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*HOT* Tech News And Downloads, I Would Read This Thread And Post Any Good Info
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AfterDawn Addict
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1. January 2007 @ 08:43 |
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Do the major labels really want non-DRM distribution?
In what is a very curious article from its title to almost its conclusion, a superficial reading and glance at the title may lead one to believe the 'major players' intend to begin adapting distribution to 'give the consumer what he wants.' However, perhaps the most indicative part of the article is the final paragraph about the real intention of this piece:
The trials by EMI and Yahoo are important steps in a still evolving industry, but until there is something equivalent to a mini-revolution in the music industry, do not be surprised if MP3s are still primarily excluded from music vendors in 2007.
As the numbers of songs offered by the companies listed in the article indicate (especially with the very few places that attempt to offer non-DRM'ed downloads), this is not a 'trend,' but rather an attempt by the industry to resist as much as possible, kicking and screaming all the way--just like some spoiled brat that didn't get his way. This is proven by every attempt to find new ways to DRM content, such as in Blu-ray and HD-DVD--not to mention targeting the largest (and by what we know so far by the lack of evidence against it) successful organization to date (AllOfMP3)--in hopes it can be removed from the legal distribution picture. What the industry really hopes (as the internal link inside the primary article indicates) is that consumers will engage in "impulse buying" or somehow get so "addicted" to their IPods or Zunes that they will forget all about any DRM issues. We know as regular readers of CDFreaks articles that the masses are largely ignorant of the music industry's attempts (through DRM) to force them to "pony up the dough" as many times as possible, but without really giving them a reasonably-priced song/CD without DRM. The only way a real 'revolution' will occur is if the normal "Joe Sixpack" gets informed and then protests the removal of his fair-use rights with his legal purchases. Until that time, expect the current modus operandi to continue from the music industry.
DRM-distribution.html" target="_blank">http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/Do-the-majo...stribution.html
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1. January 2007 @ 08:43
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xhardc0re
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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5. January 2007 @ 16:30 |
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Interested in RIAA & MPAA-related litigation? Now there's a handy resource for the average Joe citizen
Finally, a resource center for all your legal needs in plain English. Findlaw maintains a database of past & current RIAA & MPAA lawsuits. Attorneys. Companies that have defended themselves against the M.A.F.I.A.A. As well as average citizens that were fed up with the extortion tactics of big name law firms representing these swine. Go here, research, find an attorney, and share your knowledge with others!
http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/lit/riaa/index.html
if you're a college student, do NOT settle with the RIAA http://tinyurl.com/37oz2z
~ SlimPS2 v15US, PSP v3.60FW, TaiyoYuden DVD-R, SwapMagic_v3.6 & BreakerPro 1.1 (No mod)
Writer: HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4080N 0G03 SW: DVDDecrypt*r,
lastest Nero Ultra 7 & Alcohol 120% ~ This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. January 2007 @ 16:31
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AfterDawn Addict
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7. January 2007 @ 12:36 |
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FastStone Capture 5.1
Jan 07, 2007 - 11:18 AM - by Digital Dave
Free image, area, scrolling, page capture tool that truly can rival some of the best paid ones out there.
FastStone Capture is powerful, flexible and intuitive screen capture utility. It allows you to capture anything on the screen including windows, objects, full screen, rectangle regions, freehand-selected regions and scrolling windows/web-pages. It has innovative features such as floating Capture Panel, hotkeys, resizing, cropping, text annotation, printing, emailing and many more.
betanews.com
FastStone Capture 5.1
Publisher's Description:
FastStone Capture is powerful, flexible and intuitive screen capture utility. It allows you to capture anything on the screen including windows, objects, full screen, rectangle regions, freehand-selected regions and scrolling windows/web-pages. It has innovative features such as floating Capture Panel, hotkeys, resizing, cropping, text annotation, printing, emailing and many more.
Latest Changes:
* Added "Make Background Transparent" under Edit menu
* Added options in the Settings to show/hide "Screen Magnifier" and "Screen Color Picker" on Capture Panel
* Added "Bring to Front"/"Set to Back" to the right-click menu in Draw tool
* Changed hotkey for Draw tool from T to D
[color=Yellow]Released: January 6, 2007
Publisher: FastStone Soft
Homepage: FastStone Capture
Downloads: 10,962
License: Freeware
OS Support: Windows (All)[/color]
DOWNLOAD HERE
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Fas...re/1149270834/1
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AfterDawn Addict
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7. January 2007 @ 16:36 |
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ireland,
Thanks for the link from the "Old timer,.....Good......." page. I downloaded the progie and will use it shortly. Been wondering how you and others have been able to do that. lol. Not very bright. lol.
..........c
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. January 2007 @ 05:11 |
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MAKE PASSWORD..........
One of the easiest online password generators which can generate a single random password or lists of hundreds of random passwords. You choose the character sets, password length and the quantity to create. Hash values can also be created for your convenience. This password generator is useful for getting a random password for personal use or for generating large lists of default passwords.....(free).....GO THERE!
go here its cool
http://www.maord.com/
I MADE THIS TO TEST IT OUT..WORKS GREAT
g%mv23_JArx$NKq*q2T8NAKqYg/5+9
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. January 2007 @ 07:56 |
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GOOD NEWS...
