UK tops poll for online TV pirates

UK tops poll for online TV pirates : "The UK is the largest downloader of online pirate TV programmes in the world, with more than two-thirds of all pirated videos obtained from BitTorrent networks, according to new research."

Psychedelic medicine

Psychedelic medicine: "
New Scientist has a long article about the renewed interest among scientists in the possible medical uses of psychedelic drugs like LSD, Psilocybin, DMT, and Ketamine:
Since 2001, psychiatrist Francisco Moreno of the University of Arizona in Tucson has been testing psilocybin as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychotherapy and antidepressants such as Prozac help many patients, but some have such severe symptoms and are so resistant to treatment that they turn to electroshock therapy and even brain surgery. As with the work on cluster headaches, Moreno's study was motivated by reports from people with OCD that psilocybin relieves their symptoms. So far, Moreno has given both sub-psychedelic and psychedelic doses of pure psilocybin to nine treatment-resistant OCD subjects, in a total of 29 therapy sessions. His preliminary findings suggest firstly that it is safe to ingest psilocybin, which was a primary concern of the trial. Beyond that, Moreno calls his results 'promising', but won't discuss them further, since he plans to submit a paper to a peer-reviewed journal this year."

Gator CPO at the Department of Homeland Security

Gator CPO at the Department of Homeland Security: "'D. Reed Freeman, the 'Chief Privacy Officer' of Claria Networks (formerly Gator), the creators of the pervasive spyware package GAIN, has been appointed to the Department of Homeland Security's 'Data Privacy and Integrity Advisory Committee'.'"

the inventor of the drive by download, one that probably could have been brought up on violations of the computer fraud and abuse act is going to run the nations privacy office, wow!!!

BBC has Infocom's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

BBC has Infocom's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: "'At the BBC they have the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Infocom game from 1984, written by Douglas Adams. Its a text based adventure game, reminiscent of games from way back when. The two episode game works pretty well even ported to flash.'"

How To Steal Wi-Fi

How To Steal Wi-Fi - And how to keep the neighbors from stealing yours. By Paul Boutin: i like steal this wifi better!!!

We'll always have Paris...

three different emails tonight. all paris' fon book!!! wow!!! but hey feeling slighted, i wasn't listed ;)

Blink-182 calls it quits, for now

Blink-182 calls it quits, for now: "California pop-punk trio Blink-182, famed for its practical jokes and disdain for clothing, has gone on 'indefinite hiatus,' with no plans to work together again, its Geffen Records label said Tuesday. Singer-guitarist Tom DeLonge, singer-bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker want to 'spend some time enjoying the fruits of their labors with loved ones' after a decade of working together nonstop, the statement added. 'While there is no set plan for the band to begin working together again, no one knows what tomorrow may bring,' it said. San Diego-based Blink-182, cast in the same mold as Grammy-winning punk combo Green Day, enjoyed major success with such tunes as 'What's My Age Again?' and 'All the Small Things,' winning an MTV Video Music Award for the latter tune."

1960s Brazilian pop treasure-trove

1960s Brazilian pop treasure-trove: "1960s Brazilian pop treasure-trove
This webpage of a 1960s Brazilian pop fan contains scans of dozens of LPs along with downloadable MP3s of selected tracks. They're amazing."

The Long Tail

The Long Tail: "How to Sell Your Book, CD, or DVD on Amazon Micro-niche, long-tail publishing"

Court Says FCC Out-of-Bounds With Digital TV

Court Says FCC Out-of-Bounds With Digital TV: "'A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday stated that regulators had overstepped their authority by imposing a rule designed to limit the copying of digital television programs.' From the article: 'The FCC rule aims to limit people from sending copies of digital television programs over the Internet. The FCC has said copyright protections are needed to help speed the adoption of digital television.'"

Martian Sea Discovered

Martian Sea Discovered: "'New Scientist is reporting that a large sea of frozen ice (between 800 and 900 km in size and 45 m deep) has been discovered by the ESA's Mars Express Probe. Here's the kicker: the sea of block ice is only five degrees away from the Martian equator. New Scientist also links to a PDF of a paper to be presented next month about the finding.' Update: 02/21 15:30 GMT by T: Note: that's 45 meters deep, not 45 kilometers deep."

QuickTime for cell phones in Japan

QuickTime for cell phones in Japan: "One of the world's biggest mobile phone operator's, Japan's NTT DoCoMo and Apple announced on this week series of 3G phones in Japan that use 3GPP, a mobile phone video standard based on MPEG-4. Apparently Apple's QuickTime core will act as a decoder in these phones. "

Life Enhancement Products Presents: NeoFiles

Life Enhancement Products Presents: NeoFiles: "By R.U. Sirius" wow i missed this guy, glad i found something hes working on...it's been too long. now i just have to find out what genesis is working on!!! ;)

UK Leads in TV Show Downloading

UK Leads in TV Show Downloading: "'Britain has emerged as the world's biggest market for downloading pirated TV, with Australia being the second and the U.S. sitting at third. Among the top pirated TV shows, '24' ranks the first. 'The Simpsons,' 'Enterprise,' 'Stargate SG-1' and 'Battlestar Galactica' are also among the top hitters.' 'Pirated' seems a strong word, at least for watching those programs which have been beamed (unencrypted) through my body. Where can I pay a quarter per show for moderate-quality, sanctioned torrent files?"

MDMA for US soldiers

MDMA for US soldiers: "MDMA for US soldiers Richard Kadrey sez: 'American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.'"

to paraphrase mike's on point sarcasm...guess it does have therapeutic effects after all!!!

CBGB may close due to rising real estate costs

CBGB may close due to rising real estate costs: "The legendary club that played a central role in careers of countless punk and new wave acts -- Blondie, The Ramones, Patti Smith -- may close. The culprit: rent hikes throughout the surrounding Bowery 'hood. I smoked many an unfiltered cigarette at CBGBs when I was a teen. We used to always try to exhale through our nose piercings. Good times. Link to blurb on aversion.com which references a Village Voice article I can't find. Here's a related story in the NYT (site reg required): Link. CBGB, as The Village Voice reported this week, is facing a lease renewal in August, and its landlord has nearly doubled the rent, to about $40,000 a month, said Lisa Kristal, a lawyer and the daughter of Hilly Kristal, who opened the club in 1973."

