Hacker to license code that unlocks iTunes restrictions
Hacker Jon Lech Johansen, who became known for cracking the copy-protection technology in DVDs, now claims to have unlocked the playback restrictions of Apple iPod and iTunes music products and plans to license his code to others. There’s a summary of his plans by the Associated Press.
He says he is on solid legal ground.
Today, songs purchased from Apple’s online iTunes Music Store can’t be played on portable devices made by other companies. Songs purchased from… Continue Reading
Logitech snaps up Slim Devices for $20M, plus performance multiple
Logitech has acquired Slim Devices, the Mountain View maker of open source home networked music systems, for $20 million in cash plus a performance-based payment that will amount to “several multiples” of that.
This is a hit for the 20-something founder Sean Adams. He founded the company in 2001, and got by on almost nothing — by relying on a community of developers for the company’s main products, the Squeezebox and the Transporter.
He reached profitability on… Continue Reading
Roundup: Slim Devices, ChaCha, Digg, eBay ibank of Web 2.0, more
SlimDevices to release latest Squeezebox — The come-out-of-nowhere Mountain View start-up sells a device that lets you play your music anywhere in the house, and hooks up with all kinds of services, from Pandora to Rhapsody. Its latest one will sell for $2,000 device; the NYT has the scoop. This scrappy company is run by 20-somthing Sean Adams, and to our knowledge he has made do with a mere $330,000 from angels (though he may have… Continue Reading
Apple and Google alliance — makes sense given culture, goals
Apple has appointed Google chief executive Eric Schmidt to its board of directors, which is a no-brainer even if you consider only Schmidt’s experience and stature. On the face of it, it may look like just another one of those relationships that Silicon Valley is all about. This is a two-degrees-of-separation kind of place. Most big companies have these ties (Google already has Intel, Genentech, Stanford execs on its board, for example).
But this relationship looks… Continue Reading
Slim Devices, a come-out-of-nowhere hit
The NYTs’ Pogue runs a story singing the high praises of the Squeezebox, a product from Slim Devices which lets you play your computer’s music anywhere in the house.
This is an intriguing company, based in Mountain View.
Beginning next week, the Squeezebox will do something no other hi-fi component can do: it will hook into Pandora… a sophisticated music-recommendation site. You name a band, singer or song that you like. Immediately, you hear a new “radio… Continue Reading