Sony convicted in French DRM case
p2pnet.net News:- Sony has caught a serious dose of iPoditis
It's been convicted of misleading the French public and ordered to pay 10,000 euros ($13,000) in damages to the Union Federale des Consommateurs (UFC) for selling downloads that'll only run on Sony music players, says Agence France-Presse.
The consumer union sued Sony's French and British subsidiaries in February last year over Sony Connect, says the story.
Surely Apple, infamous for its iPod Digital Restrictions Consumer Control system which also stop users from playing iTunes on anything they want, should be in the same boat?
It is.
The lawsuit, "also targets Apple" whose case is, "expected to reach the courts later this year," says AFP, adding, "The court stopped short of demanding that Sony stop using DRM technology, but ordered Sony France to clearly state on its Net WM range of players that they will not play files purchased on rival commercial websites."
Apple, meanwhile, is being sued for allegedly violating anti-trust laws by similarly forcing people who've paid through the nose for iTunes downloads to play them only on iPods.
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you're Chinese and you're looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
Slashdot Slashdot it!
Also See:
paid through the nose - Apple 'monopoly' case rolls on, January 4, 2006
Agence France-Presse - French court says Sony 'deceived' consumers: watchdog, January 5, 2006
p2pnet newsfeeds for your site | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
(Monday 8th January 2007)
http://p2pnet.net/story/10940?PHPSESSID=...6c7faa72f20c6c6
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. January 2007 @ 09:10 |
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Digital downloads rising, but (bad) CDs still top the charts
1/8/2007 12:16:09 PM, by Nate Anderson
If you listen to much tech talk, you'll know how easy it is to forget about the humble compact disc. Digital downloads are the only hip way to purchase DRMed, lossy music without album art, but most of the world has yet to learn this valuable lesson. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, more than 90 percent of music today is purchased on CD, and a new study from JupiterResearch suggests that even in 2011, CDs will still dominate the market.
That's not to say that CD sales are rising; they're not. But they aren't plummeting, either, and Jupiter believes that in 2011, 78 percent of US consumer music spending will still go towards CDs.
David Schatsky, president of JupiterKagan, says that the CD has a long and happy life ahead. "As detailed in our research, the music download business will remain a sampling medium for many users rather than a CD replacement," he said.
The new study also finds that digital downloads grew more than 30 percent last year and that subscription services grew by 14 percent. In the next five years, Jupiter expects those trends to be reversed. Digital downloading will grow at 16 percent, while subscriptions (like those from Napster and Zune) will grow 32 percent. The overall digital music market is expected to hit $2.5 billion by 2011.
Jupiter predicts that the continued rise in spending on digital downloads and subscriptions won't make up for the overall decline in sales faced by the music industry?bad news for music executives who thought that simply going digital might fix the problem of declining sales.
Discussions like these usually end with snarky statements about how music publishers should maybe, for once, start thinking about publishing real, honest, worthwhile music in place of the hot bilge on toast they usually peddle. Only then?so goes the theory?will music-loving consumers return to the major-label embrace.
Newsflash: plenty of people love hot bilge on toast. Inventive pop songcraft (Belle & Sebastian) and earnest alt.country (Neko Case) produced two of the best albums in 2006, but they can't hold a candle to last year's biggest smash, the soundtrack to the Disney Channel TV movie High School Musical. Danity Kane, the girl group put together for the TV show Making the Band, went platinum (1 million copies) with their first album. Kelly Clarkson went five times platinum, and American Idol contestants Chris Daughtry, Clay Aiken, and Bo Bice all went gold (more than 500,000 copies). If record labels want to move more widgets, pre-fab rock-and-roll for teens still looks like a gold mine waiting to be tapped.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070108-8571.html
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. January 2007 @ 09:48 |
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Anti-Piracy Company Issues $40,000 Hacker Challenge
WIBU-Systems is offering $40,000 to the first hacker who can remove its anti-piracy software from an application. Challenge registration starts at MacWorld next week.
By Sharon Gaudin
InformationWeek
Jan 4, 2007 09:43 AM
Hackers, crackers, and other top coders can make some quick bucks in the near future. An anti-piracy software company is challenging the hacker community for the second time to crack its product.
WIBU-Systems USA, Inc. will give $40,000 to the first person who can hack into and remove their anti-piracy software from a protected application. Techies will have six weeks to try, starting Jan. 31. Registration for the challenge kicks off at MacWorld Expo next week in San Francisco.
"We're saying to the hackers of the world, 'You've been boasting that you can remove anti-privacy systems. Here's a chance to earn bragging rights and take home 40,000 bucks if you're as good as you think you are," says John Poulson, VP of business development at WIBU-Systems, a German-based company with U.S. headquarters in Seattle.
Poulson says he's feeling pretty confidant their software can stand up to the pressure. The company has issued the challenge before with a previous product -- that time offering $4,000. He says no one broke the software so no one took home the money.
