Juniper Research estimates that the global mobile entertainment market is currently worth $17 billion and will grow to $47 billion by 2009 and $77 billion by 2011. The company predicts European and Asia Pacific countries will come to dominate the global market for mobile entertainment. Today, mobile music is the largest sector, followed by “infotainment,” [...]

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that although laptop-using students have more flexibility in when and where they study and spend more time on assignments than students who visit computer labs, their academic work shows no measurable improvement. Both groups of students get approximately the same grades. The researchers discovered that the laptop users spent [...]

The U.S. Copyright Office granted narrow, three-year exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that permit circumvention of access-control technologies on electronic media if specific conditions are met. Under one exemption, professors of film and media studies can circumvent the access-control technology of DVDs in their libraries to use film clips in class. Another [...]

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded in mid-November that unsolicited e-mails advertising cruise vacations were permitted under the federal antispam law called the CAN-SPAM Act, even though they included a false Internet address and a nonworking “From” address. In the case involving antispam activist Mark Mumma of Oklahoma, the three-judge panel ruled that the [...]

Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto have developed software that they hope will allow Internet users in nations that practice censorship to have full access to the Web. Available as of December 1, the software, called psiphon, operates using social networking principles. Users in countries without censorship will download the application, [...]

Two teenage students in Gatineau, Quebec, found themselves in hot water after a classroom stunt involving YouTube. The two students, and a third who has not been identified, intentionally aggravated a teacher to the point that he lost his temper. Meanwhile, the students videotaped the incident and then posted the footage on YouTube. According to [...]

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is calling on colleges and universities to take steps to address what they see as rampant copyright abuse by faculty. According to the AAP, faculty who post protected content online for use in their courses cost the publishing industry at least $20 million each year in lost revenues. Before [...]

A court in China has cleared search engine Baidu of wrongdoing in a case brought by representatives of the recording industry. The IFPI, an international media organization, filed the lawsuit on behalf of EMI Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, alleging that Baidu facilitated copyright violations by linking users [...]

Following the recent unblocking of the English-language version of Wikipedia in China, users in the country can now access the Chinese version of the Web site. Chinese officials made no comment about the change, but Andrew Lih, a Chinese-American academic who specializes in Wikipedia, said in his blog that he believes “consensus among the authorities [...]

A new study by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) suggests that although college students appear fluent with technology, many are unable to effectively use computers to solve information problems. Students are comfortable using technology for leisure and social activities, but the study indicates that they have much more trouble evaluating online material and using technology [...]