Add RSS Headlines to your Weblog

Add RSS Headlines to your Weblog: "This article explains how to create a custom component which displays RSS headlines and insert the component into your weblog."

Orbital Resort to Launch by 2010

Orbital Resort to Launch by 2010: "'Popular Science has a cover feature on self-made billionaire and space enthusiast Robert Bigelow (who's been mentioned before on Slashdot). The article has new info on Bigelow's plans to launch a 'CSS Skywalker' orbital resort by 2010 and sell space habitats to others, such as scientists, manufacturers, Hollywood producers, and countries. The habitats will be made of inflatable modules with multilayered kevlar-like walls. A prototype habitat will be launching on a SpaceX Falcon V next year. To help ensure cost-effective access to the station, Bigelow is also running the $50 million America's Space Prize. In the long run, he plans to use the modules as the basis for space yachts and moon cruisers.'"

Earth Observatory

Earth Observatory: : "The purpose of NASA's Earth Observatory is to provide a freely-accessible publication on the Internet where the public can obtain new satellite imagery and scientific information about our home planet. The focus is on Earth's climate and environmental change. In particular, we hope our site is useful to public media and educators. Any and all materials published on the Earth Observatory are freely available for re-publication or re-use, except where copyright is indicated. We ask that NASA's Earth Observatory be given credit for its original materials."

Stonehenge Version 2.0 Completed

Stonehenge Version 2.0 Completed: "The Stonehenge project previously mentioned has been completed near Wellington, New Zealand. This newer version utilises multiple ancient astronomical technologies (scroll down) and the BBC reports it is wired for sound"

Ska and Bollywood for the Skeptical

Ska and Bollywood for the Skeptical: "Oh, this is quite some gem. A while back on Boing Boing, we pointed to 'Bollywood for the Skeptical,' a fan-built, online primer to Indian film music for the 'Bo-curious,' with MP3s, links, grammar, images, and a terrific tutorial. Two months later, reader Hallie says: 'In the vein of 'Bollywood for the Skeptical' created by David Boyk (a friend of ours), my roommate James has put together a great intro to ska.'"

dev

dev: i started a little spot to hold all the code that i have either found some where and was useful or that i have thrown together recently. entries include:

ipod copying tool (applescript req.)
sms sending tool (applescript & yahoo account req.)
sms tool adapted for webpages (javascript & yahoo account req.)
bookmark drop-down list (javascript req.)
translation for webpage (html & accesses google)

as i put more i may postem. but from now on there will always be a link to my development section on the right hand side of the page under "me".

next i think i am gona make the translate tool in to a bookmarklet!!!

UPDATED: bookmarklet added

Convert characters to Unicode

Convert characters to Unicode: "This tool will convert Chinese characters (and just about everything else, including Japanese hiragana, katakana, and kanji; tonal Hanyu Pinyin; and Cyrillic script) into the decimal (not hex) form of Unicode numerical character references (NCRs). These NCRs can then be used in Web pages, with greater ease than the Chinese characters themselves for those whose operating systems or other software don't handle double-byte text well."

Music Band Fonts

Music Band Fonts: free fonts inspired by band logos!!!

marv on record, archive

marv on record, archive: "Burning through Napster's collection, free

Hundreds of music CDs, zero dollars*, obtained legally.
*Not including the cost of blank CDs

Practical how to:
(credit goes to warlock1711 of club.cdfreaks.com for discovering this loophole)

0. Download and install Napster, sign up for 14 day free trial.

1. Download and install Winamp

2. Download and install the Winamp Plug-in Output Stacker

3. Open Winamp Options->Plug-ins->Output->Dietmar's Output Stacker->Configure
a. Add out_ds.dll from Winamp/Plug-ins folder
b. Add out_disk.dll from Winamp/Plug-ins folder
c. Select out_disk.dll in the Output Stacker->Configure
d. Set the output directory and output file mode to Force WAV file
e. Exit preferences

4. Load downloaded Napster protected WMAs into your Winamp playlist

5. Press play and each file will be converted to WAV as it plays

6. Burn WAVs to CD with your favorite burning program

Theoretical fun:

Three computers, one fast networked drive, and a few dedicated people: Turning Napster's 14 day free trial into 252 full 80 minute CDs of free music.

Each song can only be burned after the duration of the track length has elapsed in realtime:

14 day trial = 336 hours = 20,160 minutes of potential music = 252 80 minute CDs

Computer 1: Dedicated to downloading new music off of Napster
Computer 2: Dedicated to building WAV files for each CD
Computer 3: Dedicated to burning CDs

All computers share one fast networked drive where new files are downloaded to, converted WAVs are saved to, and CDs are burned from."

makes drm just seem a bit pointless no?

underground tokyo guidebook -- Tokyo, underground, guide book, punk, hentai, shinjuku, harajuku, tourism, anime, hardcore, japan, akihabara

underground tokyo guidebook -- Tokyo, underground, guide book, punk, hentai, shinjuku, harajuku, tourism, anime, hardcore, japan, akihabara: "TOKYO DAMAGE REPORT Travel guide."

Web-Only Album Wins Grammy

Web-Only Album Wins Grammy: "'Jazz artist Maria Schneider won a Grammy last night for her album 'Concert in the Garden.' What makes this unusual, according to CNET, is that she might be the first artist ever to win a Grammy for an album distributed solely on the Web. None of the sales were in record stores, and the album was financed through Artist Share.'"

Digital Life and Evolution

Digital Life and Evolution: "'Discover Magazine has a story about The Digital Evolution Lab at Michigan State University. Scientists there have created virus-like computer programs that replicate, mutate randomly, and compete with each other... in other words, they evolve. Among such feats as learning to add and compare numbers, these digital life forms also once avoided scientists attempts at 'killing' them, by playing dead. You can download the project yourself from SourceForge.' We first mentioned this in early 2003, but it appears to have developed a good deal since then."

