Tom Gapen: July 2007 Archives

Webcasters and internet radio listeners are breathing a sigh of relief today after it was announced that SoundExchange executive director John Simson had agreed to allow small and non-commercial internet radio operators to continue streaming past the July 15 deadline imposed by the Copyright Royalty Board.
The CRB had decided to foist new royalty fees on webcasters that would have likely put most of them out of business despite objections by legions of listeners, artists (who would not likely ever be heard by many people) and a handful of members of Congress.
Webcasters got a 60-day postponement of the implementation of the CRB decision while parties attempt to come up with a compromise.
Read tons more about this issue at Kurt Hanson's RAIN newsletter and at SaveNetRadio.
Thanks to Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA).
I don't know what I would do without my RadioParadise.

After reading reports yesterday about the possible release by Apple of a "nano" iPhone, I had to laugh.
First of all, I find it just bizarre that if Apple applies for a patent in some place on the other side of the planet like Hong Kong or Germany or Pacoima, the "news" spreads across the internet like a brush fire through 20-year-old, hillside chaparral.
I understand the rumor sites picking this up but I even heard about it on NPR!
If Apple Inc. needs to improve their stock prices, it seems all they need to do now is leak some information about a patent application for something called iHerpescure to a 15-year-old Taiwanese skateboarder.
Suddenly, Jobs gets a new Gulfstream.
But I digress.
I don't have a crystal ball (and I doubt J.P. Morgan's Kevin Chang does either) but if I was a betting man my money would be on no new iPhones before January 1. And when Apple does refresh the market with a 2nd generation phone I doubt it'll be much smaller than it already is.
I have one. It's not much bigger than the Razor I used to use when that phone was opened up. The touch-screen keyboard built into the iPhone, while infinitely better than trying to "type" by repeatedly tapping numbers to get letters, is still pretty small. Make it any smaller and only humans under 30 inches tall will be able to use it. I don't think Apple's key demographic is third graders so I really don't expect they'll make this thing smaller.
Lighter? Maybe a little.
Thinner? Sheesh, you want to fit it into a credit card slot in your wallet? How convenient would that be?
If you're one of those people sitting on the fence waiting for the "new" new iPhone, go ahead and wait. The next gen will be better, I think I can guarantee that. But don't expect to be able to carry it around in your nostril.
My guess, no, prediction is that the next thing to come out of Apple will be a 6th gen, touch-screen iPod that looks an awful lot like the iPhone, without the phone part.