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SAN FRANCISCO--Apparently nobody--not even an artist--gets a pass from the music industry when it comes to copyright laws.

After unwittingly posting an unauthorized music file on his blog, Dave Allen, former bassist for Gang of Four, said he had received a cease-and-desist letter from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the group that represents the music industry worldwide.

"Talk about your irony of ironies," Allen said after participating in a panel discussion at the MusicTech Summit held here on Thursday. "But I understood completely. I was wrong. I removed the music."

Allen, a founding … Read more

Olympus shipped its first interchangeable-lens dSLR, the pro-level E-1, in the fall of 2003. Four years is a long time to wait for a new model, especially given the rapid pace of technological change in the dSLR category and a cast of photographic characters hungry for the latest and greatest to help boost their earnings potential. Consumers buying their first (and perhaps even second) dSLRs will follow where great technology leads, but pros must commit to a camera system that includes lenses and flashes. Once they've moved on, it takes more than just a snappy shutter and flashy LCD … Read more

When a friend turned me onto Zoom's H2 stereo/four channel digital recorder ($200), my first impression was that it looked like a man's electric shaver. It's not just for musicians, students can record seminars and conferences. I think it'll come in handy when I'm doing interviews.

The H2's selectable recording quality runs from 64-320 Kbps MP3 up to much better than CD quality, 24 bit/96 KHz linear PCM (WAV files). Four-channel, 360-degree surround recordings can be made in 24 bit/48 kHz format with the H2's two sets of built-in microphones--or … Read more

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The Final Four is set, and only one No. 1 seed is still in contention. Not only that, but fan darlings The Beer-Launching Fridge, Bender, Marvin the Paranoid Android, and Nintendo R.O.B. have been sent packing due to heart-wrenching losses in the Elite Eight. They are still champions in the hearts of many, but when it comes to … Read more

FOUR CORNERS--For years, I've wanted to come here. I can't say why.

I suppose it's because it's one of those places you're supposed to visit. What's its draw? Well, the chance to lie down in four states at once. To break the law in Arizona and jump two feet into Utah. Ha! Come get me, copper!

Maybe it's just to take part in one of those American rituals that bind us all together.

I'm really not sure. I visited it as part of my Road Trip 2007 around the Southwest, and … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Panasonic and its lens-making partner, Leica, announced a zoom lens with a whopping 14-150mm range Wednesday at the Photo Marketing Association's trade show here. The $1,000 lens is due to ship this month.

The lens, formally graced with the name of Leica D Vario-Elmar 14-150mm/F3.5-5.6 Asph. Mega O.I.S., is a member of the Four-Thirds system. That means it can attach to digital SLRs from Panasonic, Leica and Olympus. It also means its focal length equivalence is 28-300mm on a 35mm film SLR camera.

The lens offers some direct competition to Nikon's … Read more

Taking a page from Nikon's playbook, Olympus is offering glimpses of new digital SLRs it appears likely to announce in conjunction with the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) trade show next week.

An image at Olympus' European Web site shows two dimly lit SLRs labeled March 5, 2007--three days before the PMA show begins--and a larger hulking silhouette with no date.

Olympus trails Nikon and Canon in the digital SLR market. The company has allied with newcomer Panasonic, though, and the same "four-thirds" system lenses can be used on either company's digital SLR cameras. Olympus also uses … Read more

He started out fashioning customized eyeglasses from exotic wood. Now Scott Urban has branched out into using vinyl records, bicycle parts and even used beer bottles as materials for his handmade frames. Meet the McGuyver of the specs world.

Urban (even his name is cool) views glasses as an intensely personal form of self-expression, working closely with customers--author and Boing Boing blogger Cory Doctorow owns a wood pair--to design specs that suit their style. The results far surpass anything you'd find at LensCrafters. One pair displayed on the Urban Spectacles of Wood site, for example, features a bird and … Read more