MUNI cops and SFPD enforce non-existent, unconstitutional photography ban

MUNI cops and SFPD enforce non-existent, unconstitutional photography ban: "MUNI cops and SFPD enforce non-existent, unconstitutional photography ban
Steve, a freelance photographer, was stopped while taking pictures in a San Francisco MUNI station, told that he was breaking a post-9/11 law against photographing San Francisco's public transit. He challenged the MUNI cops to name the law he was breaking, aware that such a law was unconstitutional, and they -- unsurprisingly -- couldn't identify the law. That is because there is no law. They were lying. So then they called the real cops, who proceeded to dress Steve down for breaking this nonexistent law -- for being a troublemaker who wanted to exercise his constitutional rights and ply his trade -- and threaten to trump up a trespassing charge and jail him for the weekend if he didn't meekly acquiesce. Officer Primiano expressed extreme frustration with me as soon as I began speaking of my rights to photograph in public places. She wanted to debate the wisdom of my taking pictures and asserted that in the wake of the Sept 11th attacks on our country, I should be more interested in aiding officials in their efforts to increase security than my rights as a citizen or journalist. Despite my calm statement of my side of the issue, Officer Primiano waved her hands in the air, stated, 'This guy is really pissing me off', and walked away, leaving Officer Ryan to talk to me. Luckily he exhibited a more rational, professional demeanor.  However Officer Ryan was of the opinion that I should not be taking photographs. I explained to him that I didn't want to argue the wisdom of my taking photographs, or the efficacy of a ban on photography in the MUNI System should one exist. All I was concerned with was the legality of my actions. If I had in fact committed a crime by taking photographs, I should (and in fact wanted to) be cited under the relevant law so that I could then pursue the matter in the courts and assert my First Amendment rights. Officer Ryan told me in a very straightforward manner that he did not wish to allow me the opportunity to assert my constitutional rights in court. After walking over to the group of Fare Inspectors and BART Police Officers, Officer Ryan returned to speak to me. He expressed his frustration at the situation and me by saying: 'Would it have been so difficult for you to just stop taking photographs when these guys told you to stop? If you weren't on your soapbox, I'd be out fighting real crime rather than standing around here dealing with you.' He expounded further, 'Even if there is no law forbidding photography in the MUNI System, the Fare Inspectors have the right to refuse you service for any reason they choose, including taking photographs. Once they refuse you service they can swear out a citizens arrest for trespassing. I, or other officers, will book you and you'll spend the rest of your weekend in jail. It won't be for taking photographs, so your weekend would be ruined yet you'd never get a chance to argue the matter of taking photographs before a judge.'"

The Photographer's Right - A Downloadable Flyer

The Photographer's Right - A Downloadable Flyer: "Your Rights When Stopped or Confronted for Photography; The right to take photographs is now under assault more than ever. People are being stopped, harassed, and even intimidated into handing over their personal property simply because they were taking photographs of subjects that made other people uncomfortable. Recent examples have included photographing industrial plants, bridges, and bus stations. For the most part, attempts to restrict photography are based on misguided fears about the supposed dangers that unrestricted photography presents to society."

Random Number Generator That Sees Into the Future

Random Number Generator That Sees Into the Future: "'Red Nova news has an interesting article about a random number generating black box that may be able to see into the future. From the article: 'according to a growing band of top scientists, this box has quite extraordinary powers. It is, they claim, the 'eye' of a machine that appears capable of peering into the future and predicting major world events'.'"

Jailed for using a nonstandard browser

Jailed for using a nonstandard browser: "A Londonder made a tsnuami-relief donation using lynx -- a text-based browser used by the blind, Unix-users and others -- on Sun's Solaris operating system. The site-operator decided that this 'unusual' event in the system log indicated a hack-attempt, and the police broke down the donor's door and arrested him. From a mailing list:
For donating to a Tsunami appeal using Lynx on Solaris 10. BT [British Telecom] who run the donation management system misread an access log and saw hmm thats a non standard browser not identifying it's type and it's doing strange things. Trace that IP. Arrest that hacker."

GALAXY COLLISIONS AWAKEN DORMANT BLACK HOLES

GALAXY COLLISIONS AWAKEN DORMANT BLACK HOLES: "This computer animation visualises the full time evolution of a galaxy collision simulation of two spiral galaxies that host supermassive black holes at their centres. Only the gas distribution in the galaxies is shown. As in the figure, brightness represents gas density while the colour hue indicates gas temperature."

Round 2 begins for MPAA's P2P suits

Round 2 begins for MPAA's P2P suits: "The MPAA filed its second wave of lawsuits and proceedings against operators of BitTorrent and eDonkey servers, the association announced Thursday, with particular attention to sites that charge subscription fees. These and other actions are designed to disable peer-to-peer file-trading activities that infringe copyright. In addition, the MPAA announced that law enforcement authorities in Austria joined France, the Netherlands and Finland as countries that have taken criminal action against operators of such servers in their own countries."

North Korea Admits to Having Nuclear Weapons

North Korea Admits to Having Nuclear Weapons: "'North Korea has now admitted to possessing nuclear weapons. Government officials there claimed that they are needed as defense from an increasingly hostile attitude from Washington. It was also stated that N. Korea will not be reentering negotiations on disarmament for the foreseeable future. '"

Saab Develops 'Alcokey' Breathalyser

Saab Develops 'Alcokey' Breathalyser: "SAAB IS DEVELOPING an innovative car key that doubles up as a miniature breathalyser to prevent potential drink drivers from starting their cars. What makes the Saab ‘Alcokey’ unique is its size and that it will be integrated into the car key – unlike more costly and complicated alcohol detecting devices fitted to a car’s dashboard or door locks. Saab Alcokey is being trialed in Sweden with the support of the influential Swedish National Road Administration. Alcokey’s ease of use and relative affordability – around $400 – means it could be offered as an accessory through Saab dealers if the trials prove successful."