"This is 10 times more secure, so we're offering 10 times the prize money. And to be honest, if somebody can [break the security software], it would be worth it to know how they did it and maybe give them a job," he adds laughing. "If they have a few more points on their IQ, we'd like to have them on board."
To get this kind wide ranging testing done, Poulson says it would be well worth spending the $40,000. "If you've produced software that will tell an oil company where to drill a well, you wouldn't want the rascals in Albania using that for free when you can sell it for $100,000," he says, adding that they need their software to be able to protect those kinds of applications.
Registered challengers will receive an application protected with the latest WIBU-Systems anti-piracy software, along with a full software developer kit. "They can see how the software security system is put together," says Poulson. "We think our system is so secure that even knowing that they won't be able to bust through it."
The challenge will start at 6 p.m. on Jan 31 and will run till 5:59 p.m. on March 14.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/show...978&subSection=
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. January 2007 @ 14:38 |
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Internet Explorer 7 on Linux
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday January 08, @05:14PM
from the fun-and-exciting dept.
Internet Explorer Linux
An anonymous reader writes to mention WebExpose is running a quick guide to get Internet Explorer 7.0 running on Linux. From the article: "Microsoft conditional comments do work, unlike the standalone version of IE on Windows, so you will be able to develop and test webpages across almost all major browsers (IE 5-7, Firefox, Opera) on one Linux box! Also note that we will avoid Microsoft's Genuine Advantage download validation checks, so pure-Linux users will be able to finish the process without having to find a genuine Windows machine to download the IE7 setup file (the check is avoided legitimately, by the way)."
January 7, 2007
Internet Explorer 7 on Linux
How to get IE 5.0, IE 5.5, IE 6.0 and IE 7.0 (release) running concurrently on Linux.
The following documents the relatively short process needed to get Internet Explorer 7 running on a Linux system. So far, I have found one (two) problems with this method: it seems transparent GIFs appear as filled-black boxes in IE7, and secondly (this is actually a good thing for me), this won?t give you the IE7 interface running in Linux, but rather the IE7 rendering engine inside the IE6 interface. What this means is that you won?t be seeing IE7 tabs or the RSS reader, but you will be able to debug webpages and fix layout problems.
Microsoft conditional comments do work, unlike the standalone version of IE on Windows, so you will be able to develop and test webpages across almost all major browsers (IE 5-7, Firefox, Opera) on one Linux box! Also note that we will avoid Microsoft?s Genuine Advantage download validation checks, so pure-Linux users will be able to finish the process without having to find a genuine Windows machine to download the IE7 setup file (the check is avoided legitimately, by the way).
First, install IE 6 (and optionally 5.5 + 5.0) using the excellent IEs 4 Linux installer. Consider donating to this project to say thanks!
Follow the instructions appropriate for your Linux distribution at http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Installation. You must at least install IE6; 5.0 and 5.5 are optional and up to you. I assume that you used the default installation path of ~/.ies4linux - if you didn?t, ensure that you use the correct directory in the upcoming steps.
Once you have finished following the instructions, you can test your IE6 installation by running the ie6 command.
ie6
I used a browser version check website (use Google, I don?t want to hotlink them) to test the currently installed browsers:
* Firefox reports ?Firefox 2.0′
* ie6 reports ?MSIE 6.0′
Now for Internet Explorer 7:
To skip having to authenticate your copy of Windows at the Microsoft.com download site (since we?re on Linux and don?t have Windows?), make use of Google?s nicely customised IE7 installer; found at http://www.google.com/toolbar/ie7/. Download the file (IE7Setup_G.exe) and save it to a temporary folder.
Now, make a complete copy of your currently installed IE6 installation:
cd ~/.ies4linux
cp -r ie6/ ie7
sed ~/.ies4linux/bin/ie6 -e 's/ie6/ie7/g' > ~/.ies4linux/bin/ie7
chmod +x ~/.ies4linux/bin/ie7
Go to your IE7Setup_G.exe download and use cabextract which should be installed from earlier (IEs 4 Linux instructions).
cd ~/yourtempfolder
cabextract IE7Setup_G.exe
ls -la shows:
15505200 Dec 7 21:21 IE7-Setup.exe
Extract necessary files:
cabextract IE7-Setup.exe
for i in wininet iertutil shlwapi urlmon jscript vbscript \
ieframe mshtml mshtmled mshtmler advpack
do
chmod +x $i.dll
cp $i.dll ~/.ies4linux/ie7/drive_c/windows/system/$i.dll
done
chmod +x inetcpl.cpl
cp inetcpl.cpl ~/.ies4linux/ie7/drive_c/windows/system/
Now normaliz.dll and inetcplc.dll are needed, you can Google them, or use these links:
http://www.down-dll.com/dll/normaliz.zip
http://www.down-dll.com/dll/inetcplc.zip
Unzip both files and copy them to ~/.ies4linux/ie7/drive_c/windows/system/
unzip normaliz.zip
unzip inetcplc.zip
cp normaliz.dll ~/.ies4linux/ie7/drive_c/windows/system
cp inetcplc.dll ~/.ies4linux/ie7/drive_c/windows/system
IE 7 is now installed but will have view pane corruption unless you switch the Wine container to use Windows XP as the operating system:
WINEPREFIX=~/.ies4linux/ie7 winecfg
At the bottom of the initial page, change ?Windows? option to ?Windows XP? and press OK.
