Tor publishing rejects digital rights management for e-books. Photo by ROBERT MICHAEL/AFP/Getty Images The sci-fi imprint Tor will start selling all of its e-books DRM-free, a move that could change e-publishing in the long run. Thomas Doherty Associates, which includes Tor, Forge, Orb, Starscape, and Tor Teen and is owned by Macmillan, announced yesterday that by July 2012, all of its titles will be released without digital rights management. President and publisher Tom Doherty said in a Tor blog post that both readers and authors have asked for this change. He wrote, “They’re a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately-purchased e-books in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of e-reader to another.” Digital rights management allows book publishers, as well as music companies and the like, to dictate how their products are sold and used.
American Airlines, US Airways Merger Would Probably Lead To Higher Fares And Fees. An American Airlines aircraft at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Wednesday, June 29, 2011, in Grapevine, Texas. See those planes in the sky? They're not the only things climbing higher. A proposed merger between American Airlines and US Airways probably would result in costlier airfares and airline fees, according to experts. US Airways has struck deals with labor unions at American Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy in November, in order to effect a merger between the two carriers, according to the Associated Press.
US Airways still is working to win the support of American Airlines' board, lenders, and executives. If US Airways and American Airlines end up merging, just four airlines -- the new American Airlines, United, Delta and Southwest -- would control nearly 90 percent of the domestic airline market, according to a JPMorgan Chase research note cited by the Las Vegas Sun. "Fewer airlines means less competition. BACSTROKN N SMOKN SNOOP BEAT by Snoop Dogg. Marine discharged for slamming Obama on Facebook. Marine discharged for Obama Facebook criticism Skip to next paragraph Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS ofThe Christian Science MonitorWeekly Digital Edition The Marine Corps said Wednesday it has decided to discharge a sergeant for criticizing President Barack Obama on Facebook.
The Corps said Sgt. The discharge will mean he loses all benefits. A federal judge previously denied a request to block military discharge proceedings against Stein, who called Obama an enemy on Facebook. RELATED: School bans Facebook for a week U.S. Attorney J. Huff disagreed, calling Stein's postings "truly troubling. " The judge pointed out Stein's March 1 comments on a Facebook page used by Marine Corps meteorologists in which the sergeant stated, "Screw Obama and I will not follow all orders from him. " The judge's ruling reaffirmed a military hearing earlier this month in which a military board has recommended Stein's dismissal. Blog - Developer Contest: SoundCloud + Acapela Group Mashup. SoundCloud is teaming up with Acapela Group for our first Developer Contest. Acapela Group offers amazing text to speech solutions and have a variety of SDKs so you can write apps that create sound files using one of their voices (including hip-hop and country!).
Take a listen to some sample voices. We're calling on our developer community to mashup SoundCloud and Acapela. Show us what you can do using a text to speech service with the best audio content platform on the web. Maybe you want to have your email read (or sung!) Deadline: May 15th The deadline for submissions is May 1st May 15th. When you're app is ready to show off, send it to us using this form.
Prizes This is a chance to get creative and show us something useful and fun. 3rd place — A pair of Monster iSport headphones.2nd place — A pair of Monster Purity headphones.1st place — A special prize from Monster (to be announced) and a 1 year subscription to Acapela VaaS All of our top picks will be showcased on this blog. Firms Push Visual Note Taking to Spark Creativity, Sharpen Focus. Interactive Map: Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race? 2011 Edition. PBSoffbook's Channel. Judges, don't sext your bailiffs. The courtroom bailiff for Michigan state judge Wade McCree claims that the judge sent her a shirtless picture of himself by text message.
Sound wildly inappropriate? The woman's husband thought so when he found the photos, and he filed a complaint with the state's Judicial Tenure Commission. A local Fox reporter in Detroit went to Judge McCree and showed him the photo. "Hot dog, yep that's me," said the judge. "I've got no shame in my game. I ain't talked to nobody else's wife.
