Bush Signs Law Targeting P2P Pirates

Bush Signs Law Targeting P2P Pirates: "'CNet is reporting that President Bush signed into law the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act (previously-reported). A lawbreaker can land in jail for up to three years for distributing a single copy of a prerelease movie on the Internet. The MPAA's president Dan Glickman applauded the move, stating he wanted to 'thank the congressional sponsors of this legislation for their strong advocacy for intellectual property rights.''"

Apex AD-1250X supports DivX, WMA

Apex AD-1250X supports DivX, WMA: "This probably won%u2019t impress fans of the Pioneer
DV-588A-S or the now-discontinued Philips DVP-642, but Apex has released the AD-1250X, a DVD player that handles
multiple formats, including MP3, WMA and DivX. At an SRP of $69, however, it severely undercuts the Pioneer (which goes
for about $189 street). Apex also says all of its new DVD players will be DivX-certified, which should be good news to
anyone with tons of movies on their PC looking for a cheap way to get them over to the TV."

The Weekend Adventure

The Weekend Adventure: its that time of year again boys and girls!!!

Amazon directory of free MP3 downloads

Amazon directory of free MP3 downloads: "Amazon has put together a single page listing all the free, no-DRM MP3s you can download from their site, as promos for CDs."

Watch Free, Live Internet Television - The ManiaTV! Network

Watch Free, Live Internet Television - The ManiaTV! Network new on web mtv like thingy....jurys out!!!

update, its wak!!!

Streaming Audio 10 Years Old

Streaming Audio 10 Years Old: "'This month, streaming audio turns 10. Though first introduced by Real, streaming multimedia is so commonplace today it's hard to believe that it didn't even exist 10 years ago. In line with one of their previous press releases, RealNetworks has released a mysterious website and letter from CEO Rob Glaser celebrating 10 years of Internet streaming audio, as well as announcing a yet-to-be-revealed 'revolution' in digital media. 'On April 26, we are changing the rules of the Internet again, and digital music will never be the same.' Here is their press release from 1995 (when they were still Progressive Networks) announcing the first streaming Internet multimedia.'"

The Revenge of The *Beeeep*

TROTSS.COM - The Revenge of The *Beeeep*: "Welcome to TROTSS. This site is truly dedicated to the newly established The Revenge Of The *Bleep* group. To be reminded that this is not the official site for TROTSS, yet .. im dedicating this site for updates and stuff relating to TROTSS. We miss you guys on the show and hope one day you all will be have your own proper show again."

Personal Coverage Check

Personal Coverage Check: T-Mobile Digital Coverage map, down to street address!!!

Screen Savers gang do a podcast

Screen Savers gang do a podcast: "The Screen Savers was a terrific show on the grand old TechTV. When the network was bought out by G4, they killed the show and turned it into something cool (but different) called Attack of the Show. The original Screen Savers gang are now doing a Skype-based podcast called Revenge of the Screen Savers. The first podcast is a fun bullshit session between old friends, talking about their phones, their lives, and the demise of Screen Savers."

French court bans DRM for DVDs

French court bans DRM for DVDs: "'A French appeal court just issued a ruling preventing the inclusion of anti-copying measure on DVD. This is after a man who was not able to copy a DVD he purchase to a VHS cassette so he can watch it at his mother's place. Which is considered private copying and is a consumer right in France. He got the help of a consumer protection group to sue the Film Studio that produced the DVD. Film studios have one month to unprotect DVDs (I assume it is not for DVD that you already own).'"

Fabchannel.Com

Fabchannel.Com: Live and on demand concerts from Paradiso Amsterdam in broadband streaming video!!!

big up to rob for the tip, thanks man. bummer though doesn't function in safari, so bust out yer ie.

Digital Copyright

Digital Copyright: "The Future of Copyrighting Cultural Expression, Will Digital Media Create the Most Oppressive Copyright Laws in History? April 14, 2005: The Politics of Digital Copyright debate at Cornell University"

My summer home

My summer home: Cambridge CB3 0DG, the Fitz!!!

AN EVENING WITH BRIAN ENO AND DANNY HILLIS: THINKING AFTER EINSTEIN

AN EVENING WITH BRIAN ENO AND DANNY HILLIS: THINKING AFTER EINSTEIN:
Monday, April 25, 8:00 p.m.
$30 General, $25 Members, $20 Students
Advance tickets: (866) 468-3399 or (service charges apply)
Listen in on a conversation between two of the most innovative thinkers of our times. Legendary musician, producer, and visual artist Brian Eno sits down with scientist and technical wizard Danny Hillis to discuss their inventive careers and explore the theme of creativity. Both Eno and Hillis are board members of the Long Now Foundation, an organization that aims to promote "slower/better" thinking.

