New Apple technology blocks you from taking concert video with your iPhone

Apple has patented technology that will prevent iPhone cameras from filming live events. (Venue owners install infrared emitters that the iPhone will detect.) They're probably addressing the concerns of broadcasters who want you to watch Wimbleton or the Lady Gaga show on their paid networks instead of on YouTube. It's not clear whether Apple will actually put this system into action, but it certainly wouldn't be out of character; Steve Jobs has long kept tight controls over how his customers use the gadgets they (over)paid for.

Apple's current philosophy is pretty far from the post-hippie open-information culture in which Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded the company way back in the '70s, but maybe that's a discussion for another day. The bright side of this is that maybe people at shows will actually listen to the music they paid to hear, instead of either trying to film it for later (with inevitably unlistenable results) or trying to see over the endless field of other people brandishing their iPhones. (What happened to holding up your lighter?)