Panoramic Photos From The Apollo Missions

Panoramic Photos From The Apollo Missions: "'This link lets you experience the moon just as the Apollo missions' astronauts did -- almost as you were there -- with QuickTime panorama views. Less known is that during all the missions they made image sequences which with todays computer technics can be stitched together into 360-degree interactive panoramas giving you the possibility to view the moon almost as you were there. Many of these panoramas have been published before, but in low resolution and displayed in small sizes. During the last year the original films have been rescanned in large resolution and the Apollo 11 images were released the week before the 35 year anniversary.'"

The Birth of Electronic Music

The Birth of Electronic Music: "'NPR has a story up about the first musicians to compose electronic music. In 1947, Louis and Bebe Barron received an early tape recorder as a wedding present. About the same time, Louis Barron became interested in Norbert Wiener's book Cybernetics and its thesis of common elements in living and artificial systems. This led the Barrons to create a new kind of music using electronic circuits and painstakingly edited magnetic tapes. The Barrons music was featured in various avant-garde records and movies, and finally reached a mass audience in the Science Fiction classic Forbidden Planet.'"

Patients get Solar Implants in Eyes

Patients get Solar Implants in Eyes: "'As reported at Science Blog, ophthalmologists have implanted Artificial Silicon Retina microchips in the eyes of five patients to treat vision loss caused by retinitis pigmentosa. The implant is a 2mm chip that contains about 5,000 microscopic solar cells that convert light into electrical impulses. Already some patients have experienced improvements such as not bumping into objects around the house, and being able to read the time on a clock.'
"

Use A Regular Phone For Cellphone Calls

Use A Regular Phone For Cellphone Calls: "'Not too long ago I decided to get rid of my landline, however I miss being able to make a call with a regular phone, especially long calls that might drain my battery. It would also be nice if I didn't have to hunt for my cellphone at home when it rings. Well, it looks like there is a simple solution with a Cell Socket, a cradle for your cellphone that can be used to attach your cell line to one or more regular phones.' Even better, for those with a landline or VoIP phone, would be a system that automatically picks the cheapest route out for any given call.
"

The Economist On The Economics of Sharing

The Economist On The Economics of Sharing: "'The Economist, reliably the most insightful English-language news publication, discusses the economics of sharing, from OSS programmers' sharing time, to P2P users' sharing disk space and bandwidth. ' True indeed; one of the main supports for the article comes from Yochai Benkler latest piece, which is excellent."

BitTorrent Community After SuprNova Shutdown

BitTorrent Community After SuprNova Shutdown: "'Folks from MonkeyMethods.org have researched the BitTorrent world after many popular destinations (SuprNova among others) have been shut down. Since BitTorrent always relied on the presence of trackers and servers hosting them, MonkeyMethods decided to see whether the shutdown impacted the BitTorrent community. So has the shutdown of centralized SuprNova had any impact? 'In this case, centralization is a feature, not a necessity. Just look at del.icio.us most popular and you'll see BitTorrent sites every couple days, as people uncover new places to find the files they're looking for.''"

Shiny Shiny

Shiny Shiny: gadget guide for chicks!!! wikkid!!!

FM 34-40-2 Basic Cryptanalysis

FM 34-40-2 Basic Cryptanalysis: "FIELD MANUAL NO 34-40-2 HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY Washington, DC, 13 September 1990 " WOW!!!

2005 Coachella Valley Music Festival

2005 Coachella Valley Music Festival: its that time of year again! heres the line up! "Saturday April 30:
Coldplay
Cocteau Twins
Weezer
The Chemical Brothers
Wilco
Cafe Tacuba
Keane
Rilo Kiley
Doves
Armin Van Buuren
The Raveonettes
Bloc Party
Hernan Cattaneo
DJ Peretz
Zap Mama
Amp Fiddler
M83
Ambulance LTD
Fantomas
Four Tet
MF Doom
Josh Wink
The Secret Machines
Tiga
Spoon
The Kills
Sage Francis
Boom Bip
Katie Melua
Shout Out Louds
Donavon Frankenreiter
DJ Marky
Immortal Technique
Jean Grae
Razorlight
Swayzak
k-os
Buck 65
Eisley
The Sexy Magazines

Sunday May 1st:
Nine Inch Nails
New Order
Gang of Four
Bright Eyes
Prodigy
Black Star
The Faint
Snow Patrol
The Arcade Fire
Roni Size
Roots Manuva
DJ Krush
Junkie XL
M.I.A.
British Sea Power
The Dresden Dolls
Miss Kitten
The Fiery Furnaces
The Perceptionists
Jem
Matthew Dear
Sixtoo
Tegan and Sara
Diplo
Subtle
Aesop Rock
Stereophonics
Matmos
Beans
The Bravery
The Futureheads
Wolf Eyes
The Blood Brothers
Kasabian
Radio 4
Sloan
Autolux
Gram Rabbit
Zion I"

anyone up for it???

Secunia - Vulnerability and Virus Information

Secunia - Vulnerability and Virus Information : really neat site that discusses viruses and security flaws.

MGM DVD Hits Visual Controversy (January 27th, 2005)

MGM DVD Hits Visual Controversy (January 27th, 2005): "A major legal controversy is swirling around MGM DVD copies with over 300 titles being affected by an aspect ratio problem. According to CHUD, claims have gone up that state MGM Home Video has been misleading about the films they're marketing as widescreen, rather cutting the top and bottom off of pan and scan transfers and billing it as widescreen, as the aspect ratio is still correct. Amongst the titles that may have been affected are '1984', '24 Hour Party People', 'The Amityville Horror', 'Annie Hall', 'Barbershop', 'The Birdcage', 'City Slickers', 'The Dark Half', 'Dead Man Walking', 'Desperately Seeking Susan', 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels', 'Dr. No', 'Four Weddings & A Funeral', 'From Russia With Love', 'Goldfinger', 'Gorky Park', 'Hannibal', 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', 'The Island of Dr. Moreau', 'Jeepers Creepers', 'Mannequin', 'Man in the Moon', 'The Man with the Golden Gun', 'Midnight Cowboy', 'Mississippi Burning', 'Mystic Pizza', 'Phantasm', 'Platoon', 'Raging Bull', 'Rain Man', 'Scanners', 'Shallow Grave', 'Some Like it Hot', 'Spaceballs', 'The Terminator', 'Wargames' and 'Y Tu Mama Tambien'."

wow the first class action i will join! fuck you mgm, i want compensation for my 24 hour party people, last american virgin, cq, and sfw!!! gota check the rest of the list!!!

