Drug Addled Kermit the Frog "Hurt" Video

Final Fantasy History DVD

A nice video is up on Google that covers the entire history of the Final Fantasy franchise.

(source)

Bush Contradictions Continue

Earlier in the week, in attempt to prevent further investigation into the possible political firing of 8 US DAs Bush declared that that Congress should focus on finding the truth and forcing his people to swear an oath to speak the truth is not the way to do that. The contradiction is to get the truth...don't force people to speak the truth.

Now, the House has passed a bill that gives $124 Billion for Iraq and Afghanistan. Included in the bill is expansion of veterans' healthcare funding, force benchmarks to be met, force removal of troops from Iraq by August 2008 and refocus military efforts on terrorism. Bush declared the law "delays the delivery of vital resources for our troop" while also saying he will veto the bill...therefore delaying the delivery of vital resources to the troops.

I wonder if he even understands the words that come out of his mouth. The funny things is Bush held a press conference on this law, to declare he will veto it, even though the chances of the law passing through the Senate is unlikely. I guess he is hoping that if he does "Presidential" stuff like flub through a few press conferences and make contradictory statements, it will help his approval rating.

Should You Buy Apple TV?

The Apple TV has come out and should be in stores soon if it isn't already. For $300.00 you have to pause and decide if its worth the cost or not. The answer to that question depends on just how much you use and buy content from the Apple iTunes store or how much you are willing to spend hours and hours converting your existing files to a m4v codex that Apple TV will play. If you have lots of iTunes contents or are willing, then yes, its probably worth it. If you are like me and barely use the iTunes store and most of your videos are in lots of different formats then the answer is no because Apple TV will not play them.

Really the answer to "should I buy Apple TV?" is the same answer to "Am I willing to spend lots of money on iTunes Store content?". So there you go, a quick reason to decide to spend the money or not. Considering Apple's history with the iPod video, the limitation in Apple TV to only play certain non-common codex's is unlikely to change anytime soon. On the bright side, hackers will probably eventually come up with easy methods to override this problem. Until then though, just wait. Wait until Apple TV 2.0 or 3.0 and wait until it becomes something that can truly play any video you want to play and not just a limited few. Force a company, not even Apple, to release a real solution to getting content from computer to TV easily that doesn't come with a bunch of rules. The only way to do that is refuse to buy these half-assed solutions.

Various links for info:
Gizmondo Review
iLounge's Top 10 Reason to Not Get Apple TV
Apple TV FAQ
C-Net Apple TV Linkfest

Bush: "loyal Bushies" Will Not Testify Under Oath

President Bush held a press conference today to announce that he is unwilling to allow his "loyal Bushies" Karl Rove and Harriet Miers testify under oath or in public due to executive privilege. What he failed to mention is why the politics of firing US Attorneys would fall under this category.

Really though this decision on the President indicates many things. One, it seems he still fails to recognize that Republicans no longer control Congress. That means number of "yes-men" under his control has taken a dramatic nosedive. The legislative branch simply no longer beats to his drum. This failure to recognize this now brings up an issue for the Congress: will they take his shit or fight back. This is an opportunity for the Democrats to show they are not quite the wimps everyone believes them to be.

The second thing this indicates is there are secrets to hide. There is no reason to testify before Congress and not swear under oath unless planning to tell lies and hide information and want to avoid the consequences. There is also no reason to hide this kind of decision making from the public...unless you don't feel the public deserves the truth.

A final reality of the situation is apparently the Bush Administration values loyalty over competence, even worse it values loyalty to Bush over loyalty to America. Its not supposed to be that way. While people "serve at the pleasure of the President", the President is supposed to make sure that service is for the benefit of the American people, not himself. These and many decisions over the last few years just highlights the fact that apparently Bush is all that is important, the American people can simply go to hell.

For all intents and purposes, Bush is not only putting up a middle finger to the Congress but the American electorate as well. Hopefully Congress will take up the challenge thrown down by Bush and fight back. Hopefully the Democrats will learn the lesson of the last 6 years, that non-interference, that simply doing and saying nothing is not the answer.

