IBM wants programmers who can work with the open-source browser, while Web surfers in general keep streaming to the Firefox site. IBM on the hunt for Firefox programmers Big Blue looks to hire techies to adapt the open-source browser to work well with its server software. April 13, 2005 Firefox draws 2.6 million surfers in …

Ten years after the release of its first RealAudio multimedia software, RealNetworks is hoping to kick-start its second decade with a new push into digital music. In New York on Tuesday morning, during a fete complete with a free concert in Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall, the company is slated to make what it has called a “groundbreaking” announcement for …

Portland, Ore., singer-songwriter Geoff Byrd may be the first artist to break into the mainstream music world from the Internet, but he’s learning that there’s still no free ride. Byrd’s Internet fame has been growing slowly over the past year. As an unsigned artist on the GarageBand.com Web site, his music was consistently rated high, and ultimately drew strong support …

The U.K. record industry has announced that it has won a court order to force Internet service providers to reveal the identities of 33 suspected file sharers. Five ISPs will now have just days to turn over the details of the suspected file swappers, who the British Phonographic Industry claims have posted 72,000 music files to the Internet illegally. The …

A Finnish company called Viralg is emerging with claims to have a high-powered new way of stopping unauthorized file trading on peer-to-peer networks. The company, which took the top prize at a recent Finnish emerging-technology competition, says it has been working with BMG Finland to protect local music releases on file-swapping networks for more than a year. The company’s method …

“Visual radio” is coming to the United States–and no, that’s not just a newfangled name for a TV set. Radio giant Infinity Broadcasting is working with Hewlett-Packard to bring a kind of Net-enabled FM radio to U.S. markets, sending information such as album art, concert dates and buy-this-album buttons alongside broadcasts. The broadcasts will be aimed at a new generation …

When Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs walked into the suites of top record label executives in 2002, iTunes software in hand, he was welcomed as a trailblazer to a digital music future. Now, nearly two years after Apple’s iTunes launch, record executives have become worried that they have inadvertently ceded too much power over their industry to this charismatic computer …

The Recording Industry Association of America said Tuesday it would file suit against students at 18 universities accused of trading files on the supercharged Internet2 network. The suits, to be filed Wednesday, are the first to focus on the next-generation research network operated by universities. The i2Hub file-swapping service has operated for a year on campuses that are connected to …

roundup If you’re enrolling at Duke University, you might not get that iPod you were expecting. Also: High notes for satellite radio. Duke puts restrictions on free iPod program Incoming students at Duke University shouldn’t count on getting free iPods anymore. Photo: iPods on campus April 6, 2005 Satellite radio hits landmarks Leading maker of receivers reports 5 million sold, …

It’s the latest way to study natives in their natural habitat: Check their iTunes music libraries. A group of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Palo Alto Research Center presented a study this week outlining the behavior of the wild cubicle-dweller when using Apple Computer’s digital music software. Sharing playlists on an office network turns out to …

As the Supreme Court mulls the fate of file-swapping networks, justices are studying a rarely used element of copyright law that sparked bitter controversy when raised in Congress last year. Last week, the nation’s top court heard arguments from the entertainment industry and file-swapping software companies in a landmark review of the legal status of peer-to-peer networks. In the course …

A Canadian appeals court has temporarily blocked last year’s ruling that overturned that country’s “iPod tax,” a fee collected on the sales of MP3 players that was distributed to copyright holders. Last December, a court ruled that the fee, which is applied to all blank recording media in Canada, should not be applied to digital media players like the iPod. …

Ken Fuhrman’s Colorado-based start-up company is a television junkie’s dream, making powerful home media servers to hold digitized versions of television shows, movies and music. But Fuhrman is worried. On Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether file-swapping software companies Grokster and StreamCast Networks should be held responsible for the widespread copyright infringement on their networks, and …

On Tuesday morning, lawyers from Hollywood and the technology industry will meet at the U.S. Supreme Court to argue over the fate of peer-to-peer software. But they’ll be spending much of their time talking about the VCR. At the core of the file-swapping dispute is an interpretation of the 20-year-old decision that made Sony’s Betamax legal to sell in the …

As legal music downloading takes off as never before, music pirates are shunning peer-to-peer services in favor of using iPods to swap music. According to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the number of music downloaders using peer-to-peer networks has dropped in recent months. Currently, 21 percent of downloaders use networks such as Kazaa or Grokster …