Senators seek to close copyright gaps

Senators seek to close copyright gaps : "A bipartisan coalition of senators this week reintroduced legislation that would make it a federal crime to camcord a movie and indemnifies from liability the makers of a video player that edits movies for 'objectionable' content. The legislation was dropped into the Senate hopper late Tuesday by such lawmakers as Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, John Cornyn, R-Texas, Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. 'The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 will give parents more say over what their children see,' Hatch said. 'It also closes some significant gaps in our copyright laws that are feeding some of the piracy so rampant on the Internet.'"

The Mac Media Center Project

Turning Mac Mini into a Media Center: "This projects plans to develop a free Media Center application for the Apple Macintosh, bringing togther the power and intuitiveness of the Macs' built in applications under a simple interface, for use as part of a Home Theatre system."

Cracking iTunes' DRM with JHymn

Cracking iTunes' DRM with JHymn: "Howard Wen has interviewed 'FutureProof' of the JHymn project, a DRM removal application for iTunes song files laden, or 'crippled' as some say, to prevent filesharing. FutureProof tells us how Apple's DRM works, how to rip it out using JHymn, how they build on the work of 'DVD' Jon Johansen, and how to upgrade to that brand new iShuffle safely."

Opening Salvo Filed In MGM v. Grokster

Opening Salvo Filed In MGM v. Grokster: "'The first brief on the merits before the Supreme Court in MGM Studios v. Grokster was filed Friday (January 21, 2004) by the Video Software Dealers Association. The brief suggests that while p2p systems may be used for infringing and noninfringing uses, courts should consider whether technologies may be used to reduce infringing uses without over-burdening the system provider, freedom of speech for non-infringing uses (including by copyright owners who want p2p systems to be used to reach their audiences) or freedom of competition (including first sale doctrine principles, and competition in providing all intermediate software and services). Bringing a retailer perspective, it strikes a balance of respect for copyright and respect for the limits of those copyrights. The brief is available here (in PDF).'"

BloggingSundance.com - sundance.weblogsinc.com

BloggingSundance.com - sundance.weblogsinc.com: "Weblogs, Inc. is Blogging Sundance."

a portable cellular rotary phone

a portable cellular rotary phone: "this goes down as one of the coolest things i have seen in a long time. i must have one for my car!!!

Coachella festival details announced

Coachella festival details announced: "The first confirmed details have been announced for this year’s COACHELLA FESTIVAL. The Californian event will return for its sixth instalment between April 30 – May 1, it was announced last night (January 20). The annual event will again take place at the Empire Polo Field in the desert city of Indio, two hours outside of Los Angeles. Last year’s event, which boasted headlining sets from a reunited Pixies, Radiohead and The Cure, helped the festival sell out for the first time in its history, drawing over 50,000 patrons each day. Though the 2005 line up is still under wraps, Coldplay are rumoured to be headlining on one night of the event. NME.COM has also learned Franz Ferdinand are also expected to play. 'I would really like to just having spoken to people who’ve been to it before, it sounds amazing. I’d love to do it,' singer Alex Kapranos told NME.COM in December. Bassist Bob Hardy added, 'It’ll probably be one of our first shows of the year.' Current ShockWaves NME Awards Tour 2005 headliners The Killers, will head back to the desert for the second time, hoping to make up for their show last year according to frontman Brandon Flowers. 'I had a terrible experience last year at Coachella,' he told NME.COM. 'It wasn’t something in particular. It was the last gig of an eight week tour, we hadn’t been home and it was 113 degrees and the crowd just wasn’t into it so I’m looking forward to redeeming our Coachella experience this year.' Other who’ve told NME.COM they have been asked to play are The Futureheads, Snow Patrol, Keane and Bloc Party. Rumoured acts also include Secret Machines, Hot Hot Heat, Phoenix, The Bravery and Radio 4."

MGM v. Grokster Date Set

MGM v. Grokster Date Set: "'The Supreme Court has set March 29th as the date for oral arguments to begin in the Grokster trial. As we all know the final ruling will have ramifications on the tech world well beyond P2P. A decision is expected by end of July.'"

Hurtubise says invention sees through walls

Hurtubise says invention sees through walls: "Troy Hurtubise has done the seemingly impossible with his newest invention and defied all known rules of physics, he says. The Angel Light—Hurtubise claims the concept came to him in a recurring dream—can reportedly see through walls, as if there was no barrier at all."

Monday, January 24th to be Worst Day of the Year

Monday, January 24th to be Worst Day of the Year: "'Dr. Arnalls from Cardiff University has crunched the numbers and has precisely determined that Monday, January 24th will be the worst day of the year. For those of you who might be wondering, the formula to use when deciding what day to stay in bed is 1/8W (D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA. The fact that the 24th happens to land on a Monday is purely coincidental.'"

Recording industry sees growth in legal downloads

Recording industry sees growth in legal downloads: "More than 200 million music tracks were downloaded legally in the United States and Europe in 2004, up from 20 million the year before, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said Wednesday. Releasing its second annual IFPI Digital Music Report in London, the trade body said that legal music sites had quadrupled to more than 230 in 2004, bringing record companies their first significant revenues from the digital format. The IFPI said that analysts Jupiter estimated 2004 digital revenues at $330 million and predicted they would exceed double that in 2005."

Xanadu: The Forgotten Hypertext

Xanadu: The Forgotten Hypertext: "'Xanadu, a project started in the 1960s to create a deep-linked hypertext infrastructure with xanalogical structures, is still alive, although largely forgotten due to the emergence of the Web.'"

Do You Want to Live Forever?

