'Get me rewrite!' Now, computers can play along | CNET News.com

'Get me rewrite!' Now, computers can play along: Now, using several methods, including statistical techniques borrowed from gene analysis, two researchers have created a program that can automatically generate paraphrases of English sentences.

ABCNEWS.com : Music Industry Says Lawsuit to Continue

ABCNEWS.com : Music Industry Says Lawsuit to Continue: "Last Friday's U.S. District Court decision calling the Recording Industry Association of America's legal tactics against the law is sure to stoke the fires of the ongoing music wars. The decision handed down by the court says the RIAA has no right to issue subpoenas to an Internet Service Provider for personal user information related to file swapping. It also lets Verizon off the hook, saying the ISP isn't responsible for what its users do while using the Internet, or what they do with files taken from the Net."

Will DVD acquittal mean tougher copyright laws? | CNET News.com

Will DVD acquittal mean tougher copyright laws: A Norwegian appeals court threw out a criminal copyright case against a programmer accused of breaking Hollywood's DVD encryption scheme. Norwegian authorities tried Jon Johansen on criminal charges for writing a software tool that can be used to overcome anticopying technology built into most commercial DVDs. On Monday, an appeals court threw out the government's case, agreeing with a lower court that Johansen had done nothing wrong under Norwegian law.

Wired News: Song Swappers Win a Big One

Wired News: Song Swappers Win a Big One: "A federal appeals court ruled Friday the recording industry can't force Internet providers to identify subscribers swapping music online, dramatically setting back the industry's anti-piracy campaign. The three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned a trial judge's ruling that enforced a type of copyright subpoena under a law that predated the music-swapping trend. "

Wired News: Dutch Court Throws Out Kazaa Case

Wired News: Dutch Court Throws Out Kazaa Case: "The makers of Kazaa, the world's most popular computer file-sharing program, cannot be held liable for copyright infringement of music or movies swapped on its free software, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled Friday. "

FLIGHT 001

FLIGHT 001: nat took me, and tree found it on the net! wikkid travel gear!!!

Slashdot | SpaceShipOne Rockets To 68,000 Feet

Slashdot | SpaceShipOne Rockets To 68,000 Feet: "According to Space.com, Scaled Composite's SpaceShipOne flew its first rocket-powered flight today, the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' 12-second first flight. SpaceShipOne's engine burned for 15 seconds, pushing it to Mach 1.2 (930 mph) and a peak altitude of 68,000 feet. To win the X-Prize they need to reach 330,000 feet twice within 2 weeks."

Slashdot | 55 Operating Systems On A PowerBook

Slashdot | 55 Operating Systems On A PowerBook: " found an article called 'Many Systems on One Machine' over at Kernelthread.com that shows over 55 operating systems running on a 17inch Powerbook. The article includes screenshots and descriptions of each system, and also hacks and tips on getting the nasty ones installed. The author Amit Singh (the Hanoimania guy, covered earlier on Slashdot) explains his reasons for all this in a related FAAQ (frequently asked anticipated questions) ... In all a very interesting read, specially the FAAQ, where he calls the setup 'the iPod of operating systems'. Now thats an Apple Power User! I wonder what Steve Jobs would say if he sees people doing such things to his machines!!"

Wired News: No, Really, You Can't Copy These

Wired News: No, Really, You Can't Copy These: "Philips Electronics said on Tuesday it was six months away from launching a system against illegal copying that will allow consumers to play digital video and music on any digital media player. "

John Squire back with concept album - NME.COM

John Squire back with concept album: "JOHN SQUIRE will release a new solo single and album in the new year."

Slashdot | Technology Quarterly: "There is an unusually interesting Technology Quarterly available for free from The Economist where they discuss some of the more interesting new areas in the area of science and technology. Of most interest to Slashdot might be Open source's local heroes, or perhaps playing Pac-Man on thought-controlled computers. Among the other articles this month: Predicting microweather, transparent magnetic memories, smart robotic transplants, how to bake the perfect chip, and Benoit Mandelbrot - the father of fractals."

Canada deems P2P downloading legal: "Downloading copyrighted music from peer-to-peer networks is legal in Canada, although uploading files is not, Canadian copyright regulators said in a ruling released Friday"

New P2p From RIAA Members: "A new file-sharing standard designed to distribute copyrighted music and movies legitimately has been developed by a technology consortium. The system could deliver any content format to any computer, and users might even earn rewards points for sharing the files. The Content Reference Forum (CRF), founded by Universal Music Group and backed by technology companies including Microsoft, released the first specifications for the standard this week."

OPSWARE INC. / On the record: Marc Andreessen

OPSWARE INC. / On the record: Marc Andreessen at the sfgate!!!

The Hello World Project

The Hello World Project: send a msg!!!

MacSlash | All-in-ones: Apple Vs. Gateway

MacSlash | All-in-ones: Apple Vs. Gateway: "The Mercury News has done a comparison of the iMac to Gateway's newest all-in-one computer, the 610XL. Surprisingly, the iMac WINS on price! The only place the Gateway wins is that it comes with a TV tuner and wireless networking by default. The iMac wins on almost every other option. (They compared 17' models. The 20' iMac is slightly more than the 17' Gateway. Gateway doesn't offer a 20' model.) At the end, they even discuss 'cheaper' models, with the 15' iMac winning over a cheaper flat panel Gateway, and the eMac winning over a CRT Gateway. Just goes to show you that Apple can be cheaper in the consumer market."

Slashdot | AT&T Wireless Fumbles Number Portability

Slashdot | AT&T Wireless Fumbles Number Portability: "The FCC is demanding that AT&T Wireless Services explain their number portability failures. Apparently, tens of thousands of customers are having their number portability requests delayed because of computer system problems at AT&T Wireless. Sadly, the FCC did not say they were going to be imposing fines for this breach of regulations yet but I'm sure that will follow if things don't improve quickly.' Reader (54)T-Dub adds: 'As many of you already reported on wed, there have been some pretty serious delays for people switching cellphone providers according to this NYTimes article (free reg required). Most notably former AT&T customers can expect to wait up to a week for their number to switch."

Slashdot | Buzz Advocates Lagrange Point Spaceport

Slashdot | Buzz Advocates Lagrange Point Spaceport: "Buzz Aldrin has an editorial in the New York Times (free reg req) advocating a spaceport at a Lagrange point between the Earth and the moon over simply more moon missions. He emphasizes the cost and practicality of such a station, as well its potential as a 'bridge to the heavens.'"

Slashdot | McBride's New Open Letter on Copyrights

Slashdot | McBride's New Open Letter on Copyrights: "An open letter was posted today by Darl McBride, where he restates his claim that the GPL violates the U.S. Constitution, patent laws, copyright laws, and the DMCA. Mostly he just builds up a false image of the Free Software Foundation and open source supporters claiming that they have no respect for intellectual property and believe copyrights should be eliminated, then attacks that image, AKA the straw man attack. Nothing we haven't seen before"

'Space Invaders' to alight on U.S. soil | CNET News.com

'Space Invaders' to alight on U.S. soil | CNET News.com: "Japanese game machine maker Taito said Friday that it plans to restart sales of 'Space Invaders' in the United States, almost 25 years after the video game first appeared in arcades."

:)

Google wants ruling on search trademark law | CNET News.com

Google wants ruling on search trademark law: "The Mountain View, Calif.-based company filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 24. It centers on a dispute with American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, an interior decor specialist, over the sale of keyword-advertising within search results that appear on Google and across the Web. American Blind has insisted that Google stop selling keyword phrases that the company claims violate its trademarks."

Slashdot | AOL's $299 PC

Slashdot | AOL's $299 PC: "Internet.com reports 'Looking to attract households that still aren't online, AOL is offering new customers a $299 PC system if they sign a one-year $23.90 dial-up Internet service contract.' A click through AOL's ecommerce site reveals the the specs as 1.7 GHz Celeron with 256 MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive, 56K modem, 10/100ethernet card, 17' monitor and Lexmark printer. The PC is running Windows XP, and includes 'AOL Office Powered by Sun'. Also of note is the fact that the $299 appears to be financed at around 22%. The math ( (12*23.90) 299 ) seems to suggest that you can get a $699 computer for $585.80 plus any finance charges. Setting aside the question of whether this is a good deal or not, one has to wonder whether AOL is desperate for new customers and resorting to bribery, or just progressing to the next step of branding. With this action AOL controls everything from the OS to the Word Processor to the web sites their customers browse."

sounds like a good deal!!!

Should ISP subscribers pay for P2P? | CNET News.com

Should ISP subscribers pay for P2P?: "A trade group representing Canadian songwriters and music publishers argued in front of that country's Supreme Court on Wednesday that ISPs should pay into a nationwide pool--similar to a tax now imposed on blank tapes and CDs--to compensate copyright holders for widespread music downloading. "

Nanotech bill gets Bush's approval: " President Bush approved a bill that will provide $3.7 billion to nanotechnology projects over four years. "

meet box here we come!!!

