May 2007

Oops. Better double-check those documents for hidden data. Via Mashable.

The presentation, entitled “Joost-network.pdf” can be found via a Google search, del.icio.us bookmarks and elsewhere - in other words, it’s readily available. Although on the surface it’s about Joost’s Network Architecture, hidden data in the document contains detailed info on a large number of partnership deals with major networks that Joost has either closed or is trying to close. The data appears to be from March 2007, but many of those deals haven’t happened and/or haven’t been publicly announced yet.

Link to document. Poorly-formatted dump of info at Techquilashots.

Caachi is a new indie film/video distribution site utilizing the Democracy player, with FREE downloads.

about caachi:

Caachi allows filmmakers to distribute their films to a world audience for free. Filmmakers can show their films without having to go through the established studio distribution system and Caachi users around the world can watch those films on their computers, TVs and portable video players.

Filmmakers know that their films will be among other quality films because Caachi curates what’s shown here. Users can quickly download DVD-resolution videos from talented artists from around the world.

Hat tip: Cinematech.

• The Infinite Video Format War is Coming - Gizmodo
  (tags: video)
• Technology Review: Internet Increasingly Censored
  The first comprehensive global survey of Internet filtering shows that online repression is on the rise worldwide.
  (tags: censorship networkPolitics)
• Daytrotter|Free Songs: Castanets
  (tags: music downloads)
• PSST! Pass It On…
  The mission of PSST is to produce original short films through the collaboration…Each film is comprised of three sections produced by three different teams…a technique derived from the Dadaist game of Exquisite Corpse …
  (tags: animation design video art film)
• Five Ways to Mix, Rip, and Mash Your Data
  (tags: mashups)
• Freedom to Tinker: AACS Updated, Broken Again
  (tags: DRM)
• Pitchfork: Moore, Gordon, Yoshimi, Merzbow Do No Fun Fest
  (tags: music noise)

• Web Worker Daily » 4 Ways to Get Unstuck «
• Latest AACS revision defeated a week before release
  I’m in yr encryption scheme, fixin yr products.
• FCC approves iPhone - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
• Control-Arts & Entertainment-Film-Film Reviews-TimesOnline
  Anton Corbijn’s Ian Curtis/Joy Divison biopic opens at Cannes

Miranda July “stars” in a new Blonde Redhead video, Directed by Mike Mills. Quicktime here.

Mark Cuban testifies at the House Telecom and Internet Subcommittee “Future of Video” Hearing last week, touching on lagging US broadband and network neutrality.

[youtube AxjKeP0xK7M nolink]

Blake Krikorian, CEO of Sling Media[youtube l6U-frMZAxo nolink]

Press release.

SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 16, 2007–Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced it will launch a digital music store later this year offering millions of songs in the DRM-free MP3 format from more than 12,000 record labels. EMI Music’s digital catalog is the latest addition to the store. Every song and album in the Amazon.com digital music store will be available exclusively in the MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM) software. Amazon’s DRM-free MP3s will free customers to play their music on virtually any of their personal devices — including PCs, Macs(TM), iPods(TM), Zunes(TM), Zens(TM) — and to burn songs to CDs for personal use.

Video/animations set to the works of former Poet Laureate Billy Collins.

Apple to include 3G in future Macbook:

What’s unclear from the report, however, is which networks Apple is looking to support. The source was unable to identifying whether or not Apple would produce a card for EVDO Internet access, which is supported by Sprint and Verizon in the US, or HSDPA, supported by AT&T and European carriers.

Apple already has a connection to AT&T’s network through the agreements made for the iPhone, though neither company has revealed plans for Internet access beyond the handset’s support for the slower 2.5G EDGE network. At the same time, the computer designer may have established the preliminary software groundwork for either AT&T or its rivals through the February WWAN update that added drivers for select EVDO and HSDPA external cards.

Day Night/Day Night, has opened in NYC after a stint on the festival circuit. Michael Lerman at indieWire touts it as:

Easily one of the most original and well-crafted pieces of American cinema in years…

indieWIRE also has a short interview director Julia Loktev.

Trailer at Apple Trailers.

Bruce Weber’s absolutely beautiful 1988 Chet Baker documentary Lets Get Lost has been restored by the director, and will be screening at the Film Forum in NYC for three weeks in June ahead of a national re-release.

Flickeur is a film constructed of randomly-retrieved Flickr images in an “infinite” film loop.

Flickeur (pronounced like Voyeur) randomly retrieves images from Flickr.com and creates an infinite film with a style that can vary between stream-of-consciousness, documentary or video clip. All the blends, motions, zooms or timeleaps are completely random. Flickeur works like a looped magnetic tape where incoming images will merge with older materials and be influenced by the older recordings’ magnetic memory. The virtual tape will also play and record forward and backward to create another layer of randomness. This principle will create its own sometimes very suggestive or scary story. It might take a few minutes until the tape has accumulated enough material to not show any empty screens anymore.

Bruce Sterling discusses the hostility inherent in the design of many everyday technologies and applications.

MSNBC has apparently loosened it’s restictions on using/redistributing debate video, starting with the Republican Debate. More at Prezvid.