One of the most exciting tidbits from Tuesday’s MacWorld keynote for me was the announcement of the move toward DRM-free (digital rights managed) music on the iTunes store –- and, more interestingly, the ability to upgrade your current purchased music to a DRM-free format.

If you want to remove the DRM from your iTunes purchases, it’s all or nothing.

As I’ve admitted before, I’m a fully entrenched Apple fanboy.  Thus my music player is an iPod and the music I’ve purchased online is from the iTunes store.  That is a very limited amount of my music –- as I never liked the prospect of “renting” my music, having it locked into a particular format –- especially when I could get the CD and rip it into the quality and format of my choice for my digital devices -– and have the ability to re-encode it if necessary.

So, how do I upgrade my music?  On Wednesday a link appeared on the iTunes store (in the “Quick Links” area in the upper left corner) that says just that: “Upgrade My Library.” Clicking on it takes you to a screen that shows you how many songs are eligible for the upgrade.

In my case, it’s 233 songs (more than I thought), which includes about 15 albums, for a charge of $56.70.

Am I gonna do it?  Maybe, maybe not.  First off – it’s an all or nothing deal — you can’t just pick your favorites and leave all the junk you bought to rot in the DRM wasteland.  Also, I have to agree with friends, colleagues and Internet commenters who think this should be free –- or at the very least cheaper -– with a bigger discount for larger libraries.  On the other hand, as one of my good friends pointed out, 30 cents is much cheaper than if you had to buy the whole thing again, like many of us did when updating our libraries from cassette or vinyl to CD.

So in the end, “Yay!” to the death of DRM on iTunes, and a resounding “meh” on the paying more to get my music in the way it should have been to begin with.  What are you guys gonna do?

Apple just unveiled its latest round of toys today before an excited crowd at the Macworld Conference & Expo –  personally, I think the update with the biggest “cool” factor is the new iPhoto.

The photo library app is introducing face-recognition software called “Faces.” Once you identify your friends and family, iPhoto will be able to sort the rest of your photos according to who is in them.

In addition to Faces, “Places” will sort your photos according to where they were taken. This will be particularly handy for users with an iPhone 3G — which adds geographical data to your photos using the integrated GPS. Some new cameras also have the ability to “geo-tag” photos, which can then be used to sort pictures in iPhoto.

Don’t have a fancy camera with geo-tagging abilities? That’s fine — iPhoto uses Google Maps, allowing users to tag old photos with location data.

iMovie also got an update — a big one. “We decided to completely rewrite iMovie and come up with a whole new version,” Apple Vice President Philip Schiller said Tuesday during the keynote.

The new features will focus on ease of use, with enhanced audio editing features, smoother transitions and new video stabilization.

iPhoto and iMovie will be included in the new iLife ‘09 — set to ship later this month.

Of course, it wasn’t just iLife ‘09 — a new iWork, a new MacBook Pro, and a new iTunes price structure were all announced.

What new Apple product are you excited about? Was there something you wanted to see, but didn’t? Sound off in the comments.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs released this letter about his weight loss to the “Apple Community” as the Macworld conference for Apple developers was getting underway in San Francisco, California:

“Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote. Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow. As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause — a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve”

Read CNNMoney’s story on Jobs’ letter here.

Those of you who regularly share music over the Internet, legally or illegally, have by now heard the news that the Recording Industry Association of America is shelving the practice of filing lawsuits against most individuals it suspects are pirating copyrighted music online.

As CD sales decline, more and more people get their music online.

I say most because the RIAA still reserves the right to sue heavy file sharers or those who ignore warnings to stop. Now, the RIAA has a new tactic. It’s made agreements with several Internet service providers in which the ISPs will help them police alleged law-breakers.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the RIAA will send a letter to an ISP when it thinks one of its customers is illegally sharing copyrighted music. The ISP will either forward the letter to the alleged offender or ask him to stop.

If the file-sharer ignores the warning, he risks having his Internet service terminated or his bandwidth squeezed to the point where it takes watching the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy before all 10 tracks of Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” are illegally in his possession. Ouch.

So why the switch? The RIAA has sued some 30,000 people over the past five years, a tactic that’s proved expensive and , critics argue, largely ineffective. I mean, have you stopped sharing your music library since the lawsuits began? I didn’t think so. And you’re not alone. While CD sales continue to decline, the number of folks sharing files online continues to increase.