Canadians May Face 25% Download Tariff

Canadians May Face 25% Download Tariff: "'While Canadians have battled against an iPod tariff for more than a year, now comes news that Canada's copyright collectives are seeking a tariff on iTunes as well. Professor Michael Geist (who last week dismantled music industry claims about peer-to-peer) reports that one collective is demanding an incredible 25% of the gross revenue of music download services as well as 15% of webcasters' gross revenue and 10% of gamers gross revenue (free version of report or Toronto Star reg. version). When combined with other tariff proposals, it would appear that Canada's collectives want to the kill the download industry, demanding at least 40% of everything iTunes, Napster, and other new services earn.'"

can you imagine a retail store asking for a 25% tax on gas to cover shrinkage since cars might be used to drive to and from a store in which theft occurs?!?!? wtf!!!

InPhase announces 300GB holographic discs

InPhase announces 300GB holographic discs: "Forget about perpendicular recording; that’s so last week. If Colorado- based InPhase Technologies has its way, the next big advance in data storage will be holographic media. The company — which rolled out a prototype holographic drive earlier this year — announced today that it has produced a holographic disc that can hold 300GB on a single disc. InPhase says that the discs (which will be write-once media) and compatible drives should ship next year, with terabyte discs available by 2009. According to the company, its holographic technology records “through the full depth” of the storage media, and can record data a million bits at a time. We figure it should be able to hold our whole movie collection, with room left over for some lossless music as well."

STAR WARS REVELATIONS

STAR WARS REVELATIONS: just before the final installment, a bonus!!!

NIN's Trent Reznor releases song as GarageBand file

NIN's Trent Reznor releases song as GarageBand file: "On nin.com, Trent Reznor is offering a complete mix of a song from the forthcoming Nine Inch Nails album as a Garageband 2.0 file. The CD/vinyl is due out on May 3. Snip from the README:
'For quite some time I've been interested in the idea of allowing you the ability to tinker around with my tracks - to create remixes, experiment, embellish or destroy what's there. I tried a few years ago to do this in shockwave with very limited results. After spending some quality time sitting in hotel rooms on a press tour, it dawned on me that the technology now exists and is already in the hands of some of you. I got to work experimenting and came up with something I think you'll enjoy. What I'm giving you in this file is the actual multi-track audio session for 'the hand that feeds' in GarageBand format. This is the entire thing bounced over from the actual Pro Tools session we recorded it into. I imported and converted the tracks into AppleLoop format so the size would be reasonable and the tempo flexible.'"

big up trent!!!

Hollywood Looks to BitTorrent for Distribution

Hollywood Looks to BitTorrent for Distribution: "'Vinton Cerf, who wrote the original TCP/IP protocol and is currently chairman of ICANN, said this week he had recently discussed BitTorrent with at least two interested movie producers. 'I know personally for a fact that various members of the movie industry are really getting interested in how to use the Internet--even BitTorrent--as a distributed method for distributing content,' Cerf said. 'I've spoken with several movie producers in the last month.''"

Peak oil article in Rolling Stone

Peak oil article in Rolling Stone: "Peak Oil, refers to the year at which oil production hits the peak of a bell curve, and after which oil production goes down, tapering to zero...."

Google Readies Platform for Video Distribution

Google Readies Platform for Video Distribution: "'According to BetaNews, 'Google is preparing a video distribution platform that provides a complete ecosystem of services for content producers, publishers and end-users.' The first phase of its video upload program rolled out today, and 'content owners will be able to control distribution rights themselves, even setting a price for their video clips. Eventually, users will be able to search, preview, purchase and play videos directly from within Google.''"

if played right, this could be what ifilm should have been. a totally workable commercial solution for independent video distribution, a place where indie film/tv makers can distribute there wares and make a modest profit!!!

Michael Weiss Interview

Michael Weiss Interview: "'Zeropaid has an interview with Michael Weiss, CEO of StreamCast Networks, maker of Morpheus. Michael has been involved in MGM v Grokster since the beginning, and provides a clear, thorough timeline of events since then. He also details interesting insights of his own into the future of the p2p space, including some new ad models.'"

Apple Q2 Financial Results Conference Call

Apple Q2 Financial Results Conference Call:
question: what is the future of music?

answer: iTunes profits a little above break even, Hard Drive based marketshare 90%, Flash based 43% (0% to 43% in the month of availability), 70% overall market share for Feb. Up from December Quarter.

not sure how this ends but year over year revenue is up 500%. during a recession!!!

**Joy Division @ Bowdon Vale 1979 **

**Joy Division @ Bowdon Vale 1979 **: an exhibit of fotos from 3 months prior to the Unknown Pleasures release.

Surprises Lurk in Satellite Snaps

Surprises Lurk in Satellite Snaps: "the unexpected appearance of the pre-event Burning Man construction is hardly the only surprise in Google's database of satellite images. And other satellite imagery companies say that they, too, are often startled by what they find when they analyze the hundreds of shots they take daily."