Make a shortcut:
cd ~/bin
ln -s ~/.ies4linux/bin/ie7 ie7
Running ie7 and using the previous browser test site results in:
* ie7 reports ?MSIE 7.0′
?
Digg me: Internet Explorer 7 on Linux
Original IE7 RC1 post: http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/news/28
the link
http://webexpose.org/2007/01/07/internet-explorer-7-on-linux/
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AfterDawn Addict
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8. January 2007 @ 15:20 |
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Intel introduces new quad-core chips
1/8/2007 1:08:33 PM, by Jon Stokes
For better or for worse, today's official launch of the Core 2 Quad Q6600 puts us well into the quad-core era. Not even Hennessy and Patterson, much less the coders at the world's largest software company, can think of enough ways to keep all four cores busy, but here we are nonetheless.
The launch of the Core 2 Quad Q6600 marks the formal introduction of Intel's first non-server, non-enthusiast quad-core part (OMG NEW TOWERS?). At $851, the 2.4GHz Q6600 now sits atop Intel's mainstream desktop line, so those who just have to go quad-core with their next upgrade will have a little more to think about. Gamers and the vast majority of users who won't be using the additional two cores that much would be advised to stick with the 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo E6600, which will give similar performance at less than half the price of the Q6600.
Intel also introduced two new quad-core server parts: the Xeon 3220 (2.4GHz at $851) and the Xeon X3210 (2.13GHz at $690). Both of these processors sport 8MB (2x4MB) L2 caches.
Speaking of Hennessy and Patterson and the multicore revolution, the ACM Queue interview that I stealthily linked above is eminently worth a read. The two authors manage to convey a sense of excitement about where computer architefture is right now, without being overly optimistic about the very fundamental challenges that field faces. Check out the follwing exchange:
DP Architecture is interesting again. From my perspective, parallelism is the biggest challenge since high-level programming languages. It's the biggest thing in 50 years because industry is betting its future that parallel programming will be useful.
Industry is building parallel hardware, assuming people can use it. And I think there's a chance they'll fail since the software is not necessarily in place. So this is a gigantic challenge facing the computer science community. If we miss this opportunity, it's going to be bad for the industry.
Imagine if processors stop getting faster, which is not impossible. Parallel programming has proven to be a really hard concept. Just because you need a solution doesn't mean you're going to find it.
JH If anything, a bit of self-reflection on what happened in the last decade shows that we - and I mean collectively the companies, research community, and government funders - became too seduced by the ease with which instruction-level parallelism was exploited, without thinking that the road had an ending. We got there very quickly - more quickly than I would have guessed - but now we haven't laid the groundwork. So I think Dave is right. There's a lot of work to do without great certainty that we will solve those problems in the near future.
Hennessy and Patterson both argue that one of the key pieces for addressing this problem is government funding (especially DARPA) for basic research in computer science. There's a dearth of government money flowing into academic computer science departments right now, even though the academy is especially suited to doing the kind of fundamental, long-term research that's needed to move the entire computer industry forward.
Regular Ars readers will recall that I touched on exactly this issue in an article entitled, "AT&T Labs vs. Google Labs: not your grandfather's R&D." I got a lot of feedback to that article from many sectors of the academy and industry (including the head of AT&T Labs), almost all of it in basic agreement with the article's main point about the need for a renewed national committment to funding blue-sky research.
Money spent on basic research is always money well spent, and companies like Intel and Microsoft should spend less of their lobbying efforts trying to raise the H1-B cap and spend more on trying to see that more such funding flows into American computer science departments.
Further reading
* Which CPU to buy for Christmas gaming?
* AMD's QuadFX (a.k.a. 4x4) disappoints
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070108-8572.html
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Senior Member
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8. January 2007 @ 16:48 |
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Microsoft Purchases Evil From Satan
By Brian Briggs
Redmond, WA - Microsoft purchased evil from Satan for $2.7 billion after many months of tough negotiations.
"We've been after Satan for some time," said CEO Steve Ballmer. "Negotiations were tough, but I think both Microsoft and the Prince of Darkness are happy with this deal."
Microsoft already controls 15% of the evil market, and with this purchase that number nears 100%. The Department of Justice voiced concerns over one corporation controlling so much evil, and launched investigations.
"We feel that there are real opportunities with evil, and that when evil is integrated into our next generation of Windows products consumers will appreciate evil on their desktop," said Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. "Businesses haven't been able to fully realize their evil potential. With evil integrated into Office XP, corporations big and small will begin to see enhanced evil productivity."
"Evil is a real growing market," market strategist Frank Dresgan of Merrill Lynch explained. "Microsoft is a little late in the game, but even when they enter a market late they still tend to dominate. I think we'll see the same results with evil."
"I've been dealing with Microsoft for some time," Lucifer said. "I've been at this evil thing for millions of years, and wanted a way out. I considered an IPO, but then Steve-O and Billy came along and told me about their 'Evil Everywhere' plan. I just couldn't refuse."
