I haven’t seen Borat yet (I plan on seeing it next week while I’m in Las Vegas), but if you haven’t seen it yet, I have a good reason for you to go see it (not that you really need one)…
I just found out my uncle Scott was the production sound mixer on it. So go see it. π
Jack Black is pretty funny sometimes… π
This guy can dance *and* hand out beatings… π
Well first of all, I was just checking this site out because this is probably the most amazing homemade halloween costume ever made, but it gave me a really good marketing idea for the MPAA…
They should just setup an affiliate program and pay affiliate marketers 25% of the fees they collect from the lawsuits/threats. Dude, I would be the biggest affiliate marketer for the MPAA in the world (seriously, I can guarantee that). Anyway, here’s a freebie for the MPAA (if they want to do an “under the table” affiliate program, they have my address for the check)… π
Oh also, I would like to turn in Mark Cuban for movie piracy. π
//www.muc.muohio.edu/~natedogg/main.htm
So back in June, I made a post that helps people understand the MPAA’s “Pyramid of Piracy”. As I pointed out last month, BitTorrent.com (the company, not the software), which is one of the MPAA’s partners is actually one of the biggest “facilitators” by their own definition.
Well now the MPAA has at least one other partner that is also on the Pyramid of Piracy… and this one is higher up in the pyramid. Guba.com is a Top Site on the pyramid.
//www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2019308,00.asp
It will be interesting to see how long before an MPAA partner is at the top of their pyramid as a “Supplier”. Oh wait, maybe the MPAA is saving that slot for itself. π
Ever since I became a full-fledged Indian, I’ve had a huge interest in my new culture. While doing some research on some Indian “things”, I came across this… does anyone else think this is weird?
I know it’s a little old, but I didn’t see it until today, so now you get to see it too. π
I wonder if the MPAA is just pissed off they were busted for illegal movie copying when this movie was submitted to them or what?
The documentary that is critical of the MPAA was given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA. In their own words, it means this:
I can’t wait to see this movie now… Something critical of the MPAA, and we might get excessive violence, sex and drugs thrown in there as well (I’m hoping for all of the above). Either way, it surely will be interesting to see what’s in there that the MPAA is trying to protect our youth from. π
While I can’t be 100% critical of the MPAA since I haven’t seen the movie (for all I know, maybe 50% documentary and 50% porn), from the description it sounds like every other PG-13 Hollywood flick to me…
Dick reveals it to be a bizarre institution: secretive, cantankerous and paranoid, high-handedly slapping certificates on movies ranging from G – all ages allowed – up to an R (under-17s need parent or guardian present) and then an R-17 (no under-17s allowed at all). This last rating is the equivalent to our 18 certificate, less strict by one year, but still commercial catastrophe for film-makers hoping to get their product out to the all-important youth market. The MPAA never discusses its reasoning, and never reveals the identities of its “raters” or members of its absurdly pompous “appeals board” which, in certain cases, will grandly condescend to reconsider its verdict, prior, in the vast majority of cases, to solemnly announcing that the original decision was correct.
Maybe the fact that it’s a documentary and not a work of fiction makes it more damaging to our youth or something. If that’s the case, then I guess the MPAA more or less confirmed the movie’s validity that the MPAA’s rating system is whacked out. {shrug}
//film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,1862074,00.html
You may or may not know, the MPAA and BitTorrent “joined forces to protect film copyrights” (the MPAA’s words, not mine) last November (see press release).
|
From Bram Cohen (BitTorrent CEO):
From Dan Glickman (MPAA Chairman and CEO):
So, uhm… I wonder how well that’s working out for the MPAA these days… They are the MPAA’s strategic partner, so I can only assume that what they do with movies has the MPAA’s full blessing. With that in mind, I went to BitTorrent.com, and did a search for the movie that I allegedly downloaded via BitTorrent. BitTorrent.com will give you 15 different options for downloading Meet The Fockers.
They are even kind enough to give you some HTML you can copy/paste so you can find anything you want (see search box in the upper right of this post).
Now by the MPAA’s own definition, BitTorrent.com is a “facilitator” on the Pyramid of Internet Piracy.
It seems to me like it’s a very odd and confusing message the MPAA is giving to everyone. On one hand, they promote the usage of BitTorrent.com in their own press releases, yet they issue another release outlining the “Pyramid of Internet Piracy”, which includes one of their major strategic partners.
Huh? So the MPAA wants to sue the bottom feeders on the pyramid, but publicly promote the facilitators. Maybe the MPAA will just keep moving up the pyramid and start promoting “top sites” and “suppliers” too. {shrug} I don’t generally consider myself a stupid guy, but I’m confused.
