Numb +++++++ Noise (12")

Celebrity Heaven or Hell

2006-04-12T01:11:00.000-04:00

http://www.celebrityheavenorhell.com

today is Sharon Stone

Hollywood to Sell Digital Films Online

2006-04-03T14:27:00.000-04:00

LOS ANGELES - Hollywood studios will start selling digital versions of films such as 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'King Kong' on the Internet this week, the first time major movies have been available online to own.

The films can't be burned onto a disc for viewing on a DVD player. Still, the move is seen as a step toward full digital distribution of movies over the Internet.

Six studios said Monday that sales will begin through the download Web site Movielink. The site is jointly owned by five of the seven major studios."

read more

Bloomberg, Bambaataa, Etc.

2006-03-31T10:11:00.000-05:00

Bloomberg, Bambaataa, Etc.
FILE UNDER: City Hall, Mike Bloomberg

Wearing a dark pinstripe suit, open white shirt, mirror sunglasses and braided pony tail, Ice-T walked into the Blue Room for his City Hall press conference. 'We were here lobbyin for movie stuff and we got it,' he boasted to a gaggle of political reporters. When the Mayor arrived, welcoming everyone to City Hall 'or my crib as I like to call it,' Ice-T moved behind him, puffing out his chest and clenching his fists by his hips in a tough guy pose. Def Jam founder and Bloomberg campaigner Russell Simmons, ('my man Russell,' as the Mayor called him) stood next to Ice-T and rubbed worry beads while Bloomberg said the words 'Wu-Tang Clan.' The trio had come together to announce that VH1's annual hip-hop honors show would be staying in New York, beating out competition from Los Angeles."

read more

Student tries to spend spring break at Wal-Mart

2006-03-29T14:09:00.000-05:00

WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Iowa - Skyler Bartels kept looking over his shoulder. It's a habit he picked up living at the Windsor Heights Wal-Mart for three days.

story written by Mark Hansen: Des Moines Register columnist

Really living there. Eating, sleeping, checking out the DVDs, never leaving. The plan was to spend his entire spring break there. Under the radar.

Some kids go to Cancun. Skyler Bartels, a Drake University sophomore from Harvard, Neb., went to the garden and patio department.

read more

DefJam Shuns iTunes

2006-03-27T17:25:00.000-05:00

In an attempt to boost record sales DefJam has decided not to release advance singles on iTunes or any other digital music provider. They tested this new strategy with R&B singer Ne-Yo.

The idea is to wait for the album to come out, then release the singles for individual sales. In this case it worked. Soundscan reported that in the first week of Ne-Yo's release he sold 301,000 copies, making it the biggest debut so far this year."

read more

Eta 'to declare ceasefire'

2006-03-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

"The Basque separatist group Eta's announcement of plans for a permanent ceasefire today received a cautious welcome from the Spanish government.

A statement released to a television station and local newspaper said the group planned to begin a 'permanent' ceasefire on Friday, bringing an end to almost 40 years of violence."

read more

Apple attacks plan to open iTunes

2006-03-23T06:05:00.000-05:00

"Apple has criticised a French law that could break the locks tying songs from the iTunes store to iPod players.

In a statement Apple said that if the law were passed it would result in 'state-sponsored piracy'.

The law to open up all online music stores is due to go to France's upper house of parliament for final approval.

The French government said the law was drawn up to ensure no single company dominated the fast growing music download market."

read more

Amazon accused of anti-abortion bias

2006-03-22T07:14:00.000-05:00

Amazon, the online bookseller, has been thrust centre-stage in the American abortion debate as pro-choice groups expressed anger that customers typing in 'abortion' were offered listings on adoption.

The company was forced to defend itself against suggestions it had given a political slant to results from its supposedly neutral search technology.

Campaigners complained that requests for information on abortion generated the response 'Did you mean adoption?' at the top of the page. They expressed their suspicion that Amazon was tampering with its search results to appease pro-life groups, and expressing what appeared to be an 'editorial position'.

Amazon has hurriedly taken down the question but continues to risk the ire of pro-choice groups because adoption is still listed as a related topic. Customers are not offered listings on abortion when they search on adoption."

read more

Newspaper sues for documents in NSA wiretap case

2006-03-22T07:11:00.000-05:00

The company that publishes the Oregonian newspaper in Portland has filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Oregon to unseal documents in a pending case that alleges the Bush administration illegally intercepted international phone conversations between the codirector of an Islamic charity and his two lawyers in the United States.

