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After suing 35,000 people in the last 5 years for downloading music over the internet, the Recording Industry Association of America has finally decided to give up its fight.  The RIAA announced today a change in strategy to end litigation and will now instead try to partner relationships with ISPs to cut off service by way of TOS agreements to those serving MP3s.

Why it took the RIAA 5 years to realize they had become the most despised, ridiculed, and hated group on the planet, I'll never know.  After a national organization starts suing single mothers, dead people, and 13-year-old girls, someone from within should have had the bright idea to hire a PR firm.

Instead of putting their energy towards envisioning new and innovative ways to deliver and sell music, the RIAA's legal practices have been nothing but destructive to artists, consumers, and the entire industry as a whole.  Today's announcement is not just a major victory for pirates, but for everyone.  Please be sure to call your grandmother and tell her its safe to listen to music on the internet again without fear of the feds busting through her door at 3am.

Now, will someone please tell the RIAA to leave broadcasters alone and help us save internet radio?

Space shuttle Endeavour has finally finished its cross-country piggyback ride to the Kennedy Space Center, fixed atop a modified 747, two weeks after landing at Edwards Airforce base in California due to bad weather in Florida.  The astronauts aboard STS-126 completed a 16 day mission to install the first refrigerator in space.  The refrigerator, measuring just 16.5 inches deep, 10.2 inches wide and 6.7 inches high, can be cooled by either air flow or water flow.  Other improvements to the International Space Station included new state-of-the-art exercise equipment, an extra toilet, additional sleeping quarters, and a Water Recovery System that uses recycled-urine.  Providing renewable sources of life-sustaining food and water for long-duration space travel is essential and the latest mission will have an immediate impact by increasing the capacity of ISS crews from 3 to 6.  Removing our dependency on freeze-dried food outside the planet Earth opens up a whole new world of possibilities.  All ancestors of this Russian swine should be concerned.

Yes, the T-Mobile G1 can be unlocked and run on AT&T's network, but not without limitations.  Better yet, Google is now offering the Android Dev Phone 1 a SIM and hardware-unlocked G1 for $399 (free shipping to the US).  Unlike retail devices, the bootloader on the Dev Phone 1 doesn't enforce signed system images, enabling you to flash custom Android builds to the device (plus you get the cool custom Android logo design on the back).  To order one, you have to register as an Android developer in the Android Market (one-time $25 setup fee).  Now you can finally have a test environment for all those mobile apps you've been developing!  Haven't been coding anything?  Well, what are you waiting for?  Here's Hello, Android! to get you started.

For those of you looking to save a few dollars this holiday season, be sure to find your gifts using Live Search.  Microsoft's Live Search Cashback is a program that pays Web users rebates for buying products from participating Microsoft vendor partners. 

That includes a lot of popular retailers like eBay, Barnes & Noble, Overstock, Sears, AT&T, FTD, Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Kmart, and Saks Fifth Avenue.  When you buy items through those websites after using Live Search to locate them, Microsoft will send you PayPal funds or a rebate check in the mail.  There is a limit of $200 per rebate, 12 transactions, and/or up to $2,500 of savings each calendar year.

Today Microsoft said Live Search Cashback program has been an overwhelming success since its launch in May.  Microsoft has seen a 30 percent jump in the number of products listed on the Web site, which is now drawing 4.5 million unique users and 68 million search queries per month.

Today, officially, the monopoly and the merger, are complete. XM adds 22 new channels, Sirius picks up 11 new channels, and a bunch of old ones have been moved, renamed, and generally all mixed up. Click below for your printable cheat sheet.

XM's New Lineup

Sirius's New Lineup

So the FCC allowed a merger between Sirius and XM so they could compete with terrestial and internet radio stations, but Sirus XM is allowed to have 6 satellites in outer space, and ftfradio.com isn't allowed to have 1?  Until we get an ubiqutous internet bubble around the earth or internet radio preloaded in our cars, in what way is this a level playing field?  Maybe the folks at savenetradio.org could petition the FCC to allow the launch of an open-standards satellite for internet broadcasters to relay their signals off of?

On Tuesday, the FCC voted 5-0 to approve unlicensed white space usage.  FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has voiced his support throughout the process, along side major companies like Google, Microsoft, and Intel and their campaign toFree The Airwaves.  The National Association of Broadcasters weren't too happy though, as they fear it could interfere with wireless audio equipment.  No word yet on when the world will support our efforts to Free The Future.

With the release of Windows 7 not coming any time soon, have you ever stopped to wonder if it is actually version 7.  Well sure, why wouldn't it be?  According to Mike Nash on the Vista blog, its easy to see how they came up with that name...

1. Windows 1
2. Windows 2
3. Windows 3
4. Windows 95
5. Windows 2000
6. Windows Vista
7. Windows 7 (or 6.1 as its actually numbered internally on software at Microsoft)
   

That would make all of these major releases, simply minor updates.

   3.1 Windows NT

   4.1 Windows 98

   4.3 Windows Millennium

   5.1 Windows XP

Oh, I get it now.  Windows NT wasn't a major change in code, you haven't released a worthwhile operating system since Windows 2000, and you've tried to convince people these were all amazing and necessary releases worth paying for.  Now do you understand why the world hates you?  Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer, "Windows 7 is Windows Vista, just a lot better"  So you're saying is that its more of a fancy Windows 6.1?  Windows 7, bleh, this better be good.

Baltimore became the first city to receive Sprint's XOHM WiMAX service after the carrier officially turned on the signals in the downtown area on Monday.  Networks in Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. or Northern Virginia are still being tested.  Download speeds should come in around 3-4mbps and prices are reported to be around $35/month with no contract necessary.

Representatives from T-Mobile, HTC, and Google all kicked off the official launch of the first Android phone, T-Mobile's G1 (previously known as the HTC Dream) with a live event today in New York City.  Here's a round up of the day's activity.

Let's take a second to think. How many computers do you have OpenOffice installed on? If you answered "all of them" you may need to think about setting aside time for an install-fest because OOo3.0 is here!

The long-awaited next release... now with .docx support!