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via Hacker News http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/2012/06/30/HasTheNotionOfFilesOutlivedItsUsefulness.aspx
Random musings of a bored mind. probably a little bit to do with econs, soccer, and computers..
Original Article - 10 Astonishing Tilt Shift Wallpapers
Here is a great hand picked selection of tilt shift wallpapers. Just click on each picture to download. Every wallpaper is 1920×1080 or above.
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20 Stunning Tilt Shift Photos
How To Create Tilt Shift Pictures in Photoshop CS6
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Megabox first appeared in the news late last year, following the release of the “Mega Song” promo.
The song featured top artists including P Diddy, Will.i.am, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg and Kanye West, endorsing the now-defunct Megaupload. At the time, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom explained that he had plans to put the “dinosaur record labels” out of business with the release of Megabox.
A month later, however, the Megabox domain was seized as part of the criminal case against Dotcom and other members of the so-called “Mega Conspiracy”. While many thought this was the end of the ambitious plans, Megaupload’s founder recently announced that Megabox is not dead yet.
In fact, the events of the past half year make Dotcom more motivated than ever before.
“I am totally excited about changing the music industry forever and giving the power to the artists,” Dotcom told TorrentFreak today. And he has reason to be excited.
Despite the legal woes, Megabox can still count on the support of many of the world’s top musicians. According to Dotcom, several of them have agreed to try the “free music” model.
“Some of the world’s top artists have lined up to launch with us and I want to make sure that they have the launch that they deserve. And of course the same is true for all the hidden talent out there, the artists who want to use Megabox as a launch pad,” Dotcom says.
The basic idea behind Megabox is simple. Give the public access to free music, and cut out the big labels so artists get properly compensated from the revenue being generated.
This revenue comes from the Megakey application that users have to install. Megakey works like an ad blocker, but instead of blocking ads it replaces a small percentage with Mega’s own ads. Those who prefer not to install the app have the option to buy the music instead.
“Music will be free for users who install the Megakey App. Anyone who does not like the App can just purchase the music,” Dotcom explains.
If successful, Megabox will be bad news for the major record labels, who currently enjoy a large cut of music sales. Depending on the revenue that’s generated, for artists Megabox may be an improvement as they get to keep nearly all of the money that comes in.
“These new solutions will allow content creators to keep 90% of all earnings and generate significant income from the untapped market of free downloads,” Dotcom says.
“I created an innovation that could solve the piracy problem,” he adds
That last part is important. Megaupload’s founder believes that this “free music” business model has the potential to decrease music piracy. It won’t be the solution preferred by the major labels, but artists should be encouraged by the offering.
In the weeks to come Kim Dotcom and his colleagues are hoping to get Megabox ready for a public release once there’s more certainty concerning the ongoing extradition attempt. Definitely something to keep an eye on.
Source: Top Artists Line Up for Kim Dotcom’s Megabox
Demand Progress is joining the Megaupload case as a non-party. The group has filed a brief refuting claims made by the MPAA, and asking the Court to consider the many innocent users who are still unable to access their personal files.
The MPAA previously told the court that Megaupload users should only be allowed to get their files back as long as access to copyright-infringing files is blocked. According to Demand Progress this request is practically impossible, against the presumption of innocence, and effectively an attempt to enforce SOPA-like actions through the backdoor.
In the brief the activist group says the MPAA is trying to use the Megaupload case to achieve what Congress rejected earlier this year, when it decided to shelve the SOPA and PIPA bills.
“Legislation that sought to achieve the very results the MPAA now seeks to obtain de facto through mere seizure of Mega Servers — with or without a conviction – was rejected by Congress,” the brief reads.
“Specifically, the failed legislation tried to render inaccessible data on websites that host user-uploaded files, and to do so at the request of private parties like MPAA, without due process for targeted business owners and users.”
Despite the fact that Congress rejected SOPA and PIPA, the MPAA will now get the same secondary liability scheme enforced when the court grants the requests of the movie studios, the group argues.