" When the reporter asks the judge (watch the crazy video) whether he sent the photo to other women as well, the judge added, "Oh yeah, I've sent that out to other women, sure. " "And that's alright with your wife? " "Uh... you know, I mean... McCree—also married—comes from a famous legal family.
Sexy texting also played a key role in the scandal that brought down Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick back in 2008. The Lulu Chronicles. YouTube Is 27% Of Mobile Video Traffic In N. America, Netflix Just 2% YouTube is the largest source of mobile video traffic, according to a new report from Sandvine, and now accounts for as much as 25% of network data, and no less than 12% at any given time. The report examined traffic across a selection of Sandvine’s 200+ customers in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Asia-Pacific. Combined with other services like Pandora and Netflix, audio and video streaming make up more than half of mobile data traffic in North America, and it’s on track to reach 60% by 2014, the company says.
Other regions aren’t far behind. In Latin America, for example, “real-time entertainment” (streaming audio/video, that is) accounts for 40% of network data. In Europe, it’s 40% and in the Asia-Pacific region, it’s at 39%. In those same regions, it’s YouTube that’s eating up most of the data, at 27%, 24%, 17% and 14% of peak downstream traffic, respectively. What’s maybe more telling than these usage numbers, is the growth. How Creativity Connects with Immorality. In the mid 1990’s, Apple Computers was a dying company. Microsoft’s Windows operating system was overwhelmingly favored by consumers, and Apple’s attempts to win back market share by improving the Macintosh operating system were unsuccessful.
After several years of debilitating financial losses, the company chose to purchase a fledgling software company called NeXT. Along with purchasing the rights to NeXT’s software, this move allowed Apple to regain the services of one of the company’s founders, the late Steve Jobs. Under the guidance of Jobs, Apple returned to profitability and is now the largest technology company in the world, with the creativity of Steve Jobs receiving much of the credit. However, despite the widespread positive image of Jobs as a creative genius, he also has a dark reputation for encouraging censorship,“ losing sight of honesty and integrity”, belittling employees, and engaging in other morally questionable actions.
Facebook pictures by lulufemmefatale - Photobucket. 'Think Like a Man' star Kevin Hart: How Twitter, Facebook, and my NBA outburst helped my movie open at No. 1. Image Credit: Alan Markfield Last weekend, the ensemble relationship comedy Think Like a Man opened to an astonishing $33.6 million, exceeding practically everyone's expectations, including those of one of the film's standout stars, actor-comedian Kevin Hart. "I knew the movie was going to do well because it was tracking well," he tells EW, "but we were thinking in the range of $20-25 [million] . When in came in the 30s, that was a little mind-blowing. For me that just shows the power of social media.” No kidding. Of course, a movie’s number one debut is not built on tweets alone. Multitasking! GET MORE EW: Subscribe to the magazine for only 33¢ an issue!
Making a scene! Giving away free popcorn! Chances are very likely, meanwhile, that Hart will have another film of his hit number one at the box office this weekend: the romantic comedy The Five-Year Engagement. Where are America’s Most Peaceful Cities? Based on results from the Institute for Economics and Peace’s United States Peace Index 2012, the U.S. is at its best behaved in two decades. Since the IEP began collecting data in 1991, homicide rates have fallen nearly 50%, and 42 states have reduced their crime rates. In this year’s report, the IEP ranks the most, and least, peaceful states based on five factors: homicide rate, violent crime rate, incarceration rate, police presence, and availability of small arms.
For the first time, the report also includes a Metropolitan Peace Index, which assesses American cities on the same factors (sans availability of small arms) the Atlantic reports. In addition to its long-term findings, the index also reports a strong correlation between peace and socio-economic circumstances. (MORE: Where Are America’s Greenest Cities?) As usual, New England is home to the most peaceful states. Even with improvements over the course of the last 20 years, the U.S.’s performance is only relative. Mad Cow Disease In California: Herbivores, Omnivores And Carnivores React On Twitter.