4Chan Attacks RIAA and MPAA

Ah, Internet. You never cease to entertain me. Right after CEO of MPAA started boasting about how they took a mean swing a The Pirate Bay, pirate-lovin' 4Chan raises their swords and launches an all-out assault on the MPAA and RIAA sites with DDoS attacks.

The dust has cleared for now, but seeing as both the MPAA and RIAA haven't been on my good side for quite some time, I'd just like to say, "Serves them right." Now if we can get those 4Chan members to start planting trees or something, that'd be interesting.

This Zucchini Represents My Emotional Chaos

According to the Inquirer, which reports news twice as good as say... CNN, when teenage girls talk about their problems online, they're more likely to get even more depressed when they realize their friends have absolutely no helpful input for them. Of course, boys don't have this same issue simply because World of Warcraft is the cure for everything.

Somebody Think of the Kids!

I stumbled upon this forum post a few hours ago. At first, I figured it was some kind of sick Bioshock fan fiction, but after a few minutes I realized the kid was cereal. I mean serious.

"What was my friend doing?

So I have a friend who pretty much like got really fucked up on something. I saw him with a shoe lace wrapped around his arm, with a lot of blood coming down, and I think I saw a really big hole. But anyway, he ended up going to the hospital and I'm not sure. I investigated a little and noticed a rather large syringe with a label titled "Biological Specimen" Under it says "Fungal spores suspended in aqueous solution" It's a sort of brown liquid. There's also another syringe, with what appears to be of the same color. Then I see a ton of cigarettes on the floor near a portable stove of some sort. All the cigarettes were tobacco-less. What the hell was he doing? Liquifying tobacco and injecting it? Fungal spores? WTF?

Please help." -Augede from Gametrailers.com forums

"Sir, Great News! The Format War Is Over!"

Warner Brothers (along with New Line, BBC, HBO) has just given HDDVD the chop today. That means Bluray will have 70% of the movie studios exclusively backing their product. Toshiba and Microsoft, jaws still dropped, will either have to die a quick death (as predicted by the New York Times), or will be pitifully squashed by the monstrous giant that is Sony.

The New White To Become New No More

Just a prediction, but it's more than just a long shot. Seeing as how they are addressing the upgraded iMacs and iPods in recent releases, January should establish a much long awaited full color palette change for Apple. Read more.

Dust Voids Playstation 3 Warranty

Apparently, if you let dust collect on your Playstation 3 and it causes something to break, customer support will tell you that it's "too dusty" to be replaced under warranty. Then, they'll charge you a nice $150 fee for them to use a duster can to spray it out before they even take a look at it again. We all know the Playstation 3 is a dust collector from the moment you open the box. So this is kind of retarded if you ask me.

Fire Evacuees Watch The Hilltops Burn

Times like these where I feel quite happy for what I've got. Even carpal tunnel doesn't bother me right now. Let's hope those winds lighten up, San Diego.

Comcast Throttling Seen In Davis

Why oh why have my download speeds gone to 21 kb/sec? Via Digg, I've found this term coined to be "throttling" and it's pretty irritating once you've become a victim of Comcast sneaky violations of net neutrality. Basically, Comcast turns on and off your router using their modem you rent from them, then tests to see how the bandwidth meter on their side fluxuates. If their bandwidth skyrockets, then you're downloading too much and they will cap your download and upload speeds. This is usually done via port tracking and they will cycle your internet once that port gets used again. Think of it sort of like corporate Big Brother for your internet.

Good news: There's always ways around things. Here's some instructions on how to un-throttle your BitTorrent.

Has Apple Gone Too Far With Their Closed System?

"iPods, Airports, Apple TVs, and now iPhones, Apple wants every app perfect. Which is nice, in theory. In practice, it means innovation only happens at Apple's pace. The marketplace of ideas is much smaller, and the devices are much poorer because of it. (Example: Why can't I stream music from my iPhone or iPod touch to my Airport Express?)" -Taken from Call Me Fishmeal

I mean shit, if Apple charges iPod accessory makers a fee just to put "Made for iPod," that says enough for me when a company I used to hold high and mighty to become nothing more than a greedy bunch of guys sitting in a room planning the next great way to take money from consumers.

iPhone Gets Unlocked, Peddler Pushers Cry

I mean, news is news. Despite the fact the size of the ginormous phone still bugs me day and night, I found it quite entertaining watching people switch to AT&T just to use the iPhone. Anyway, read more here (Get ready for Death Star explosion).

Shopping As A Means of Sustainability

I heard this podcast recently and I thought it brought up some very legitimate and thought-provoking points. Green consumerism is a very contradictory topic since we're breaking and creating at the same time, but if we're investing to save the environment - with solar panels, steam-cleaning washer and dryers, and better technology to curb our carbon dioxide release - is consumerism not generating long-run protection? I'm still ehhhh... about it, but take a listen to agree or disagree.