Demand Progress further tells the court that the MPAA’s request not to allow access to infringing files goes directly against the fundamental principle that Americans are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“The MPAA reasons property owners should prove their property non-infringing before the Court permits them access to it. This is akin to arguing that when a thief rents a hotel room and is caught, the contents of all of the guests’ luggage should be presumed contraband until proven otherwise. This result would be absurd and unreasonable.”
“On its face, the MPAA’s request is suspect and asks the Court to bootstrap the guilt of parties onto a collateral motion, prior to a judgment,” they add.
These are worrying developments according to Demand Progress, not just for Megaupload users, but also for the hundreds of millions of people who store files on Google, Dropbox, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr and other online services.
To add weight to their plea, a new campaign titled “The Internet vs. Hollywood” is being launched today in which members of the public are invited to add their name as supporter of the brief.
Source: MPAA Using Megaupload Case as Backdoor SOPA, Court Hears
Original Article - What Colours Say About Your Brand | Infographic
Colours play a big role in the way a brand gives off its image, designers will know this already. But many people don’t seem to understand how important colours are. If you’re a luxury brand selling luxury products you’re not going to use pink in your website and logo, pink can make it look tacky and unprofessional. Dark colours like black, grey and gold are the way to go. The infographic is a great resource in what a colour can tell about a brand.
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Following a 2009 agreement between the labels of the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and Eircom, customers of the Irish ISP would find themselves warned should their file-sharing activities be tracked by rightsholders.
The so-called “graduated response” process would complete after a customer had received three warnings – at this point their Internet would be cut off. But by October 2010 things we starting to go wrong. Due to a mix up, Eircom sent out around 300 warning letters to completely innocent subscribers.
The error meant that Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) got involved in the process. The immediate outcome was bad for the labels. In December the DPC ordered “3 strikes” to be brought to a halt on privacy grounds.
This decision was later challenged by the ‘Big Four’ labels of IRMA – EMI Records, Sony Music, Universal and Warner – who said that the DPC ruling effectively disabled their ‘lawful’ agreement with Eircom.
Yesterday, the labels’ appeals bore fruit. At the Commercial Court, Mr Justice Peter Charleton ordered the Data Protection Commissioner’s decision to be quashed, a ruling which gives IRMA and Eircom the green light to continue with warnings and disconnections.
Justice Charleton said that the DPC notice was invalid due to the Commissioner failing to provide any detailed reasons why it had been issued. The Judge went on to question whether it had any basis in law.
Although privacy issues were the key motivator behind the DPC’s ruling, Justice Charleton said it was not clear how privacy might have been compromised by the detection and punishment of individuals who engage in unlawful Internet file-sharing.
The Irish Recorded Music Association said last night that it would now “press ahead” with its three strike regime. Expect other ISPs to come under pressure soon.
Source: Irish Record Labels Win, Court Reinstates “3 Strikes” For File-Sharing
Original Article - Google Now – Advanced Version of Siri?
Google Now made its debut at Google I/O yesterday and it was praised massively by the audience at the conference and by tech news publications from all over.
What Google Now does is that it takes voice search to the next level. Google have had voice search even way before Apple came along with Siri. Siri just made it better, well now Google have come back and made it even better than that.
Voice search on Android is now a hell of a lot faster than anything out there for mobile phones at the moment. The video below is taken directly from Google I/O and is definitely worth watching.
The more you search the more Google Now learns about you. It then builds these searches into “cards” which stay in the app. It’ll update these cards however often it needs to. For example if you asked for the score of your favourite football team, it’ll learn which is your favourite team and create it into a card. It’ll then update that card regularly with the latest results.
It doesn’t just stop there though, it also takes advantage of maps, traffic, places, appointments, flight times and a lot more.
It’s a massive move forward with the way voice search has gone and shows that mobile phones are able to be even more helpful in our daily life. Google Now is coming with Android Jelly Bean 4.1 so you will need that version of Android to use it.
Google also released a new tablet, check that out here – Google Nexus 7
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