4th Year Anniversary of Iraqi War

Today Bush "celebrated" the 4th anniversary of the war that was only supposed to last 6 months at most, be paid for Iraqi oil, and have us greeted as liberators. He now asks for patience as a withdrawal would be devastating for the US. Considering quite literally NONE of his predictions have come true, at this point he sounds more like he is seeing his historical legacy going up in smoke and is doing everything he can to hang on to it. Sigh, lets just hope this is the last anniversary of this unnecessary, goal less, poorly planned, executed and violent war.

Gonzalez's Own Performance Review

Click here for an amusing animation video that has Alberto Gonzalez providing his self performance review, explaining why he is so valuable to the Bush Administration.
(source)

3-Way Tie On Jeopardy

Jeopardy had its first ever 3-way tie, with all 3 contestants scoring $16,000 after Final Jeopardy. As a result of the tie, all 3 got to keep their winnings and go head to head to head again (airing Monday).

12 Ways to Boycott the RIAA

The RIAA continues its heavy handed tactics against its own customers. Being the customers our only response is to simply quick giving them money that allows them to treat us in such a shitty matter. However, we still want to get new music, so go read "12 Ways to Boycott the RIAA" that gives ideas on how to get your music without rewarding the RIAA.

TDS Gonzales Summary

As always, the Daily Show once again provide a concise, factual but humorous summary of a current political FUBAR. In this case the Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of 8 ADs for not showing proper loyalty to Bush. Apparently the law and just doing your job is secondary to making sure the diety is pleased. Also amusing is how effectivily they edited together Gonzales' interview with about 8 different news shows and his talking point use of "serve at the pleasure of the President" statement.

The video can be found here.

Confessions From Various Sales Reps

The Consumerist has posted more confessions that cover various tips and ideas from sales reps and managers on how to get the best deals for cell phones and other wireless packages. The one tip that I liked most...wait until the last five days of the month to go cell phone / plan shopping. The end of the month stats are due and you might get a good deal so the store can meet quota.

Confessions of...

Walter Reed Scandal = Lots of Resignations

The Walter Reed Scandal continues to cut through the ranks as more generals are forced to resign. Lt. General Kevin Kiley is the most recent as he announced his retirement as Army Surgeon General. This is after Major General George W. Weightman was removed. He was replaced by General Eric Schoomaker who has made it clear he doesn't see what the problem is and was charge of the facility from 2000 to 2004. Oh and the person that had put the now retired Kiley in the position, Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey also has resigned. Major General Gale Pollock will take over the postion temporarily. I have no real idea, but it seems like the entire chain of command for the medical corp of the Army has no resigned at least once.

The President, of course, continues to try to dodge this whole fiasco, basically saying its the Pentagon's problem and doesn't have anything to do with him. The president, being the commander in chief of the army, the great decider, has decided he is responsible for nothing. He, who has used Walter Reed as photo-ops, knows nothing and did nothing. Ah the great leadership that is Bush. George "Support Our Troops" Bush, the great leader...at least until the shit hits the fan and then he is point fingers everywhere. Now if only there was a way to force his resignation...

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Guilty

The jury of the perjury trial of Scooter Libby returned a guilty verdict on 4 of the five indictments. The 56 ex-chief of staff and national security advisor could face up to 30 years in prison and fine of $1.25 million. However, the judge has plenty of leeway and it wouldn't surprise me if he at most gets a slap on the wrist. Telling is the jury members indicating that while they feel he was guilty, they felt he was operating under marching orders from Vice-President Cheney.

Even after sentencing this case will probably spend the next few months being contested by the defense attorney up to the probably pardon that Bush will provide at the end of the Presidency. Something that Democrats are asking Bush not to do but really its a decision that they have no say in. More then likely Scooter has a nice cushy job waiting for him after he does his year or so for taking one for the team.

Now if someone would only investigate all the disappearing war money, Haliburton and the so-called "evidence" that got us in the Iraq war to begin with.

Speed Painting Scarlett Johansson

A digital tablet, Photoshop, crap load of skill and you get Scarlett Johansson. Music is "Adagio for strings" by DJ Tiesto.

