Apple Universal deal unlikely

The prospect of Apple buying the Universal Music Group appears to be unlikely, according to reports by both the New York Times and Reuters. News that Apple had held talks with Universal's owner, Vivendi, emerged last week, so unimpressed Wall Street that Apple's share price dropped to a five-year low. The New York Times quotes Michael Nathanson, a music analyst with Sanford Bernstein & Company, who said this suggests, 'that media investors did not take it seriously, because they are so aware of how bad the fundamentals of the music business are. ...more

EMI deal completes YouTube's record label collection

YouTube is now free to play music videos from the likes of Coldplay and David Bowie after signing an agreement with EMI. The video sharing website now has licensing deals with all four major record companies. EMI had delayed signing up until satisfied by YouTube that adequate safeguards were in place to prevent videos being downloaded and copied. ...more

Swindon shows off relic of golden age of East German arcade gaming

One of the last surviving arcade gaming machines from the former communist East Germany has found a home in the Museum of Computing in Swindon. It is one of only three surviving examples. The machine, known as a Poly Play, is one of only 1500 made in 1985 as the East German authorities attempted to demonstrate that it could match the West for developing decadent electronic entertainment. ...more

Some Bluetooth on your Palm

One for developers: Palm has released a beta version of its Bluetooth Software Development Kit for its Palm OS platform. Palm is still backing the wireless technology Bluetooth as a means to provide 'an unprecedented level of flexibility and mobility' for people on the go, and the new kit is a means to help developers build such systems. Compliant with the Bluetooth 1. ...more

YouTube in music label talks

YouTube has begun talks with record labels in the hope of beginning to offer music videos alongside the home videos, viral ads and bootlegged clips that have propelled it to the top of the Internet popularity ratings. The site's founders are currently working to develop a commercial model that will allow it to provide the videos for free, in all likelihood supported by advertising currently conspicuously absent from the site. 'What we really want to do is in six to 12 months, maybe 18 months, to have every music video ever created up on YouTube,' co-founder Steve Chen told Reuters. ...more