My Final Project

The podcast I made for my final project. It is 22.5 MB, 24 minutes and 32 seconds.

Comm. Tech. Podcast

My Final Presentation Video

Let's Play: My Final Project

Here is my final project. This is my first Let's Play run of Zombies Ate My Neighbors for Super Nintendo. I also included the short interview I did with my little brother about Let's Plays in general.

My Let's Play:

Interview with my brother:

Wow. I told you it has become completely iconic!

http://www.airbedandbreakfast.com/obamaos

Final Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6n_9eDFJBE

Interesting Article!

Let Them Log On
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/let-them-log-on/

Gambling: From Vegas to Online

This is the video i made for my final project. Basically its a brief overview of online sports gambling; how it moved from gambling in casinos to sports betting to the transition it made to online. The film is unbiased in that it doesn't take a viewpoint however it does present alot of information from only one side of the issue (but it definitely isn't trying to persuade).
But its the first time I had done anything of this nature, so I tried a bunch of different things to get a feel for premiere i suppose. Anyway it took me a while to put together so try not to be to critical. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV94HMhnrq8

DRM...the ongoing saga...

"Like a creeping fog, DRM smothers more and more media in its clammy embrace, but the sun still shines down on isolated patches of the landscape."

(Ok--so I have to give credit to my intro to Nate Anderson ...but I thought these words might just entice you to read further).
Hacking Digital Rights Management
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/drmhacks.ars

I am not a music downloader. I listen to all my music on pandora.com and if I like the music I buy the cd. But...my six-cd changer has a habit of breaking and so I like to burn a copy of the real cd in case it gets stuck in my car. Imagine my suprise when I bought a cd recently and tried to burn a copy for my car and couldn't...I just paid $15 for ten songs and now I can't even make myself another copy...in a word...ridiculous.

In a perfect world DRM might work. But I agree with Jeremy Allison in his Tech News article on ZDNet that in our world it just won't work. People are sick of for many years paying for music that was mass-burned onto 50 cent cds and then marked up 25 times and the artist isn't even the one getting the money. So, they turn to file-sharing.

But in a perfect world maybe we wouldn't have to have stores carry cd's and charge overhead and it could be an ITunes model where you just pay for the songs you want and get them on your computer and you can use them how you like. However, there is always going to be illegal downloading of music...period. I agree with Allison in that, "engineers should simply refuse to create DRM for customers." These companies are in denial and it is still going to go on. Invest your dollars in other ventures as DRM isn't able to fully restrict anyway.

Even though artists' profits might be down a bit, exposure to their material is always a good thing. Getting their song out to thousands that would not pay for the music could pay dividends down the road in the form of concert tickets, t-shirts, souvenirs, posters, etc.

I do realize that people in the entertainment industry still need to make a living, but taking the time to establish complicated encryption models hardly seems worth the time, money, and frustration for all parties...but that's just my two cents.

DRM--not just music--now Google and books! http://www.drmwatch.com/legal/article.php/3781701

When I was perusing the web to see what type of commentary there was on DRM I came upon this website that tracks current news on DRM http://www.drmwatch.com/legal/

Also, if you have an opinion and would like to share it this would be a great place. They say that a 16-year old's comment is as good as Microsofts--so give it a shot!

The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group (Apig) is taking a closer look at digital rights management (DRM).
The group, which aims to promote discussion between lawmakers and the new media industries, has launched an inquiry into the issues surrounding DRM, the results of which will form the basis of recommendations it will make to parliament on how to deal with the burgeoning technology.
http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,39154238,00.htm

As stated in the Good Copy Bad Copy film, copyright laws have become very powerful, and arguably to the point that they inhibit new creative works. There is really a fine line between sampling and parodies. I find someone like Weird Al Yankovic far less creative than the people who use the sampling method and create something very unique such as Danger Mouse in his Gray Album. In this case he was not making a profit and neither the Beatles nor Jay-Z was losing a profit, so I fail to see much wrong with it.

There is also the issue of each download being a lost sale, and this is clearly not the case for most people. I know very few people who will go out and buy a CD if there is one song on it that they like, they would however download it. At the same time if there is a great album out, most will give the respect to the artist and buy it.

The bottom line to me is that if there is a case where the artist is losing money , or someone else is making money by using the original artists work, this is wrong, but its generally harmless otherwise.