Do You Want to Live Forever?: "'In 1918, Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Daly inspired his weary men to attack by yelling, 'come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?' But how would the world change if we could? This month's Technology Review introduces us to the computer scientist, and self-taught biologist, Aubrey de Grey, who thinks immortality could be within our grasp by 2030. Thinking like an engineer, he's broken aging down into seven specific problems, like cell atrophy and mitochondrial mutation, which he believes can all, in principle, be solved. And he has good reason to think those seven are the only 'bugs' standing in the way of a thousand-year lifespan. De Grey is clearly both a genius and a little nuts, but I'm not sure in what proportion...'"

Mailinator

Mailinator: "Get enough SPAM lately? Have you ever gone to a website that asks for your email address for no reason (other than they are going to sell it to the highest bidder so you get spam forever)? Welcome to Mailinator(tm) - Its no signup, instant anti-spam service. Here is how it works: You are on the web, at a party, or talking to your favorite insurance salesman. Wherever you are, someone (or some webpage) asks for your email. You know if you give it, you're gambling with your privacy. On the other hand, you do want at least one message from that person. The answer is to give them a mailinator address. You don't need to sign-up. You just make it up on the spot. Pick jonesy@mailinator.com or bipster@mailinator.com - pick anything you want (up to 15 characters before the @ sign). Later, come to this site and check that account. Its that easy. Mailinator accounts are created when mail arrives for them. No signup, no personal information, and when you're done - you can walk away - an instant solution to one way spammers get your address. Its an anti-spam solution for everyone. The messages are automatically deleted for you after a few hours. "

German Library Allowed To Crack Copy Protection

German Library Allowed To Crack Copy Protection: "'The EU Directive 2001/29/EU (also known as the European Copyright Directive) has made it 'a criminal offence to break or attempt to break the copy protection or access control systems on digital content such as music, videos, eBooks, and software'. Since today, at least in Germany there is one notable exception: The Deutsche Bibliothek, Germany's national library and bibliographic information center, has received a 'license to copy', i.e. the official authorization to crack and duplicate DRM-protected e-books and other digital media such as CD-Audio and CD-Roms. The Deutsche Bibliothek achieved an agreement with the German Federation of the Phonographic Industry and the German Booksellers and Publishers Association after it became obvious that copy protections would not only annoy teenage school boys, but also prohibit the library from fulling its legal mandate to collect, process and bibliographic index important German and German-language based works.'"

Legal download sales soar in 2004

Legal download sales soar in 2004: "Sales of legally downloaded songs have increased more than tenfold in 2004, with the US and Europe buying 200 million tracks online."

Jail Time For P2P Developers?

Jail Time For P2P Developers?: "'A Califorian bill introduced last week would, if passed, expose file-swapping software developers to fines of up to $2,500 per charge, or a year in jail, if they don't take 'reasonable care' to prevent their software from being used to commit crime. C|Net has the story, as well as a link to the actual bill. By the overly broad definition of P2P software, almost any piece of internet software could be liable. This browser is certainly able to download and upload files ('Save as ...' and upload forms). Are Microsoft, Opera and Mozilla.org taking 'reasonable care' to prevent me from exchanging anything illegal? Of course, I never go there, but a friend of my uncle's third cousin's brother told me warez download sites work just fine ...'"

The Portable Mac OS X Geek

The Portable Mac OS X Geek: "Who says you can't run Mac OS X on a Pocket PC?" vnc makes it possible to access a mac from your handheld!!!

Bollywood New Releases Available via Video-On-Demand

Bollywood New Releases Available via Video-On-Demand: "'There's an announcement of a secure, DivX video-on-demand service for first-run movies, but only for Bollywood movies. 'Each new Bollywood film is released on the public Internet a day before or on the same day of its theatrical release, through piracy on multiple illegal movie download web sites,' said Al Mason, CEO of Cinema on Web. 'Our partnership with DivXNetworks represents the future of entertainment on the Internet. Soon virtually all new major Bollywood and Hollywood movies, including entertainment will be distributed digitally with secure VOD solutions like the one created by DivXNetworks, simultaneously defeating piracy and generating additional revenue for film studios and producers.''
"

Happy Mondays and The Farm team up for special London shows

Happy Mondays and The Farm team up for special London shows: "HAPPY MONDAYS and THE FARM have announced plans to play two special shows at LONDON CARLING BRIXTON ACADEMY in March. The ‘48 Hour Party People’ gigs will also feature DJ slots from Primal Scream’s Mani and Inspiral Carpets’ Clint Boon. The dates are The Farm’s first in 10 years and Happy Mondays’s second and third UK shows since 2000, following their one-off Get Loaded In The Park appearance last summer. At the time both Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder and his dancing sidekick Bez, who is currently appearing in Channel 4’s 'Celebrity Big Brother', both hinted that they may play again. Both bands will be headlining the Brixton shows on March 25-26 with support coming from Stone Roses tribute band The Clone Roses on the second date."

glad i got to see a bit of this over the summer! strange too just saw the farm on "the alternative" thanks to b for the recommendation. a great show on vh1 classics. first vid i saw when i tuned in was "only shallow"! that was enough, i am hooked!!!

P2P Manifesto:Peer To Peer Study/Project

P2P Manifesto:Peer To Peer Study/Project: "' P2P Manifesto is a P2P study that I've done and also a project, released under CC license. This study (30 pages, available on a dedicated blog, in pdf format or in .torrent/blogtorrent) explain why: - P2P is unstoppable - P2P is positive for Companies - P2P is positive for the market - P2P is good for users All the readers can create their own P2P Manifesto, free to edit this original P2P manifesto. The idea is to then collect on the blog all the different P2P Manifesto's releases, to create a good knowledge base point about P2P issues.'"

Build Your Own MP3 Player

Build Your Own MP3 Player: "'Here's something for the DIY people, a home made mp3 player built into a mint case. Total (minimum) cost for parts: ~50$. At least it's something different.'"

About PodcastAlley.com -- The place to find Podcasts

About PodcastAlley.com -- The place to find Podcasts: "Welcome to the best place to find all information relating to podcasts and podcasting. We are striving to develop the biggest and best directory of podcasts available on the internet. Podcasting is a great way for professionals and individuals alike to create audio news files (podcasts) that people can download to their iPods and listen to when they are away from their computers."