Slashdot | Economic Analysis of the Nanotech Future

Slashdot | Economic Analysis of the Nanotech Future: "Economic Historian and Berkeley Professor Brad DeLong has created an analysis on his Web Log on the economic implications of Nanotechnology. His observations are based on what previously happened with the Industrial Revolution (and other economic shifts in general) and using this to speculate what Nanotech will do to the economy: who wins (technical/knowledge workers), who loses (manufacturing), and what changes (costs of products)."

Slashdot | California Bans Genegineered Fish

Slashdot | California Bans Genegineered Fish: "California regulators have announced that they are blocking the sale of genetically engineered fish. The arguments of the regulators seem to echo some of those discussed earlier here."

no more glowing gold fish :( !!!

Slashdot | TunA and Socializing via MP3 Player: "Wired is carrying a story about a new program in development called TunA. It will allow you to view other users playlists on their MP3 Player and also stream the music to your Player. Works through WiFi so it limits to mostly laptops for now. "

sounds like itunes ;) !!!

Slashdot | Mame on the Nokia N-Gage: "The Nokia N-Gage has now joined the club of consoles for whom the excellent MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) was ported to. Staffan Ulfberg has ported EMame over to the N-Gage - the emulator supports a mass of games"

wahoooo, tron deadly disk handheld!!!

Jack White almost joins The Stooges: "The White Stripes star was in the frame for a collaboration after the garage legends reformed to play a number of tracks on frontman Iggy Pop's new album, 'Skull Ring'."

Spiritualized to release a second album of rarities : "Almost all of the 26 tracks are not available on any previous Spiritualized album, and date from 1995 to 2002, taking in the sessions immediately before this year's 'Amazing Grace'."

Slashdot | President Bush To Call For Return To Moon?: "According to the National Review: 'When President Bush delivers a speech recognizing the centenary of heavier-than-air-powered flight December 17, it is expected that he will proffer a bold vision of renewed space flight, with at its center a return to the moon, perhaps even establishment of a permanent presence there. If he does, it will mean that he has decided the United States should once again become a space-faring nation.' Here's hoping. The article also includes talk of nuclear engines and using the moon as a testbed for going to Mars."

Slashdot | Japanese Train Sets A Speed Record Of 581 kph: "Last night, on December 2, a high-speed Japanese train set a new record of 581 kph, breaking its own previous record. The new Maglev high speed had real passengers on board this time. They proved that the distance between Osaka and Tokyo can be covered in one hour's time. However, we wouldn't see real trains for a while now since the cost is prohibitively expensive at this time. However, they expect that the cost would come down over the next 20 years. This seems to be the future of transportation, at least in Japan. Here is a detailed article from The Japan Times."

Slashdot | Nanotechnology: Are Molecular Assemblers Possible?: "Two experts in the field of nanotechnology, K. Eric Drexler, Ph.D., cofounder of the Foresight Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., and the person who coined the term 'nanotechnology,' and Richard E. Smalley, Ph.D., a professor at Rice University and winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, exchanged open letters about 'molecular assemblers' -- devices capable of positioning atoms and molecules for precisely defined reactions in almost any environment. These letters are making the -- long -- cover story of the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News. At the end of this rich exchange of four letters, they still disagree about the issue. Drexler thinks 'molecular assemblers' are possible while Smalley denies it. Who is right? Don't count on me to give an answer. This summary contains some forceful quotes from the original letters."

Group seeks political power for P2P | CNET News.com

Group seeks political power for P2P : "A new nonprofit organization aimed at welding file-swapping and open-source computing advocates into a political force is launching online this week. "

Ananova - Ballet featuring Radiohead may play in London : "Radiohead hope to play live when a ballet production they're providing music for comes to London."

Rotation Archive

Rotation Archive:
Clone Wars Micro Series
D4
Friendster
HeadPhoneRecord
Hüsker Dü
Red v Blue
Sigur Rós
The Beach Boys
The Clash
The Postal Service
Trail Of Dead
Transistor Lounge

Ananova - Marilyn Manson faces stage act criminal inquiry: "Marilyn Manson is under criminal investigation in Switzerland after a religious group made a formal complaint about his stage act."

Slashdot | Who Owns The Facts?: "With all of the furor over the Patriot Act a truly scary bill that expands the rights of corporations at the expense of individuals was quietly introduced into congress in October. In Feist v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co. the Supreme Court ruled that a mere collection of facts can't be copyrighted. But H.R. 3261, the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act neatly sidesteps the copyright question and allows treble damages to be levied against anyone who uses information that's in a database that a corporation asserts it owns. This is an issue that crosses the political spectrum. Left-leaning organizations like the American Library Association oppose the bill and so do arch-conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly, who wrote an impassioned column exposing the bill for what it is the week after it was introduced."

Sony ships blue laser optical drives: "Sony Electronics on Monday said it is shipping blue laser-based optical storage drives and related products to equipment manufacturers and system integrators. The new Professional Disc for Data products include media cartridges that store up to 23GB of data, Sony said. The new devices should appeal to customers seeking more capacity than is possible with 9.1GB magneto-optical discs, according to Sony. Magneto-optical discs are used in drives that feature both a laser and a magnetic read-write head. Sony said its new technology is ideal for applications such as document and medical imaging, e-mail archiving and multimedia projects"

IKEA: super dope site!!!

Sony Global - QRIO

QRIO: abio's human :)

Slashdot | Will TiVo Destroy Ad-Supported TV?: "According to a column in Television Week, the increasing popularity of digital video recorders will actually cause a decline in ad revenues in the next few years. 'The rollout of DVR-type technology ... will reach critical mass with 11 percent penetration of U.S. television households by 2005 and 15 percent by 2006...As a result, five-year earnings growth for TV station groups could fall from as much as 10 percent to as low as 4 percent.' Why? DVR users skip at least two-thirds of commercials and the 'collective impact represents a threat to revenue and cash flow growth that cannot be offset ... Fifteen percent DVR penetration implies that 9.1 percent of all ads would not be watched and that advertisers would be overpaying by 9.1 percent, or $6.6 billion as calculated from projected 2006 total ad revenues of $72 billion.' And another business model goes down in flames."

REDCAT: The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater

REDCAT: The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater @ Walt Disney Concert Hall!!!

The Darkness | Men What Do Rock, Baby

just saw The Darkness on mtv europe's awards show. oh my god!!! these fuckers are amazing!!!

Slashdot | Lost Disney Rides Recreated in CGI: "Disney closes the rides, but the CGI geeks love them too much to let them disappear. 'Adventures thru Inner Space,' the Disneyland ride in which you shrunk down to the size of a molecule, ran from 1967 to 1985. Atommobiles.com is a fan site which includes this elaborate CGI recreation. The Walt Disney World version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride closed in 1967. Virtual Toad is in the process of re-building it.' I was born after 1967, and I've ridden MTWR many times, so perhaps they're talking about an older version."

Red vs Blue: dope!!!

Online Status Indicator for AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN and Yahoo: "is a service that lets you put a small image on a web page to show if you are online on AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Jabber, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. Use the default icons or create your own status icons."

JavaScrypt: Browser-Based Cryptography Tools: "JavaScrypt runs entirely in your browser--nothing is sent to any Web site when you use it. You can, if you wish, download JavaScrypt to your own computer and use it when not connected to the Internet. "

Slashdot | Economics of File-Sharing: "The Red Herring's got an article by me about the economics of file-sharing, which argues that the music industry should provide insurance...against itself. This is because the contract listeners sign with labels is risky - it lets labels shirk on their end of the bargain. That's why file-sharing isn't just 'theft', it's risk-sharing. The original, longer, version of the paper is here, which argues that this a situation economists call double moral hazard."

The Shower Project

The Shower Project: just briliant!!!

Scotch v Whiskey: learn all you ever didn't want to know :)

Mutant mice chill out on ecstasy: "Mice that lack a key protein stay cool after ingesting ecstasy1. Therapies to treat potentially fatal overheating associated with the club drug may follow."

wonder if these bloskers can be added to a mdma dose?!?

Slashdot | MPAA, RIAA Seek Permanent Antitrust Exemption: "Webcasters sued RIAA two months ago in an antitrust case for anti-competitive behavior. The response? An exemption from antitrust laws. Today's Register tells about RIAA/MPAA's efforts to get just such an exemption written into law. They could become permanently exempt from such a suit, if the bill passes. They snuck it into a bill sponsored by Orrin Hatch called EnFORCE Act (Enhancing Federal Obscenity Reporting and Copyright Enforcement Act of 2003). Orrin Hatch says this bill contains 'First... an antitrust exemption in the Copyright Act [for] record companies and music publishers' Why? Because of 'market realities.' Which ones? The 12-year-old girl? The 15-year-old girl? Or the 66-year-old Grandma with a Mac?"

Slashdot | MPAA Sued Over DVD Screener Ban: "Fourteen small movie houses are suing the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) trying to stop the ban on DVD 'screeners'. 'It will chill the financing of independent films by limiting the awards they can receive', say the plaintiffs, who include Talking Wall Pictures, Sandcastle 5 Productions and Salty Features. They feel they are being treated differently because several 'specialty' indy film shops are still allowed to send out 'numbered, encoded videocassettes' to Oscar voters. This ban was issued by MPAA President Jack Valenti initially to stop the illegal distribution of DVD screeners on the Internet."

