Welcome back to the new week and to digiVOX’s review of digital news. Amidst all the predictions for the tech world made last week, a few noteworthy events actually did occur. Of those, the top ones include: digital music sales topped physical sales for the first time in history, a high-profile politician spoke out against SOPA, and Google announced “Megasitelinks”. Read these, and more, here!
Digital music sales top physical music sales: For the first time in the history of music sales, digital sales have topped physical music sales. In 2011, digital music sales went up by 8, 4%, whilst the physical sale of music declined by 5%. Will be interesting to see how this changes over the next year!
Al Gore comes out against SOPA: Finally someone high up in the US political system has the courage to speak out against the proposed passing of the SOPA Bill. This bill which would give the US federal government the power to disable websites, amongst other things, is a danger to the Internet as we know it. Due to a large number of high-usage sites being from the US, the bill will also affect the rest of the world.
Google announces “Megasitelinks” , Image Search improvements and better byline dates: As part of Google’s continual upgrades, it has announced a new algorithmic improvement in the form of “Megasitelinks”, which will allow for better localised site linking. Google also announced improvements to its Image Search and Byline Dates.
Grooveshark is being sued by EMI: Another music streaming service is under fire and this time from a label with which it actually had a signed partnership with. EMI is suing Grooveshark after Grooveshark has failed to pay any loyalties as per their agreement in 2009. Seems like Grooveshark is following in the steps of LimeWire…
Man uses iPad to cross border: A Canadian man has used an image of his passport on his iPad to enter the border into the United States, and was consequently allowed access into the States with an added “Happy Holidays”. This instance was an obvious breach of security protocol but it may well be a step into a digitised identification system for the future.
Sweden recognises new file-sharing religion, Kopimism: A 19 year old student from Sweden has started his own religious group, called Kopimism, based on the premise that “sharing information through copying is akin to a religious service”. The group holds that CTRL+V and CTRL+C are sacred symbols and does not directly condone piracy. The Swedish government is forging ahead with the legislation despite continued opposition to it.
“The Life and Times of Steve Jobs” has been selected as the best infographic of 2011:
