Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, September 10, 2007

Record Industry Proves Again How Much They’ve Lost The Plot

from TechCrunch by Duncan Riley

Warning: this is so stupid you might need to be sitting down.

The latest brainwave from an industry that continues to bleed revenue is the Ringle: a product that combines the single format with ringtones.

Each ringle will contain three songs: one popular track, a remix, an older track from the same artist and a ringtone. Distribution method for the Ringle: a CD with a slip-sleeve cover.

Reuters reports that the idea is that if consumers can download any ringtones they want, why not let them buy them on CD.

Sony BMG Music and Universal Music Group will release 50 and 20 titles respectively in October and November. The CD’s will sell for either $5.98 or $6.98. Distributors will include BestBuy, Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon.

I’m nearly speechless. The CD Single is dead and the Record Industry believes that people will spend near $7 on buying a Ringtone and single on a CD. I think the multitude of Ringtone sellers and even Apple has nothing to worry about.

(image credit: icanhascheeseburger)

Sony CMOS News: New Sony CMOS Sensor Set To Revolutionize Videography And Photography

from Gizmodo by Haroon Malik

At present, capturing still images at a high resolution cannot be done by freezing and cutting video recorded content at specific frames. If this is attempted a blurry image, or one with low-resolution shall result. Sony has plans to launch a new CMOS sensor that will make the above circumstance a thing of the past. A prototype of the new sensor, shooting at 60fps, was able to render staggering 6MP still images.

Even though the barbarian that is the Casio Exilim has managed to pull off a similar feat, this development ensures that CMOS sensors could eventually become the preferred technology in cameras/video cameras, as the two slowly become integrated. This endeavor has the ability to make a massive impact on the industry. Professionals will no longer have to concern themselves with one art form over the other; instead, the distinction between still images and video capture are set to blend into one seamless continuum. Though this is unlikely to make the camera obsolete entirely, we do not think that is the goal. Giving people more options that are usable are the main desires of such advancing technologies, and this promises nothing less. We have our eyes well and truly peeled for when this advancement hits the mainstream. At present, both Sony and Casio seem to be dithering around the prototype stage, even if Casio have a sexy looking case for that tasty CMOS number, who will hit first with a working model is anyone's guess. [Product Page via TFOT].

Conspiracy!: RFID Chips May Cause Tumors

from Gizmodo by Mark Wilson

We guess some technology is just too bad to be true. Because despite being approved by the FDA back in 2005, RFID chips were shown to cause animal tumors—in a number of studies—back in the mid 90s. So are the studies bunk? Not necessarily, because the AP has consulted "leading cancer specialists" who feel the findings are a red flag. But the plot thickens...

In 2005, two weeks following the approval of VeriChip Corp's RFID chips, FDA overseer Tommy Thompson left the FDA. And five months later he ended up on the board of VeriChip Corp. Coincidence? Honestly, we're not sure.

While most of us fear the Big Brother aspects of RFID, the positive medical prospects are quite promising. You know, if they don't cause gigantic tumors in the 2,000 people who currently have implants. [AP via engadget]

Worm Supercomputer: World's Biggest Supercomputer is a Virus?

from Gizmodo by Matthew Sparkes

The Storm Worm Botnet currently infects between one and ten million computers worldwide, which means that it has access to a huge amount of processing power and somewhere between 1 and 10 Petabytes of RAM. This apparently makes it one of the most powerful computers in the world, with more computing power than the ten fastest supercomputers in the world combined.

These interesting, but admittedly vague and flaky estimates come from computer Scientist, Peter Gutman. Although you can pick at the numbers quite easily, the guy makes a very interesting point. While projects like Seti@Home can harness a lot of computing power, a virus or worm that doesn't need to ask permission from a user could conceivably be vastly more powerful. Imagine the potential if virus writers found more interesting things to do with those cycles than send spam.

Will the first person to find extraterrestrial signals be an amateur hacker, rather than Seti? Could complex protein folding solutions be found by bored crackers? And would the benevolent act of finding a cure for a genetic illness outweigh the malevolent act of creating the worm that rounded up the processing cycles needed to do it? [Uber Review]