Evil was founded by Satan close to the beginning of time. It has been growing steadily ever since, although most of the growth has accelerated in the past five years with the development of the Internet. Satan plans to retire to a small island in the Bahamas and write a column for the local newspaper.
Thought this was funny...Hope it's ok to post an occassional spoof in here...
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ddp
Moderator
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9. January 2007 @ 14:57 |
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something like that is ok
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Senior Member
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10. January 2007 @ 00:00 |
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AfterDawn Addict
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10. January 2007 @ 03:41 |
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@Lp531,
I loved that voice "recognition" software from MS. I don't hate MS but I'm sure NOT a fanboy. lol. Good to see the EVIL MS with their pants down and someone showing it. lol.
.........c
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Senior Member
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10. January 2007 @ 23:44 |
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mackdl
Senior Member
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11. January 2007 @ 05:45 |
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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. January 2007 @ 05:57
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Senior Member
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11. January 2007 @ 23:35 |
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CES 2007: HD DVD versus Blu-ray - The porn industry says HD DVD
Aaron McKenna
January 11, 2007 12:39
Las Vegas (NV) - Knowing their audience quite well, the adult entertainment industry holds their annual get together in Las Vegas to coincide with the CES. There is also a very pertinent crossover between the adult and tech industries - porn has a tendency to drive, and be driven, by technology. Which means HD DVD when it comes to high-def.
Quite famously in the war between Betamax and VHS the latter won especially because the adult industry preferred it. If you've been around long enough, you probably remember that the very early home video rental stores were primarily responsible for driving Betamax out of the market. And those stores carried almost exclusively pornographic content.
Although the market environments from then do not really compare to today's home video market, parallels are drawn between the Betamax-VHS battle to the ongoing and escalating fight between Blu-ray and HD DVD. One of the key questions at this year's CES actually is "Which high-def format will win the current format war - Blu-ray or HD DVD?" Surprisingly, it seems that there is no such question in the minds of the adult industry luminaries.
Putting myself through the arduous trek through the floor of the adult expo I did a quick straw poll on, the virtues of HD DVD versus Blu-ray, and the answer from a dozen companies, big and small, including Pink Visual and Bangbros editor-in-chief, is going into a single direction: HD DVD is the preferred format. Period.
One of the big problems they have with Blu-ray is its expense, followed by its market share. "Blu-ray has superior quality, yes," said a spokesperson for porn studio Bangbros, "but HD DVD is easier to produce, cheaper to produce and there are more HD DVD players in homes than there are Blu-ray players, for example in the Xbox 360."
Pink Visual heavily complained about the fact that Blu-ray discs cannot be replicated and a range of other studios, who did not want to be mentioned by name indicated that the cost of going with Blu-ray cancels the technology as a possible HD solution for this industry. "Only bigger studios can afford Blu-ray, and even then it's not economical," we were told.
It would seem that either Blu-ray has to do some catching up very quickly. But we got the strange feeling that HD DVD has won the format war already, at least in the porn industry.
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The_Fiend
Suspended permanently
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12. January 2007 @ 03:05 |
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irc://arcor.de.eu.dal.net/wasted_hate
Wanna tell me off, go ahead.
I dare ya !
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Senior Member
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12. January 2007 @ 03:37 |
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DONE
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xhardc0re
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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13. January 2007 @ 04:44 |
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Find out if the RIAA is controlling your favorite artists
RIAA Radar
What is RIAA Radar?
The RIAA Radar is a tool that music consumers can use to easily and instantly distinguish whether an album was released by a member of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
How do you use it?
1. You can search for artists, albums, UPC codes, and record labels.
2. Add the RIAA Radar bookmarklet to your bookmarks/favorites list. As you're browsing around Amazon.com, you can click the bookmark and it will give you just the info you need, when you need it most.
3. Use the RIAA Radar Indie 100 and Amazon Top 100 to help you find new music. There are also more top 10 lists broken out into genres to help you find what you like.
4. Use the "Find similar RIAA-free albums" link next to any search result to find up to 10 RIAA-free alternatives to the albums you know you like.
5. While at the store, you can point your mobile phone to this UPC lookup page, and type in the UPC code of the CD you're looking at. (People with Web browsers can search for UPC codes by selecting it in the regular search pulldown.)
Why should I use it?
Just as people can currently find out where some products come from and who made them (Is this banana organic? Does this milk contain growth hormones? Were these clothes made in a sweatshop?), it is important to have that knowledge for as many consumer goods as possible. Knowledge is power, and knowing where the product came from can (and should) influence what you buy.
The RIAA is a group of several hundred record labels. The roster of members changes constantly (major labels create new subsidiary labels, popular artists are given their own labels, artists or labels leave the RIAA due to creative or political differences, etc.) and it is almost impossible to keep track. Aside from memorizing the entire list, or having the list available and checking it while shopping, it is hard to know who is a member and who is not.
Why is it important to know if an album was released by an RIAA member or not?