In a motion filed Friday, lawyers for the Oregonian Publishing Co. argued that it is in the public interest to know the contents of documents that could prove the existence of a potentially illegal domestic spying program.

'This appears to be the first case in which documents have been filed with the court demonstrating the National Security Agency's practice of wiretapping private conversations,' said Charles F. Hinkle, a lawyer for the publishing company. 'We are not interested in the content of the attorney-client communications. We are interested in what the government did.

read more

South Park' Chef Back After Scientology Skirmish

2006-03-22T07:09:00.000-05:00

Soul singer Isaac Hayes may have quit his job as the voice of Chef on 'South Park' after a disagreement over religion, but his character will live on when the satiric cable TV cartoon returns to Comedy Central this week, the network said Monday.

read more

Sales Of The Notorious B.I.G.'s Debut Album Halted

2006-03-20T04:19:00.000-05:00

The only album that The Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Christopher Wallace) released before his death was his 1994 debut Ready To Die. Now, thanks to an allegedly unauthorized sample, sales of that album have been halted.

The AP reports that a jury has found in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit that puts the hip-hop tradition of 'sampling' back into the limelight. Bridgeport Music and Westbound Records, the companies who own the rights to the music of legendary group The Ohio Players, sued Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy LLC, Justin Combs Publishing, and Universal Records claiming that the title song of Ready To Die used a sample from the Ohio Players track 'Singing In The Morning' without permission."

read more

Negative Perception Of Islam Increasing

2006-03-09T12:30:00.000-05:00

As the war in Iraq grinds into its fourth year, a growing proportion of Americans are expressing unfavorable views of Islam, and a majority now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The poll found that nearly half of Americans -- 46 percent -- have a negative view of Islam, seven percentage points higher than in the tense months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, when Muslims were often targeted for violence."

read more

Google Looks Sunny

2006-03-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

"Google has just let slip its intentions to offer Online Storage facilities, 'creating a mirror image of data stored on hard drives,' according to a Reuters report filed in the early hours of this morning. The revelations were apparently picked up by bloggers who captured notes put up on the company web site not intended for publication:"

read more

Toronto to get Wi-Fi

2006-03-09T12:17:00.000-05:00

"Toronto is set to join a small but growing club of North American cities that will offer municipal wireless Internet access.

In a press release issued Sunday, Toronto Hydro Telecom said it would make an announcement Tuesday morning, when Mayor David Miller, Toronto Hydro chairman Clare Copeland and Toronto Hydro Telecom president David Dobbin will say they want a piece of the growing Wi-Fi market.

The project will put Toronto in the company of other cities that have made similar announcements recently, including Philadelphia, San Francisco, New Orleans and Chicago. Via Rail recently announced it would offer Wi-Fi service on trains on the Quebec-Windsor corridor."

read more

NES DVD Player

2006-03-09T12:11:00.000-05:00

"VintageComputing managed to fit a CyberHome CH-DVD 300 DVD player into an old NES case, complete with retractable DVD tray, infared receiver, functional remote control, and stereo/S-Video/RCA jacks. This almost beats the Mac Mini NES we covered a few day ago. Look for more pics, a feature list, and one video clip after the jump."

see more

World’s Smallest USB Drive?

2006-03-09T12:06:00.000-05:00

TechEBlog » World’s Smallest USB Drive?

Calif. School Suspends 20 Who Saw Web Site

2006-03-03T12:55:00.000-05:00

"COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) -- A middle school student faces expulsion for allegedly posting graphic threats against a classmate on the popular MySpace.com Web site, and 20 of his classmates were suspended for viewing the posting, school officials said.

Police are investigating the boy's comments about his classmate at TeWinkle Middle School as a possible hate crime, and the district is trying to expel him.

According to three parents of the suspended students, the invitation to join the boy's MySpace group gave no indication of the alleged threat. They said the MySpace social group name's was 'I hate (girl's name)' and included an expletive and an anti-Semitic reference."

read more

$1.5 million painting gets 12-year-old's gum - Mar 1, 2006

2006-03-02T07:23:00.000-05:00

"DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- Apparently, one 12-year-old visitor to the Detroit Institute of Arts doesn't think much of abstract art.

The boy stuck a wad of gum to a $1.5 million painting called 'The Bay' by Helen Frankenthaler, leaving a stain the size of a quarter, officials said.