This new deal makes me nervous because now, your ISP is poised to become an uptight hall monitor who narcs on every kid who smokes in the bathroom, instead of looking the other way even though it knows what you’re doing is against the rules. I think ISPs should remain neutral.

Nervous? Maybe you should be. Maybe you shouldn’t.

You could continue to share copyrighted songs online, hoping you’ll never be caught. At the very least, perhaps you should look to the Electronic Frontiers Foundation’s advice on how to avoid trouble.

There’s a decent chance you’ll never feel the RIAA’s tap on your shoulder. Plus, the way things are, I have no doubt word will spread quickly on how to cloak file-sharing so the ISPs and the RIAA can’t see what you’re up to.

The bottom line: Sharing copyrighted material online without the copyright holder’s permission is against the law. I quote Dirty Harry, “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?”

– Stephen Walsh, CNN.com

My love for technology began in 1988 when I enrolled in my high school’s radio production class. Yes, my high school had its own radio station. How perfect was it to be doing air guitar while listening to stacks and stacks of my favorite vinyl records –- and getting class credit? The science of radio hooked me from the start. It was accessible. It was fun. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. That is, until a few years later when the World Wide Web arrived.

What are your favorite Web sites of 2008?

Oh, Internet. How I love thee. You have given us so much this year. And I’m not just talking about that webcam of the puppies. But as those dogs in a box and so many other time-wasters sucked up so much of your life, there were so many other Web sites that you probably missed. Here are five of my favorites you should visit before the credits roll on 2008:

Grooveshark.com: Free streaming tunes. But here’s the kicker: You can buy any track you want and part of the proceeds goes to the artist, while part goes to the registered user who uploaded the track.

Instructables.com: The ultimate how-to on the Web. Fun, relatively easy instructions on making everything from gift bags from cereal boxes to animated LED snowflake window decorations.

Safesurfer.com: Teaches kids safe surfing habits while trying to keep things fun. Blogs, games, computer shortcuts. It’s all there. Parents will learn a lot, too.

Gasbuddy.com: Gas prices are pretty low now. But who are we kidding? They’ll be frustrating us sooner than we can say “fill ‘er up.” Gasbuddy.com gives you real-time prices from some 750,000 volunteer price spotters.

Etsy.com: Handmade, one-of-a-kind items of all sorts. And if you’re hip to the DIY scene, you can sell your wares here, too.

Now it’s your turn. What Web sites could you have not done without this year? Submit yours here!

– Stephen Walsh, CNN.com

Never again will Steve Jobs grace the stage at Macworld

Ahhhh, Macworld.  It’s been like a post-Christmas Christmas for all us Appleholics out there.

Once upon a time, there were TWO Macworlds, and Steve Jobs’ keynote could be seen live!  I remember calling feeds here at CNN to find out where I could see it, and there was usually a group of us sending IMs back and forth ooohing and ahhhing over our glorious Leader’s every proclamation.  Then after the keynote ended we’d continue to IM back and forth about all the things we wanted (pizza box iMac!!) that we didn’t see, and arguing about why (or why not) Jobs was a genius.

All that changed several years ago – Apple pulled out of the Boston/New York Macworld, and it died.  No more live keynotes – we fanboys glued ourselves to the live reports on various gadget blogs by people actually in attendance.

Now even that will end.  And I have to think it’s going to be hard for Macworld to continue.  Which makes me wonder about trade shows in general.

Clearly Apple wants the stage to themselves, and I’m sure we’ll be just as excited about whatever new gadget, feature or upgrade the Leader sees fit to dole out to his salivating minions, but I can’t help but mourn Macworld’s passage.

I’ve never been to the actual show, and now I doubt I’ll ever get to go.  I’m a little sad at the end of this era, and wonder if the new era will have any of that Christmas-morning excitement I used to get before a Jobs keynote.

I wonder how January’s Macworld will go down.  I picture the crowd of Apple fans, a few of them teary-eyed, holding their cell phones aloft and swaying back and forth while singing some ballad after the last Apple-hosted keynote.  More likely it will be a shuffling of chairs by people hurriedly going off to the next event.

– CodyMcCloy, CNN.com

Your wireless internet connection is secure, you have anti-virus software, and your firewall is up.  You think you are safe from identity theft but there is a new way to gather information from your computer.  An internet connection is not even needed.

This time the culprit is your keyboard.  With each keystroke a slight electromagnetic wave is emitted.  A simple wire cable or a small antenna can pick up these waves. With the right computer software keystrokes are deciphered.   These waves can even travel through walls.

