be submitted before November 30th.

In order to receive the credit however, customers must fill out an online application. Then one's cell phone receives a text with an access code. The offer of credit came after the price of the iPhone was slashed by Apple shortly after it was released, sparking fury in early purchasers who has paid several hundred dollars more. Some Apple customers have been disappointed however that the $100 credit will not cover purchases at the company's online music store iTunes.

Apple mulls wireless move

The software and technology giant Apple is reportedly considering building a wireless network of its own.

BusinessWeek has reported that the company is considering taking part in the government's upcoming auction of a segment of the wireless spectrum. If Apple did indeed build its own wireless network, it would no longer have to rely carriers such as AT&T to provide service for its wireless devices like the iPhone.

Giants such as Google and others are also likely to put in bids for the 700 MHz spectrum, which the Federal Communications Commission has dubbed "beachfront property". The minimum bid for the band will be 4.6 billion but the bidding is widely expected to go as high as $9 billion. However, a source at Apple told BusinessWeek that though the company is still considering the move, it is more likely that they will choose not to. Meanwhile, over the weekend Apple sold its millionth iPhone. Click here for information on other digital products and services.

AT&T offers cell phone restriction

Communications giant AT&T is offering a new service that will allow parents to restrict their children's cell phone usage.

Dubbed Smart Limits, the service lets parents set restrictions on when children are able to use the phone and who they are able to receive text messages and phone calls from. It also lets them incoming calls and block calls from unknown numbers. Parents will also be able to block children from accessing certain websites using their phone's wireless technology. However, this function would not work on phones like the Apple iPhone, which uses Wi-Fi to access the web.

AT&T's chief marketing officer for wireless, David Christopher, was quoted by the Wall St Journal as saying: "We're letting parents feel good about giving kids cell phones without the unintended consequence of a surprise bill or behavior that they don't know about." Smart Limits is to cost an extra $4.99 per month per line, AT&T has said.

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iPhone Hacked

Apple's much-touted new iPhone has been hacked into by a team of security experts in Maryland.

Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) has claimed that it has found a flaw in the iPhone which could let hackers access private data kept on the phone. A cyber criminal could gain entry to the phone either through a wireless access point or a website, according to ISE. Since its release earlier this month hackers all over the world have been trying to find a weakness in iPhone, however this is the first successful attempt.

ISE explained that the iPhone connects to wireless internet networks by name, so an attacker could conceivably make up a network with the same name as one already used by the phone. Then instead of accessing a web page, the phone would access exploit code, allowing a hacker to control the phone. A spokesperson from Apple told the New York Times: "Apple takes security very seriously and has a great track record of addressing potential vulnerabilities before they can affect users."

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Internet Key Issue In Hollywood Contract Talks

The impact of the Internet is expected to be a major factor in current talks between Hollywood screen writers and studio executives.

How much screenwriters should get paid when their work is broadcast over the Internet is potentially an issue that could result in strikes. Executives have argued that screenwriters should wait up to three years to see whether trends in Internet viewing either change or look to be set.

The business model of broadcasting content over the Internet, iPods and cell phones is still unproven, they argue. David Young, the chief negotiator for the Screenwriters Guild, recently told an audience of screenwriters at the Beverly Wilshire hotel: "Their pie has been growing and growing, while our share has been slowly shrinking. We cannot let that continue. "Clearly, this is a seminal and critical negotiation for us."

The last time that screenwriters went on strike was in 1988. The strike lasted 22 days and cost the industry an estimated $500 million. For information on digital products and services visit www.dsldance.com

Online Music Service Sales Increase

The music industry suffered a significant loss in physical music sales in 2006, but the digital music market continued to grow, a new report has revealed.

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), physical music shipments, such as CDs, fell by 11 percent to $17.5 billion last year, while digital shipments increased by 85 percent to $2.1 billion. Commenting on the figures, IFPI chairman John Kennedy said that the industry had hoped the loss in physical sales would have been offset by the growth in music downloads. "But while digital sales have grown as expected, physical sales have fallen by more than expected," he remarked.

The IFPI stated that digital music formats, which include those downloaded onto computers and cell phones, accounted for 11 per cent of total shipments last year. In related news, reports earlier this week suggested that Universal did not intend to renew its contract with Apple's iTunes for the online distribution of its music.

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AT&T To Offer Free Napster To Go

Communication giant AT&T has offered its wireless and broadband Internet customers a year free access to the Napster To Go service.

From April 1st broadband subscribers that add wireless phone service, or vice versa, will be able to use the Napster service, which offers over three million songs. Currently AT&T's wireless unit, Cingular, is America's largest cell carrier, boasting in excess of 60 million subscribers.

Rick Welday, chief marketing officer of AT&T Consumer, said: "By tying Napster To Go to AT&T's robust communications network, we're turning up the volume nationwide on both consumer value and added convenience." By joining communication with entertainment, AT&T is showing that it is committed to delivering content at home and "on the go", added Mr. Welday.

AT&T has also announced that residents of Kansas City will now be able to its U-verse services. U-verse features AT&T's fiber-rich network with television and high-speed Internet services available on demand.

"Napster concludes their fiscal year 2007 with over 830,000 paid subscribers, which many believe makes them the largest on-demand music service in the industry," states Mark Weibel, EVP of Marketing for Broadband National Inc. who operates the industries leading comparative website. "This would make Napster larger than Rhapsody, and larger than all of the other remaining competitors combined."http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

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Recording Industry Tackles Illegal Downloads

Recording industry groups have announced a crackdown on illegal music downloading in universities.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has complained to a number of universities across the US and has called on them to take action against the offending students. While it is possible to identify which computer is being used, the RIAA does not know which individuals are illegally downloading copyrighted material.

Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the RIAA, said: "We know piracy is most acute on campuses. "Students have high-speed access and have more time than money." The RIAA wants universities to take action against those who illegally download music through various means, such as forcing them to watch an educational video on piracy.

It has also suggested that universities revoke students' rights to use computers on campus if they are found to be downloading unlawfully. In the past year, the number of complaints sent out by the RIAA has increased three-fold to 15,000.

"Illegal downloading is certainly not a new story," states Mark Weibel EVP of Marketing for Broadband National, who operates the industries leading comparative shopping website. "People must remember that along with your music, you are most likely downloading hundreds of nasty viruses that will cripple your PC. They embed themselves right in the music files and begin to go to work damaging your PC while you listen to the music."

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Online TV Download Market Set To Grow

Online TV Download Market Set To Grow

Multimedia providers have been advised to consider testing out the Internet television download market.

Adams Media Research estimated that annual consumer spending on video downloads via the Internet would reach $4.1 billion dollars by 2011. Last year, the Internet TV download market generated revenues totaling $111 million. Tom Adams, president of Adams Media Research, commented: "The internet is going to revolutionize the distribution of video."

The firm believes that the release of new products from names such as Wal-Mart, Apple and Amazon could result in a dramatic increase in consumer spending on downloads. These companies already offer consumers the chance to download premium movie and TV content.

Adams Media Research stated that new devices to download and view high-definition content will also play a part in boosting the sector, as many consumers will want to be able to purchase the latest gadgets.

"Most likely you'll see the growth spurred by the introduction and sale of hardware devices that can convert videos downloaded from the Internet into signals that can be played on high definition television sets," states Mark Weibel EVP of Marketing for Broadband National, who operates the industries leading comparative shopping website.

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