100 Posts
We are getting more consistent, especially after a recent vacation to San Diego to work on my magic.
But we have reached over 100 posts this month, hooray!
Edited: April 10th, 2010
Rogers/Fido, Bell and Telus won’t deny but won’t confirm iPad on their networks
Canadian cell phone providers are sitting on the fence as to the status of the iPad on their networks. Bell, Rogers and Telus were being very careful not to deny that they would offer 3G for the iPad but stopped short of committing to special service. So far, Apple has only publicly struck a deal with AT&T.
“It’s our policy not to comment on products before we’ve announced that we will carry them,” Rogers spokesman Keith McArthur said. Bell and Telus spokespeople had similar responses.
All three carriers will technically support the iPad’s 3G immediately since is unlocked, but they will require a data-only plan that could potentially be much more expensive than the special AT&T plan: a base Rogers plan provides 500MB of data but costs $30, or nearly twice the price of the $15, 250MB plan in the US. No Canadian carriers outside of Wind Mobile, whose 3G won’t work with the iPad, currently offer an unlimited plan and usually provide a maximum of 5GB.
Rogers in the past has offered a 6GB/$30 plan for iPhone adoptees, but it remains to be seen if the iPad will get a similar deal or if other carriers will follow suit.
Edited: April 2nd, 2010
All Creative Work Is Derivative – Music Video
This video uses stop motion animations of ancient sculptures to show how culture has always been free and in fact only exists by building on the ideas that already existed.
Edited: March 15th, 2010
The XX vs Alan Fitzpatrick & Reset Robot – Silicone Shelter – King Unique Bootleg download
I’ve been listening to this for a long time now, and I really love this song. While this zippyshare download isn’t a release quality link, it does allow me to play this song out to more people who can love it too via iTunes or Ableton!
You can download this song here: The XX vs Alan Fitzpatrick & Reset Robot -Silicone Shelter (King Unique Bootleg) on zippyshare
Here’s proof that our future is not becoming less free.
Edited: February 3rd, 2010
Is our future becoming less free? A course on recent audio-visual history
Film 4002 – “Is our future becoming less free?
By: Alex Massaad
Featured Article until March 2010
Course Description:
The proliferation of high-speed Internet and multimedia-capable computers has opened up an information highway that has changed the way modern audiences interface with audiovisual media. New information sharing technologies such as YouTube and Bit Torrent have enabled the swift dissemination of almost any commercial audio or video recording, while concurrently causing a furor within legal systems internationally.
This course will look at audio and video separately in order to understand how technology is altering culturally coded norms within media. As the course develops we will be looking at various binaries such as: copyright/piracy, free/paid, corporate/independent and original/remix in order to understand how our use of media and technology can alter both the media and the technology.
Edited: January 27th, 2010
Class 8: AV Remix Culture
Watch: RiP: A Remix Manifesto (2009)
Listening: Download and listen to a copy of Girl Talk – Night Ripper
Reading: 1) Bermingham, L.B. “CULTURE JAMMING or a culture jammed? RiP!: A Remix Manifesto.” Screen Education. Winter.54 (2009): 44-47. Print.
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Ripper (for list of sampled songs)
Week eight was a central week in my course since I really feel that the film RiP!: A Remix Manifesto (2009) talks about very important current issue within media studies. I also assigned the album “Night Ripper” by Girl Talk since the artist’s work forms the basis for the documentaries subject matter. Ever since Napster first breached the copyright boundary a decade ago we have needed to update our copyright infringement laws. I think the film does an excellent job of answering not only the problems with copyright laws but also whether or not they should be changed or updated. The reading would prepare students for some of the issues that the documentary looks at such as how our future is becoming less free and Girl Talk’s creative process. What I really felt makes this film valuable was how it makes the leap from media copyright into scientific copyright and patents. The film hints that laws that are in place to protect intellectual property limit research in the cure for cancer and AIDS. This makes the issue of copyright infringement much larger than just about protecting someone’s ideas or musical property. Each of the samples that are used by the artist Girl Talk are examples of copyright infringement but the Bermingham article makes the point that Disney has been appropriating classical stories for the basis of their content for years and asks the question “what is different about their use?” Finally I included the wikipedia page for Night Ripper because it lists all the samples used in the album that I’m sure many students will recognize from their own music libraries. An idea for class this week might be to poll students about which albums from Night Ripper they already own in order to see what percentage of the album the average fan might have already paid for.
Right now you can check out this snippet of the documentary looking at how our culture is becoming less free
Edited: January 25th, 2010