Although when you think about it, it may actually be a brilliant idea… “Let’s show consumers how to download our movies, then we can extort bill them for $2,500. Check it out, we just sold a $9.43 DVD for $2,500 (a 26,500% markup).”
Here’s something kind of funny/ironic with the whole MPAA thing going on…
I got a proposal in the mail today from a film production company that wants me to invest/fund their movie for a 14% return on the investment plus title of “Executive Producer” on the movie.
I wonder if they know that if they submit a movie for rating to the MPAA with me as the executive producer that it will automatically be stamped NC-17? π
First I got wired, then someone came along and slashed me, then someone dugg me, then I was farked by someone I hardly know. After basking in the afterglow, a vampire came by and slashed me (again!) and told me I was delicious.
The last 24 hours saw more traffic to my blog than any other day (it was a good stress test for WordPress, and my caching mechanism seems to have worked well).
But here’s the low down… Wired Magazine issued their August issue in the last few days, which had an article about the whole MPAA lawsuit in there. Slashdot picked it up, and made it’s front page. Digg then picked it up (front page there too) and it was one of the most popular stories for the week within a few hours. Then Fark picked it up and it was a front page story there too.
Now here’s the funny part… today Slashdot is running a front page story about how popular that Slashdot article was yesterday. π
Looks like it also made the front of del.icio.us too.
The Important Part
Okay, so now that I have 150 million eyes, I want to take advantage of that situation for the greater good of mankind, and ask a favor… if you are reading this and you happen to know Alessandra Ambrosio, will you send me her phone number? π (BTW, if you don’t know who she is, click here.)
Okay, okay… I’ve had the issue for a couple days now, and I was a bit torn if I was going to post anything about it on my blog or not. I didn’t like a few things about it… For one thing, I’m not a “hero” (I’m a pretty normal guy), but they titled the article Shawn Hogan, Hero. Anyway, today it seems everyone knows because I’ve been bombed with emails, phone calls, etc. about it. People have scanned the article and posted it around and it also made the front page of Slashdot today.
So I guess at this point the world knows about it, so if you want to read it, here it is…
//wired.com/wired/archive/14.08/start.html?pg=3
P.S. – it was kind of funny to see my mug shot in Wired Magazine’s table of contents (in the August print edition).
Okay, so you know how my car got stolen a few weeks ago? I just had an epiphany and realized what really happened to it…
The MPAA/Universal Studios hired someone to steal my car. They didn’t do it because just want to annoy me or because they thought it had anything cool in it (which it didn’t… except for my sunglasses). Nope… the real reason is they want to see if I would lie to my insurance company to try and claim I had other stuff in it which I didn’t, then have my car magically turn up with whatever stuff they were hoping I would claim not there. Then they could somehow use that against me to show my “bad character”. π
Oh… speaking of my car, it looks like it’s going to be around 7 weeks before I have a replacement. I had to put in a special order to get the exact one I had before (color and options), so they have to build it especially for me. Lame.
One of the allegations of the whole MPAA lawsuit is that I’m more or less destroying the movie industry because I allegedly downloaded a movie that I own.
So here’s two pictures of some DVDs I own in my living room. I don’t even feel like counting how many movies I have (maybe someone reading this will do it for me and post a comment letting me know how many), but I’m guessing well over 200. The dumbest thing is that of the movies I own, I’ve probably watched (in its entirety) 40 of them. And I’m guessing that 50+ of them, I’ve never even put in a DVD player to TRY to watch (I just don’t have the time to watch TV/movies anymore… but it’s nice to have them in case you ever have nothing else to do… like on a plane).
When it really comes down to it, I’ve probably spent $5,000+ on DVDs that I never watch more than once (and in most cases, never at all) because I’m too lazy to make two trips to Blockbuster (one to rent and then again to return it). And since I buy movies (but don’t immediately watch them), sometimes I forget which movies I already own, so I end up with 2 copies (see 2nd picture).
So uhm… if I’m damaging the movie industry, who in the heck is supporting it? Hell, I support the movie industry so much that I be willing to feed (okay, buy dinner) some movie stars (see this post).
BTW… when shopping for furniture, I realized that entertainment center/media storage units was the hardest stuff to find when looking for something that is quality. So if you are ever looking for good stuff, check out Salamander Designs (Synergy line for me). Good stuff.
This is just more blah, blah about the whole MPAA vs. me thing.