TheScout.Net

TheScout.Net: indie rock news mp3s and podcasts!!!

We Landed On Titan

We Landed On Titan: check out the images and sounds from the other world!!!

Crazy not before seen fish

Crazy not before seen fish: from the tsunami have pop up!!!

Forbes.com: When IPod Sales Run Out Of Steam

Forbes.com: When IPod Sales Run Out Of Steam: "But let's say Apple has a good year and sells a million units of the iPod shuffle"

i really just wanted to be able to find this quote and these figures so when i hear the next appl conference call i know were to look. 1 mil, what are you insane!!!

Wired 13.01: VIEW: They're Not Worthy

Wired 13.01: VIEW: They're Not Worthy: "They're Not Worthy Why extend the copyright on works that no longer have commercial value?" Lawrence Lessig has a go at term extension!!!

Mark Vidler aka Go Home Productions

Mark Vidler aka Go Home Productions: "Producer / Remixer / DJ Based in Watford, UK has spent the best part of 2 and a half years producing Bootleg Mash-Ups and Remixes that have achieved a fair degree of worldwide notoriety."

CC Mixter - The remix family tree

CC Mixter - The remix family tree: "The Fine Art of Sampling Contests, Win a chance to be featured on the Creative Commons release THE WIRED CD: Ripped. Sampled. Mashed. Shared. Sample The Beastie Boys, David Byrne, DJ Danger Mouse, and many others to win! Or, win a chance to be on the next Fine Arts Militia album featuring Chuck D."

Factory Records founder starts new label

Factory Records founder starts new label: "British music entrepreneur Tony Wilson, whose noted and notorious post-punk indie label Factory Records was the subject of the 2002 feature '24 Hour Party People,' has started up a new imprint, F4 Records. Based in Manchester, England, F4 is launching with the Jan. 31 release of 'Where We Live,' a single by the local hip-hop/garage collective Raw-T. An album from the group, 'Realise and Witness,' will be issued in March. Pinnacle is distributing F4 in the United Kingdom. F4 is also mounting a download site with Pinnacle, with initial Web-only offerings by guitarist Vini Reilly (of the original Factory group the Durutti Column) and the Manchester group Young Offenders Institute."

iPod Altoids battery pack v2

iPod Altoids battery pack v2: "I got some new Altoids tins, borrowed a Dremel tool from Mitchell, and purchased brand new firewire connectors from NTC. Here's my second, cleaner, tighter, much nicer attempt at a sweet external battery pack for iPod. Once, again, credit goes to Drew Perry for the design and inspiration. His is made inside a deck of cards, mine is in an Altoids can. This one is way better than the first one I tried, and my soldering is getting better - not really."

Videos Quick, Easy and Automatic

Videos Quick, Easy and Automatic: "Locating video content on the web can be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially for the not-too-tech-savvy tinkerer. But a new application combining BitTorrent and RSS could make it easy for video fans to automatically locate files and download them to their computers."

The Centralization of BitTorrent Networks

The Centralization of BitTorrent Networks: "'A group of graduate students from the University of Washington have posted a a new independent report about the extent of centralization in regards to BitTorrent communities. The report indicates that irrespective of the recent damage dealt to global torrent sites, the communities are still very active, even despite their large degree of centralization (and perhaps exposure/liability). Furthermore, the report attempts to determine if the torrent communities follow the 80/20 rule, by measuring the Long Tail of torrent distribution.'"

the birth of <img>

the birth of img From: Marc Andreessen Subject: proposed new tag: IMG, the 5 characters that arguably changed the world, causing us all to go online!!!

Google's 20-Year Usenet Timeline

Google's 20-Year Usenet Timeline: "'Google just released its 20-Year Usenet Timeline. Among the highlights: First Mac rumor, first 'me too' post, Tim Berners-Lee's announcement of the Web, and Linus' announcement of Linux.'"

Google exposes web surveillance cams

Google exposes web surveillance cams: "Blogs and message forums buzzed this week with the discovery that a pair of simple Google searches permits access to well over 1,000 unprotected surveillance cameras around the world - apparently without their owners' knowledge."

Berkman Center Releases Digital Media Policy Paper

Berkman Center Releases Digital Media Policy Paper: "'Last year marked another messy chapter in the music and movie industries' transitions online. Legitimate offerings multiplied while the RIAA and MPAA continued their lawsuits against P2P systems and users, even as P2P traffic reached new heights. How -- if at all -- should policymakers attempt to resolve emerging digital media conflicts? The Berkman Center's Digital Media Project today released a new research study examining options for government action and how it could affect four different business models for the distribution of digital media. The authors caution that government intervention is currently premature because it is unlikely to strike an appropriate balance between the many competing interests at stake.'"

holographic storage

holographic storage: "InPhase today said that it has developed the world's first prototypes of holographic storage drives."

World's Shortest P2P App: 15 Lines

World's Shortest P2P App: 15 Lines: "'The New Scientist has an article about TinyP2P, the world's smallest P2P app. It's 15 lines of Python code brought to us by Edward Felten, CS Professor at Princeton and outspoken supporter of the digital rights the Slashdot community holds so dear. He wrote the program as a proof-of-concept that P2P apps are really easy to write, don't have to be complicated, and thus banning them (a la the INDUCE Act) is pointless and silly.'"