Wired News: Congress Expands FBI Spying Power: "A provision of an intelligence spending bill will expand the power of the FBI to subpoena business documents and transactions from a broader range of businesses -- everything from libraries to travel agencies to eBay -- without first seeking approval from a judge. "

Test Your Digital IQ: see how you stack up. thx tree for the link on your blog!

i got a 160 but it think it mis scored atleast 2 questions. i was going to point it out to the authors but they seem to have no email link. eithter they don't like criticism or have low digital iqs!!!

:: Douglas Rushkoff and PsychicTV : The next incarnation of PsychicTV - PTV3 - will debut at the Coral Room in NYC on December 5. According to the press release:

"The line-up ov PTV3 is Douglas Rushkoff, Lady Jaye, Electric Eddie, Isaiah Singer,Alice Genese, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. With video sculptures presented by HONEYGUN LABS, and live sound mixed by Scott Reiter. This event is cosponsored by BBgun Magazine whose new issue features Breyer P-Orridge and Psychic TV ideas. With host Lyle Derek,deejay sets by Nick from the YEAH YEAH YEAHS and more."

what ever happened to fred? good luck kids we missed you!!!

Recycling TV Ads: "According to this article in the Denver Post a young entrepreneur has gotten into the business of recycling junked TV commercials for clients with low budgets. TV ads cost anywhere between $50,000 and $1 million and small businesses usually cannot afford an original production. The company, Thought Equity, wipes off all references to the earlier company and makes the junked commerical ready for reselling with a price tag less than $10,000. Also businesses that want their ads on the air as soon as possible are approaching the company seeking recycled ads because producing original ads takes time."

New Supersonic Jet Test Less Than Successful: "The BBC is reporting in this story that the first test of Japan's supersonic jet didn't go quite as planned when it crashed into the ground seconds after takeoff on its test rig. It looks like a successor to the world's only supersonic passenger jet, Concorde (built jointly by the British and French in the 1960s) is still some way off.' Reuters has more pictures.

word!

Decoding the Algorithm for Pop Music: "Over at Modplug, they have an article describing a mathematical algorithm to predict if a given song will become a hit or not. Paraphrasing the article, a Spanish company called Polyphonic HMI has made a business out of analyzing song submissions and predicting their 'hitability'. Here's their description of the algorithm and here's their FAQ. They claim to have predicted the commercial success of Norah Jones through this method. Here's my question (which is not fully answered in their FAQ): if they (music company executives) are currently using the algorithm to screen submissions for their 'hitability', can we (people who listen to music) use the same algorithm to reject recycled tunes and encourage originality? I for one, still like the fresh talent and community feel of the tracking scene."

the other day my professor said no one has "ears" and there are not "hitmen" but masybe there are they just go by the names of asciq, big mac, and deep blue!!!

The Register

DVD Jon Unlocks iTunes' Locked Music: "Jon Lech Johansen, better known as DVD Jon for his authorship of the DeCSS decryption software, has turned his attention to Apple's locked music format."

it appears jon has created a stream ripper / audio hijack like program that while saving removes all drm header info. for now the program is not entirely useful becase resulting files can't be played without a valid header, but as a proof of concept it is interesting. the theory, i guess, is that one could build such an application that writes the new unprotected file with out a header containing drm and instead replaces it with a valid header without drm.

seems to not bode well for the idea of locked files of anykind let alone music!!!

Vivendi to Destroy MP3.com archive: " Vivendi Universal recently sold the MP3.com domain to CNET. That in and of itself is a yawner. MP3.com doesn't really fit the Vivendi profit model, so it's understandable that they're dumping it. Why this matters is they're not selling the archive, containing more than a million songs by 250,000 artists. As of December 3rd, they're destroying it."

RIAA Threatens 15-Year-Old: "It looks like the RIAA is still going after teenagers--this time, 15-year old Megan Dickinson was caught sharing 1,100 files. At the maximum statutory damages for copyright infringement, this makes Megan's liability at least $825,000, at most a mere $165,000,000. Naturally, the RIAA benevolently offered a $3,500 settlement to avoid these moderate, legally sanctioned damages. As we can hardly forget, the RIAA has already used this technique to settle with a 12 year old. Megan's unsurprising take: 'Yeah, it seems ridiculous.'"

iPod-Jacked: "In a story on Wired, entitled Feel Free to Jack Into My iPod, an iPod owner shares experiences he has had with other iPod owners, namely the plugging of his headphones into a stranger's jack. It began when a woman in her 30's walked up to him while he was on a walk, unplugged her headphone jack from her iPod, and motioned for him to plug his in. They then listened to each other's music for about 30 seconds. He has then shared with about a dozen iPod listeners, with most of the strangers reciprocating. According to the article, the practice has also cropped up in other communities. Listeners acquire tastes for different kinds of music, just like on internet/LAN file sharing networks. An interesting read."

Yahoo Reminds Users That 'No' Doesn't Mean 'No': "Looks like Yahoo is resetting their 'Marketing Preferences' again. In an email I received from Yahoo today it states, 'Starting January 1, 2004, Yahoo! will begin to send you messages, via email or postal mail, about our own products and services. You can control the types of messages you receive by visiting your Marketing Preferences at any time'. It also states, 'And, as always, you can delete your Yahoo! account altogether at any time, for any reason, by going to the deletion page.' I deleted my Yahoo account a month ago. I guess they are lying, because I'm still getting their SPAM."

sounds like its time for joe to get 17200 on their ass!!!

AppleCare for iPod: "Apple is now offering AppleCare for the iPod from their online Apple Store. The new service from Apple costs $59.00 and offers two years of coverage for the 'iPod and its original included accessories (excluding the carrying case) that are defective in materials or workmanship or for battery depletion of 50 percent or more from original specification'."

Radiohead To Headline Coachella 2004?: "RADIOHEAD are strongly rumoured to headline the COACHELLA FESTIVAL next year in INDIO, CALIFORNIA."

UPDATE:
tom york via urb via jenn, radiohead will be playing the opening slot before headliner the PIXIES!!! ;)

Bill Joy On His New G5: "Rock Solid": "In an interview with Wired, Bill Joy (ex-Sun) says that he 'just got a new Mac with two 2-gigahertz processors, 8 gigabytes of memory, and a half a terabyte of internal disk.' Joy admits being underwhelmed with Linux and has even less time for Windows but with regard to Mac OSX he says 'Mac OSX is a rock-solid system that's beautifully designed. I much prefer it to Linux.'"

Techno DJ Is Hot, Hot, Hawtin: "Based in Berlin but constantly on the move, Hawtin juggles DJing, recording and running a record label with the help of a couple of laptops, several cell phones and a network of business partners based all over the world. "

SoundScan Adds More Stores: "Nielsen SoundScan said Monday that it added four online music stores to its tracking service, a move that will increase the survey's accuracy in following the nascent but fast-growing industry. "

Recording Industry's Unexpected Benefit from P2P: "Yahoo / AP is reporting that the record industry is using the files traded on Kazza et al. to track where music is popular. It turns out that they even pay for this information. 'It's the most vast and scalable sample audience that the world has ever seen'' Now if they could only use this data to somehow put out better music..."

sounds like non-infringing uses to me!!!

Tokyoflash LED watches , Directly from Tokyo Japan

DMCA Doesn't Protect Garage Door Remotes: "A federal judge in Illinois has ruled that a univeral remote garage door opener does not violate the DMCA. 'Consumers have a reasonable expectation that they can replace the original product with a competing universal product without violating federal law,' Judge Rebecca M. Pallmeyer said. 'This was an attempt to expand the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to where it had never gone before,' said Andrea B. Greene, attorney for privately held Skylink, the manufacture of the garage door opener in question. '[This is] very good news for consumers.' Additional coverage at Wired and Security Focus."

The Elegant Universe, Now Available Online: "PBS has made available online all three hours of the NOVA program on unified theory. Formats are QuickTime and RealVideo with each hour broken up into eight chapters each.' I watched the whole thing, and while it's clearly for a lay audience (no math required), it was fun and informative. I was pleased to note that dissenting views on whether string theory was science were presented, and even brief discussion of what constitutes science. "

First Reproducing Artificial Virus Created: "USAToday is reporting that Craig Venter's research group has synthesized a virus from scratch and that it 'became bioactive' (started reproducing). Particularly interesting is that it only took them two weeks to build, rather than several years that previous attempts had taken."

New Animated Dr. Who Series: "To celebrate the doctor's fourtieth anniversary, the BBC and Cosgrove Hall Films are webcasting a fully-animated adventure starring Richard E. Grant. You can watch the first episode of Scream of the Shalka and new episodes will be launched every Thursday. Enjoy.' It requires Flash 4, but also looks pretty damn cool."