That's possibly a fairly long answer, but just the highlights of the RIAA's practices involve price-fixing, blaming its poor financial state on unfounded digital piracy claims (and in turn, blaming and suing its own consumers), lobbying for changes that hinder technological innovation and change copyright laws, underpaying the artists it represents, invading personal privacy to enforce copyrights, and dismantling entire computer networks just because of their ability (of their users) to share copyrighted files. (Feel free to visit the RIAA and Boycott-RIAA.com to learn more!)
In order to successfully and efficiently support who you like (or not support who you don't like), you need to have information immediately available to know who is who. The RIAA Radar works in two ways: if you're looking to stop buying RIAA releases, it will help tell you what albums to avoid (or purchase secondhand); if you are looking for new music or new alternatives, it works to promote non-RIAA releases by providing similar RIAA-free albums to almost any RIAA release, and RIAA-free popularity charts for several genres in order to showcase viable alternatives.
How does it work?
When you run the RIAA Radar, it uses Amazon Web Services to get the album information. It then checks the record label data given by Amazon against a local database based on the official list of RIAA members (but heavily added to beyond that), and returns the result based on a match.
What if the RIAA Radar result is incorrect?
Since the album data is not ours, and the RIAA member listings are terribly inaccurate and erroneous, it is possible that the Radar may return incorrect results. We do not claim that the data or the Radar results to be 100% correct, but we use a lot of user information and double-checking to make sure the application is as accurate as it can be by itself. The application should be used to help your purchasing research, not be it.
The RIAA Radar does not hold or own any of the album data, so we cannot change any of it except the result that comes up based on the record label given by Amazon. If you see a Radar result that you think is incorrect, there is a link next to every result which you can submit an item for review.
RIAA Radar news & notes
You can keep aware of any new features, record label changes, or really anything else new that comes up on the news page.
Comments, corrections, or suggestions?
Feel free to leave questions, comments, corrections, or suggestions in e-mail to ben@magnetbox.com
if you're a college student, do NOT settle with the RIAA http://tinyurl.com/37oz2z
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xhardc0re
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14. January 2007 @ 14:28 |
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Attorneys Go After Hotlinkers
A view of hotlinking & copyright by a law firm
Deacons
Copyright and deep linking
Introduction
Readers of e-commerce magazines may be familiar with the ongoing controversy over copyright and deep linking (brought to the public's attention in John Dvorak's article 'Link to me and I will sue you', PC Magazine, May 1997). Since Dvorak's article, legal threats issued by law firms in respect of deep linking have become commonplace. Courts in various countries have provided more precedents to lawyers which give support to threats of legal proceedings.
This article examines copyright and deep linking on the Internet, and highlights the technical solutions to prevent deep linking to your site. It is based upon recent international developments in jurisdictions other than Hong Kong. There is no settled Hong Kong case law or legislation on this issue. If you would like further information on the current law in Hong Kong relating to copyright and deep linking, please do not hesitate to contact us. This article is only a summary and should not be relied upon as a substitute for detailed advice in individual cases.
Copyright
The principle of copyright is embodied in its name: the right to copy. If you buy a painting, you may frame it, burn it or fly it like a kite, but unless you have also expressly bought the copyright in the painting, you may not copy it. If that doesn't make much sense at first glance, substitute the word 'painting' for 'book': you can do whatever you like with the book except copy it (and, impliedly, distribute those copies).
Judges hand down decisions in cases on copyright which often make reference to principles found in unfair competition law. Judges are loath to allow someone to make money from another person's efforts.
The Internet is also covered by copyright law. Consider the Internet as being a free newspaper which is delivered to your mailbox everyday (free, except for the hardware, software and ISP connection fees). You may read the newspaper, keep it or dispose of it. But you may not copy it.
To paraphrase Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation ('Copyleft and Open Source Software' seminar in Dublin on 6 February 2001), a literal application of copyright law does not easily dove-tail with Internet technology.
Strictly speaking, copying information to a web browser cache is an infringement of copyright.
Deep linking
Deep linking is concerned with URL links to web pages by-passing a website gateway page. When bypassing the gateway, much of the website's advertising and badges of ownership (author's acknowledgements, trade mark and copyright warnings, and the website's name - with its associated goodwill) are avoided.
Deep linking is effectively copying and profiting from someone else's labours. (It also effectively suggests the linked page has some commercial association or endorsement to the linking website.)
Protection and exposure
Many website owners face a dilemma between protecting their intellectual property and gaining exposure through the Internet. Valuable copyrighted work and trade marks exist and are promoted on their websites and they wish to control this intellectual property to prevent improper or misleading use of it by others. Website owners also want users to visit each of their pages and see their intellectual property, and, quite often, the banner link advertisements that accompany that intellectual property. This is, after all, how many sites create income.
Implied consent
If you place your copyrighted material on the Web, there is a school of thought which claims that in doing so you have consented to anyone copying that material - implied consent. This makes a lot of sense in the medium where, on a second-by-second basis, people post original images on on-line bulletin boards, copy URLs into caches or just press 'print'.
The claim is further argued by the fact that if you do not consent to deep linking, you should block the ability of another website to deep link the page. The New York Times' on-line site, for example, uses such a solution to prevent deep linking - unless you are a subscriber, you cannot access the text.