One thing that I think people are not understanding here is that I’m not trying to change the world with this. I’m not trying to “take down the MPAA”, change any copyright or file sharing laws or anything else as grandiose as that. Hell, I have expensive billing software that I wrote that is pirated every day (I’m just too lazy to sue them… too much hassle and work IMO).
I’m still not 100% certain what the details are for the stuff the MPAA has against me (other than it was downloading “Meet The Fockers”), but I’m sure it will come out in the discovery process. I do think it will be very interesting to check out their methodology for pinpointing users for their John Doe lawsuits. Even if the world jury lost their minds and I was somehow found guilty and had to pay whatever the court sees fit, the whole process would have been a cool story to tell. And maybe I could even learn something in the whole process. I’ve learned a TON about all sorts of interesting stuff already as a result of this case – for example BitTorrent technology is actually pretty amazing from a purely technical standpoint [other companies like Apple, some Linux distributions, etc. seem to think it’s a pretty good technology too]. Even Warner Brothers is going to be distributing movies via BitTorrent (legitimately with DRM intact of course), which I think will be *awesome*. When it comes down to it, it’s all about decentralization and utilizing whatever resources are available. I’m still hoping Apple will do an iTunes Movie Store, and if the backend works with file sharing/swarming technology where users could earn credits for ultimately footing Apple’s bandwidth bills, then all the better.
Anyway, my point is that I’m not trying to save the world… I’ve received countless emails/phone calls from people who treat me like the second coming of you-know-who, and just think people are blowing everything out of proportion (obviously). I’m not interested in writing a book about it or making a movie about it (well, unless maybe someone can somehow slip in a love scene for me with someone like Rachel McAdams… haha!)
Some useful advice from me… “Don’t ever take things at face value if your gut tells you that something is fishy. Ultimately knowledge is power, and the best way to get knowledge is to figure it out on your own. Sometimes you might even come up with a better way of doing things by ‘thinking outside the box’.”
BTW – if Rachel McAdams is reading this… can you call me please, I must have lost your phone number… π
I did an interview with Zeropaid.com a week or two ago, and it was just posted in case anyone wants to read more about the MPAA stuff going on…
//www.zeropaid.com/news/6466/MPAA+v+Shawn+Hogan%3A+The+Zeropaid+Interview
Just got back from the Early Neutral Evaluation Conference with Judge William McCurine, Jr. (who was a remarkably nice and likable guy). Overall it was a waste of time (as expected) though because they really just want the two opposing sides to figure out a way they can settle without going to a full trial. Judge McCurine asked Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ (not that the MPAA/Universal offered that)… which of course Γ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ they asked for it. I guess he isn’t a regular reader of my blog, because if he was, he would have known that already (heh.. that’s a joke BTW).
I almost was late for the whole thing because I forgot how to tie a tie. hahaha!
Their lawyers were blabbing about Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ. Hahaha… that’s a weird argument for a court, eh? Thanks for the compliment… I would pay to hear that argument in court. π
Since I have no interest whatsoever in their extortion settlement offer, we will be going for a trial. Judge McCurine did say Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ (Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ Γ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛΓ’βΛ), so that’s cool.
I guess next up is a mutual discovery plan which is due in 3 weeks.
Also… in the last week, I’ve done a couple different interviews regarding this case, so I’ll post links to them when they are published. π
I know this is old news for people that have been following the RIAA and MPAA lawsuits, but it’s new to me (now that I’ve been dragged into it, I’ve been reading all I can find). This entry is more of a bookmark entry for myself.
Some interesting stuff that I may find useful for my suit.
I’m sure they are going to want to go diving into my computers, which is fine with me as long as I have assurances they destroy everything afterwards. I’m certainly not going to let them take clones of every computer I own if I can help it. I have enough source code and trade secrets on my computers that I’m sure millions of people would love to get at it.
And the RIAA will have to pay his or her bill.
But the most interesting part to me is that she brought forth RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization) allegations against the RIAA about 6 months ago. Since they haven’t been thrown out of of court yet, I’m assuming the counterclaim has enough merit that it will be forced to go to a full trial. I’m thinking I may be able to do the same thing, considering they “offered” a settlement of $2,500 based on no valid information (a random IP address they could have pulled out of thin air). Then when I refused, they flat out threatened me saying that if I didn’t pay, they would take me to court, and my costs incurred would be much more than $2,500 even if I beat their charges.
If they really believe they have a case against me, why are they “letting me off” for $2,500? They have much more to gain by going the court route. Oh wait… maybe because they are extorting money from people.