RIAA Boycott: Out To Destroy Webcasts

The RIAA struck again over the weekend, helping push a new royalty rate that is retroactive to January 2006 that requires webcasters to pay a fee for RIAA protected music. The fee of course is moronic in scope and goes up in double-digits each year.

TechDirt.com has the details:

RIAA Pushes Through Internet Radio Royalty Rates Designed To Kill Webcasts

It's been quite some time since we last heard about arguments between internet webcasters and SoundExchange (a group spun off from the RIAA to handle royalty collection). Back in the summer of 2003, there was even a lawsuit over the royalties being set, that were pretty clearly designed to put smaller, independent webcasters out of business. From the RIAA's point of view, this is perfectly typical. They still view the world (especially the internet) as a broadcast medium. Therefore, they want at small number of "professional" content producers who create the content for everyone else. Then they can just sign a few ridiculously large licenses with those large players, and "the people" get to consume it. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of the internet as a communications medium -- a medium where people express themselves back and forth to each other, rather than a place we go sit back and "consume." While the fight had gotten quiet lately, the good old RIAA was hard at work making sure that things were happening in the background. A bunch of folks submitted stories this weekend noting that late Friday (making it less likely to make news), the Copyright Royalty Board announced that it was adopting the royalty rates SoundExchange put forth, and making them effective retroactively to the beginning of 2006 -- meaning that many small independent webcasters are now facing a tremendous royalty bill they're unlikely to be able to afford (thanks to everyone who sent this in).

That last link goes through the impact of all of this on various players -- and it's not pretty. The new rates pretty much decimate a large portion of the industry. And, it's only going to get worse, as the royalty rates increase at incredible rates ("2007's rate is a 37.5% increase over 2006; 2008 and 2009's annual increases are about 28% per year; and 2010 adds another 5.5% increase.") Of course, this is utterly backwards and damaging to the industry itself. A webcaster (especially the smaller, independent ones) is a great means of promotion for artists. It tends to attract more loyal and well-targeted audiences, who are more likely to want to later go out and buy a CD, a t-shirt or attend a concert. It lets the industry better promote material from a wider range of artists. However, in the industry's desperate need to charge for every single use, they're effectively killing off yet another wonderful promotional vehicle. The industry continues to think that it needs to do this because it wants to own all distribution and promotional avenues in order to be able to continue to take its large cut. However, that's no reason for the Copyright Royalty Board to put in place these artificial barriers that only serve to protect the recording industry's outdated understanding of its own business model.

Ann Coulter Drops the F-Bomb!

In what can only be called a crime against humanity, Ann Coulter dropped the f-bomb at a speech Saturday during an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference where she said "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards, but it turns out that you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I'm - so, kind of at an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards, so I think I'll just conclude here and take your questions."

Of course, this isn't the first time that Ann uses gays as a way to bash Democrats. She has done it many many times in the past. She did it on July 27, 2006 when she called All Gore a "total fag".

Nevermind though that she has called for the deaths of judges, seems OK with the idea of killing Bill Clinton, spoke of Muslims as ragheads, and just generally has made her fortune and career on hate. She simply exists to create and spread hate. Everyone knows this, yet her use of the word faggot is what gets spread on the front stories of CNN, USAToday and Fox News (Fox's pro-Ann slant is amusing btw) and probably headline the Sunday political shows. Are you shitting me? This is what finally gets people's attention and even gets flip flop master John "will sell my soul for office" McCain to even comment calling it "wildly inappropriate."

But then again this is a new age, the post Grey's Anatomy Isaiah Washington's use of the word. The f-bomb heard round the world, if you will. Yep, somehow 'faggot' has become the new n-word. Not sure how this happened but since the press has decided to treat it as an evil, so too has the politicians and then the people. If the media calls it bad then it must be.

The dreaded f-bomb. Its no longer the one having to do with sex. Its evil I tell you. Pure unmitigated evil. Can the human race, can American make it to the next day knowing this event has occurred? And what of the children? Those poor children. Think of the children!! Oh the humanity!