11 different PS/2, USB and laptop keyboards were tested by Sylvain Pasini and Martin Vuagnoux.  They are doctorate students at the Security and Cryptography Laboratory at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.  For their experiment they attached a keyboard to a laptop that was running off of battery power. They unplugged the laptop to prevent electrical interference.  Each one of the keyboards tested was vulnerable to at least one of the four detection methods that Sylvain and Martin have discovered.  So far they have been able to detect keystrokes up to 65 feet away.  They believe a farther distance can be achieved by using better equipment.

Both Pasini and Vuagnoux blame computer manufacturers for this vulnerability.  However, the security risk could be lowered by tweaking the production of keyboards.

Do you feel that this could be a legitimate threat as ATM pads are even vulnerable according to Pasini and Vuagnoux?

Chris Piatt      CNN Science and Technology

Have you ever seen a small label on electronic devices, glassware, or other products that warns you about chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer and reproductive harm?

A warning label says you should wash your hands after using this MIDI device, but the company says don’t worry.

I recently discovered this warning on my MIDI interface, a small device that has cables connecting my keyboard to my laptop so I can record and edit the music that I play.

(Side note: MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and refers to the protocol that allows instruments and computers to communicate. If you own a computer and a musical keyboard, I highly recommend you try connecting them and playing with a program such as Apple’s GarageBand. The program, coupled with the keyboard, allows your keyboard to take on the sounds of dozens of instruments, from “orchestral strings” to “Fiji afterglow.”)

Great, but I didn’t want playing “Falling Slowly” using “tula bass” sounds to give me cancer. So, I called the maker of the MIDI interface device, and found out that the warning is required by California law for products sold in California that contain more than a minimum amount of particular substances, such as lead. But, according to the company, M-Audio, I shouldn’t worry about getting toxic chemicals on my hands.

What’s inside a product with a warning label? Read more on “Paging Dr. Gupta.”

–Elizabeth Landau, Health Writer/Producer, CNN.com

An anti-piracy campaign by Microsoft is having a difficult time in China. The company may face an investigation from local authorities who allege Microsoft is trying to “hack” consumer computers.

Getty Images

Microsoft started a global plan in August to upgrade one of its anti-piracy tools, to make a stand against bogus copies of Windows XP Professional. PCs running either genuine or counterfeit XP Pro will automatically update themselves with an authorization evaluation program. Computers installed with the phony software will thereafter display a black desktop at start-up and revert to black again in an hour even if the background is changed. A permanent notice will also appear at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen warning users to purchase genuine XP copies. However, all programs will run normally.

The campaign expanded to China last week, and induced scares and firestorms among the large PC population, which exceeds 135 million.

More than 80% of the 60,000 Internet users participating in an online survey conducted by Tencent, one of the largest Internet service portals in China, protested the campaign. They complained that it was the high price of a legitimate copy of XP that had forced them to turn to counterfeits. A genuine copy of XP Pro is priced at $376 (2,578 yuan) in the Chinese market.

A lawsuit followed. On the second day of the campaign’s landing, Dong Zhengwei, a lawyer specialized in consumer rights protection, charged Microsoft with potentially sabotaging private computers. He suggested a billion-dollar fine for Microsoft.

Dong said that the anti-piracy program would “pose a threat to personal information security” and could be defined as a “crime.” “It is equivalent to illegal invasion, or hacking,” he said on Sina, the largest Chinese news portal. Many of the country’s computer societies, IT critics and scholars also stated their agreement with Dong.

In response, Microsoft China’s Intellectual Property Rights Supervisor Yu Weidong explained that this was a global campaign that aimed to educate consumers and keep them from harmful counterfeits.
The program would not affect normal functions of a PC and the company would not collect any personal information through it, he said.

On October 27, a week after the debate began, Chinese authorities made a statement that it supports any legal campaigns to protect intellectual property rights. But, “the companies should weigh their approaches and consider the affordability of Chinese consumers,” said Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of China’s National Copyright Administration.

Although more than 80% of surveyed Internet users in China told Sina that they would not purchase legitimate XP copies, Microsoft’s campaign, in combination with promotions on Office and Vista, did push up the company’s overall sales by roughly 60%. But, some free open-source software also witnessed a huge increase in sales, apparently thanks to Microsoft’s crackdown.

And more experienced PC users said they had simply shut down the “automatic update” function to avoid the “black screen” desktop and additional costs.

Chong Wu, CNN Science and Technology