# tinyp2p.py 1.0 (documentation at http://freedom-to-tinker.com/tinyp2p.html)

import sys, os, SimpleXMLRPCServer, xmlrpclib, re, hmac # (C) 2004, E.W. Felten

ar,pw,res = (sys.argv,lambda u:hmac.new(sys.argv[1],u).hexdigest(),re.search)

pxy,xs = (xmlrpclib.ServerProxy,SimpleXMLRPCServer.SimpleXMLRPCServer)

def ls(p=""):return filter(lambda n:(p=="")or res(p,n),os.listdir(os.getcwd()))

if ar[2]!="client": # license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0

  myU,prs,srv = ("http://"+ar[3]+":"+ar[4], ar[5:],lambda x:x.serve_forever())

  def pr(x=[]): return ([(y in prs) or prs.append(y) for y in x] or 1) and prs

  def c(n): return ((lambda f: (f.read(), f.close()))(file(n)))[0]

  f=lambda p,n,a:(p==pw(myU))and(((n==0)and pr(a))or((n==1)and [ls(a)])or c(a))

  def aug(u): return ((u==myU) and pr()) or pr(pxy(u).f(pw(u),0,pr([myU])))

  pr() and [aug(s) for s in aug(pr()[0])]

  (lambda sv:sv.register_function(f,"f") or srv(sv))(xs((ar[3],int(ar[4]))))

for url in pxy(ar[3]).f(pw(ar[3]),0,[]):

  for fn in filter(lambda n:not n in ls(), (pxy(url).f(pw(url),1,ar[4]))[0]):

    (lambda fi:fi.write(pxy(url).f(pw(url),2,fn)) or fi.close())(file(fn,"wc"))

zork1 at forkexec.com

zork1 at forkexec.com: "zork server", geek heaven! a zork machine in java. never played before but what a history lesson!!!

iPod - restore and maximize battery life

iPod - restore and maximize battery life, this guy went from 3/4 of an hour to 8 hours on a g1 ipod!!!

Play Tetris in Terminal via emacs

Play Tetris in Terminal via emacs: "Open up a Terminal window. Type in emacs and press Enter. Once it's loaded, press and release Escape, and then type x. At the bottom of the screen, you'll see M-x; type tetris and press Enter. You're now playing Tetris within emacs. Use the arrow keys and space bar (to drop blocks) to play. When you are done, a highscore will be generated at /tmp. You can then exit emacs by pressing Control-X followed by Control-C."

THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER 2005

THE WORLD QUESTION CENTER 2005: "Great minds can sometimes guess the truth before they have either the evidence or arguments for it (Diderot called it having the 'esprit de divination'). What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?"

Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories

Folklore.org: Macintosh Stories: "Anecdotes about the development of Apple's original Macintosh computer, and the people who created it."

Building the AACS Next-Gen Copy Protection Scheme

Building the AACS Next-Gen Copy Protection Scheme: "'The IEEE Spectrum has a piece that discusses the proposed encryption scheme for the upcoming HD-DVD standard. 'The key to the spirit of compromise is an agreement that the AACS specification will allow consumers to move the data on an optical disc to the various devices they own, including video servers and portable video players, either directly or via a home network.' AACS will use a so-called strong key, the 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard approved by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.'"

RIAA Loses DMCA Subpoena Case Against Charter

RIAA Loses DMCA Subpoena Case Against Charter: "'According to an opinion published today (PDF), the RIAA has lost its case against Charter Communications regarding subpoenas for the cable ISP's users to be identified for copyright infringement in the Eastern District of Missouri. You may remember that Charter Communications filed a motion to block the RIAA's subpoena back in late 2003. Now Charter has prevailed. Here's the blurb from the Court 'Civil case - Digital Millennium Copyright Act. District court erred in issuing subpoenas on internet providers to obtain personal information about the providers' subscribers who were alleged to be transmitting copyrighted works via the internet through peer-to-peer programs; the internet providers' function was limited to acting as a conduit for the allegedly copyrighted material, and Section 512(h) of the Act does not authorize subpoenas in such circumstances; case remanded with directions. Dissent by Judge Murphy. [PUBLISHED] [Bye, Author, with Murphy and Bright, Circuit Judges]''"

Moonstone Yells BANZAI

Moonstone Yells BANZAI: "According to SciFi Wire, comics publisher Moonstone has acquired the rights to the BUCKAROO BANZAI franchise, best known from the 1984 film starring Peter Weller. Moonstone announced it would publish a new book written by BANZAI creator Earl Mac Rauch. Stephen Thompson (Star Wars comics) will draft the interior illustrations. As yet, no publishing date has been announ"

Jesusonic - Effects for the enlightend

Jesusonic: "The Jesusonic is a fully programmable effects processor for guitar, bass, vocal and general use. NOW AVAILABLE: Jesusonic Software Preview for Windows, Linux, and MacOS X. The Jesusonic CrusFX 1000 is designed to offer all of the flexibility of a general purpose computer for its effects, without the traditional computer side effects (The CrusFX has (nearly) no moving parts, short boot times, rock solid stability and minimal latency for live performances)"

California Sets Fines for Spyware

California Sets Fines for Spyware: "'The BBC has the story that California is introducing new laws to help eradicate spyware. The bill bans the installation of software that can be used to take over another computer and allows customers to seek $1000 in damages if they've fallen victim to this kind of malicious software. Can this really help cut down spyware or will it just be another fatally flawed piece of legislation?'"

Safecracking for the Computer Scientist

Safecracking for the Computer Scientist: "'It looks like Matt Blaze (the University of Pennsylvania CS professor best known for finding security flaws in the NSA Clipper Chip and in master keyed locks) is still causing trouble in physical security circles. There's a draft paper (dated December '04) on his web site entitled Safecracking for the Computer Scientist, which is a pretty in-depth look at what computer security can learn from safes (and vaults). The interesting thing is that it describes in detail the different ways that safes are cracked, probably revealing techniques that locksmiths would rather you didn't know about (there's a lot of security-by-obscurity there). The conclusion seems to be that while safes can fail, at least they do so in better ways than computer systems do. Warning: it's a 2.5 meg pdf file with lots of pretty pictures.'"

Comparing Codecs for 2004

Comparing Codecs for 2004: "'Popular encoding/guide/news site doom9.org has just put up its codec shoot-out for 2004, comparing 3ivx 5.0, Divx Fusion 5.9 (prerelease 6.0), Nero Digital Main Profile and High Profile, RealVideo 10, On2 VP6, VideoSoft's VSS, Xvid 1.0, MS's WMV9 and, last, newcomer Jomingo's HDX4. The comparison covers the speed, accuracy, target-file-size-adherence and other aspects of the codecs -- but also lets you compare yourself via high- and low-bandwidth framegrabs of each codec with a nice zoomable image-swap script.'"

mark's back

back from vegas and new years excursions...