Boycott the RIAA In March

Gizmondo.com has decided to declare March as RIAA Boycott Month due to simply being sick and tired of the RIAA's anti-consumer, anti-freedom, anti-free expression, and just anti everything that doesn't feed dollars to mega corporations.

The boycott calls for you to simply stop buying any product that helps fund the mafia outfit of the RIAA. This includes anything produced by Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Sony BMG and any of their subsidiaries. Now before doing the whole "but the artists" bit, just remember that part of the RIAA's functionality is to help screw over the artists and keep as much royalties out of their pockets as they can. Again, remember, the RIAA exists to benefit the corporations and the higher ups bonuses. Giving money, earned or otherwise, to artists would be counter to that goal.

Gizmondo issued an Anti-RIAA Manifesto:

In case you missed it, last Friday we declared the month of March Boycott the RIAA Month. We've gotten sick and tired of always seeing the RIAA pulling deplorable moves and decided it was time for us to do something about it. We're kicking the month off with this, our manifesto. We want to be absolutely clear about what this fight is about and why it's so important. This is an overview of what the RIAA does, why it's damaging, and what we need to do to stop it. Consider this our planted flag.

First off, we want to be clear that this battle won't be over on March 31st. We declared March the Boycott the RIAA month to draw a line in the sand and to make a strong statement, but this is merely the beginning. Everything we're going to lay out here will still be true in April, in May, in June, and in the months that follow. March will be not the entirety of our efforts, but rather a kick off of our organized campaign to make a difference. We'll be posting tips for how to get the word out, ways to support artists without supporting the RIAA, and keeping you updated with everything that's going on throughout the entire month. With your help, we can educate people about how important this issue is and really make a difference.

Who We're Up Against
The RIAA is the industry group that represents the four major record labels — Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal, and Sony BMG — and all of their subsidiaries. They work on behalf of their members, and they have been accused of a wide range of offenses, from price-fixing to stifling innovation. They're able to perpetuate these crimes due to their huge bankroll, but that happens to be the one aspect of their organization we have control over. As consumers, we are the ones who stuff their coffers. By buying albums released by RIAA labels, we're giving them the money they use to sue our peers, stifle innovation, and force DRM down our throats. By cutting off their income stream, we can help make the RIAA less effective and therefore less damaging.

We're huge music fans here at Gizmodo, and that's why it's really hard to advocate not purchasing albums from artists we love. However, what everyone needs to understand is that we are in no means advocating piracy or not supporting musicians. The fact of the matter is, the RIAA's practices do not, in the end, support musicians or put money into their pockets. A fraction of the money from album sales actually makes it to artists, and not a single penny that the RIAA has received from their series of lawsuits has actually made it back to the artists that had their "copyrights infringed" in the first place.

Piracy Lawsuits: Extortion and Privacy Invasion Under the Guise of Copyright Enforcement
The goal of the RIAA's lawsuits is to make people so afraid of being sued that they will stop downloading music. However, in their lawsuits they circumvent the law and extort money from people who haven't been given the benefit of a legal trial.

The process that the RIAA has in place to find and sue plaintiffs is designed not to provide a fair trial and prove guilt, but rather to confuse and intimidate people into settling out of court. What exactly happens is too detailed and lengthy for me to go into here, but Grant Robertson's Layperson's Guide to Filesharing Lawsuits is a must-read for anyone interested in what exactly happened in the 20,000+ lawsuits (so far) the RIAA has brought upon the citizens of this country.

Recently, the RIAA began looking to streamline the entire lawsuit process by cutting courts, lawyers, and any semblance of due process out altogether. Their new plan is to have ISPs point people to p2plawsuits.com (catchy!) and offer to discount their settlement by $1,000 if they pay up without going to court at all. By avoiding the court system, the RIAA can avoid paying those pesky lawyer's fees. Even better for them, they plan to require ISPs to retain all of their customer records for at least 180 days in order to be eligible for the $1,000 discount. This would make everyone's surfing and downloading history available to a non-governmental organization in order to make it easier for them to gather evidence for their intimidation lawsuits.

