USCO Reviewing DMCA Anti-Circumvention Clause
October 28, 2005 at 1:18 pm | In Mac, Movies, Music, PC, Technology | Leave a CommentAs reported at Slashdot it appears that a review of DRM laws and the DMCA are being undertaken and will be for the next month. I think it would be good if all Americans who believe that they should own what they pay for and have the right to do with it want they want write to the USCO and get this ridiculous changed. I doubt they would listen to anyone from outside the USA but you never know.
Do what you think is right but if you do write in make sure you do what the Slashdot article mentions and write a coherent letter outlining why you think the law needs to be changed.
USCO Reviewing DMCA Anti-Circumvention Clause:
ahknight writes “The United States Copyright office begins its required review of the effects of the anti-circumvention portions of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act on November 2nd. This review period lasts until December 1, 2005. They will be accepting your well-thought-out opinions on the web and by mail. If you’re reasonably ticked that you can’t legally get around encrypted files to get at the media you’ve bought, start writing a coherent stance for the USCO today.”
Noam Chomsky Interview
October 27, 2005 at 2:00 pm | In News and politics, Podcasts | Leave a CommentMy friend Cameron Reilly from The Podcast Network recent interviewed one of the world’s leading thinkers of the 20th Century Professor Noam Chomsky. Unfortunately due to time constraints the interview is only about 30 minutes long but Professor Chomsky discusses political issues since World War 2 and other interesting topics.
Listen and maybe learn something and maybe even think. Maybe he will say something that will make you take a look at the world around you and investigate it further.
You can listen to the interview here, Noam Chomsky interview
Second X-Files film to begin filming
October 27, 2005 at 1:09 pm | In Movies | Leave a CommentThis is total speculation at the moment. A lot of ifs and buts but the director of Fight the Future has high hopes a 2nd X-Files movie will hopefully commence filming in 2006 with a release for sometime in 2007.
I won’t hold my breath but it would be cool.
Seven Worst Video Game Movies
October 27, 2005 at 1:00 pm | In Gaming | Leave a CommentWith very few exceptions, video games simply have not translated into good movies- or even mediocre moves, for that matter. Let�s take a quick jaunt down memory lane, shall we? Cinematical presents, in no particular order, the Seven Worst Video Game Movies.
It is no surprise to see Uwe Boll movies appear a few times.
Watch Me Solve a 20×20x20 Rubik’s Cube!
October 27, 2005 at 12:55 pm | In Uncategorized | Leave a CommentThis is totally insane. I can’t even imagine why someone would want to solve a 20×20x20 rubiks cube but he did it. I don’t know how but have a look.
Watch Chris Hardwick, of speedcubing.com, solve a 20×20x20 Rubik’s cube. with 1.3e1477 possible combinations.
Australian iTunes Store is Live
October 25, 2005 at 4:26 am | In Mac, Music, PC, Podcasts | Leave a CommentToday’s official announcement by Apple finally made the reality of an Aussie iTunes Store after many months of frustration for Australian iPod owners.
The main details are that the standard iTunes DRM will be incorporated with all songs. Songs will cost $1.69 and albums will be $16.99 (with some slight variations), Pixar shorts/music videos will cost $3.39, Coles Myer will be stocking $20, $50 and $100 iTunes Music cards and Sony/BMG artists and TV are not yet available.
It also appears Apple resellers are not able to sell the iTunes Music cards till at least February 2006 which is a decision made between Apple and Coles but I am sure a lot of Apple resellers are disappointed with that. There is already a bit of tension between these two recently and this may add to that tension.
Browsing the AppleTalk Australia forums it appears that some albums aren’t able to be bought but individual songs are for the same album. This seems odd and possibly a bug but unsure at the moment.
I will probably sign up for an account when I get home but am unsure if I will download any music from the store as yet. I mostly listen to podcasts nowadays but to have an account will be handy nonetheless.Â
I will report my own experiences with the store later and let you all know what I think.
BloodSpell
October 22, 2005 at 4:49 am | In Gaming, Movies | Leave a CommentBloodSpell is a machinima made movie using the Neverwinter Nights gaming engine.
The basis of the story is that there are people called “Blooded” whose blood carries magic which when released unweilds great power. The “Blooded” hide in the slums area of the city from the church and are commanded by their divine masters to “cleanse” their blood magic.
A young monk escapes the church when is own blood is spilt and thus is on the run from the church and the choices he makes on his journey will change the world.
The movie will be released in parts with the first one hopefully coming out before the end of the year and the weekly 3-5 minute episodes until the movie is completed.
You can download a trailer in Quicktime, Windows Media Player or DIVX at Bloodspell Preview.
Retro Gaming Goodness 2
October 21, 2005 at 7:24 pm | In Gaming, PC | Leave a CommentA new service has recently started up called Gametap. This allows people to play all kinds of games from just about system that you can think of as well as Arcade games.
It is only supported on Windows machines at the moment unfortunately and requires 5GB of hard drive space and a broadband connection. I think the biggest concern for most people is that the cost of this service is going to be $14.95 USD per month after an initial 2 week trial.
I really loved some of the games they have available but as I am ditching Windows, unless they bring out a Mac version I won’t be using it. It is well worth a look though for those old enough to remember table-top arcade machines and receiving an Atari 2600 for Christmas.
Putting Guns Ahead of People
October 21, 2005 at 4:11 pm | In News and politics | 1 CommentOngoing blog author Tom Bray was going through his daily RSS news aggregator and found two MSNBC articles next to each other.
Item: “The Senate voted for the second time this month against providing more money to help low-income families heat their homes.� Item: “Congress on Thursday passed a bill protecting the firearms industry from massive lawsuits brought by crime victims, and President Bush was expected to sign it into law.�
It is so interesting to see where government policies lay at the moment. Help people survive by providing heating to the poor who can’t afford heating in rundown apartments blocks usually owned by slumlords who most likely would rather tear down buildings and sell to corporations and investorsfor a huge profit than to refurbish the existing property or protect the people who make firearms from what they consider frivilous lawsuits against them.
I know that people kill people, not guns but the way some guns are made nowadays some of them are easy to modify to become semi-automatic or even fully automatic which just turns them into tools for killing. This isn’t about the right to bear arms but the right for people to sue firearms companies from making their guns so easy to modify. I am sure there is more to it than that also but why should these people be protected when they makes something whose only use is to injure and kill. There are more illegal weapons on the streets than legal at the moment and that isn’t right.
I am including Australia in this rant also not just the USA whose gunlaws seem to revolve around a constitution 200 yrs old written in a time of war.
Retro Gaming Goodness 1
October 21, 2005 at 3:28 pm | In GNU/Linux, Gaming, Technology | Leave a CommentPicked this site from over at Digg.com. This won’t play all those modern games like the PSP does but damn it would be a lot of fun to be able to play all the games we used to play as kids and young adults (for those old enough to remember retro games). It has been built using a GNU/Linux base which should make it stable and also allwo “homebrewers” to do some cool stuff with it as well.
It appears to be reasonably priced also but will have to wait and see some reviews first before I rush out and order one.
With the ability to play games, movies, ebooks and more. Free Emulators for SNES, NES, GB, GBC and GBA, Sega Mega Drive, Master System, Spectrum, C64, Atari, PC Engine, MAME, MSX, Neo Geo Pocket, Game Gear and more. Even a TV-Out!!
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