Streaming Movies Past Copyright Laws

I ran across this article. This is a very interesting concept for a website. It is a lot similar to Netflix style streaming without the limited selection of new DVDs.

A Clever End Run Around the Movie-Streaming Gremlins
By DAVID POGUE

Fellow movie fans, we find ourselves in a time of great transition. We have one foot in the world of recorded movies — a time of fantastic selection, but also a time of tapes and discs. Our descendants will laugh their little holographic heads off when they hear about our ridiculous trips driving back and forth to the video store.

Yet we have another foot in the glorious future — movies that stream from the Internet, on demand, to our televisions, laptops and phones. That’s convenient, but missing so much of the DVD experience. We can’t turn on subtitles that help in times of mumbled dialogue, viewer deafness or sleepers in the next room. We can’t choose a different language for the dialogue. We miss out on the director’s commentary.

Furthermore, the lawyers have viciously clipped the wings of the streaming-movie era. You have to start watching a movie within 30 days of renting it and finish it within 24 hours. Not all movies are available for streaming, and once they’ve appeared in the catalog, they may disappear for six to nine months during the HBO window, as the moguls call it.

Above all, fellow cinephiles, we can’t have both $1 movies (like those you rent at Redbox kiosks) and instant access to the newest releases. You can pay $4 to Apple or Vudu the day the DVD comes out, or you can get it for $1 from a Redbox machine a couple of months later. And let’s not even mention Netflix’s streaming-movie collection, most of which seems to date back to the Carter administration.

But what if I told you that there’s a new streaming-movie service, Zediva.com, that eliminates every single one of those drawbacks? It lets you listen to the director’s commentary, turn on subtitles and change languages. It lets you enjoy your movie for two weeks instead of 24 hours, starting and stopping at will. It offers the 100 biggest movies for streaming on the very same day the DVD comes out. It sidesteps any meddling by the movie companies, HBO contracts and studio lawyers.

[MORE]
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/technology/personaltech/17pogue.html

I ran across this interesting article about the aging characteristics of a specific species of birds. I thought that you all would be interested.

Great Tits Also Have Age-Related Defects

ScienceDaily (2011-03-09) -- The offspring of older great tit females are much less successful than those of younger mothers. Things mainly go wrong in the later stages of the upbringing, concludes an evolutionary biologist. For great tit females, it turns out to be a good idea to invest in generating offspring in the first years of life.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110307130215.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+sciencedaily+(ScienceDaily:+Latest+Science+News)&utm_content=Google+Reader#

Pictured: The Great Tit

All Hope is Lost

The future of humanity is bleak. We have little to look forward to now. The advances in our collective knowledge pale in comparison to the regression in human progress that was just so recently achieved.

What I am talking about is this video by Rebecca Black called Friday.




I have trouble believing that this is a serious musical production. It is the most awful thing I have ever ever seen.

Anyway, the rest of the update will be spent mocking her through pictures.

Enjoy:

No Excuses!

So I've been pretty lately busy lately. Even though it's Spring Break for me, I've had so much to study.

I know, I know

I also recently developed a somewhat serious addiction to EverQuest,which happens to be one of the first successful MMOs. I played years ago but got into again. I know its a lame excuse but I'm having good times.

I'm going to enjoy my time, dammit.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll catch up eventually. I'm trying to enjoy my time while I have it. I so rarely do have free time.

What do you people do for a living?

I'm away from a computer for awhile, and posting from my phone. Since I lack any means to give you rich and juicy content to enjoy, I want to ask something of you. What do you do for a living? Or if you're a student, what are you trying to do for a living? Or if you have no source of income and are not pursuing anything, just put "mom's basement."

To start off. I'm going for a B.S. in Civil Engineering and then an M.S. in Environmental Engineering. I also work a somewhat shitty part-time job.

What about you fine folks?

Happy Pi Day! (3.14)

On behalf on the occasion I present you a video of pi being musically represented.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Lacking a Post

Sorry had the most hectic day. I'll update in the morning. Thanks for checking out my blog! I appreciate all the support.