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Compromise might be in store for Internet radio

The deadline has past, but Internet radio is still on. Maybe it will stay that way for a little while longer.

Negotiations are still rolling since SoundExchange, which is the overseer of recording industry royalty fees, agreed to continue searching for new rates. The biggest issue, it seems, is coming to a suitable compromise between large and small webcasters. It appears that some of the major players, like Time Warner and Yahoo! will have to pay the royalties, just like everyone else.

Take a break, paint and dance!

It's late in the week. You are probably fretting even starting work today. Sounds to me like you need a little break. What I'm about to show you may mystify or confuse you. But remember, it's for your own good.

Time to visit ROXIK | PICTAPS. If you click on the "Paint!" button, you will have the ability to create an avatar that dances. Or, you can just watch some of the samples the site already has available. Regardless, make sure to turn up the music as load as possible.

Latest reviews

Since the comments page is getting pretty full, I decided that I should pull out some of the newer items on occasion. Here are the two most recent reader reviews for "The Developers."

Anyway, great book. I love any fiction books that can keep me interested in the plot and characters. Awesome pop culture references.

I'm really getting into the characters. I think you do a great job in setting up the characters, their pasts, etc. You are good at writing women, by the way. How did you learn how to do that?

Internet radio close to extinction?

Silence never sounded worse than now.

As of today, we have just a few days remaining until Internet radio will pretty much end, as we know it, on July 15. There's a possibility it can be saved, but that remains primarily in the hands of Congressmen, who may or may not even understand what Internet radio is.

Searching into the future

I have been an ardent subscriber to the Google theory since nearly the beginning. Here it was, just a little search engine that was way better than anything else out there. So now, the behemoth company has tons of data and information about you and nearly everyone else. What happens now?

From the Archive

Is it wrong to download songs for free from the Internet?

Even though there's a growing number of websites that allow visitors to pay chump change for a song from your favorite artist, many people are still using free sites as their main way to obtain songs.

This question was posed to the Good Advice Committee, which is comprised of five individuals (including me) who well aware of the numerous dilemnas posed by today's technology. The GAC will tackle online ethical situations in upcoming editions.

The results are in -- I do have readers

After tallying the results of my informal questionnaire two weeks ago, I stumbled onto some startling results.

People actually read my column!

Maybe overpopulation isn't an issue after all

Every day, scientists are discovering more of space, which, I suppose, is still the Final Frontier. That is, unless you count the salad bar at truck stops, since that is another weird phenomenon as well.

There is an ongoing treasure hunt for sustainable-life planets. That's not surprising, considering the world's population is more than 6.6 billion (and growing, if you want to view). Where are all of the people going to go? There's just not enough space between the croutons and bacon bits.

Obama wallpaper

The day after the election, I had a chance to check out all of the front pages from around the world. It was remarkable how many international newspapers had Obama as the top story, and as expected, a number of U.S. papers devoted their entire front pages to election coverage. I created an Obama collage of the papers as a tribute to our next president. Feel free to use as a screensaver or desktop image!

Next book stop: Sowebo Art Festival

Nearly every weekend during the spring and summer, there's a festival going on in Baltimore. I'm sure many cities have the same thing, but the cool thing about Baltimore is that every one of these festivals is different. For instance, the Sowebo Art Festival brings together a conglomeration of artists and musicians to an area just west of downtown.

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