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!?!

"V" Sequel Coming to NBC, "According to CNN, twenty years after NBC's hit sci-fi miniseries "V" invaded the small screen, the network is bringing the aliens back with "V: The Second Generation," a three-hour TV movie from the original creator Kenneth Johnson."

The Body Behind Vice City's Tommy Vercetti, "Vice City antihero Tommy Vercetti snarls with the voice of Ray Liotta, but that’s only half of what brings the character to life. Meet the body: Jonathan Sale is a 29-year-old New York-based actor; you’ve seen him on everything from Law and Order and Ed to the soaps Guiding Light and As the World Turns. He’s also acted in independent films, off-Broadway shows and TV commercials. Jonathan graciously answered some of our e-mail questions about what it’s like to be Tommy Vercetti’s body."

Just go see it. (Quicktime req.) Thanks Jenn!!!

43 Million Americans Use P2P Software, "If the NYTimes article is correct then somewhere around 1 in 6 Americans apparently are unindicted felons. In the eyes of the public file swapping is as morally wrong as speeding on the NJ Turnpike. The rest of the article talks about the RIAA's carrot/stick/education approach and how they may find themselves entering into negotiations for some forms of file sharing. Also the EFF will be running ads in Rolling Stone next month asking if enthusiasts are tired of being treated like criminals." Thoes are some big numbers. Maybe its time to do some changing of the copyright laws!!!

RIAA Grabs Student's Life's Savings, "ABCNews is reporting on a 19-year-old college student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. He created a site named ChewPlastic.com where students could search for files on the university network. Mind you, this is not a music file sharing software, this is just a search engine. Presumably, the search engine was being used to search for music files as well. The folks over at the RIAA did not take too kindly to the idea, and sued the student. He settled but denies any wrongdoing. What was settlement, you ask? His life's savings." This has got to fucking stop!!!

Are we gona sue, google for making a search engine that lets people find copyrighted materials that have been misapropriated? How about m$ for making a server and a browser that that let you download them, or aol for that matter? Maybe apple? What the fuck is goin on here!!!

BTW if your reading this and you work for the RIAA, FUCK YOU!!!

Been picking up a bunch of new tunes. Actually more than i have had time to listen to, as of late. Anyway man just listened to Cat Power, Moon Pix album. WOW, this girls got it!!!

Cell Phone Number Portability Ruling, "Checking the Court's Opinion site every day has paid off. Verizon's action on the FCC's number portability ruling was dismissed by the D.C. Court of Appeals. The court found that Verizon had waited far too long to bring the challenge and it also sided with the FCC's interpretation of the Law rather than Verizon. Barring any other action we may see number portability this year. Unfortunately, Verizon is already lobbying to have the law changed. But it was also nice to see Cingular was on the FCC's side of the case." Looks like i might actually be able to a get a real phone and service soon!!!

T-Mobile Introduces Color T-Mobile Sidekick, "Customers who want to use just the device's powerful data functionality can get a stand-alone plan that includes unlimited email, Web browsing, AIM and text messaging for $29.99 a month...." Time to move over bb. Your time is done here!!!

i got a new TOY!!! err, uh i meant tool. for school that is. i got a new IBOOK!!! :)

Microsoft's Browser Play, "Purveyors and consumers of Web content and software, already unsettled by the pact between archrivals Microsoft and AOL Time Warner, may be in store for an even more radical upset: the end of Microsoft's standalone Internet Explorer browser." Looks like they are at it again!!!

Palm To Buy Handspring In Stock Swap, Palm said Wednesday that it will buy rival Handspring for approximately $169 million in an effort to strengthen its grip on the market for handheld devices. Bummer! Its the end of an era and possibly handheld innovation for a while!!!

Quick update. For thoes who do not know, i just started school. It is a one year LL.M. program in entertainment and media. An LL.M. is like a masters, kind of. You can get one after you get your JD, what i got on my first trip to law school. Anyway the program is in LA at Southwestern. The program is the only one of its kind and it just started. So i'm a beta tester once again! :) Anyway this semesters (summer) classes are Entertainment Law (my third time taking it), Entertainment Labor Law, and Music Publishing (the understanding of which has some how always alluded me, but now it's nailed). In any case school is cool and i am happy to be back!!!

TiVo To Sell Data On Viewing Habits Of Subscribers, TiVo, known for re-inventing television viewing through digital video recording, will begin selling advertisers data it collects on the viewing habits of its subscribers. Bummer! Maybe it is time to hack your tivo and become a blank!!!

Nextel To Up U.S. 'Push To Talk' Range, Nextel subscribers will soon be able to use Nationwide Direct Connect, which the company plans to introduce Monday, to "push to talk" (PTT), which creates a direct connection between cell phones, walkie-talkie style. (wow nice sentence!) PTT conversations to travel on Nextel's Internet protocol backbone! More reason for me to switch providers!!!

Stem Cell "Master Gene" Found, From the Washington Post (via /.), "'Scientists yesterday said they have discovered a long-sought "master gene" in embryonic stem cells that is largely responsible for giving those cells their unique regenerative and therapeutic potential.' The report summarizes an article in the newest issue of the scientific journal, Cell"!!!