Sunday, May 22, 2005

Debunking the MPAA. BitTorrent Facilitating Illegal File Swapping of Star Wars On Day of Opening Statement by MPAA President Dan Glickman Washington, D.C. - - Responding to news reports today that BitTorrent is already facilitating the illegal file sharing of the final Star Wars episode, Revenge of the Sith which opens in theaters today, Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) President and CEO Dan Glickman made the following statement: There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing users with illegal copies of Revenge of the Sith. The unfortunate fact is this type of theft happens on a regular basis on peer to peer networks all over the world. Fans have been lined up for days to see Revenge of the Sith. To preserve the quality of movies for fans like these and so many others, we must stop these Internet thieves from illegally trading valuable copyrighted materials on-line. If piracy and those who profit from it are allowed to flourish, they will erode an engine of economic growth and job creation; undermine legitimate businesses that strive to unite technology and content in innovative and legal ways and limit quality and consumer choice. [MPAA Press Release in Word document format only, via the Interesting People mailing list] This statement would indeed be alarming, if it wasn’t for the fact that the original copy leaked onto BitTorrent was stolen by someone associated with the film and if "Revenge of the Sith" hadn’t made $50 million the first day alone. Glickman shoots himself in the foot by noting that the movie was pirated and yet "fans have been lined up for days to see" it. He wants to have his cake (fans lined up everywhere!) and eat it, too (but piracy "will erode an engine of economic growth and job creation"). Explain to me again why Congress listens to him? Oh yeah - the money. [The Shifted Librarian] 6:57:40 PM    comment []

Stem Cell Researchers Feel the Pull of the Golden State. Stem cell researchers are feeling the tug from institutions in California seeking to expand their research programs with help from the state's $3 billion stem cell initiative. By NICHOLAS WADE. [NYT > Science] 10:15:47 AM    comment []

Decoding Health Insurance. The genomic case for universal health coverage. By ROBIN COOK. [NYT > Opinion] V. engaging and novel argument. 10:15:16 AM    comment []

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out, Start the Computer Revolution. A new book says that the social idealists and acid freaks of the 1960's made computers accessible and friendly. By ROGER LOWENSTEIN. [NYT > Technology] Coming up in two weeks in The Inkwell, too! Should be a great discussion, including not only Markoff, but Rheingold, Figallo, and more . . . 10:14:55 AM    comment []

Letourneau weds her former student. On CNN [NewsIsFree: Popular Items] 10:08:51 AM    comment []

Always on Google. My girlfriend and I are sitting in a semi-darkened theater on Thursday night. The ticket says 9:45 PM, it was now that time and we had just finished watching 10 minutes of commercials. Instead of the movie, we get an in-depth ad for Ron Howard's new movie and a great big view of Ron Howard. He is not looking good, probably because they didn't bother with makeup for what is destined to become a DVD extra. We can't get over how bad he looks, like he's a junkie one fix away from hitting bottom. I say it must be age, figuring that Opie was in black and white so it must have been quite a while ago. She says he isn't that old. Normally this would be an impasse and we would move on. With no interest in the Ron Howard featurette, I send an SMS saying "Ron howard age" to 46645 and get an immediate response saying Q&A: Ron Howard Date of Birth:1 March 1954 Source www.who2.com/ronhoward.html And yes, my phone is on silent. Small things like that are what Howard Rheingold has been writing about for a while. If I can find out something as arbitrary as Ron Howard's birth date from somewhere as disconnected as a movie theater seat, our entire relationship to information is changing. Kudos to Google for succeeding to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." [unmediated] 10:07:05 AM    comment []

Smash-Up Derby - world's only mash-up rock band. Performs mashups live. http://www.smashupderby.com/[unmediated] 10:06:06 AM    comment []

Roadcasting. Roadcasting is a system that allows anyone to have their own radio station, broadcasted among cars in an ad-hoc network. It plays the songs that people want to hear and it transforms car radio into an interactive medium. Roadcasting combines the good things about listening to the radio and the good things about being a radio DJ while eliminating the bad things to form a new type of radio service. It's incredibly easy to have your own radio station heard by others in their cars within a 30-mile radius. Roadcasting matches you to radio stations that play the music you want to hear. We have made the source code for the Roadcasting system available in order to encourage development of this novel service so that it may one day become the preferred radio delivery method.  [unmediated] 10:03:17 AM    comment []