I’m not a lawyer (so someone please correct me if I’m wrong), but if I’m able to file a counterclaim that doesn’t get thrown out in court, would this prevent them from dropping their original suit against me (forcing it to go to trial and final judgement)?
It’s amazing how no matter how many times you tell someone something, they don’t seem to “get it”. Someone called me letting me know they are preparing whatever paperwork they have to file for next weeks Early Neutral Evaluation Conference. They keep letting me know they are working on getting the issue settled.
But here’s the problem… It’s not about the money for me, it never was. I’ve already spent more in legal fees than what I could have settled for.
I will never sign any sort of admission that I did anything (since I didn’t) in exchange for them to drop it. There is nothing the MPAA/Universal Studios could say or do that will make me settle (I wouldn’t settle for $1). I know technically I can’t prevent them from dropping the case, but if I could, I would force it to go to a full trial with final judgement. As far as I’ve been able to research, out of the tens of thousands of RIAA and MPAA lawsuits, not a single one has gone to a final judgement. Does that seem odd to anyone else? (If anyone knows differently, please let me know.)
The bottom line is I would gladly prefer to spend whatever it takes out of my own pocket, rather than just hand over the $2,500 in extortion money they wanted. Regardless of the money spent, there is always a way to indirectly recoup the costs. For example paid advertising displayed to people reading about my case (which at this point is well over 100,000 people, and we haven’t even really begun). Another idea I had was why not put together a website where people could use it to defend themselves from the RIAA and MPAA lawsuits. The only reason people settle with them is because they can’t afford the cost of going to court. Maybe put together a site that generates all the filings/forms they need to defend themselves for a couple hundred bucks or something. BTW, if any lawyer(s) want to do a joint venture on something like that, please let me know.
More info on this whole case can be found over here.
Someone has *way* too much time on their hands. Not just a little time… WAAAYYY too much time. Watch the whole thing. π
//blake2.orachost.net/misshapenfeatures//media/StarLords_lrg.mov
There is an “Early Neutral Evaluation Conference” on May 23, 2006 to determine if this matter can be settled. Personally, it seems like an utter waste of time because at this point about the only thing I would settle for is if they dropped the case, paid my attorney fees and then dissolve their whole organization.
They offered me an initial settlement of $2,500 (before they decided to take it to court), which was rejected on the basis of principle. Then today I talked to my attorney and they are offering a settlement of $3,500.
Bahahahahahaaha! So if I refused your $2,500 out of principle, what exactly makes you think I’m going to give you $3,500 now? That’s comedy. π
From everything I’ve read online, the MPAA (and RIAA) has been pretty much extorting everyone simply because they can’t afford to fight it. This certainly will give me something interesting to blog about. I just pray it goes to a full trial, where they will lose and then give everyone else that is being sued a nice lawsuit they lost as a reference for their lawsuit… “MPAA vs. Shawn Hogan” That has a nice ring to it. Maybe this loss will be the start of their demise. (Hmmm… I seem to have quite the aspirations, eh? haha)
From a purely business standpoint, I think all the lawsuits that the MPAA and RIAA are throwing out are only hurting them in the long-run. From everything I’ve read, it does not curb piracy at ALL. I would even argue it increases it because all of a sudden people that weren’t aware you could download music/movies now realize you can (and some will start). Then you are going to compound this by everyone talking about it and reading other’s blogs. I’m a perfect example… from talking my attorney and then researching stuff online as a result of that, I now know that if you have the proper software installed, you can download pretty much any movie (or anything else) you want.
Not only that, but you would think they would be wiser about who they choose to extort.
For as big of an organization they are, my website gets roughly 10,000 times more traffic than theirs (hell, this stupid blog gets more traffic than their site). Then again, digitalpoint.com more traffic than buy.com or adobe.com.. hehe
So what just happened? Well now a few hundred thousands people per day were just educated about 1. about their general extortion and 2. they also now know that you can download whatever you want. I’m starting to think maybe the MPAA might actually kill the movie industry (which this dude shares my viewpoint). If they were smart, they certainly would choose their racketeering targets a little wiser (like maybe someone without the resources to fight and a captive audience of 80 million people per month that will read my viewpoint). This could turn out to be some good/interesting reading though. Reminds me a bit of the Winn and Sims fiasco.
Wanna see something else funny? Check Google’s top 10 results for “MPAA”… It seems I’m not the only one that thinks the MPAA is looney. π
//www.google.com/search?q=mpaa
Oh, and just as a side note, they are utter liars… They told me they identified the specific computer that did whatever they claimed and they traced it back to me (of course I knew that was a lie since it never happened). But now they are saying they don’t have any such information (MAC address basically). {rolls eyes}
This is a cool stop-motion video that some people did…
I’ve been waiting for this lawsuit for a few months now, and yesterday I finally got served the official complaint filed in the US District Court (San Diego).