Yahoo! Mail - markfriedlander@yahoo.com

Quote of the day: "How do you know when your drunk? Perhaps when u spill your drink all over the bathroom floor - flail"

Laying Down the Virtual Law: "A collection of the brightest thinkers and best designers of games like EverQuest, and metaverses like There and Second Life, will be talking in New York starting Thursday. They're gathering for the first State of Play: Law, Games and Virtual Worlds conference. "

ITunes Undermines Social Security: "As if it weren't hard enough to be cool already, Apple Computer has introduced a new way for people to ruin their social standing."

pretty crazy implications i never considered, but feel free to check mine, i stand by everything in my crate!!!

Ritz Disposable Digital Camera Hacked: "The $10.99 Dakota reusable digital camera announced in July was usefully hacked on November 6. First attempts to extract picture data took 10 hours to read out 16MB, but new code for Linux and Mac and Windows lets you get pictures quickly over USB and view or print them without Ritz's help (and with fewer of your $$)."

Bombardier's Hot Wheel: "Following the release of the Segway, Bombardier (the makers of such things as Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles) announce their prototype Embrio - a motorcycle-like unicycle that uses gyroscopes to balance itself and runs off hydrogen fuel cells. It also features a landing gear that automatically retracts once you reach 12 m.p.h. The story is at Forbes. You can also get more information directly from their website."

CMU Unveils Robot Hall Of Fame: "Carnegie Mellon University has just unveiled the Robot Hall of Fame. Along with that announcement, MSNBC has an article about the first honorary inductees, including R2D2 and Mars Pathfinder. You also have the chance to nominate other robots."

The World of the Droids: "Long before their famous adventures with the Rebel Alliance, R2-D2 and C-3PO were assigned to many different masters by the Intergalactic Droid Agency.

In this animated series, the droids encounter many unforgettable people: greedy villains set on conquering planets, terrible space pirates, and brave heroes."

Radiohead To Run BBC: "They will run digital service BBC 6 Music for a week over the Christmas period, choosing music, artists and programmes."

Disordered Assemblies: "Jim Tour, of Rice University says 'Our research shows that ordered precision isn't a prerequisite for computing. It is possible to make memory circuits out of disordered systems.' The article on www.e4engineering.com says the team has made 'NanoCells', self assembled devices made from gold nanowires and organic conductive molecules. These NanoCells are the first devices of their kind to be made into working microelectronic devices, apparently.' Yep. Let an untold number of machines try to create NanoCells, and statistics says you'll find the most efficient kind. "

Star Wars: Clone Wars on Cartoon Network!!!

Captured! By Robots: Videos, don't ask. just go see!!!

iTunes Music Store - 'Coolest Invention of 2003': "Time Magazine has just named the iTunes Music Store as their Top Coolest Invention of 2003. Also among this year's favorites are 'fish-skin bikinis, a new love drug, the car that parks itself, and the invisible man'."

one word: cupertino!!!

A Peek Inside the Secret World: "Fun can be discovered at the new International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C."

:)

Matrix 3 Breaks Box Office Records: "The final part of The Matrix trilogy has taken £120 million at cinemas around the world in a record-breaking opening weekend."

Not bad since imdb reports a budget of $110 million.

Viruses Are Good for You: "Spawn of the devil, computer viruses may help us realize the full potential of the Net."

The Psychology of Virus Writers: "BBC Technology reports on the psychology of virus writers and the work of security researcher Sarah Gordon, who has been studying this area for 20 years. ''The stereotype that virus writers are all young teenage boys with no social life, hiding in their basement is not accurate,' she said. In contrast, she said, most virus creators are typical for their age, are on good terms with friends and family and are often contributors to their local community.' The story is an interesting contrast to a previous BBC report about why people write viruses."

MIT's Sensetable: "Sensetable is a system that wirelessly tracks the positions of multiple objects on a flat display surface quickly and accurately. The tracked objects have a digital state, which can be controlled by physically modifying them using dials or tokens."

i love new guis. looks like media lab is still rockin it!!!

O'Grady's PowerPage - Your Mobile Technology Destination

PowerPage says: "Wireless Number Portability comes on November 24th"

WHAHOOOO your all clear kid!!!

Mammoth Is Open: We have a base of 2-3 feet, with Discovery Chair and Broadway Express and now ThunderBound Express operating today! Face Lift and Stump Alley are expected to be added for this weekend!!!

let the season begin!!!

Penguins for President?

Penguins for President?: "Is there any significance to what Web server/platform combinations 2004 presidential candidates are using?"

for the super geek but kinda cool!!! :)

Playstation Portable Pics Pop Up: "Sony Computer Entertainment chief Ken Kutaragi yesterday revealed the company's prototype design for its upcoming Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld gaming console."

BRMC Forced To Call A Halt To Leeds Show: BMRC litteraly blows the buinding apart!!!

McDonald's To Give Away iTunes Songs: "Apparently, McDonald's is going to start giving away iTunes songs. Except instead of the hundred million that Pepsi will offer, the fast food giant is planning to offer a billion. Look for me rumaging through the trash at your neighborhood Micky D's.' Look for new signs saying '1 billion songs downloaded."

Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence: "I spotted on Ain't it cool news that Mamoru Oshii's new anime Innocence Ghost In The Shell 2's website is now open! The trailer is beautiful!"

Slashdot | Killing Cancer With a Virus

Killing Cancer With A Virus: "The U.S. National Cancer Institute has just decided to fund multiple human clinical studies to test the reovirus. This naturally occuring virus has a remarkable ability to infect and kill cancer cells, without affecting normal, healthy cells. Here is a before and after picture of a terminal patient with an actively growing neck tumour that had failed to respond to conventional treatments. This tumour was eliminated with only a single injection of the Reovirus. Researchers at Oncolytics Biotech have shown that the Reovirus can kill many types of cancer, including breast, prostate, pancreatic and brain tumours. Human clinical trial results indicate that there are no safety concerns and that the reovirus shrinks and even eliminates tumours injected with this virus. Numerous other third party studies show that the reovirus should be an important discovery in the treatment of 2/3 of all human cancers."

holly shit, you must see this!!!

Xbox To Switch To PowerPC: "Microsoft's next-generation Xbox will ditch its Intel chip in favor of the same kind of chip used in Apple's Macs"

first they take on cray and make 'big mac' (currently #3 in the world), take on rio and sony making the ipod (#1 in the world), take on the big 5 making itms (#1 in the us), now they may back door the xbox!!!

Spammed By Bluetooth: "BBC News is reporting a new craze - using Bluetooth to send unsolicited messages. Apparently lots of phone owners are leaving Bluetooth switched on, meaning that anyone within range can send a short message. The phenomenon is known as 'bluejacking'. It's not clear at present that this is being done by anyone other than pranksters, but one can't help wondering, how long before commercial spammers catch on."

zipping's next!!!

Slashdot | MIT's Music Net Shut Down Over License Issues

MIT's Music Net Shut Down Over License Issues: "MIT's LAMP music-over-cable initiative has been shut down due to licensing concerns, as reported on The Boston Globe. Ars Technica has a good summary of the story. It appears that Loudeye did not have the rights to sell music to MIT for distribution over cable, although they apparently assured MIT that they did in fact have those rights. Murky, unexplored legal quagmire or RIAA influenced revisionism?"

Microsoft Voice Command: " We had it installed on a HP iPaq H3970 running Windows Mobile 2003. It brings to the Pocket PC world that feeling of 'Star Trek', some of the stuff we used to dream of while watching the movies on TV. Like Mr Spock saying 'computer, where is Captain Kirk now?'"

Terahertz Scanners See Inside Sealed Packages: "Japanese scientists have demonstrated a system that detects the presence of illicit drugs that are concealed within an envelope. Tests to date have shown that the imaging system can successfully detect and identify a range of substances including ecstasy (MDMA) and methamphetamine. The researchers are now working with companies to develop a mail screening system that could suit use in post offices and airports."

Elliott Smith's Idea Of Heaven Was Modest: "he died Tuesday, Oct. 21, of a single, self-inflicted stab-wound to the chest. Like so many rock deaths, his was a long time in the making, but no less sad or shocking for all the warnings that preceded it. 'Give me one reason not to do it,' Smith sang on his final album, which now remains unfinished. "

:(

More on 'Big Mac': "In preliminary performance tests carried out on 2,112 of the system's 2,200 processors, the so-called 'Big Mac' cluster achieved 8.1 teraflops, or trillions of operations per second, according to figures published on Wednesday. The system is still being tuned, and final results won't be announced until next month, but the performance figure would place the Big Mac at No. 4 on the list of the world's fastest 500 supercomputers.

The figures are remarkable partly because Macintosh hardware has long been absent from the top 500 list, but also because of the Big Mac's cost. In a world where the top machines traditionally cost $100 million to $250 million, and take several years to build, the Mac-based system cost just over $5 million, and was put together in about a month. "

thats what i'm sayin', big up cupertino!!!

G5 Cluster: "The New York Times provides preliminary numbers for the fully assembled PowerMac G5 Cluster which Virginia Tech assembled this month.

