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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Beatles Inch Closer to Online

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Two news nuggets suggest the Beatles catalog is getting close to release online:

Yesterday Reuters reported that Neil Aspinall, the long-time head of Apple Corps., had stepped aside:

A combative, media-shy executive fiercely protective of the Beatles’ legacy and Apple Corps Ltd., Aspinall kept busy in recent years waging a legal battle against computer company Apple Inc. over their similar logos.

A bigger issue was the Beatles’ noted refusal to license tunes to online retailers, such as the technology firm’s iTunes store….
His slow-and-sensible approach to the band’s affairs paid off in the 1980s when compact discs were introduced. He refused to join the rush, and held out for a higher royalty rate. The band’s crowning moment, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band,” finally came out on CD in 1987, amid a worldwide publicity blitz marking the album’s 20th anniversary.

Aspinall was also the main reason why Beatles tracks are not heard on multi-artist compilation CDs, because he said they cheapened the band’s image.

On Thursday Reuters reported Apple Corps. settled a long-running royalty dispute with EMI:

The company representing The Beatles has settled a 30 million-pound ($59 million) royalty dispute with EMI Group, in a deal that could finally pave the way for the Liverpool band’s music to go online… “It seems like it is heading in that direction,” Jupiter analyst Mark Mulligan told Reuters of the Beatles catalogue. “The conversation has changed from an ‘if’ to a ‘when’.

About the author

Leander Kahney

Leander Kahney is senior editor of Cult of Mac, editor of two books about technology culture, Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, and has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Observer in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

Email the author | Read more posts by Leander Kahney.

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