If the means is available to block deep linking, and a website owner who complains of the deep link has not applied a technological solution to stop the deep linking, the argument is that the law should not step in and declare this an infringement of the website owner's copyright.
The flavour or ethos of the Internet is the unrestricted flow of information. However, is it fair to say that commercial website owners should not rely upon already congested courts and ill-fitting copyright laws to stop that which they are technologically able to prevent?
If a website does not even have a basic warning such as 'no license, express or implied, is granted to any person to provide a URL link in any manner to this site without the express prior written permission of the owner' then it could be argued that the website owner has given implied consent to deep-link.
The argument of implied consent, claimed by the libertines of the Internet, is overlooked by judges.
Preventing deep linking to your site
While lawyers and judges fumble with the technology, those more familiar with website development know that there are other solutions. Website owners can install a simple script to break deep links, or adopt a URL token scheme (whereby a permission token is embedded dynamically into the query string on the link). The token can have a timing mechanism, so that the permission token changes every hour or everyday. An expired token will not let a visitor get to the sought-after page, or alternatively bumps the visitor to the gateway page.
It is even easier to simply make a site and its pages password-protected. It is of no assistance, however, that many websites are expressly silent on whether someone is allowed to deep link to that site. No doubt the clutter of a short paragraph of legal jargon (or even the words 'you may not deep link to any page on this site') will not look good in a Flash 4 or Shockwave introduction. But a signpost indicating whether or not (and particularly not) other websites may deep link might avoid many disputes involving unwitting linkers and irate big-ticket website owners.
Without such a warning, and where a website owner has not taken the relatively unsophisticated steps necessary to prevent deep linking, courts would be very reluctant to award anything other than nominal (token) damages against a deep linker.
Source: Deacons August 2001
DEACONS
3RD-7TH, 18TH & 29TH FLOORS, ALEXANDRA HOUSE, CENTRAL, HONG KONG, HONG KONG
DX: DX-9010-IC
tel: 852 2825 9211 fax: 852 2810 0431
email: hongkong@deaconslaw.com
if you're a college student, do NOT settle with the RIAA http://tinyurl.com/37oz2z
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14. January 2007 @ 22:24 |
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Customers miffed over DirecTV with TiVo problems
Many report that the popular Season Pass feature stopped functioning in December; DirecTV says it's aware of the problem.
By Erica Ogg
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: January 12, 2007, 5:43 PM PST
Customers of DirecTV with TiVo have been blanketing the satellite provider's online user forums with complaints of a malfunction in the DVR service.
Complaints of the problem first surfaced in early December, but DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer said Friday he didn't know the exact cause of the glitch. The company "is aware of the problem and should have it fixed by this evening," Mercer said.
Many forum posters say that the Season Pass feature, which enables users to tell the set-top box which programs to automatically record, has stopped recording those shows altogether, or is only doing so intermittently.
An eight-year customer of DirecTV from Wilmington, N.C., who asked that his name not be used, said in an interview that earlier this week his "To Do List"--the list of programs the set-top plans to record, based partly on the Season Pass--"was getting shorter and shorter and shorter and wasn't showing that anything would record after about 10 p.m.
Some customers are reporting on DirecTV user forums and TivoCommunity.com that it's not until speaking with their third or fourth DirecTV customer service representative that the company admits to a problem. Many say they were told it was a "known issue" that DirecTV was working on, and that the problem might be corrected in anything from a day to 30 days.
Many report being temporarily mollified with discounts, ranging from $5 off DirecTV with TiVo for six months or $10 off for three months, to free Showtime for a month. Others are not so easily placated.
"There are lots of alternatives out there with Dish Network, cable companies offering DVRs free with their service," said the Wilmington, N.C., customer. "If it's not fixed soon, I may consider jumping ship, especially since this has been a known issue for probably a month."
I know I'm asking for a discount...TiVo did not record the season premier of "24"...shows 12 episodes to record...however none are set to record...thanks season pass manager...
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AfterDawn Addict
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15. January 2007 @ 03:39 |
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In regard to DirecTV, I had two Tivo/DVR receivers, on died so I had to get DirecTV's piece of junk reciever they are now passing off and no longer has Tivo included in it. Now I am scrounging ebay in the hope to find another DirecTV receiver with the Tivo included. The new DirecTV receiver without it is the pits.
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15. January 2007 @ 21:18 |
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Jan 15, 2007 9:22 pm US/Pacific
Vallejo Man Burned As Cell Phone Ignites Fire
(CBS) VALLEJO, Calif. A cell phone apparently ignited in a man's pocket and started a fire that burned his hotel room and caused severe burns over half his body, Vallejo fire department officials said.
Luis Picaso, 59, of Vallejo, was in stable condition Monday at UC Davis Medical Center with second and third-degree burns to his upper body, back, right arm and right leg, Vallejo Fire Department assistant chief Kurt Henke said.
Firefighters arrived at the residential Travelers Hotel on Georgia Street on Saturday night to find Picaso lying on the bathroom floor after a malfunctioning cell phone in Picaso's pants pocket set fire to his nylon and polyester clothes, Henke said.
"It was a freak accident. It just happened and could happen anytime," added Vallejo Fire Department spokesman Bill Tweedy.