The preliminary numbers rank the G5 Cluster as the 4th in the world in performance with 7.41 trillion operations per second . Official results will not be reported until November, and Tech reports that they are 'still finalizing their results and that the final speed number might be significantly higher.'

The relative cost of the entire assembly is significantly less then previous solutions."

word!!!

Sony Ericsson: P900, need more be said?!?

Linux. The Future Is Open.: "If Linux were a person, he would be growing, fast. Taught by the best. Gaining wisdom beyond his years. And sharing. He would be in business, education, government and homes. He would be a nine-year-old boy changing the world."

looks like ibm is going for game set match! this ad (90 sec, full cut) is an absolute must watch!!!

Big Thinkers, KurzweilAI.net hosts lots of great writings from thoes with big brains!!!

AI Sues For Its Life In Mock Trial: "Attorney Dr. Martine Rothblatt filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent a corporation from disconnecting an intelligent computer in a mock trial at the International Bar Association conference in San Francisco. Assuming Moore's law holds, ethics might be in for some major revisions in a couple decades. High-end computer systems may surpass the computational ability of the standard human brain within 20 years. In this mock trial, an AI asks a lawyer for help after learning of plans to shut it down and replace its core hardware, essentially killing it. The transcript provides an in-depth look at what could become a real issue in the future."

i have been saying this was gona be the next big thing...here we go!!!

Universities Developing Internal, Controlled P2P System, "Penn State along with MIT and the University of British Columbia are developing a P2P application (called LionShare in the PSU incarnation) to be used only by students, faculty and staff. According to this article at the Penn State Daily Collegian, the file-sharing program, which wouldn't be completed until 2005 at the earliest, would log each transaction, allowing illegal use of the network to be traced. The purpose of this is to lessen the load on servers for tasks such as professors sending files to students, thereby decreasing the amount of manpower necessary to administer them. Funding will come in part by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, as well as from the students' information technology fee."

not sure i like the tracking, but what's important to note is p2p is basically just like load balancing, about time some one else explained this. i have been bringing it up in my law classes for years but seems lost on most. p2p is just an architecture!!!

Supreme Court Will Hear Pledge of Allegiance Case, "As reported in this CNN.com article, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case next year (most likely in June) involving whether public schools can lead students in a 'voluntary' recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. At issue in this case is whether the inclusion of the phrase 'under God' in the pledge constitutes an establishment of religion on the part of the state and an infringement on students' religious liberty when it is recited in the public school setting. This case comes to the Supreme Court as an appeal of the June 2002 ruling made by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals--a decision that led to one of the most active stories in Slashdot history.' The CNN article's emphasis on voluntariness -- 'whether schoolchildren can be allowed to recite the Pledge voluntarily' -- is grossly misleading, almost propagandistic. Most states have laws requiring the pledge to be recited every day as a class activity, and these are the laws in question. In theory students shouldn't be punished for failing to recite along with the rest of the class (due to a previous Supreme Court decision). No state has a law prohibiting anyone from reciting the pledge voluntarily, whenever they want to."

Transmeta Introduces The Efficeon, "Information Week and others are reporting on Transmeta's new Efficeon chip. 1.1 GHz, 7 Watts, 1MB cache, 130 nanometer technology. A marked improvement over their previous generation. Let's hope they can capitalize on this before Intel starts filling the same niche. Looks like a nice product, Linus and Co."

thanks linus, keep on keepin' on!!!

Does Your Company Censor the Content for You?, "A few days ago a friend of mine and I were discussing this story. He was trying to make a joke about some content in the article that might be considered 'inappropriate' (the bit concerning 22,000 files). I didn't get his joke because the interesting bits weren't there. With a little investigation, I determined that my company's proxy server was delivering a modified version. Is this a common practice? Has anyone else noticed something similar?'


'In this case, words were not just filtered out, but the text had been changed so that the document still made sense. I suspect that someone monitoring a log and suddenly saw a document show up a bunch of times with the offending text in it. Then they modified the cached copy (I was viewing it a day after it hit the Slashdot front page) to make the alarm go away.

I have mix feelings about this, on one hand, even though the text in this case was meant as a joke and the content wasn't very offensive, I was using company equipment. But on the other hand, this company is a government regulated entity which isn't above pressuring its employees to vote the way management thinks is best (whether it is or not is a question for history). So I guess I'm scared that the company could push an agenda though 'stealth channels'. I realize that the information I read online can't always be trusted, but there are many people who don't know that. It's probably important to note that, while there is a policy of acceptable computer use, there has never been a notice that they might change the content we see online."

be afraid!!!

China Sends First Taikonaut To Space, "Space.com reports that China has just successfully launched its first manned space mission. 'Blasting off from a remote space base in the Gobi Desert atop a Long March 2F rocket, a single Chinese astronaut named Yang Liwei is on his way to circle the planet every 90 minutes aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. As a result, China has become only the third nation on Earth capable of independently launching its citizens into orbit. ' Perhaps this will kick the US space program back into gear?' aerojad points to this Reuters report, about which he says 'The article is short on details, aside from 'Xinhua said the craft carried astronaut Yang Liwei, 38. The launch on Wednesday, 42 years after the Soviet Union put the first man into space, marked a milestone for China's secretive space programme, which analysts say has its sights set on a manned mission to the moon.' The mission is due to end in 21 hours.' zxm adds a link to China Daily's coverage, and puiwah to a story on MSNBC."

maybe now we'll start thinking about getting off our arses!!!

142 Directors Appeal MPAA to Repeal Screener Ban: "Nearly 150 directors, including heavy hitters such as Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Redford, and others have sent a letter to Jack Valenti & the MPAA. In the letter, published in the Friday issue of Variety, they call for an end to the ban on screeners, suggesting that the lack of screeners will harm the potential of movies that take risks and rely on critical acclaim. Despite the star power behind those signing on the letter, and after a conference call with 3 studio executives, what was the MPAA's response? '...the screener policy remains as it was originally announced.' Will this mean an end to Academy Awards going to movies that open in only 100 theaters nationwide, or will it take an entire studio chain such as Universal or MGM to knock some sense into Valenti's mind?" take that jack!!!

Online Journalists are ISPs?, "Long-time C|Net reporter and Politech operator Declan McCullagh has been contacted by the FBI, according to his most recent article. The FBI requests that he retain all records regarding his talks with Adrian Lamo. The problem? The FBI's letter was sent under the auspices of a law which applies only to internet service providers. Says Declan, 'Perhaps I'd be immune from the FBI's demands if I used an Underwood No. 5 typewriter instead.' Does writing online now qualify one as an ISP?" i have been saying this for years!!!

Possible PS2 Price Portent Pondered, "Could Nintendo soon be sharing shelf space at the $99 rack? According to an article on IGN.com, an internal source at Target claims to have received printed fliers with the Playstation 2 listed at $99. If you remember from an earlier story from September, it was an advance newspaper ad from Target (again), as well as a leaked scan of a Wal-Mart ad, that told the world about the GameCube's price before it happened. Given how the GameCube is outselling the PS2 & XBox - would a price drop so low be so unexpected? One last tidbit to contemplate: Sony is ready to roll the manufacturing plants for their smaller 90 nanometer PS2 CPU. Maybe that price drop isn't so unbelievable after all..." WOW!!!

EMusic sold; Unlimited MP3 Downloads Nixed, "EMusic, one of the oldest digital music subscription services still operating, is being sold by parent company Vivendi Universal after years of operating in the shadow of younger rivals."

End of an era!!!

Student Faces Suit Over Key To CD Locks, "SunnComm Technologies, a developer of CD antipiracy technology, said Thursday that it will likely sue a Princeton student who early this week showed how to evade the company's copy protection by pushing a computer's Shift key."

this is getting more ridiculous by the day!!!

The Place To Go To Find The Place To Go From Your Chair, fucking finally!!!

Just in case. Flight #2004 on southwest can be reached by usual methods to get at my mobile. Be with sunny ht and d if mine is not functioning.

Napster

Napster bits, fucking briliant!!!

pictures of you has been licenced by hp. here's to you robert!!!

a little catch up on the last few days. jeremy appears from the past. cat visits. radiohead is no longer in the worst live act ever category. started at wonderland. anna christina eric thank you your all bomb! having really good time learning tons. meeting dope new kids. school good. kids good. interviewing at lions gate next week for spring internship and cred. digital rights and tunes con with passman!

New Solar Cells 20 Times Cheaper: "STMicroelectronics has announced a new generation of photocells made from organic plastics. Over a typical 20-year life span of a solar cell, a single produced watt should cost as little as $0.20, compared with the current $4. See also article @ cnn.com. On a related note, this article @ IEEE discusses new improved LED technology by the same team."

this ones for paul, very cool!!!

Innocent File-Sharers Could Appear Guilty?, "New Scientist has an article about what could be a promising defense strategy for people targeted by the RIAA. Basically, anyone on the Gnutella network can frame other users by making it look like someone is hosting RIAA music, even though they're not. Therefore, the RIAA's 'evidence' against file sharers is theoretically unreliable and wouldn't stand as good a chance of holding up in court. No mention of whether this has anything to do with the RIAA's eagerness to settle the lawsuits out of court. The article is based on a research paper posted anonymously to a web hosting service in Australia."

interesting!!!

pure design, dope design, thx tree!!!

