DOMINO? YOU MEAN DOMI-YES
dominorecordco.com
You know, I honestly don't know how Ryan does it, keeping up with the various 'tweets'. I personally think twitter become absolutely useless if you have more than 50 friends. There's also so much spam on twitter!
So, I mostly just have it filtered to reading our own twitter to discover new freebies. So below was sent out a few days ago:
weheartmusicWe♥Music
Check out the @DominoRecordCo Xmas Sampler - http://bit.ly/53Thv0 - Final Fantasy, Wild Beasts, The Kills, Franz Ferdinand & King Creosote.
11:49 AM Dec 14th from web
I also really dig Joker's Daughter (for non-comic book nerds, yes the Joker had a daughter - I think she mostly fought the 70s Teen Titans). I love "classic" pop girl-group sound, and this band has the vocals and melodies. Although the subject of Gremlins and "Bouncing Liquorish Bears" may be on the weirder side.
OF DOVES AND FISH
harveysidfisher.com
Dovecote Records gathered three of their recording artists to do a mini-tribute to Harvey Sid Fisher. While I don't know much about Fisher, based on hearing the three covers by Mason Proper, Tim Williams, and Trevor Giuliani, I have concluded that Fisher was a bit of a strange songwriter and has a bit of an interesting "older" man's vocals... each of the modern artists do try and emulate the singing style.
My personal favorite is Tim Williams' rendition. Nice backup vocals and the repetitive "hit another wall" refrain.
If you want to hear these songs for yourself - head over to dovecoterecords.com and click on the "Download Now" link. There's no catch either, none of that "give us your email" thing. Just a nice little free EP.
OLD WAVE MIXTAPE
nouvellesvagues.com
Cover lover band of approval, Nouvelle Vague, made a 10-track free mixtape at whenyouawake.com.
Most of the tracks are by American artists, some classic from Roy Orbison ("You Got It"), Louis Armstrong ("We Have All The Time In The World"), Johnny Cash ("Ring Of Fire"), etc. There are a few weird ones (weird as in didn't fit in) like Sufjan Stevens and Rolling Stones... however, I will admit tapping my feet when I heard the intro to "Let's Spend The Night Together". There is the token French artist Serge Gainsbourg on the mixtape for good measure.
While I'm not entirely sure about the legality of this free download, I think it's good promotions for the bands mentioned on the tape. Plus, it's a nice boost of ego, you know?
daffodilpublicity.com confirms these are their forth-coming North American tour dates:
|
Friday, Jan. 22, Philadelphia, PA, World Café Saturday, Jan. 23, New York, NY, Webster Hall Sunday, Jan. 24, Boston, MA, Somerset Tuesday, Jan. 25, Montreal, PQ, Metropolis Wednesday, Jan. 27, Toronto, ONT, Opera House Thursday, Jan. 28, Detroit, MI, Crofoot Ballroom Friday, Jan. 29, Chicago, IL, Logan Square Monday, Feb. 1, Denver, CO, Bluebird Tuesday, Feb. 2, Salt Lake City, UT, Urban Lounge Thursday, Feb. 4, Seattle, WA, King Cat |
Friday, Feb. 5, Vancouver, BC, Venue Sunday, Feb. 7, San Francisco, CA, Regency Monday, Feb. 8, Sant Cruz, CA, Rio Theater Tuesday, Feb. 9, Los Angeles, CA, Henry Fonda Friday, Feb. 12, Dallas, TX, Granada Saturday, Feb. 13, Austin, TX, Mohawk Sunday, Feb. 14, New Orleans, LA, Republic Tuesday, Feb. 16, Miami, FL, Revolution Wednesday, Feb. 17, Orlando, FL, Firestone Thursday, Feb. 18, Atlanta, GA, Loft Saturday, Feb. 20, Washington DC, 9:30 Club |
YOU HAVE TO SPEND MONEY TO SAVE MONEY
I don't work for Best Buy, but I wanted to pass along this deal, since it is almost a crime to not buy it. It is $140 for HANNspree 23" HD LCD 16:9 Widescreen Monitor. That's cheap, considering the same monitor would've cost at least $700 a few years ago.