KFC Cuts Off Beaks, Includes Intestines, Brains

According to one of my favorite sites, the Consumerist, a reader found some brains (others say intestines) in his chicken the other night. I guess my cravings will have to be postponed for another year or two.

The New Old Tokyo: Modern Retro

The 12 million person metropolis of Tokyo has gone all quiet and traditional. Even with all the technology, Julia Chaplin of the NY Times noticed Tokyo's nightlife has shifted towards embracing tradition and finding respite from an always-on connected lifestyle. People are enjoying quiet conversations with one another at secretive spots all over the country; a quality of company in a more homely atmosphere than the more common western-style nightclubs and bars.

Military Funding and the Iraq War

What Mr. Bush fails to acknowledge is:

1. That HE would be the one to halt the supplemental funding process by carrying out his threatened veto.
2. That the military budget for Fiscal Year 2007 is $481 Billion dollars not counting Iraq war funding.
3. That the above $481 Billion in the normal defense appropriations alredy included about $70 billion for Iraq war related expenses
4. That the U.S. has already spent over $414 billion on the Iraq war
5. That the $124 Billion emergency supplemental funding for the war is in addition to the $414 billion already spent on the Iraq war and is in addition to the $489 Billion dollar FY military budget
   
6. That the Congressional Research Service has indicated that the Pentagon can get along just fine without the additional money through July by juggling other accounts in its half-trillion-dollar budget.
7. That last year facing the same deadlines, the Republican Congress didn’t get around to approving a supplemental $94.4 billion in war-fighting money until June without hectoring by the White House

Ultimately, what does that all add up to? Almost a trillion bucks this year on a civil war we should not have set foot in the first place. It's no wonder education tuition keeps jacking up and up.

Rumor: iPhone Battery Craps Out After 40 Minutes

I don't like the iPhone. Neither does Dvorak when he tested it. Die iPhone!

RIAA: Worst Company in America 2007

There is no greater enemy of the music business than the music industry itself. Never before in the history of mass entertainment have we witnessed an industry who worked harder to destroy itself.

Apparently NPR, as well as thousands of other internet radio providers are going to be taxed big-time with a few new upcoming laws.

"…we are being required to pay an internet royalty fee that is vastly more expensive than what we pay for over-the-air use of music, although for a fraction of the over-the-air audience." -Andi Sporking, NPR’s Vice-President of Communication

I say everyone stop buying CD's period. Try Hype Machine and Soulseek to get your independent music with no frills.

The internet is a machine that cannot be stopped. You can't let out the horse from a barn and then try to shove it back in with doors closed. It just won't happen.

Today's College Students More Self-Centered than their Predecessors

Today's college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could harm personal relationships and American society. Read more here.

Study finds 13% of teens with bad acne have attempted suicide.

In other news, global warming is caused by the decrease of pirates.

Success in 2006: Flickr & YouTube

Ed Cotton at Influx has a great post on why Youtube & Flickr have had enormous success. They epitomize brands in today's longtail environment that not only embrace community but have higher goals than pure capital. That in turns translates in sales. Sneaky huh? Ed has put together a couple insightful similarities. For the full article check out their site.

From Influx:
1. Do Something Better: Find a way or a better way for people to do something they want to do- in both these cases- it's sharing digital assets

2. Believe in What You Do: It's not about a money making/get rich quick scheme. You believe there's a better way and you are going to work it out. Success is a by-product of doing good.

3. Community is Everything: Listen to your community. This is not a one way conversation- there's on-going dialog relating to "policing", standards and ideas

4. Be Soulful: Even if you sell, like Flickr, don't sell your soul. The honest, no frills approach is right. Interestingly, while many thought the Yahoo purchase would lead to the the demise of Flickr, instead, they turned out to be much more of an influence on Yahoo than could have ever been predicted.

5. Be Authentic: These companies look like they have banned or never even heard of the phrases "brand strategy" and "marketing plan?. The lack of corporate polish adds to the feeling that there are real people behind the idea.

A lot of this reminds me of "young" companies hungry to make their mark and do things their way. Inevitably companies change over time, as capital increases often they lose their aggressiveness and need to innovate. Friendster the first social networking site is a blip compared to Myspace these days, will YouTube be around in 5 years? Read more.

Exploding TV Stands?

Think you're all safe with your $1000 Avdeco TV stand? Take a look at this guy's stand after it exploded and you might think again.

"The top shelf of the Avdeco stand EXPLODED sending shards of glass to every corner of my bedroom. Fortunately for me, I wasn't sleeping at the time, or I would have been hit by flying glass. Amazingly, my plasma TV, fell straight down, and was resting precariously on the next two shelves."

It's good to know my little ol' IKEA birch effect furniture will be keeping me safe at home.