In The Trenches, dope blog with some really cool fotogs!!!

RIAA's case of mistaken identity?, "The trade association confirmed Wednesday that it had withdrawn its suit against Boston-area senior citizen Sarah Ward, who claimed that she could not possibly have been involved in the file-swapping incident attributed to her. Among other objections, Ward is a Macintosh computer user, and there is no Apple version of the Kazaa file-trading software she is supposed to have used, according to attorneys who have spoken to the woman."

wow glad that the dmca and Comcast are requiring probable cause!!! :(

MS Psychologist on How We Read, "In another follow-up to Can You Raed Tihs? Microsoft's Kevin Larson, a cognitive psychologist, dissected the main hypotheses on how we read at ATypI's Vancouver Typography conference. 'Kevin supports the 'parallel letter recognition' model. People don't he says, recognise whole-word shapes. Instead the recognise each of the letter components and then make a series of best-guesses on the information returned to assemble, first, phonemes and then words.' So what about the case of patterned re-ordering, aka the counter example to Can You Raed Tihs?"

this explains why people can understand me when i type!!! :)

Ultra High Definition Video, "Engineers at the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) have developed a prototype ultra high definition video (UHDV) system. How good is it? When it was shown to the public, some viewers experienced nausea because of the ultra realistic visual effect of speed without the usual physical sensation of movement. 18 minutes of UHDV takes up 3.5 terabytes. 4,000 horizontal scanlines. Excellent."

Can you say dope!!!

Magnatune: try before you buy MP3 music, "We're a record label. But we're not evil.

We call it 'try before you buy.' It's the shareware model applied to music. Listen to hundreds of MP3'd albums from our artists. Or try our genre-based radio stations. If you like what you hear, buy our music online for as little as $5 an album or license our music for commercial use. Artists get a full 50% of the purchase price. And unlike most record labels, our artists keep their rights to their music.

Founded by musicians, for musicians.

No major label connections.

We are not evil. "

sounds very very interesting!!!

British rock star Robert Palmer dies at 54

British rock star Robert Palmer dies at 54, :(

Kazaa Sues Record Labels, CNN is reporting that Kazaa is suing the record companies, claiming that they used an illegal client to log in to the P2P network - an interesting twist." The lawsuit also claims "...efforts to combat piracy on Kazaa violated terms for using the network!!!

see i knew some one would bring up misuse of the network, they have to be violating some licence or computer intrusion statute. just haven't had time to think it out yet!!!

Mac Viruses By The Numbers, Word Macro: 553, Classic Mac: 26, OS X: Zero. Now the methodology has a few flaws but the point is well taken and one people should heed. Even if the math is off by a 30% there is still such a difference, makes one wonder why we have a gov't that until recently used m$ in place of mac on desktops, in the battle field, on battles ships (see earlier posts), and looks like they closed down the m$ driven visa application system this week too. hummm interesting!!!

BigChampagne, Online Media Measurement, they are watching! But most importantly, they are monitizing!!!

Rotation Archive

Rotation Archive:
D4
Friendster
HeadPhoneRecord
Hüsker Dü
Sigur Rós
The Beach Boys
The Clash
Trail Of Dead
Transistor Lounge

tonight, emily, ht, brian, the yeah yeah yeahs (think '78 cbgb), the greek and the stripes! and they are getting better!!!

oops forgot to mention, and not for lack of impact. psych furs were great on sat!!!

The Origin of Murphy's Law, was just talking about this!!!

the violent femmes fun as ever. havven't seen jenn and tree that happy and bouncy in quite some time. very nice!!!

hot hot heat as promised and give em and album or two. the performance was great and the ideas really good. very british sounding to me ala pulp, eventhough they are canadian. biran says phrasing reminds him of oingo boingo. definitely a unique pop sound. they grow to be fine kids.

echo was well FUCKING AMAZING!!!! seen footage, heard tapes but oh my god!!! despight the years and shake ups that band still top!!! i absolutely will kill to see them again so please don't take a ticket that might be mine or have to hit you in the tooth with a spoon!

duran duran, what can you say they are duran fucking duran! i have been listening to them since their debut album, it was the first vinal album (i had 8-tracks before that) i ever owned. i won it in a limo contest at a b-day party when i was a wee lad. despight a few tech problems, they were increadible. nothing quite feels like seeing a band of that influence after such a long time playing together and looking like they just love it and each other. they are cool. as in definition of.

and last up, the cure with one of the coolest set of obscure great album tracks in a long time. every time i see them its the hits and a couple hear and there not predicted but wow!!! made brians day, his fav played. i am still waiting to hear push live but who knows. so robert if you reading this next time you in la...hook a brother up. and thank you mr. smith for a wonderful show, they just get better evertime they come. age don't got nothin, crazy too, cuz i remeber when robert turned 30. i thought holy shit man, that guys old hows he gona make music still thats relevant to me, things i'll wana hear. well i'm 30 now he's 44, the cure is still the shit and i will probably always feel that way about tunes. somethings are timeless. they're comming round next year, can i reserve a ticket now?!!!

more tomorrow. burnt. left at 9am home now 520am.

big up to mouse! big up to mr markman, tree, and jenn!

big up to all the bands dope dope show all around good fun for the kids!!!

Food and drink. Thx mouse! Sean hanson. Mark almond eh. Bothers jenn. General public. Word. Dashboard! Again i say VAGRANT!!! Interpol wow can they channel. Ups to barney hooky steven and of course ian! Look for good stuff from the rain coats.

Dramarama just fucking rocked shit like it was 1989! Never to old to rock! Dashboard thank you vagrant!!! Now bow wow wow! Oh shit! Energy!!!

Hanging with mouse and pete. They hooked it up! Big ups! Jet sounding good but need to want it. But potential in a smaller venue. Jenn says acdc. Thats australia. Give em a small smoky venue and a crowd up for it. Expect good tings.

today is the big day!!! inland invasion :) if i have connectivity at the venue, the will be live updates!!!

Astronomer Tips Major Tokyo Quake - Sep. 15, 2003 and guess what Strong Earthquake Rocks Tokyo - Sep. 20, 2003!!! um ok, thats fukin crazy!!!

FilmWise

FilmWise, film geek heaven. think you know your shit, try their "invisibles" quizes. these guys got seriously way way to much time on their hands, but i am glad!!!

Neuron News from DPRI

Neuron News from DPRI, new site to me. current news, references and realistic commentary related to brain science and neurotechnology. looks dope!!!

Upgrade the Human out of Existence, an extension of my recent fascination with who owns that created by a machine. most i have talked to believe it should be owned by the human who owns the machine. but what happens when the human who owns the machine is no longer human but machine?!!!

kiss100, looking like it may have better programing than radio1 these days, adam f, hype, digweed. also check the new 1xtra looks good!!!

BlogSnob, re-added. BlogSnob™ is an experimental service for members of the blogging community. It enables you to tell everyone Out There about your blog, thru simple textbased ads. It's FREE, it's fast, and it's downright simple. Besides, it's a great way to get to know about new blogs! How this works, is quite simple. You have a  personal website. You insert a simple piece of code into your page. Everytime someone views your site, a small text ad of another blog shows up on your page.

Inland Invasion, i am headed back to high school!!!

ATP, its back! LA2003 Curated by Matt Groening. All Tomorrow's Parties Festival is rescheduled for Nov. 8 and 9 at the Queen Mary!!!

Rotation Archive

Rotation Archive:
Friendster
HeadPhoneRecord
Hüsker Dü
Sigur Rós
The Beach Boys
The Clash
Trail Of Dead
Transistor Lounge

Buffalo Wild Wings Sauces, some of the worlds best. Right up there with Arby's Sauce, Freebirds BBQ and Rooster! Now i don't have to travel all the way to Vegas!!!

if anyone is looking, here is my schedual. all flights are jet blue. i am reachable by usual mobile methods. :)

12 Sep 03
248
Long Beach, CA 3:00pm
Oakland, CA 4:20pm

15 Sep 03
241
Oakland, CA 06:45am
Long Beach, CA 08:05am

new idea about the new pending apple laptops. they have this cool feature on the 17 inch that illuminates the keyboard when ambient light is low.

why not extend that technology. here is what i propose.

change the lcd from a transmission (light from back) to a transflexive (light from back and front) or reflexive (light from front). this would allow increased visibility in high light situations, near a window or outside. at the same time it would conserve battery life. the sensors currently in use to light the keys could be used to light the back in the transflexive or the sides of the display in the reflexive model.

anyway just a thought!!! any takers?

Back after a long hiatus. School's taking up a lot of time. Lots of little side projects going on too. But all is well and much fun is being had.

Big ups to all who came out for my big b-day! Thank you too all of you! My friends rock!!!

Here are some pictures and movies of the big big super happy super happy fun time. :) Enjoy!!!