I did buy it and setup was very plug-and-play easy. It came with a disc for a Windows Vista driver, but if you just have XP, it would just recognize the monitor. Hooking it up on the PS3 using the HDMI cable (not included) was also easy - however I did not like the long pauses as PS3 auto adjust when it plays bluray discs (I suspect this has to do with determining that it's a compliant display since HDMI is notorious for anti-piracy junk).
Compare to the old CRT monster monitors, this 23" is superlight - even Mr Burns can easily move the monitor around. The product page lists 9.9lbs, but it feels like it's only one or two pounds.
The monitor does have built-in speakers, but it sounds tinny. Not exactly awesome audio, but for $140, that's just a bonus. I recommend buying monitor headphones and plugging it in the monitor for clearer audio. And speaking of audio, since this is marketed as purely a monitor - there is also no remote control access. If you need to turn down the audio, you have to adjust it on the monitor itself.
Despite my complaint, this is one of best image display I've own. It's native 1920x1080 is pretty sweet when I'm playing Dragon Age (since now I can have more items in the "quick" slots at the bottom).
* practically free
12/16/2009 11:25:14 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
Greetings, dear readers. I hope you are well.
I had a couple of vertebrae fused last October, and so I've been away on a health sabbatical of sorts. The cold weather is not helping! I feel so odd saying that I will welcome some warm temperatures again, especially after we got some lovely snow in my home area last weekend. But when you have metal in your body, or nerve damage, or both, you start feeling the barometric changes more.
I wanted to take a moment to share some other music blogs I have been reading here at VOX. I promise I will be back with more music, including 2NU's last offering. (Who is 2NU? Stay tuned...) But until then, allow me to share some other blogs of interest, including a side project of mine.
(On a side note, it seems to me that many of the resources I looked at when writing reviews here seem to be very similar to what friends of mine looked at writing for university and college publications, or what they played for college radio. But I digress...)
Those that have followed my reviews here know that I'm a big fan of mashups and bastard pop. It's always been a satirical commentary for me, in some part, on how the commercial industry likes to come back to familiar hooks and "radio-friendly" licks-- how else can two or more songs, especially when they seem so radically different, come together? They can come together, all right, in a rather slick way that can express an entirely new idea that is different from the sum of the mashup's parts.
-
The Dude’s Blog (Blog de The Dude) has a general focus-- nothing too specific, but that's fairly within the spirit of things at W♥M-- write about what you like. Obviously, his username is taken from The Big Lebowski, which was referenced by Vu in Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In). His latest post covers his album picks for 2009.
- Aurelio’s blog is a little more general than even that--"Un cocktail de musique, ciné, bouquins, bonne bouffe et rigolade" (A mix of music, film, books, good food, and comedy). He hosts Albums 2009, so some of his latest posts have also been about his selections of music in 2009.
- niggytardust writes in English and French, so if you don't speak/read/write French, you have an English option. More of a rock focus.
- Ground Countrol To Major Tom focuses on new artists and independent music.
- Music Is My Radar is written by moien
So there you have it. I'm probably just scratching the surface, but most of these bloggers and Vox Groups specifically mentioned (if not all) have contributed to W♥M in some form or another, so have a look around.
12/15/2009 23:56:22 ♥ jaklumen (
/ jaklumen.vox.com)One year to this day. Rip Pownce, we miss you, also know that there is a pownce reunion today.
Toast to pownce.
May the rood never cave in and the friends gathered below never fall out.
Totally Terrible Things on Tuesday
- Finding out I'm going to have a very busy weekend.
- being late to work because I forgot I had to get gas.
- Fire Drill at work more annoying than fun.
- Hopping the curb in my bug
- No scratches or damange done from hopping the curb.
- Finding out I'm going to have a very busy weekend.
- Getting more excited about my seattle/portland trip in late Jan.
- Cleo being a good girl this morning and not barking when I left for work.
