Archive for August, 2004
Yarrrrrrrrrrr!
It’s utterly immature I know, but apparently some US cinemagoers are responding to anti-piracy adverts by making pirate noises.
Yarrrrrrr!
iPod antics
It’s all go in the world of digital music: HP is expected to launch its version of Apple’s iPod this afternoon (or this morning if you live in the US), and Microsoft’s about to unveil its rival to the iTunes Music Store, which is pegged for a 2nd September launch date. There’s an interesting nugget in this Rolling Stone story:
Microsoft has made several overtures to Apple to make its store compatible with the industry-leading iPod but has been rebuffed. (Apple declined to comment.)
Movie villains
US cinemagoers are currently being treated to a series of adverts depicting film industry workers, with the message that movie piracy threatens US jobs. However, as this article points out, the biggest threat to US film industry jobs isn’t piracy - it’s the film studios themselves. I’ve emphasised the key points in boldface:
There is a new sense of crisis among American film industry workers… over “runaway productions” - films and TV shows that for economic reasons are shot wholly or almost wholly outside the U.S. While runaways typically employ Americans as producers, directors, and stars, most of the crew and some non-star actors are hired locally.
…
According to a 1999 study commissioned by the Directors Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild, runaways have increased from 14 percent of total US film and television productions in 1990 to 27 percent in 1998. They have a total negative economic impact of over $10 billion a year. Today the practice has reached what the Los Angeles Times calls “epidemic” levels and involves many big-budget, high-profile pictures like the Academy-Award winning “Chicago”. The DGA/SAG study calculates that over 125,000 jobs were lost to runaways in the 1990s. A more recent study by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. predicts that another 4,000 film jobs will likely disappear by 2005.
Incidentally, the studios that are so keen on using cheap labour in other countries are the same studios who use region coding on DVDs to prevent you from importing cheap DVDs.
Another 744 bite the dust
Another day, another tranche of RIAA lawsuits; this time, a further 744 “John Doe” lawsuits have been filed against file sharing network users, bringing the total so far to 4,700.
The RIAA has also re-filed 152 suits against people who were told to hand over their life savings if they didn’t want the RIAA’s attack dogs to ruin their lives forever given the option to settle but refused.
Dry your eyes, Matt
The new Matt Damon spy thriller The Bourne Supremacy is lots of fun, not least because the implacable assassin that dogs Damon is none other than Mike Skinner from The Streets*.
* I know, I know, it’s Karl Urban. But the resemblance is uncanny. Although I suspect any US readers will be utterly baffled by this post.
Sharp takes aim at fat
Japanese manufacturer Sharp has invented a new microwave oven that can melt the fat away from food, using superheated steam at temperatures just short of 600 degrees fahrenheit. It’s clever stuff although like most new tech, it’s pricey: it looks like it’ll cost around $1,100 (£600).
[via Squander Two]
IPC in another copyright grab
Yet another copyright story, and something that’s worth remembering whenever big media companies talk about protecting content creators. According to a discussion on the editorial photographers’ mailing list, IPC (publisher of NME and Uncut, among others) is about to launch new, digital versions of some of its titles, which will be available as PDF downloads from a subscription service. As a result, it has been writing to photographers and saying (I’ll paraphrase):
When you sell us photos, they’re sold for use in our print publications. But we’re going to use them in the digital versions too, and we’re buggered if we’re going to pay extra for that. Ner ner ner ner ner.
As you’d expect, the photographers’ trade association (the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies) isn’t amused: it’s taken legal advice and informed members that their sales to IPC are for print only, and that any digital use requires further payment.
GMail gears up
After weeks without any invites at all, GMail seems to be chucking new invites at users: yesterday it gave me 6 “invite a friend to GMail” opportunities, and it’s added a further invite this morning. Maybe it’s finally gearing up for a proper launch; after all, it’s been in beta since April.
Sony’s iPod is no iPod
Maybe this’ll rebuild my karma with irritated Mac users ;-)
This Newsday review suggests that Sony has a long way to go if it’s going to dent the success of the iPod. Forcing you to convert your entire music library into yet another DRM-ed format before you can take it with you is a spectacularly bad idea that no amount of super battery technology can fix.
Oh, and it’s more expensive than the iPod too. Nice one, Sony.
[via No Rock'N'Roll Fun]
Beware editors with image editing software
This masterpiece is by Mr Paul Douglas:
