Christmas shopping

As Christmas is coming in the next couple weeks. I think most of the people will be busy with buying Christmas gifts to their family or friends. Particularly, for the parents, they will have some hard time in choosing a gift to their children. It is because most of the kids are favor in playing video games instead of football or action figure.However, not much video games are appreciate for young children to play. For example, the game "Call of Duty" involves violence that would give negative impact to children in mental behavior. A news article "Does game violence make teens aggressive?" address the issue of video games would effect brain damage to young people if they the game for period of time. As a result, the parents would need do some research in choosing the right video game for the children. Indeed, not all the video games involves violence. Some video games are created for education. For instance, below is a video of a game name Japanese coach which is teaching people Japanese by playing mini games.

Taking Copyright Infringement Penalties to an Extreme

In browsing recent headlines, I came across another interesting development in copyright infringements. According to an article on Geek.com, a pub in the UK may be required to pay a fine after one of its customers accessed the free Wi-Fi and downloaded copyrighted files. The author of the article argues that is it unfair that this type of small business would be required to pay (and a hefty sum at that --$13,000!) as the pub was merely was "providing a service." If this penalty sticks, imagine the consequences it could have for all providers of free Wi-Fi (cafes, bookstores, airports, etc.). I wonder if such a case could ever "stick" in the US....

From Black Friday to Cyber Monday

Traditionally after the first big holiday of the season, the Friday after Thanksgiving, is one of the biggest shopping days of the season. It is so because it is the time that most retail businesses are able to improve their balance sheets based on the sales volume during this time. However I have found out that there is a new day. I found an article on the Web that told of new day, and that day is called Cyber Monday.

http://www.ecanadanow.com/lifestyle/2009/11/28/cyber-monday-ads-2009/.

The article comes from an online Canadian paper and I would was very timely. So those who were unable to go out on Black Friday to shop, they have another change to find some online bargains.

iReport for CNN

Hi all,

I remembered our last class while I was reading CNN online. It is not a new thing (probably many of you already know) but there is a whole section called "iReport for CNN". I also knew it for a while but our last class made me re think the concept of citizen journalism once more. As we said there is no gatekeepers in this kind of news or neutrality for that matter. So when we get our information through these senses, it does not necessarily mean that we are getting the "truth".

On the other hand, I personally think that it is definitely more fun to listen ordinary people talk about the current events.

Anyway you might want to check it out:

http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/ireport/

Assignment for December 1

Build out your own blog incorporating the techniques and concepts that we've looked out over the last 9 weeks.

Plan on presenting for 10-15 minutes to allow for questions. In addition to the blog, you will also be graded on your presentation which includes how you field and respond to questions.

Some links from tonight's class

Stevegarfield.com
Universal Hub
bit.ly
Wordpress
Searching with Twitter

Metropolitan Museum

Hello class,

Here is my video production posted on Flickr.

And here is the YouTube HD version.

YouTube Direct: Citizen Journalism YouTube Way

Hello again class,

Here is a very interesting service starting, I believe today, November 17, the YouTube Direct. It's brand new tool that allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users. Meaning that it will allow news organizations to screen video uploads as they come in, and use the best clips for their broadcasts and on their websites.

Steve Grove, head of news at YouTube explains it as: "People around the world are taking up cameras and covering news in ways big and small - from documenting global events, to filming local town halls in neighborhoods. YouTube Direct empowers news and media organisations to easily connect with these citizen reporters, and use the power of our platform to cover the news better than ever before."

For original article from The Guardian, please click here.

Are Citizen Journalists always good for the society?

Hello class,

I saw this article about our topic of last week, the Fort Hood shootings. It reflects the multidirectional information flow that we discussed in the class. As we can see in the article as well, it almost leads to "DISINFORMATION"...

fashion in Boston (video)

Hi guys,

This is a runway show which happened a couple of weeks ago in Boston.

Here is the link for it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32144152@N04/4110790959/?processed=1&cb=1258434092190

Elif

Rehearsal

Every Monday afternoon at five eight or nine venturesome souls join together to play and sing jazz tunes. These are not kids in a garage. These are serious adults (academics) who enjoy music in the tradition of the true American art form of Jazz. With its roots in the rhythms of African American folk music and the creative genius of countless musicians, both black and white, Jazz has become a gift to the world.

The Lasell Jazz Ensemble, keyboard, electric guitar, electric and upright bass, drums and vocals have been together for six years. Performing at College functions, at the Lasell Village - a retirement community on campus, and at Ryles Sunday Brunch in Cambridge, the LJE repetoire has run the gamut of jazz ...... Coltrane to McCartny; Torme to Gay; Joabim to Wonder, no tune is to humble to be given the treatment!