- Lunch in 10 minutes :)
Yesterday in London, UK Google launched a massive advertising campaign for the Google Chromium Chrome floss free libre open open-source browser project !
Chromium aims to build a
safer, faster, and more stable way for all users to experience
the web. The Chromium site contains design documents, architecture overviews,
testing information, and more to help you learn to build and work with
the Chromium source code.
STOP PRESS and now on the front page of The Stylist and The Shortlist too !
Nokia OVI already has 70m users and is aiming for 300m by the end of next year ! Now Vodafone is trying to get a slice of the mobile social media cake by launching Vodafone 360 !
I wonder which will be first to 500m members and when ?
This isn’t about the bad guys; we all know encryption helps defend against them. What isn’t so clear is our rights to data encryption when dealing with the legal system.
Date: December 8th, 2009
Author: Michael Kassner
Category: Security
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=2808&tag=nl.e036
I initially became interested in the topic of data encryption and the law due to the 2005 Minnesota appeals case, State of Minnesota versus Ari David Levie, in which Levie was accused of taking illegal pictures of a minor. I didn’t follow the entire case, just the appeal. The court was deciding whether it was legal or not to enter certain evidence — in this case, the fact that the defendant had an encryption utility on his computer.
The ruling
The appeals court unanimously agreed with the trial judge: The prosecutor could mention that an encryption utility was installed on the defendant’s computer. That’s it. Nothing about what’s encrypted. Judge R. A. Randall mentioned the following in his opinion:
“Evidence of appellant’s computer usage and the presence of an encryption program on his computer was relevant to the state’s case.”
I remember a prosecutor mentioning there was plenty of other evidence in the trial with the defendant being convicted based on that evidence. Why then introduce the information about the encryption application?
I have read numerous articles interpreting what the appeals court ruling means. FUD factor aside, many feel this is a dangerous precedent because the mere presence of an encryption utility seems to imply criminal intent. It seems they are worried about how implication seems to be good enough.
Another case
A few years later in 2007, U.S. versus Boucher caught my eye. In this case, a U.S. Magistrate Judge decided the defendant was not required to divulge the password for an encrypted hard drive, saying that it violated 5th Amendment rights, the amendment protecting an individual from self-incrimination (to plead the 5th).
That ruling gave the privacy advocates some relief. But, U.S. versus Boucher was appealed in 2009. The case was overturned. The responsible U.S. District Judge’s reasoning was:
“Holding that the 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination does not require the conclusion that a criminal defendant may elect not to divulge a password for an encrypted hard drive.”
The prosecutors are learning. They changed tactics in the appeal:
“The Government stated that it does not in fact seek the password for the encrypted hard drive, but requires Boucher to produce the contents of his encrypted hard drive in an unencrypted format by opening the drive before the grand jury.”
I have not been able to find out what the new verdict means officially. I suspect the defendant will have a choice to make.
Other countries are dealing with this issue as well. The UK has an actual law. Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) part III gives police authority to ask for encryption keys or the data to be decrypted. The Register has an interesting article “UK jails schizophrenic for refusal to decrypt files“. The piece describes the circumstances behind the first person to be jailed under RIPA part III.
According to the Register, the case was a bit rough. It appears the defendant and his model rocket were never a real threat.
EFF’s suggestions
I found little documentation as to what our rights are when it comes to encrypting data. Then, I remembered the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Web site. It’s not much, but the EFF offers the following advice:
Do not give the password to the authorities during the search; you have the right to remain silent.
Call a lawyer; in fact call a lawyer immediately upon being searched.
What happens next depends on individual circumstances. The EFF has this to say:
“A lawyer may be able to get your property back if the warrant was improper, negotiate a deal with the government’s attorneys to limit the search or get important files back, or convince the court to strictly limit the search so that they won’t search files that are legally privileged (like confidential legal or medical records), protected by the First Amendment (like private membership lists), or irrelevant to the case.”
