some tech thing is a new weekly roundup of tech-related stories you might have missed or even wished you missed.  Co-hosted by David Newhoff and Sandy Davis.  Take a listen and let me/us know what you think. In this episode:  Flappy Bird developer bails; Minecraft filmmakers need permission; Zach Braff’s new Kickstarter project; the day we didn’t fight back; RNCC creates ...

This morning, music industry attorney Dina LaPolt and Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler submitted written comments to the USPTO on the subject of compulsory licensing for remixing and sampling musical works. At issue is a green paper submitted by the US Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force that copyright reform could include a measure that would effectively mandate artists ...

Is any of this legal? This has been chronic in the Facebook news feed lately.  I’ve seen Hugh Jackman, Matt Damon, Sean Penn, and John Travolta featured so far in these ads for “men’s health products” all of which imply these movie stars are endorsing whatever secret ingredient or method is being pushed.  Click on the link, and Facebook warns ...

some tech thing is a new weekly roundup of tech-related stories you might have missed or even wished you missed.  Co-hosted by David Newhoff and Sandy Davis.  Take a listen and let me/us know what you think. In this episode:  Pixeom, Facebook Memorials, Techies bitch on “Secret,” Polar Bear Pitchfest, beer drones. ...

Shakespeare, a poet, wrote the line “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” for the character Jack Cade in the Henry VI cycle, and it refers to Cade’s vision of a utopian, social revolution in which he would be dictator.  Of course, the irony is that when it comes to establishing or maintaining autocratic rule, one must ...