Tweedy explained that it's possible a button on the phone inside Picaso's pocket was depressed for a long time causing overheating, a short circuit or other malfunction. Tweedy said he has heard of cell phones heating up even after they were shut off.
"The phones get warm after you've been talking for a long time and the powerful batteries in them can overheat," he said.
The flames spread to a plastic chair, setting off a hotel sprinkler that held the fire in check, firefighters said. The fire and water caused $75,000 damage to the room and a business on the ground floor.
Authorities declined to name the manufacturer and model of the phone, but Tweedy said that Saturday's incident is not that unusual.
"There have been a couple other cases in California in the past few years," Tweedy said. "It's no different than any other fires involving mechanical or electrical items," Tweedy said.
A 16-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns when her cell phone in her back pocket caught fire, the Ontario, Calif. Fire Department reported in June 2004.
An incident in May 2004 in New Paltz, N.Y. lent credibility to the suspicion that a cell phone could ignite a fire at a gas pump. A 21-year-old student was filling up at the pump when his phone rang. When he answered it a large flash occurred at the nozzle and started a fire.
Thousands of counterfeit LG-branded cell phone batteries were also recalled in June 2004 because they could overheat and pose a fire hazard, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Hey, Arniebear
Good to see you here...
I just had one of my TiVo's go out also...hope its just hard drive...I can replace that...NEW DVR'S ARE HORRIBLE PIECE'S OF JUNK...
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15. January 2007 @ 21:24 |
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Witness: Executed man's 'head just snapped off'
POSTED: 1:29 a.m. EST, January 16, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A journalist who saw videotape of the Monday hangings of Saddam Hussein's half-brother and the dictator's former chief judge has described how one of the men was decapitated.
New York Times reporter John F. Burns told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Monday evening that Barzan Hassan's head "just snapped off," because he was apparently given too much rope and fell too far -- about eight feet -- for a man of his medium build and weight.
The hangman's calculations -- a grim science governing the weight of the condemned and how much rope is necessary to kill quickly -- were apparently wrong, Burns said.(Read how hanging is supposed to work)
He said: "Two deeply frightened men in orange jumpsuits, Guantanamo-style, standing on the trapdoor, black hoods over their heads as they intoned the prayer of death.
"As ... they dropped the eight feet allowed by the coiled rope his head just snapped off, just like that, in an instant." (Watch John Burns' full description of the hangings Video)
Burns was among a small group of reporters, which did not include CNN, who were invited to watch a videotape of the two side-by-side hangings.
The hangings happened at about 3 a.m. Monday (7 p.m. Sunday ET), said Basam Ridha, spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office.
After the men dropped, Burns said, the videotape shows Hassan "lying face down -- [a] headless pool of blood accumulating around his neck."
Hassan's head was still in the black hood that covered his face before he fell through the trapdoor, according to Burns.
"It seems what happened was that the Iraqi officials who had worked so hard to get this one right just got it wrong," he said.
Burns said the decapitation appeared to be accidental and the execution of the second man, Awad Bandar, appeared to be properly conducted.
"It only goes to show that, you know, when things go wrong, they go very badly wrong in Iraq," said Burns, who has covered the region for many years.
The Iraqi government previously released a silent video of Saddam Hussein's December 30 execution, that ends before the actual hanging.
However, unauthorized mobile phone video showed Hussein's hanging and included audio of Shiite guards taunting the Sunni ex-dictator on the gallows.
That video sparked widespread outrage and suggestions the execution was a sectarian lynching. (Watch crowds in Sadr City celebrate the hangings Video)
There was no audio on the videotape of Monday's executions, Burns said.
Iraqi officials were motivated to show the videotape to reporters because they are "absolutely determined," Burns said, that the video not get on the Internet and "be replayed a million times, especially across the Middle East."
The video will not be released to the public, Ridha said.
Compared to the approximately 25 people who witnessed Hussein's hanging, only about 10-12 people saw Monday's executions, said Burns.
Everyone in the room was required to sign an agreement promising not to engage in taunting the condemned men or recording the execution, said Ridha, who was a witness.
"It was not like a very pretty scene," said Ridha, who called the decapitation "an act of God."
According to their wishes, Hassan and Bandar were buried around 8:30 p.m. Monday near Hussein's grave in Owja, Iraq, a local government spokesman told CNN.
The men were executed for their roles in the killings of 148 men and boys after a 1982 assassination attempt on Hussein in Dujail, Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Sunnis reacted with anger to the decapitation, and some Shiites expressed shock at the way the hanging was conducted, according to wire reports. (Full story)
'Very apologetic'
Describing Monday's execution, Ridha said the two men, dressed in their orange prisoner uniforms, "looked very surprised" that they were actually going to be hanged.
They "were very apologetic," asking that they not be put to death, he said. "They asked God for forgiveness," he said.
Hoods were placed over their heads, unlike Hussein, who asked not to be given a hood when he was hanged on the same gallows, Ridha said.
The two were sentenced to death in November.
Their death sentences were upheld by an Iraqi appeals court in December but delayed amid the controversy surrounding Hussein's execution.
CNN's Arwa Damon and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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