Finnish metal band Lordi, who dress in monster masks and outlandish fantasy costumes, have taken the Eurovision Song Contest by storm — via The Pagan Prattle Online
A new research project at MIT’s Media Lab, entitled RadioActive, aims to turn every mobile phone or PDA carrying member of the public into a podcaster, and every mobile device into a virtual podcasting studio. The project defines a large-scale asynchronous audio messaging system in which voice messages can be threaded like text in a discussion forum as a method of discussion-on-demand
— via Slashdot
Natural allies in the music industry — record labels and a leading satellite service — are on opposing sides in a federal lawsuit over how consumers may legally record songs using next-generation radio devices
Australians will legally be able to record TV and radio programs and transfer material from CDs to mp3 players, under proposed copyright changes
According to his official biography, Richard Kelly is the director of the acclaimed Donnie Darko, the writer of the less acclaimed Domino and a contender for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes film festival. According to the Department of Homeland Security he is a suspected terrorist who may now be prevented from travelling to Cannes next week after the morons appear confused him with another man, James Kelly
, who is on the terrorist watch list. Kelly’s full name is James Richard Kelly — via Warren Ellis
I was trawling through some random blogs the other night when I should have been working on my uni assignment, and I came across a bizarre factoid about the connection between Sailor Moon and Mozilla Firefox. Now that’s geeky.
Apple Computer is entitled to use the apple logo on its iTunes Music Store, a judge has ruled, rejecting a suit filed by Apple Corps Ltd, the guardian of The Beatles’ commercial interest
Online file-sharing service BearShare, along with operators Free Peers Inc, is packing it up due to a $30 million settlement with the recording industry. The conditions of the settlement were agreed to by the P2P company to avoid further copyright infringement litigation
ABC’s web site crashed twice as internet users flocked to watch streaming versions of its most popular shows, including Lost
and Desperate Housewives
. It was the first time the shows were available online directly from the network, and the first time the advertising community had gotten a look at what ad products would be offered. It was also the first opportunity for the industry to gauge how popular such an ad-supported offering might be with consumers
Apple has renewed contracts with the world’s four largest music companies to sell songs through its iTunes Music Store, after blocking their attempts to end iTunes’ flat-rate pricing scheme
Some of Canada’s best known musicians, including Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlin, Sum 41 and Barenaked Ladies, have formed a new copyright coalition. The artists say in a press release that they oppose file sharing lawsuits, the use of DRM, and DMCA-style legislation and that they want record labels to stop claiming that they represent their views
The BBC has posted an online interface into a catalogue of 946,614 BBC radio & TV programmes, dating back 75 years — searchable by category, cast and crew
The latest low-tech billboards along the highways of the Netherlands are startling enough to prompt motorists to indulge in U-turns. Or make that ewe-turns. These ads are walking, woolly flocks of bleating sheep
iiNet’s broadband customers have for several weeks been experiencing slow speeds to some international Internet sites as the telco wrangles with a congested connection in the United States
America’s estimated 30,000 Elvis impressionists fear that they are about to be put out of business. Robert Sillerman, a New York businessman, has bought the rights to Elvis’ name and likeness and has threatened to ban unauthorised
Elvis clones — via The Times
ABC will make a number of its most popular programmes available online at no cost. Beginning 30 April, a redesigned ABC.com web site will allow web surfers to watch full episodes of programs such as Lost, Desperate Housewives and others starting the morning after they air on ABC. In addition, programming from other Disney-owned networks will be made available online over the next couple of months. All programs will be shown in their entirety, including commercials which cannot be avoided. Aside from being unable to avoid commercials, watching the programs will be similar to watching timeshifted content in that viewers will be able to pause, fast forward, and rewind
Anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash. Detectives halted the London-bound flight at Durham Tees Valley Airport and Harraj Mann, 24, was taken off. The taxi driver had become worried on the way to the airport because Mann had been singing along to The Clash’s 1979 anthem London Calling
, which features the lyrics Now war is declared — and battle come down
while other lines warn of a meltdown expected
— via Boing Boing
Playing games on teh intarwebs is quite fashionable of late, and it sometimes seems like all the cool kids are grinding levels on World of Warcraft, collecting a +3 loincloth of smiting, an epic beagle, and perhaps some sort of lemony potion. After playing three Final Fantasies in a row, the appeal of this sort of thing has diminished for me, and now I favour something more sedate: turn-based board gaming.
For those of us with slower reflexes, those who are content to sip a cup of earl grey and make one or two mouse clicks per hour on a 16-colour virtual gameboard, board gaming by web is quite rewarding.
As a mathematics student, otaku, and young intellectual, my game of choice is go, which I like to play at the Dragon Go Server. There are plenty of places to play go online, but I like this one best of the turn-based servers. The WoW players among you will like the fact that DGS awards you a ranking, which shifts up and down with your gaming fortunes. It’s a bit like experience points, except that they go away when you lose a match. Which would make the other player some sort of wight or revenant, if we stick with the RPG motif.
Another good’un, which I’ve just recently discovered, is Spiel By Web. SBW features hip Eurogames like Reef Encounter (in which you take the role of a deranged parrotfish gobbling up the Great Barrier Reef) and Tikal (in which you take the role of an old fashioned archaeologist looting the Americas).
And finally, for those who prefer the traditional games, there’s ItsYourTurn.com, which serves up turn-based chess, backgammon, and ‘Jamble’ — a game as similar to Scrabble as the rule of law will allow.
I heartily encourage you to abandon your expensive MMOs and join me on all of the above.
In Sweden, a new political party — the Pirate Party — is pushing a platform that would abolish patents and free creative works from copyright protections after five years, instead of the 50 to 100 years typically associated with a creator’s exclusive rights
The movie download firms Movielink and CinemaNow have made a deal with the big five studios to ensure that downloads will coincide with DVD releases at Blockbuster and WalMart. Unlike previous deals, these will be full purchase downloads, and not merely for a rental period. The move is aimed at stemming the rising tide of pirate downloads, and DRM will be in force to prevent copying the movies to DVD. The first batch of downloadable movies will include Brokeback Mountain
, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
and King Kong
. The drawback is that they’ll be DRMmed, Windows-only and twice the price of DVDs
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