Smothering Innovation: If You Can't Access the Internet, You Can't Pirate Music
Beyond the harassment, extortion, and privacy invasion that the RIAA commits under the guise of lawsuits, they also stifle innovation by treating any open Internet source as a potential way for people to violate their copyrights. Recently, they filed a "motion for reconsideration" in a suit claiming that anything downloaded via an Internet connection is the responsibility of the owner of said connection. While the RIAA is trying to make it easier for them to get money out of the parents of kids they sue, the precedent that it would set would make it difficult, if not impossible, for open WiFi hotspots to exist. That means that the RIAA would make it impossible for you to connect to the web for free while out in a city that provides Internet access merely because you might use it to download music.

DRM: Pay More, Get Less
Digital Rights Management, or DRM, is the software that makes it so music you buy from the iTunes Music Store can't play on any other player other than the iPod, such as a Zune or Sansa. In an effort to keep people from sharing legally purchased music, DRM actually goes much farther than copyright law dictates, denying paying customers the fair use of the music they buy. You should be able to do what you want with an album once you've paid for it; like a CD or a record, you now own it for life.

However, music wrapped in DRM software cannot be played on devices other than those explicitly tied to the store you brought it from. Furthermore, listening to your music across multiple computers, or moving your music to a new computer when you upgrade, is often a huge headache that ends with you needing to repurchase your songs.

In effect, the RIAA's insistence on strict DRM takes value away from legally purchased music. People have a choice: they can either pirate unrestricted MP3 files that will let them use them however they'd like, or they can pay for files that won't allow them the freedom to listen where and how they choose. It only makes sense that many tech-savvy people choose to download MP3s rather than pay for crippled files. The RIAA wants people to pay for restrictions and like it.

Rescuing Artists From Those Claiming to Support Them
As we're a technology website, we're most in touch with the RIAA's actions in response to music downloading as opposed to their history of poor artist management and unfair retail tactics. However, it's worth noting that issues such as the underpayment of artists and album price-fixing are quite serious and should be considered as good a reason as any to keep your money from going to their pockets. Two articles worth reading to study up on how major labels screw over the artists they claim to represent are Courtney Love's speech to the Digital Hollywood online entertainment conference and The Problem with Music by Steve Albini. Both are written by artists who have first-hand knowledge of just how badly major labels take advantage of musicians, and both are guaranteed to change how you view the music industry.

Out With the Old, In With the New
So what would we like to see happen? First and foremost, we want the lawsuits to stop. Treating normal people like common criminals and using fear tactics and intimidation to extort thousands of dollars from them goes against everything that this country stands for. Secondly, we want them to stop insisting that DRM software be used on all of their music being sold online. People are willing to pay for their music, but they deserve to be able to own that music and use it however they'd like once they purchase it. And lastly, we want the RIAA to stop trying to stifle innovation and control the future of the Internet merely because the possibility exists for piracy to happen using upcoming technologies.

But all these things, in the long run, are temporary solutions to a problem that will eventually end with a permanent solution. The fact of the matter is, the RIAA is becoming more outdated and unnecessary by the day. Their seeming inability to grasp the reality of today's music industry has doomed them, and there will come a time when they will cease to exist.

That's because the era of the major label is over. Why should a new band want to sign with one? They no longer need a $50,000 recording budget; more sophisticated and powerful home recording equipment and software is released every day. Music videos are cheaper to shoot and edit as well due to the lowered costs of cameras and computers. Promoting for radio is increasingly unnecessary, as more and more bands are discovered via blogs rather than through traditional channels. And manufacturing is slowly being erased from the picture altogether, allowing artists to distribute their music online with little overhead costs.

While twenty years ago a band needed a record label to discover them, help them record, help them shoot a video, manufacture and then distribute their album, a resourceful band can do all of those things themselves. Eventually, bands will be able to sell their music online direct to fans with minimal reliance on a record label. The RIAA is teetering on the edge of irrelevance, and it's our job to give it a hearty shove. They can still do a hell of a lot of damage on their way down, and that's what we need to try to stop. Stay tuned. –Adam Frucci