The vocalists, Michele, Richard, Jane and Joe try their best to create harmonies and riffs to remember. The band - Harvey on keyboard, Jeff on guitar, Matt on bass (electric or upright) and Nick on drums pull it altogether most of the time. All of the Ensemble players are either faculty or staff with the exception of Nick who is a grad student. Al have had music backgrounds of sorts. Harvey is a music professor and arranger for the group.

The Ensemble is a group of folks with roots in education. Yet each is learning something about themselves within the sounds of their music making. The Lasell student audience is surprized to see the finance professor, the IT guy, the Director of Financial Aid letting all go during a rendition of "What's Going' On"!

The video is a small story. The band warms-up; the band plays; the band clears the rehearsal space ( a small performance center on campus). If you listen carefully, a whistler is heard on the Rev.Al Greene's "Take me to the River". It's groovy!

JOS

"First Flight"

I edited this using the 2009 version of iMovie.

In a Lighter mood

Here is a little bit of video with a sound track.

Hi everyone,

Here is the video I created though i movie HD.

Please Enjoy!! ^0^

And since the trend nowadays is the social media, here is a news (maybe some of you already know this) Google announced a new social media of its own, called Google Wave. It's still in beta and being tried to see if it's going to be a success. The concept of wave seems very interesting - a place where you can communicate in real time in a variety of ways. Per the article, "the application from Google Inc. combines elements of e-mail, chat, Wiki documents, blogs and photo-sharing sites to create a form of Internet communication called a 'hosted conversation,' or a 'wave.' "

However, one thing I disagree with is that this service will "replace" email. In the article, they claim "e-mail is a computer version of snail mail. Wave will be something new, a real-time communication system designed specifically for today's faster-paced, multitasking Internet." Yes, real time communication is great, however when I'm on email the whole point of it is that I DON'T want real time communication. If I do, than I would basically call someone up :)

Hello dear classmates, talking about piracy, registering a brand name, and copyright, I thought that a picture is worth thousand words: Here is a cafe in Laos, Southeast Asia with a real familiar name :) Although it is not a right thing to do it is funny to me and because it is an exact copy of the font and color as well, it kind of looks authentic :) Here we see a whole different dimension of piracy: From Internet to real life..

Economic Crisis and Piracy

Online piracy might be one of the biggest problems for the copyright owners around the globe for the past couple of years. I was reading an article which claims that due to the current economic crisis people have the right to download a movie instead of paying for it. Unfortunately, not everyone has the money for a night out these days. Same thing goes for the music. People are going through some tough times and popular art forms such as, movies and music costs money.

Anyway I think it is an interesting point. If you don't have the money for the new blockbuster movie or for the new U2 album does that mean you shouldn't enjoy it?

I can't find the article online but I'll post the link as soon as I find it.

What do you guys think?

The picture on the left is the picture of Thai government is trying to crush piracy

Since last class that we talked about copyrights, it make me think about my country . As everyone knows, Thailand is a shopper's paradise. There are cheap copies of almost every designer product ever made. Especially, the market for pirate software is growing rapidly. DVDs and computer games are on sale on street stalls and in major shopping complexes. The more notorious of these are Pantip Plaza, Fortune Towers and Seacon Square, where authorised computer dealers and the pirates compete for customers.Digital films and videos sell for around 60% of the official price, computer games and software for about 50%.The greatest discrepancy is on Microsoft software which sells for less than 10% of the retail price.These massive savings attract a very large market. In Bangkok it is not just foreign tourists who are buying the pirate products on sale in the major computer centers.

The following problem is registered distributors in Bangkok selling computer software and DVDs estimate that pirate sales cost them more than 50% of their potential profit.

However Thai government try to eliminate this problem, they can never eliminate it completely. The only way to eliminate piracy is that the government has to attack it at source, but the problem is most of the pirate versions of CDs, videos, DVDs and computer games are not produced in Thailand. The best they can do is to find accessible level of violation. ,

This video below is the video of people selling DVD and PC games in Pantip Plaza Bangkok Thailand

Piracy in China

When you look at the picture on the left, you would see two i phones in different languages. However, according to the "China's knock-off mobile phones copy, then innovate", the i phone on the right is fake. It is make by a local Chinese Company with no connection wiht the Apple, Inc. This is one of the problems of Piracy in China today that China has lack of innovation in technology. We know that businesses invest millions of dollars in creating new products. However, other businesses would steal their hard working by copying the product and make profits. For the people who invest their time and money in innoation, they would feel depress of their hard working becoem nothing. It is a issue in the global business enviornment that governments should be responsible in producting businesses in piracy. It is becaasue piracy would affect the interest of business in inventing new products. For the consumer, they might benifit from lower price products from piracy, but they are taking the risk of product safety and engouraging businesses in creating new products. It is becasue businesses would feel less interested in product development due to piracy. For the county who has piracy problem, they would face pressure from the global community that would affect international firms' confidence in foregin investment in expanding the market. For instance, below is a video from Japanese news report about fake Disney land in China.