Now we can finally get this show on the road… I’m sure it will give me all sorts of interesting stuff to blog about in the coming months. π
I’ll meet with my attorney tomorrow to give them the stuff…
From Saturday Night Live… π
Looks like another Andy Samberg creation… he was an excellent cast addition IMO.
When Apple finally rolls this out (in the next 2 months hopefully), it’s going to be damn cool! Hopefully no need to buy DVDs anymore.
//www.thinksecret.com/news/0603videoipod.html
//www.thinksecret.com/news/0603movies.html
Hopefully they also will come out with an AirPort Express that can do video (current one only can stream audio).
Someone has way, WAY too much time on their hands.
If you want to be really dorky, go to a shell (or command prompt) and type:
telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl
It seems French Parliament has legalized the use of peer to peer networks to share otherwise copy-written music and movies. Now they are just trying to figure out if they are going to impose a $5/month tax to users.
This is the best reason I’ve ever heard of to move to France. π
The decision was actually made back in December but has only just been made public.
An interesting read… all things considered.
//arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060124-6036.html
I saw this on TV last night (I wish I had the video for this, but I can’t find it anywhere yet). This is what Joaquin Phoenix had to say to a reporter while doing an interview for his new movie I Walk The Line…
It was pretty funny seeing it live. Hopefully the video will turn up online soon.
Speaking of downloading movies, I wish Apple would hurry up and deploy a full blown Apple Movie Store (they obviously have the ability to do video with the iPod Video and their ability to sell TV shows). If they sold DVDs you could download for $10, it would be the end of retail DVDs and DVD rentals (not unlike what the Apple Music Store did to CDs).
As it is, I never rent DVDs (I always buy) because I’m too lazy to make two trips to Blockbuster.
Too long to download? That’s the only holdup? Gay.
By my calculations, if they used their H.264 compression algorithm, it would take about 20 minutes to download a full length movie. That’s not too bad if you ask me.
Have you ever used your cell phone as a flashlight? It’s not terribly bright, but just bright enough you can see stuff if it’s pitch dark (for example moving around your house in the middle of the night without tripping over stuff).
It gives off a faint/eery glow that lets you see about 2 feet in front of you. Someone should make a movie about a boogieman that you can see in the dark only with your cell phone light. It would be suspenseful for no other reason than you can only see 2 feet around you.
Oh, and whoever makes that movie, give me some money for the idea too… thanks.
Dude, let me just say how happy I am that the iTunes Music Store is around now. Before the music store, I would order a CD online, but get tired of waiting for it to come, so I would use Napster to download the album so I didn’t have to wait. Anyway, long story short is by the time I get the CDs in the mail, I already have the music (if you download, you should always buy the music in my opinion). So I have tons of audio CDs that I bought that I never even bother opening (still shrink-wrapped) only because I buy all the music I download.
The iTunes Music Store saves me from having to buy CDs that I never open! Yay!
Now if they would just create an iTunes Movie Store, I wouldn’t have to have all these stupid DVDs (which I never actually use) laying around. Plus it would curb illegal downloading (people that don’t actually own the movie/CD) and protect the copyright owners with the DRM.
I have no issues with DRM on stuff I buy… I just want to be able to download electronically the media I buy, that’s all.
I went to the movies on Friday with Yelena and we saw Team America. This is quite possibly the funniest movie I have ever seen in my entire life.
If you just want to be entertained and aren’t caught up in being “politically correct” it’s one damn funny flick.
One of the best parts was the freedom fighters theme song that they listened to when fighting terrorists (it’s a heavy metal/rock tune)…
Trust me, you just have to hear it… I wish I had the MP3. π
Update: you can hear the beginning of the song if you have iTunes installed. Just click here (you can pay $0.99 if you want and download the whole thing to iTunes).
Had a little longer to play with the Xbox Media Center from my previous post, and this thing just gets cooler and cooler the more I dive into it.
Did I mention that this thing is bad ass? Oh yeah, I did.
I was checking out some of the TiVo stuff, and me first thought is why do these things have phone jacks to dial out instead of Ethernet ports? Phone lines are so “old school”. π
I hear everyone talk about TiVo competitors, but I don’t know of any specifically. If someone knows of something similar to TiVo that uses the Internet to get programming data (rather than a phone line), please leave a comment telling me what it is.