Nobody knows what's going to happen or even why he is here, but DVD Jon Lech Johansen, the man (then kid) who cracked DVD copy-protection and distributed it around the world, has come to America from Norway to work for Michael Robertson. Robertson was the founder of MP3.com and its ex-CEO, and was the first major thorn in the side of the music industry. Put out of business largely by the massive unfavorable settlement of the lawsuit over his ill-advised Beam-It service, Robertson moved on to found Lindows (later renamed Linspire), a Linux-box builder. Still more recently, Robertson got back in the MP3 business with MP3tunes.com, an online download store.

What will DVD Jon be doing? That is unclear, though Robertson is quoted saying the Johansen will be on the Obeo project, which "will bring digital music into the 21st century." Whatever. It's just great to have a living legend in the U.S.