Music Industry P2P Claims Dismantled

Music Industry P2P Claims Dismantled: "'First Monday runs a great article this month from Canadian law professor Michael Geist that dismantles the recording industry's claims about the peer-to-peer. Using actual data from Canada, Piercing the P2P Myths, demonstrates that the loss claims are greatly exaggerated and that P2P has had little, if any impact on the income of the artists themselves.' From the article: 'The Canadian government has been the target of intense lobbying for stronger copyright legislation in recent months. Led by the music industry, which claims that it has experienced significant financial losses due to music downloading, the campaign culminated in November 2004 with a lobby day on Parliament Hill.'"

Grokster Oral Arguments.pdf

Grokster Oral Arguments.pdf an extremely interesting read. kind of scary though. so much is at stake and so little seems understood. bummer!!!

US govt uses BitTorrent

US govt uses BitTorrent: "'First Bittorrent hosted off a .gov domain. Tracks the releases of World Wind since it was saturating the bandwidth of the direct download.'"

sounds capable of non-infringing use!!!

Congress Debates Forced Music Compatibility

Congress Debates Forced Music Compatibility:The download music industry is fighting a proposal by US Congress to force them to make all downloaded music compatible.

probably a great step for consumers. interestingly though is that this is an issue for congress when one company has a 60-70% marketshare. in the past these problems were swept under the rug when some suggested it would be nice if there were software or file compatibility ensured by congress. it that later one unnamed company has somewhere near 90% market share. hummm wonder whose paying for the next election cycle? probably not the consumers!!!

Sony Patents Matrix-Like Game Technology

Sony Patents Matrix-Like Game Technology: "'Reuters is reporting that Sony has been granted 2 patents, both describing 'Method and system for generating sensory data onto the human neural cortex'. These are patents 6,729,337 and 6,536,440. The patents go on to 'describe a technique for aiming ultrasonic pulses at specific areas of the brain to induce sensory experiences such as smells, sounds and images'. The story was first broken by New Scientist magazine.' Commentary also available via Ars Technica."

jack me in!!!

Court rules common law protects recordings

Court rules common law protects recordings: "New York's highest court ruled Tuesday that common law protects a record company's copyright on recordings made prior to 1972 -- a decision that could have industrywide ramifications for everything from Bach to the Beatles. That lawsuit involved Franklin, Tenn.-based Naxos of America Inc., which restored and marketed 1930s classical records made in England by another company, The Gramaphone Co. Limited, after the 50-year British copyright had expired. Hollywood, Calif.-based Capitol Records Inc., which currently holds the rights to those recordings, sued. A federal court dismissed Capitol's suit, saying federal copyright law only protected recordings since 1972, and Capitol had no common-law protections under New York state law. Capitol appealed the common-law finding to the New York Court of Appeals, which ruled in its favor. A federal appeals court will now rule on the company's lawsuit using the state court's decision."

supremes here we come again! wow is there no end to the extension of copyright? btw this post is posted under the cc except for the INFRINGING QUOTE ABOVE, I STOLE!!!

Universal Amphitheatre gets new name

Universal Amphitheatre gets new name: "The Universal Amphitheatre is being rechristened the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal CityWalk as part of a joint partnership among instrument maker Gibson Guitar Corp., Universal Studios Partnerships and House of Blues Concerts. The 10-year pact with the Nashville-based instrument maker -- which markets Gibson, Epiphone and Dobro guitars, Steinberger basses, Slingerland drums and Baldwin pianos -- also will entail a partnership with House of Blues on a select number of special events at the Universal City venue. HOB operates the amphitheater and books more than 100 shows per year there. Gibson also will be afforded new production and product-placement opportunities via its association with NBC Universal. USP and Gibson executives declined to put a dollar value on the agreement, but sources indicate the deal is worth $10 million-$15 million. The target for an official opening for the Gibson Amphitheatre is late summer"

as much as i respect gibson, this is bull shit!!!

Glastonbury sells out

Glastonbury sells out: "All 112,000 tickets for June’s festival – which went on sale at 9am this morning – have sold out in under three hours"

Its All Gone Pete Tong Redux

To whom ever from Matson Films invited me to the New York shows, thank you very much! I wish I could attend, but unfortunately I am in California. However if you have a screening out here I'd love to go. Thanks again for the invitation, it is sincerely appreciated.

Modified Prius gets up to 180 Miles Per Gallon

Modified Prius gets up to 180 Miles Per Gallon: "'The NY Times (free reg. required) reports in that some folks are not content with the no-plug-in rule that both Honda and Toyota endorse. By modifying a Prius so that it can be plugged in, Ron Gremban of CalCars states 'I've gotten anywhere from 65 to over 100 miles per gallon'. The article also reports that 'EnergyCS, a small company that has collaborated with CalCars, has modified another Prius with more sophisticated batteries; they claim their Prius gets up to 180 mpg, and can travel more than 30 miles on battery power.''"