The Come Up Show » Technology

[News] U.S. Government Shuts Down Music Sites in Piracy Crackdown

K-Lis — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:31:07 +0000

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement division (ICE) has shut down and seized the servers of several illegal music filesharing sites including onsmash.com, rapgodfathers.com, torrent-finder.com, and dajaz1.com. As of Friday November 26, visitors to any one of the seized sites–and reportedly over seventy others– would have only received the notice pictured above.

The New York Times reported earlier this week these actions are related to the a bill called the Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act, which is now being passed through Congress.

Rather than combat P2P sites like MegaUpload or Mediafire or Internet Service Providers, the Bill appears to be taking action by seizing blogs that host illegal fileshare links and provide gateways to the infringing materials. In otherwords, the bill targets entities that upload and distribute the materials, not those who host it.

Most labels scour P2P hosting sites to report and revoke the illegal sharing of their music, which is most often the root cause of broken youtube postings or filesharing links. In the past, no sites have been shut down as a result of these infringements as these cases are most often handled by label lawyers rather than the DHS.

Reputable blogs never post material that is not leaked directly by the artist or label.

via NYT.

[News] Gorillaz to Record First Album on iPad

K-Lis — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 04:39:03 +0000

I’m not sure why anyone would want to record an entire album on an iPad. To be frank, it sounds like it would be hell.

Inconveniences aside, Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn seems to know what makes for an interesting news story: “I hope I’ll be making the first record on an iPad,” he told NME in an interview. “I fell in love with my iPad as soon as I got it, so I’ve made a completely different kind of record.”

There are several music related apps available for the iPad including Multimedia’s AmpliTube, Propellerhead’s ReBirth, iSequence, Kord iMS-10, MultiTrack DAW and Studio.HD, but this is the first word of a (major) album being compiled entirely on the fanciest e-reader available.

Albarn hinted he plans to release the album before Christmas. A good idea. He had better snap it together quickly before someone beats him to his self-booked appointment with history.

[Technology] Meet the new Twitter

Chedo — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:58:25 +0000

It will have a new design and you can view photos, videos, and other media content in your timeline. They have also partnered up with Youtube, Flickr, Vimeo and other social networks.

I think the biggest challenge twitter has is to show people how it’s different from facebook. I refused to sign up because I thought it was just like your facebook status and when I did sign up I didn’t really understand how to use it. I can say now I do see the value in twitter but it did take some time.

Do you have twitter? If you do what do you like about it? If you don’t have twitter why?

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[Technology x Funny] How a Genius Maps Rap

K-Lis — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:13:12 +0000

Via: The Mirror

Since the dawn of hip-hop, fans and listeners have toiled a labor of love to decode the cryptic (s)language emcees are literally in the business of writing. Other times, they scat along happily with no concept of what the lyrics mean. But these days, thanks to sites like RapMap, knowing the ins and outs of rap philosophy –actually understanding what artists are saying — is getting easier. Or at least more fun.

The rapid re-invention of the English language and the obvious kicks we get out of describing weird new human behaviors and cultural phenomena in a few cliquey words or less is so plainly apparent in the apps and sites we frequent the most. The Urban Dictionary, for instance, has jetted into the web records as one of today’s more frequented (and cited) dictionaries on the net. They even have their own mugs.

So when RapGenius–an interactive site that allows you to cruise through hilarious song interpretations aimed to help you “discover the meaning of rap lyrics”– came on the scene, hop-heads old and new laughed along to not only single word elucidations (i.e. Breaka Breaka 1-9, or Breitling) but digestions of entire phrases, verses, and larger schools of thought (West Saiiiide!). It’s an Urban Lyrics Dictionary, only so much more.

On site there are track explanations from all stripes of rap and hip-hop, from Nas to Mos Def to Jeezy (there is even a Vampire Weekend tune in there). And if you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can request an analysis (where’s T.O. and London at?-submissions people). Here’s just one exegesis for a taste: “It’s a shame/Niggas in the rap game/Only for the money and the fame,” from Xzibit’s “Paparazzi” elicits the following analysis from the Rap Geniuses, “Xzibit is upset that rappers just rap for the money… but the real question is: why else would anyone rap? (CAPITALISM!)”

They’ve got a point.

Adding a layer of endless wingsuit fun is my personal favorite: the new RAP MAP (brought to you by RapGenius). The Rap Map lets you fly through and over infamous hoods and major rap-history landmarks (say, Gordie’s stompin’ grounds in the Motor City over to the “Madison across from the Radisson” that AZ raps about in “Never Change”), albeit without the risk of getting shot up. (I’ve noticed they’ve recently changed their landmark icons from black gats to orange headphones).

Their Mission? “Mapping the Gangsta Terrain of the Planet.”

Check it out, but be warned: you’ll want to stay a while.

[Technology] Apple’s New iPod Touch

J.R. — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:27:07 +0000

Pricing is 8GB/$229. 32GB/$229, and 64GB/$399

Specs are as follows: Retina Display, Facetime, 40 Hour Battery Life with Audio/7 with Video; Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio; still photos (960 x 720) with back camera; VGA-quality photos and video up to 30 frames per second with the front camera; Tap to control exposure for video or stills; Photo and video geo tagging over Wi-Fi.

Just think iPhone 4 without the phone.