The boy, who was not identified because of his age, was part of a school group that was visiting the museum last week when officials said he took a piece of gum out of his mouth and stuck it on the 1963 painting. (Watch why the boy put the goo on the canvas, see the stain -- 1:32)

The gum stuck to the painting's lower left corner and did not adhere to the fiber of the canvas, officials told the Detroit Free Press. But it left a chemical residue about the size of a quarter, said Becky Hart, assistant curator of contemporary art."

read more

Sonic Teenager Deterrent

2006-03-01T15:58:00.000-05:00

"Teenagers have a new enemy and it goes by the name of Sonic Teenager Deterrent. The device which can be attached to the outside wall of shops, offices and homes, sends out ultra high-pitched 80-decibel bursts(up to 16khz) of pulsing sounds that can be heard by those under the age of 20. Adults are not affected by the sounds due to the body’s ability to detect some frequency waves disappear after the age of 20. "

read more

Why hackers are taking a bite of Apple |

2006-02-28T22:41:00.000-05:00

"Through a decade of marriage, four children, three moves, and several job changes, my wife and I have only had one real disagreement: What computer to use.

I have chosen the path of enlightenment - I'm a PC guy all the way. My wife has chosen a darker, more sinister route - she's a Mac user. (Had she written this column, the descriptions of the paths would be reversed.)

In one area, however, she holds the superior position - security. More than once, I've caught her smirking as I go through the weekly security checks on my PC. Have I downloaded all the latest antivirus updates? What about my spyware protection? Is my firewall working properly?

But if recent news of Mac worms and vulnerabilities are any indication, my wife, and other Mac users, soon will be going through the same weekly security checks employed by PC"

read more

Rolling Stones to Hold Concert in China

2006-02-28T22:38:00.000-05:00

"The Rolling Stones will hold their first-ever concert in China in April, Chinese promoters said Tuesday, three years after canceling a pair of shows on the mainland because of the
SARS outbreak.

The rock greats will play Shanghai's Grand Stage, an 8,000-seat converted indoor stadium, on April 8, according to an announcement from Emma Entertainment.

'The Rolling Stones first-ever concert in China, do not miss it,' the Beijing-based company said on its Web site. Tickets range from $38-$375, the site said."

read more

Actor Tries to Trademark 'N' Word

2006-02-28T22:35:00.000-05:00

"The actor Damon Wayans has been engaged in a 14-month fight to trademark the term 'Nigga' for a clothing line and retail store, a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's online database reveals.

Wayans wants to dress customers in 14 kinds of attire from tops to bottoms, and use the controversial mark on 'clothing, books, music and general merchandise,' as well as movies, TV and the internet, according to his applications.

But, so far, his applications have been unsuccessful. Trademark examiner Kelly Boulton rejected the registration dated Dec. 22, citing a law that prohibits marks that are 'immoral or scandalous.' A previous attempt by Wayans was turned down on identical grounds six months earlier."

read more

Teenager fined £80 for swear word

2006-02-23T23:44:00.000-05:00

"A teenager is refusing to pay an £80 on-the-spot fine imposed by a police officer who overheard him swearing in a private conversation with friends.

Kurt Walker, 18, from Deal, Kent, said he would go to court rather than pay the fine handed out in a town park.

He said he received the fixed-penalty notice after he used the F-word to a group of friends he met in the park.

Kent Police said fixed penalty notices were just one tool to help them to tackle anti-social behaviour."

read more

Boy charged with felony for carrying sugar

2006-02-23T05:25:00.000-05:00

"A 12-year-old Aurora boy who said he brought powdered sugar to school for a science project this week has been charged with a felony for possessing a look-alike drug, Aurora police have confirmed.

The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School was also suspended for two weeks from school after showing the bag of powdered sugar to his friends.

The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, said he brought the bag to school to ask his science teacher if he could run an experiment using sugar."

read more

Judge: Google Violates Porn Copyrights

2006-02-22T18:42:00.000-05:00

"A federal court judge has concluded that an image search service run by Google Inc. infringes on the copyrights of adult entertainment company Perfect 10 Inc. by displaying small versions of its images in search results.

But U.S. District Court Judge Howard Matz said that based on evidence submitted at a preliminary injunction hearing, Google could not be held responsible when viewers click on the images and are directed to third-party sites that contain full-size images stolen from Perfect 10's Web site."

read more