Rotation Archive

Rotation Archive:
Friendster
HeadPhoneRecord
Hüsker Dü
The Beach Boys
The Clash
Trail Of Dead

The Antigravity Underground, The fantastic floating device called a lifter has no moving parts, no onboard fuel, and no shortage of wide-eyed admirers. Even inside NASA.

WOW, my very own UFO!!!

Maybe everyone knew this already but it occured to me just yesterday. Sorry i'm a little slow.

Anyway i have a new theory about the Green Flash, at least its new to me. You know how everyone is always looking for that elusive green flash just as the sun sets. i think it is an after image on your retna. you don't notice the green because it is mixed with the orange from the sun. but as soon as the sun leaves the field the green becomes most apparent and then slowly fades.

anyway, my new theory!!!

Machinima Invade Hollywood's Turf?, "Thanks to Wired News for posting an article discussing the rise of machinima, which are "animated movies.. utilizing the [real-time] 3-D graphics engines of games like Quake or Unreal." The article cites prominent machinima such as Jake Hughes' Anachronox: The Movie and the machinima-created music video for Zero 7's 'In The Waiting Line', and according to Bill Rehbock of Nvidia, "..machinima methods, in addition to providing a hobby for aspiring filmmakers, are starting to be used in the creative industries far more than is apparent. For example, George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic is using the Unreal engine to storyboard Star Wars movies." There's also a significant cash prize for machinima makers as part of Epic's Make Something Unreal competition we mentioned a few weeks back."

Distributed Computing Economics, "In a ClusterComputing.org article, Jim Gray, director of Microsoft's Bay Area Research Lab, provides an interesting economic analysis for building distributed systems. When do you choose a grid over a cluster or a supercomputer? When does it pay off to move a task to the data vs moving the data to the task? He takes current hardware and networking costs into account to answer those questions."

i had an idea a few years ago after reading "Peer-to-Peer", why not have a company sell computers at a discounted rate with a future allowance for the use of spare cycles. The company fronts part of the cost of the computer and the consumer pays them back the loan in resources. You could also say "donate" resources as many do today to organizations like seti@home, or even sell them to corporations who could use them. There could be an interface between the distributed client and server which tracked the available jobs. The user then could select which jobs it wanted to work on and the server would get the work units and credit the users account for futre payment.

Just an idea!!!

Apple gets Exclusive Distribution of Soundtrack, "MacCentral reports that Apple has obtained exclusive distribution rights to the soundtrack for "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen". The album is on sale for $9.99 through Apple's iTunes Music Store -- and will not be available in traditional music stores and no physical CDs are being made for the U.S. market."

Well i guess the music world is changing!!! ;)

Hi-Tech Babble Baffles Many, AMD just did a study of what high tech terms consumers understood. According to this write up "the word megahertz...mystified many". Looks like trouble since new 64 bit chips are in the pipe and multi-prossesors with multiple cores are becoming more common. Whats a marketer to do!!!

9th Circuit Court Finds 'Thumbnailing' Fair Use, "A photographer named Leslie Kelly had sued Arriba Soft Corporation for infringing his copyrights to photos when they made thumbnails of his pictures and stored them in a public image search engine. Today the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's ruling that making these thumbnail copies of images for the search engine was 'fair use.' Since the applicability of fair-use defenses to copyright infringement touches on all kinds of common uses of the Internet as well as rulemaking related to the scope of the DMCA, this decision will probably have an effect on the discussion. (Note that this case was decided by a 3-judge panel and thus isn't binding precedent.)" Note that the court also reversed in part the lower court's ruling, specifically saying that the lower court should not have ruled on "whether the display of the larger image is a violation of Kelly's exclusive right to publically display his works."

This is a nice holding but the DMCA is a terribly written law. The '76 Act covers almost everything necessary for copyright protection without the need for a new and confusing addendum. Learn the DMCA well so you can toss it out!!!

Piracy and peer-to-peer, which would better read "Privacy and P2P" is a somewhat coherent if slightly inacurate look at the current state of affairs in the high technology copyright battle. The article is defintely worth a read howerver as the latter half is a debate between Ian Clarke, Freenet creator and Matt Oppenheim, RIAA's senior vice president of business and legal affairs. Their perspectives are very interesting. And if you have an interest in keeping any part of the world free you might want to take a read!!!

The Semi-Blog "Greetings Earthlings", While he's living aboard the International Space Station, Expedition Seven NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu is writing about his experiences. You can also ask Ed or Commander Yuri Malenchenko a question. Pretty cool!!!

oh yeah another little personal bit, my t250 has been retired. :) by and thanks for all the hard work my little (ok not so little) blue friend.

in comming a bright shiny new nokia with an xhtml and wap 2.0 browser :)

i love toys!!!

Big ups to all the kids on the adventures this weekend. Much fun and love to all, cars, boats, kegs, boards, friends, speakers!!! Oh my!!!

Nobel Prize Winners on Sci-Fi Flicks, In case you missed it, Harold Varmus, Nobel prize winning retrovirologist and cancer biologist, former NIH director, and current head of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, has written a review of 28 Days Later in this weekend's New York Times. One would think that his time is more valuably spent running important medical institutions, searching for new cancer insights/cures, etc, but the dude's also an English lit major and has a penchant for sci-fi. 28 Days Later is the new flick from director Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, etc.) about a virus termed rage that is advertently released from a Cambridge primate research facility and goes on to devastate much of merry old England more rapidly than the dragons did in Reign of Fire. Although Varmus appears to go out of his way to be even handed, it's clear that he has a problem suspending disbelief on a topic (virology) that is near and dear to him. Reviews from professional movie critics on 28 Days Later have been mixed, but Ebert and another NY Times reviewer were into it. Good, clean summer fun - aside from 'the scenes of maiming, dismemberment, clubbing, shooting, bayoneting and shoplifting'."

Btw run! Do not walk, to see 28 Days Later. I had been trying to see it since the first week in Jan!!! It was worth every minute of the wait.

Also a big up to Brian who knew on spec it was gona be a classic and i thought people wouldn't get it. Looks like you were right my man.

Only one bit of caution. Do NOT watch it alone, and do watch it durring the day. :) Enjoy!!!

Court Says Gator-style Ads Are Legal, "A federal court has ruled that pop-up ads for rivals of U-Haul International, placed atop the moving company's own site by a third-party software application, are legal."

"The summary decision", came out last week. Not sure what type it was or the rational. Full decision will be available next week.

Hopefully more analysis then. As for now note this is not a decision about "drive by downloads" but is probably really an issue of "palming off".

I can't really see how any court would not think this was palming off or some other form of unfair competition but only time will tell!!!

Filesharing Up 10% After RIAA Threatens Users, "Technews says filesharing has gone up 10% on some sites such as Grokster since the Recording Industry Association of America's announcement on June 25 that it will start tracking down and suing users of file-sharing programs. Wayne Rosso, president of Grokster, commented 'even genocidal litigation can't stop file sharers'."

Maybe its uh time for a new plan?!?

Science Faction, "Imagine a gun that uses fingerprint scanning to prevent you firing a shot, brain implants that let you tap into people's memories and a newspaper that updates itself when a big story breaks. It's not science fiction, it's science fact, as technologists catch up with - and surpass - the benchmarks set by sci-fi writers and filmmakers."

Welcome to your present!!!

Anti-Patriot Act Movement Expands, "Mount Shasta, California has become the latest city where the USA PATRIOT act is creating a controversy. This story at the Record-Searchlight describes petitioning by a local citizens' rights committee to order police to defy the PATRIOT act. To date, 3 states and 130 cities have passed legislation forbidding local authorities from cooperating with federal PATRIOT requests, not to mention the numerous businesses who are taking pains to hamper the Act's coverage."

Let the revolution begin!!!

GPL May Not Work In German Legal System, "It may be that the (L)GPL can not be (fully) enforced under German jurisdiction. This is at least the conclusion professor Gerald Spindler of the jurisprudential faculty of the University of Goettingen came to when he examines the Legal questions of the open source software (It's long, it's complex and it's in German and it's written by a professor, so don't expect to understand anything, if you are not a German lawyer). Heise News has the article in German, however, the fish may be with you. IANAL, however, as one can put some of the legal problems aside, most of the concerns mentioned in there should provoke at least some thought by brave men around RMS."

Solar Sailing and Physics, the New Scientist writes that the next generation of spacecraft might be propelled with the help of the sun. "Both NASA and the European Space Agency are developing solar sails and, although never tested, the concept is quite simple. A solar sail is essentially a giant mirror that reflects photons of sunlight back in the direction they came from." But Thomas Gold from Cornell University in New York says the proponents of solar sailing have forgotten about thermodynamics, the branch of physics governing heat transfer." And this is where it's becoming interesting. Gold's paper, "The solar sail and the mirror," states that "either Carnot's accepted rule is in error, or the solar sail proposal will not work at all." So, as this illustration from New Scientist shows, the real question is: "Can it really sail away?" We'll know it in September when the first tests are done.

