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Apple, Record Labels Diverge Over Next-Generation Full-Album Music Format | Epicenter | Wired.com

Apple and the major labels are squaring off for a major battle this fall with competing formats for delivering the latest innovation in digitial music. Full albums will come with a cornucopia of digital extras — at least that’s the way much of the tech press is setting the scene for a clash between Apple’s Project Cocktail and the major labels’ CMX format.

Both wrap songs, videos, images, lyrics, ringtones and other digital doodads into a comprehensive package that the industry hopes will bring back the long lost, profitable days of full album sales, which gave way to listeners buying single songs.

via Apple, Record Labels Diverge Over Next-Generation Full-Album Music Format | Epicenter | Wired.com.

Tags: album, Amazon, Apple, CMX, digitial music, Epicenter, Music Format, Project Cocktail, Record Label, Wired

Will Users Donate a Penny Per Email to Fight Spam, Yahoo Wonders | Epicenter | Wired.com

Yahoo’s researchers want you to voluntarily slap a one-cent stamp on your outgoing e-mails, with proceeds going to charity, in a bid to cut down on spam. Can doing good really do away with spam, which consumes 33 terawatt hours of electricity every year, not to mention way too much of our time?

The idea behind CentMail is that paying to send e-mail — even a single cent — differentiates a real e-mail from spam blasts, and thus, spam filters can be adjusted to let the stamped mail sail right through, according to a report from New Scientist. Users would get to choose which charity benefits from their penny missives, which the researchers hope will convince people to pay CentMail for something that’s currently free.

via Will Users Donate a Penny Per Email to Fight Spam, Yahoo Wonders | Epicenter | Wired.com.

Tags: CentMail, charity, email, Epicenter, spam, stamped, Wired, Yahoo

Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text | Wired Science | Wired.com

Starting this fall, you’ll have a new reason to trust the information you find on Wikipedia: An optional feature called “WikiTrust” will color code every word of the encyclopedia based on the reliability of its author and the length of time it has persisted on the page.

More than 60 million people visit the free, open-access encyclopedia each month, searching for knowledge on 12 million pages in 260 languages. But despite its popularity, Wikipedia has long suffered criticism from those who say it’s not reliable. Because anyone with an internet connection can contribute, the site is subject to vandalism, bias and misinformation. And edits are anonymous, so there’s no easy way to separate credible information from fake content created by vandals.

via Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text | Wired Science | Wired.com.

Tags: color code, encyclopedia, Wikipedia, WikiTrust, Wired