Around the Web 05.30.08: Laptop spies and free music sites

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-- Cuteness over irony. So says Susan Kare, the creator of some of the beloved icons on Apple’s original Macintosh computer. She has done some recent work for Facebook. L.A. Times

-- Lights, action. More unusual activity outside the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York. First there were lines forming. Now it appears that a commercial is being shot. Could it be for a new version of the iPhone? Silicon Alley Insider

-- Laptop spies. U.S. authoritiesare investigating whether Chinese officials secretly took info. from a laptop when the U.S. Commerce secretary went to China, then used the information to try to crack into Commerce Department computers. AP via WashPost

-- Turning the corner: Dell reported solid earnings, thanks to sales of notebook computers. CNET

-- Music discovery and the Internet: a combination designed for wasting time at work. But where to begin? Here’s a compilation of some sites to listen to music for free. Music Couch

-- Troubled waters ahead: Guy Hands,chief executive of TerraFirma, writes a note to investors that there will be cuts at the music company EMI Group, which TerraFirma bought last summer. Digital Music News

-- Privacy concerns: A new report looks at whetherinformationgathered to detect copyrighted material through digital watermarks is eroding your privacy, BitPlayer reports.

-- The new talent hunt: Companies are signing Web talent but not sure how to make entertainment for the Internet profitable. USA Today

-- The Feds and the Silicon Valley socialite: The Mercury News reports that Silicon Valley socialite and investor William ‘Boots’ Del Biaggio III is being investigated by the Feds. He resigned from Sand Hill Capital, a boutique bank to start-up firms, ‘for personal reasons.’

-- Michelle Quinn