Record Stores: We’re Fine, Thanks

The recording industry may protest, but some owners of independent music stores say file trading is good for business. Katie Dean reports from the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. [Wired News] Take Hoodlums Music, located on the Arizona State University campus, which opened during the heyday of Napster. One might think Net-savvy students … Read moreRecord Stores: We’re Fine, Thanks

AOL/MSN?

Broadband Reports says rumors are circulating that Microsoft could buy AOL. The New York Post claims Time Warner execs have met privately with Microsoft about a possible purchase of the black-sheep of the Time Warner family. Time Warner lawyers are also analyzing any possible antitrust violations such a merger would cause, the Post claims. A … Read moreAOL/MSN?

Next Up To The 3G Batter’s Box: T-Mobile

T-Mobile has made it official that they’ll be officially launching their 3G service for both voice and data starting in May in Germany, the UK and Austria. This will take them a step beyond Vodafone, who has been launching their 3G for data only while they wait for someone (please, anyone!) to create good 3G … Read moreNext Up To The 3G Batter’s Box: T-Mobile

Ridiculously Easy Group Forming

Tantek Celik is a software development lead at Microsoft Corp. Joi Ito founded Neoteny, a venture capital firm focused on personal communication technologies. Pete Kaminski iniated the Social Software Alliance and serves as CTO for SocialText. Sam Ruby is a 21-year veteran of IBM and works as an open-source software consultant. And Adam Weinroth founded … Read moreRidiculously Easy Group Forming

UI Wars: Sony loves Symbian – grits teeth

Launching two new high-end phones this week, Sony Ericsson’s CEO, Katsumi Ihara, gave a pointed reminded to Symbian that its commitment had better not waver. “There are two important factors for Sony Ericsson with the Symbian OS,” Ihara said, ComputerWire reports. “It should be open to anybody. Not perceived as proprietary to a single manufacturer. … Read moreUI Wars: Sony loves Symbian – grits teeth