Their advice turns a bit nebulous when dealing with a prosecutor:
“A prosecutor may ask a judge to order you to turn over your password. The law is unclear on whether such an order would be valid, but that is a matter to face with the assistance of counsel. No one other than a judge can force you to reveal your password.”
Final thoughts
We are told to use encryption. It prevents the bad guys from stealing our data and identities. That’s good advice. It is also in our best interest to know the ramifications of using encryption. The only problem is no one seems to know what they are.
Enjoy
Douglas Beard
frappr is now platial
frappr is now platial
My Birthday and Anniversary are coming up Jan 22nd(birthday), Jan 23rd(Wedding Anniversary). First Anniversay is paper so Nick has suprised me with paper airline tickets to Seattle and Portland for 6 and a half days. I'm excited because I've never been to either place and I've always wanted to go.
Yep this answers the question, where do Orlando natives go on vacation in the winter? To the coldest places possible. lol. It's rare I see snow. I have been involved in a snowball fight but I've never had a white christmas and I've never made a snowman. While for me things like 90 degree weather and palm trees and being within an hour of beach on each side of me are normal, snow isn't and that is why I love it.
Seattle and Portland are wrought with culture and they pride themselves on being local and sustainble, with food and goods. I'm starting to research now the places I want to see. We are trying hard to do a 3 days for each but with travel it could be a little less. I found this inn in seattle near the space needle and the seattle center where we can hop on a monorail to get to downtown if we are too full or too drunk to walk. lol. The inn is running a special at 53 bucks a night. It's quaint but cute, has history, and seems quirky.
I have a certain hotel philosophy. We are still fairly young and we are looking to explore the city, we plan on spending more time out and about and less time relaxing at the hotel. In this case look for something cute and small with history such as an inn and less of a resort style place that will cost major bucks. I think its rediculous to spend over 100 bucks for a room you are just going to sleep in. Now if I want to plan a relaxing by the beach tropical vacation perhaps a resort such as the marriott, they have some nice places where be appropriate but this isn't the case.
I find that if you stay at the inns or in small more local places you seem to find more interesting people and things around. Perhaps my view is skewed by the fact that I live in the number one tourist desination in the country and I'm a bit turned off to the tourist type thing. This is why I hated Time Square. Times Square reminded me of Mcdonalds and Disneys Love child fornicating for the whole world to see. Over priced, unoriginal, and dare I say fake. I wouldn't even consider it part of New York City really and neither should you. I went there because I'd never been there but I didn't even get that far just enough to take the tourist type pictures and go to virgin records (we have one of those at Downtown disney with the same overpriced crap). I was not inspired,
So while yes, I will see the space needle and I want to go to the park with the Kurt Cobain Memorial Bench overlooking the house where he blew his head off, I'm not much of a tourist type person. I want to know the real city, even if it isn't glamorous, it's real.
I really set out to write this about a playlist for my iphone and then just went off rambling. Obviously this playlist would include Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam for Seattle. and Everclear for Portland.
We have a friend in Seattle and one in portland so I think we are planning on renting a car to go from seattle to portland and perhaps take a drive up the west hills which could be interesting. It's were all the mansions are and even a few built castles. Like in the Everclear song I Will Buy You A New Life
"I will buy you a garden
Where your flowers can bloom
I will buy you a new car
Perfect shiny and new
I will buy you that big house
Way up in the west hills
I will buy you a new life
Yes I will"
Any places to visit in Portland or Seattle? Any Songs you would reccommend for my playlist?
Apparently the real Google Ubuntu Chromium OS is based on Ubuntu and not on OpenSuse ! And the official download is only available as sourcecode which you have to build-it-yourself ! So by implication any other ISO or VM downloads that claim to be Chromium OS are possibly spoofs or fakes !
- http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/building-chromium-os
- http://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/LinuxBuildInstructionsPrerequisites
- http://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/chromium-os/building-chromium-os/build-instructions
- http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromiumos-design-docs
- http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/getting-dev-hardware/dev-hardware-list
Thanks to Alan Pope for alerting me to the spoof ISO i downloaded last week !
