Sick again. Damn it. Fever and tiredness, itchy throat. Still at work...

Apple announces music download service [Wired]. 99 cents ($US) a song. Mac only. Probably US only. Will have a look into it later. Later: The Register says it all. It is US only, thus, bloody useless. Is Kazaa windows only? Morpheus? I think you may find that is the whole point. Still it's a giant step in the right direction. It's also ACC and a nice point is a lot of the files are made from the original masters, not just ripped store-purchased CDs (like WiredRecords.com is). However, from experience this would make very very very very little difference. But it's a nice thought.

Rumour has it that you can get 90% of this stuff through Liquid Audio's website with the same rules (burning CDs etc.). Has a windows client too (and is US only). Difference is that Apple has the cash to advertise this and the user base willing to try it. Liquid is traditionally hated by all (me).

Are there less kids in primary school classes [The Age] because people are having less kids?

Grokster and Morpheus (file-swapping software firms) are not responsible for how their software is used [ABC News]. This is good news.

Electronic paper from Japanese giant Toppan. Flexible, uses almost no power and now comes in colour (although only at 80dpi). Fits nicely into my ideal media device.

Electronic paper based on E Ink's microencapsulated electrophoretic technology features readability that rivals paper (e.g. its 10:1 contrast exceeds that of newspaper), essentially no power to retain a displayed image, a thin and light form factor, and the ability to be produced on flexible substrates. It also has the potential to be mass-produced with advanced printing technologies.