In trying to avoid piracy, can you still misstep?

Following on Hayma's recent post about stopping piracy, I agree, the world of downloading music is rife with challenges. While many songs are available for download on legitimate sources-- the Beatles are not! Though there are several blogs out there simply dedicated to tracking when this group will show up on iTunes, for now, any speculation appears to be mere rumor. A few days ago, however, an article came out claiming that a new website, Bluebeat.com, was releasing legal downloads of Beatles' music for only $.25! This news broke on October 30th, yet when I tried to get to the website, my browser's search just timed out. After some more Internet digging, I found this article, that reveals on November 5th, a judge ordered that the site remove all the Beatles music. This decision was set in motion after several record labels filed a suit, alleging that BlueBeat "engaged in music piracy of the most blatant and harmful kind." You would think this would be an open and closed case, but the site tried to mount a defense, claiming that they used a process called "psycho acoustic stimulation" to digitally record their own versions of the Beatles' tracks. Does anyone understand the term? I certainly don't, but Bluebeat tried to use this as a loophole to escape legal problems, though it appears that at least for now, no one was buying that argument.

What the articles do not address is what happens to the people that did purchase music off this site. For me, this case raises important questions about the level of due diligence that is now placed on the consumer. If people believe they are downloading songs in good faith, should they be punished for not looking further? How much fact-checking do we need to engage in? I think these questions extend beyond the realm of music as well. I had a friend that bought a designer bag from a website that claimed to be unloading discount merchandise, when in fact, it was just selling fakes. She could hardly tell the difference in terms of quality, but she was toting pirated goods around! It seems this is a new realm of "grey" that we have entered-- and I don't think the solution is simple...

Stopping Piracy

Since last class about the copyrights in US , I thought to focus my article for this week on global registration systems for trademarks, industrial designs and appellations of origin, and a global filing system for patents, all these rights above stated in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)is specialized agency of the United Nations in 1974, Based in Geneva , 184 Member States in WIPO.
WIPO administrate the Patent Cooperation Treaty(PCT)it’s a system to Protecting Inventions Globally over 184 member state …, the PCT process include Filing, International Search, International Publication, International Preliminary Examination and National Phase.
If everyone supports protection of works in terms of copyright, a lot on innovation will come and will be more beneficial to human being.

It's a criminal act however; millions break the law every day. The copyright law protects the value of creative work when you make illegal copies of someone's work, you are, in essence, stealing. Most people barley glance at the FBI warning on a movie DVD, VHS cassette and music Cds. Millions of dollars are lost by the artists that produce these medias and now have the federal law behind them to stop the practice. The federal law not provides severe civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized reproduction, distribution, rental or digital transmission of copyrighted sound recordings. Prosecutions have targeted music and video sites on a larger level and have even prosecuted individual citizens in order to get the message out. Flea markets and street vendors are also being targeted.
Criminal penalties for first-time offenders can be as high as five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Civil penalties can run into many thousands of dollars in damages and legal fees. The minimum penalty is $750 per song.
The Courts have to something to say about the illegal uploading and downloading of media. Some years ago, Napster was an online music and file sharing service created by Shawn Fanning, a Northeastern University student. Following lengthy court proceedings, Napster re-launched as a legal service in the fall of 2003. The courts gave a strong message to Napster and other such sites.

blip resources

Details on exporting from blip.tv

An Autumn Day

Each year during the autumn season the ritual of voting vies for our attention. This ritual, is held by the traditions of our founding fathers - the harvest was in; a trip to the village green or town common would be a nice entertainment; and choosing official who address our grievances was worth the effort.

The folks in the picture are standing at the polls where I have been registering my vote for the past thirty or so years. In the background is the polling place - a school building. Some of these folks are neighbors and some of them are friends. But they all believe in the process of democracy.

Both of the newspapers (old media) that I read daily, the Boston Globe and the New York Times registered front page stories of the local elections. The office of city mayor was being contested in both cities. Therefore, stories of the candidates were on the front page. The local issues, which form the grist of most town elections, if reported, would be buried on the back pages of these papers. The local issues, police and firefighter raises; taxes and profligate officials; schools and MCAS scores are local issues and are generally decided by 20 to 30 percent of the electorate.

The national general election of Fall 2008 drew just over 60% of voters to the polls. Were it that local issues, which directly effect communities, would draw that many to the polls. But democracy and democratic ideals gives the populace a choice - participate and feel a part of the process or don't particpate........... but do not complain!

JOS

Video Editing Foray

Over the past week I experimented with the video editing tools that came along with the Flip. Though you can add a title to movie clips and splice together different videos that were separately pre-recorded, the features pale in comparison to that of other Mac programs. In spite of the dearth of editing options, the uploading features on this device can't be beat!