News 08.30.2006

- iTunes will have an interesting competitor come this December with SpiralFrog, a new online music destination that is slated to offer add-supported legal downloads of licensed audio and video content. Now with the news that Universal Music Group [UMG] has signed up with the service to make available its catalog, it has become the big news in the music industry and may just be the next step in music distribution evolution.

- Where has the Sony UX gone? It would seem Sony has discontinued the UX180P Micro PC without even a whisper of an announcement about it. While some are speculating about a newer model coming soon, Sony has been known to kill off devices in the past. Whatever the case may be, the UX180P lived a short life and it makes little sense to discontinue a model of a device before at least announcing its replacement.

- Technology Reveiw has a good interview with an MIT battery expert talking about the future of battery technology and how much more safe and efficient batteries could be. After the recent Dell and Apple recall of Sony lithium-ion batteries, safety is likely to become the more important ingredient for future battery technology.