That’s what Bill Rosenplatt, a DRM “specialist,” states in this Guardian article on Apple’s plans for DRM. Discouraged by Apple’s huge market share and clout, EMI pulled their catalog from iTunes and offered it DRM-free through Amazon. This move provided statistics to determine if offering DRM-free music would increase piracy of that music. Apparently, the answer is no.

“The statistics show that there’s no effect on piracy,” says Rosenplatt. The article goes on to state “that most download stores will remove DRM on permanent music downloads” and that Apple will soon be “selling iPods preinstalled with unlimited access to music, or with a bundle to a subscription offering,” all with DRM-free music.

This means greater control for the consumer. We will have the choice of what we can do with music and what devices we can use to listen to our music.

A U.S. Navy ship will try to shoot down a malfunctioning spy satellite in the coming days. The satellite, which malfunctioned and became uncontrollable shortly after reaching orbit in 2006, contains a toxic fuel that can be deadly if inhaled by humans. The Pentagon is worried the satellite may crash into a city or other inhabited area resulting in fatalities or injuries.

Some may see this as a response to China’s shooting down a weather satellite last year. The U.S. maintains this is just a precaution to ensure our safety.

A new study by Harvard University reveals that more than 60% of Americans don’t trust the media’s coverage of political campaigns. Four out of five people believe coverage focuses too much on trivial issues and that media coverage has too much influence on American voting choices. Other key findings:

• 92% say it is important that the news media provide information on candidates’ specific policy plans, but 61% say the media does not provide enough coverage of policy plans.
• 89% say it is important to hear about candidates’ personal values and ethics, but 43% say there is not enough coverage of personal values and ethics.

If you’re trying to reach the 18-34 demographic, it’s everything. Below is a quote from a NYTimes article about legendary music producer Rick Rubin:

This summer, Columbia Records began a program called Big Red. The company invited 20 college students from Harvard, Penn State and the University of Miami to work on various music projects. The interns concentrated mostly on the digital marketing and promotions departments in Columbia’s offices in Midtown Manhattan, which are on Madison Avenue in a granite skyscraper designed by Philip Johnson.

At the end of their paid internships, the students took part in focus groups that were closely observed by Steve Barnett, Rick Rubin’s co-head at the label, and Mark DiDia, whom Rubin brought in as head of operations, as well as by other Columbia executives. The focus groups may have been the real point of Big Red — Barnett and the New York executives, especially those who had been at Sony for years, wanted to try to take the pulse of the elusive music audience. “The Big Red focus groups were both depressing and informative, and they confirmed what I — and Rick — already knew,” DiDia told me afterward. “The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don’t consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it’s just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That’s how they hear about music, bands, everything.”

An interesting side note is that MySpace is not so cool anymore. In fact, and I’ve heard this argued before, Facebook is loosing its cachet pretty quickly as well.

With the recent sale of Dow Jones fresh in our minds, it may be time we consider if for-profit news can actually work. Let me give you some food for thought. These are the current top stories on CNN.com’s homepage:

• Old enemies kiss in triangle of death
• U.S. basics bring smiles to family of burned boy
• Soldiers critical of war die in Iraq
• Police fear dad is a serial killer
• SI: Mom sees hope in laugh of injured Everett
• Fossett search finds old wrecks, new hope
• Wife who killed preacher says jail time too short
• WNEM: MySpace teen flies to West Bank man
• Van barrels into 7-Eleven, stuns shoppers
• Ticker: Giuliani blasts Clinton ‘venom’ on Iraq
• WDIV: Man kills self with DIY guillotine
• CNNMoney: See Lamborghini’s new $1.4M car
• Pooped pooch plucked from surf
• ‘Daily Show’s’Jon Stewart gets Oscar gig
• Fantastic fondue holds 1600lbs of cheese

Is it just me, or is there something wrong here?

I found this on Digg today and it’s the most powerful thing I’ve stumbled upon on the web in quite some time. This isn’t for the faint of heart as some of these images are very graphic. Below is a sample of some of those images, but you should visit the site to read the descriptions accompanying the photos.