» Qtrax dissapoints: Qtrax, which was slated to go live this week did not do so. It planned to be a service that took illegal p2p file transfers, legalized them and paid the artists and labels through advertising. They said that they had the big four on paper, but it turns out that they did not, in fact, have signatures from any of the big labels. They did, however, manage to release the client sans music, which is entirely useless. The Apple-inspired Qtrax page now has a link to that beta client, and pretends like it's good for business. The torrent community seemed a little bit bitter about it in the first place, and was happy when Qtrax failed to go live.

» Half-dead and still important: The Beatles' own Liverpool will now have its own Beatles-themed hotel. However, don't think that this hotel full of walls covered with the faces of the Beatles and full of memorabilia is just for Beatles fans. The director of development insists that the hotel is also for those "who don't particularly like the Beatles." Of course. AP via Yahoo!: "The guest rooms, which start at $340 a night, are decorated with artwork by American painter Shannon, "The World's Greatest Beatles Artist" - a title officially bestowed on her by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool." Goodness. England continuously baffles me with their need to bestow titles and the like. Also: NASA plans to blast Beatles music to the aliens, for science, of course, but folks over at Gizmodo see some problems with that. And also: Israel wants the Beatles back.

» Bureaucratic fumbling and nostalgia (and greedy Chicagoans!): Because a group of people trying to preserve Los Angeles' famous Tower Records building failed to attach a black-and-white photo instead of a color one to their request to make the building historic, it looks like the strip's famous yellow-and-red building is about to be torn down. The facade has already been painted blue and the land will reportedly be turned into a big office building by some Chicagoans. I wonder when stuff like this will start happening with virtual counterparts, when we, in our old age, fight to keep the iTunes store in business once something better has come along. Also in Change: Glastonbury may not continue infinitely (but will have Jay-Z this year).

» The Rest, in short: Bill Cosby to spit rhymes on his own disc; Rivers Cuomo begins memoir; Michael Jackson remakes Thriller, and accidentally shows his children sunlight; Amy Winehouse's husband thinks she's close to dead; Amazon's mp3 service goes international; WGA compromises with the Grammys; U2 manager wants to go straight to ISP's to stop file-sharing & U2 to play for more than Prince's record-setting 21 shows at London's O2 arena; Tickets for London's underage-only festival go on sale; Torrent site The Pirate Bay says that it will continue, even if successfully prosecuted; Dr. Phil regrets talking about Spears, who has ended up in the hospital again, this time for at least two weeks, and who is being sued by her stylist; Beck's Odelay Deluxe is printed with wrong lyrics; Spice Girls shorten their reunion tour; Snoop Dogg announces his "Snoop Bowl"; An animated Lily Allen will encourage people to "return to learning".

» Fun: Rap lyrics and Excel.