Digital Shoplifting From Bookstores?, "According to a report from Tokyo via IOL, Japanese publishers have launched a campaign to stop 'digital shoplifters.' These 'digital shoplifters' are using cellphones to photograph magazine pages in bookstores, rather than buying them. 'Digital shoplifting is becoming a big problem as camera-equipped mobile handsets are spreading fast and their quality is improving greatly,' said Kenji Takahashi, an official at the Japan Magazine Publishers Association. Will entry into a bookstore soon include a 'cell-phone patdown?'"

What about mp3 players, that have reording functions, or cell phones that do video too? Will all stores and events take away all our gear?!?

Anonymous P2P No Defense, "Operators of peer-to-peer networks cannot escape copyright infringement claims by giving their members the ability to mask the content that changes hands on their networks, a federal appeals court ruled Monday."

Watch this case closely i believe some very seriously bad law is about to be made!!! :(

World Front Pages, see whats going on around the world!!!

EMI and Sony Lose Lawsuit Over Crippled Music Disks, "A brazilian consumer has sued EMI and Sony, and won! The reason was a copy protection technology in the best seller album "Tribalistas" that didn't play in his car. You can read about it in Folha de São Paulo (babelfish translation here), brazilian biggest newspaper. They must be very afraid, since EMI vice-president defended the company himself in a lawsuit involving less than US$ 350,00. A more detailed report is in my music site Agenda do Samba & Choro (babelfish here), where we release some of the lawsuit files to make it easier for others to sue them. Since last year, we are calling for a boycott (babelfish) of copy protected albums. The companies appealed, and said that they will take the case to the Supreme Court, because it is a 'question of principles'. The consumer is sueing them again, because all new EMI albums in Brazil are being released with copy protection and won't work in his car."

About time! And if you bring that shit here, aqnd it fuckes me up i'll sue your ass too!!! ;)

oh and hatch fuck you too!!!

How Labels And Artists Divvy Up Your Dollar Online, "Business 2.0 has an article that breaks down where that $1 goes when you buy a song from iTunes or other online music services. Key figures: the site takes .40, the labels take .30 and the artists get a measly 12 cents for each download."

Your Brain May Have Amazing Powers, "I've never given much credence to the "only use 10% of our brains" urban legend, but this article, Savant for a Day, is making me reconsider. I'd like to see controlled, double-blind studies, but Snyder's machine already sounds very interesting -- hey, anyone can learn to draw, but I want to flip a switch to put my brain into calculator mode. EM-brain experimentation has taken off since Michael Persinger's work and other recent research."

two thoughts about the recent apple announcements...

the first is inspired by this thread at macslash. what would be required to take an isight and attach it to an ipod? this seems like a very powerful and fun combo. isight requires only one connect, and the ipod has it. it could then be quite a powerful portable video/still camera, capable of storing huge amounts of footage and stills. granted it would not have all the capabilities of other more sophisticated cameras (display screen, zoom, higher resolution, etc...) but for $150 to get hours upon hours of 640x480 video that fits in your pocket, i bet every single ipod owner would buy one no questions asked! now i am not sure what technical hurdles there would be but i am pretty sure there are few and they are easily overcome.

next there has been a lot of talk of the design of thermal zones into the new g5 boxes. here is my question, if heat rises why not put the cpu it on top? now this assumes that the cpu is the greatest source of heat and if i am wrong then thats just one more reason i am not an engineer. but it seems to me that that could wipe out a great deal of heat dissipation problems very quickly.

anyway just some thoughts...

Make Max Your Puppet, Put words into Max Headroom's mouth with this nifty Flash soundboard. Thx for the toy Tree!!!

Niue Gets Island-Wide WiFi, "Business Wire is running a story about the polynesian island of Niue. Niue has just completed an island-wide wifi network, making it the first country with nationwide free wifi access. This comes after countrywide email was started in 1997, dialup access in 1999, and broadband this Spring, all free for anyone." Looks like someone is getting it right!!!

Netflix Granted Patent on DVD Subscription Rentals, "A few folks noted a new patent showing up from netflix. They apparently now have a patent on their model of subscribing to rentals- where instead of being charged per disc, you are charged a monthly fee and can keep the rentals indefinitely without late fees. You can patent anything! Get on the bus!"

This is getting ridiculous! Why not just give away a licence to be litigious about rights you were granted questionably?!? BTW i think i am gona pattent a method for talking shit. Think there is prior art? Patent office probably wouldn't care, i am sure they would find my methods novel and unique!!!

Um yeah. Thoes apple guys ... wow ... glad i have friends in Cupertino.

Rotation Archive

Rotation Archive:
Creation Records Story
Dancing Wu Li Masters
Donnie Darko
Friendster
Giant Steps Boo!
HeadPhoneRecord
Hüsker Dü
Libertines
Moonshadows
Secretary
Trail Of Dead

Rotation Archive

Rotation Archive:
Creation Records Story
Dancing Wu Li Masters
Friendster
Giant Steps Boo!
HeadPhoneRecord
Libertines
Moonshadows
Rooney
Secretary
Trail Of Dead

Hatch Takes Aim at Illegal Downloading, The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday he favors developing new technology to remotely destroy the computers of people who illegally download music from the Internet. Fear this man! And consider whether or not he should be an elected official!!!

Steve Jobs And Jeff Bezos Meet The Segway, "Ever wanted to know what Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos really thought about the Segway the first time he saw it? At the Harvard Business School site, there's an excerpt from the new book 'Code Name Ginger', giving a recounting of the Apple and Amazon bosses' first impressions of the device. Steve Jobs' gut reaction, quoted in the article: 'I think it sucks!'"

i have seen a lot of shows in my life, but last night....

CD Price-Fixing Suit Ruling, "As the AP reported Friday, if you filed a claim before March 3, 2003 online or otherwise you'll be getting a gift in the mail from those monopolistic music companies in the form of a check for about $13!" Want to hurt them, here is your chance to take somethingh back. Can you imagine what would actually happen if all consumers mad a claim tomorrow?!?

AOL Dropping RIM for Danger Sidekick, "After trying to cut the cord for wireless e-mail with RIM, AOL is pulling the plug on its mobile communicator, citing a move away from its older wireless technology. The disgruntled can get a discount on a shiny new T-Mobile color Sidekick." Wireless email is a rather small niche, and it's cool that current users won't be left high and dry, but it looks like they'll have to pay some money to continue using the service. i said one day the end of the BB would come! Die BB die! Viva la Sidekick!!!

Microsoft Kills Off Mac IE, Blames Safari, "CNet reports that Microsoft will not release any more major upgrades for Internet Explorer on MacOS. They cite competition from Safari as the reason for this decision, and say that Safari is a better browser for Macintosh systems. Ironically, they also say that they can't compete with Apple, because Apple has better access to the underlying operating system." Yeah, that must be rough. Today's SlashDotFunQuiz is to predict the order in which, impact when, and years until these other Mac products get the axe: Media Player, MSN Messenger, Office, Outlook, and Virtual PC. Looks like round two is here. Lawyers get your rens and pencils ready. Let the games begin!!!

Shuttle Set for Launch on Dec 18th, Says NASA, "Just a quick note for you guys - According to space.com, NASA's target date for the next shuttle launch is Dec. 18th, with a whole bunch of new guidelines." i was beging to wonder, i mean i gota get up there soon!!!

Online Newshour Tackling Digital Copyright, "The online version of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is tackling copyright in the digital age. They are sponsoring a forum where Lawrence Lessig will square off against RIAA executive Matt Oppenheim. Anyone can submit questions, and the best questions or comments will be posted to Lessig and Oppenheim for debate and discussion. I know that the producers understand the importance of this debate, and would love insightful questions." Looks worth tuning in for.

Los Angeles Gets Own TLD, "On June 9th, Los Angeles officially becomes the world's first city to have its own Internet domain.Great to hear since one day I hope to be an owner of my own TLD and this is a step in the right direction. ;) The registry is located at www.la and further details at DMnews.com" Looks like an Irish firm made a deal with Laos to use the .la TLD. Looks to be on the pricier side of domains, though. i have been saying for years LA is a big city, no one believed me!!!

Lessig And RIAA Answer NewsHour Questions, "Is downloading copyrighted music tantamount to stealing? Lawrence Lessig, an expert on Internet law from Stanford University's Law School, and Matt Oppenheim, senior vice president of business and legal affairs for the Recording Industry Association of America, answer your questions about this heated debate."

Hand-Held Scanner Designed To Detect Cancer, Italian scientists have developed and are testing a hand-held scanner, similar to metal detectors used in airports, to diagnose cancerous tumours. Its like a real life Tricorder!!! Thx dad!!!

See Ads Can Rock, check this one by Honda!!! Thx Tree!!! (Flash 6 req)

Ask The DJ, is a sophisticated mix engine which analyses the music's rhythm to perform DJ-like transitions between tracks... automatically! Crazy, hope this isn't putting any of my friends out of work any time soon!

The demo song is interesting and definitely worth a listen. Good proof of concept. Now if you can teach the program to distinguish between breaks and different types of music then they might be really on to something. But i guess one step at a time. Wonder how it does with really syncopated break beats!?!