The Real Shakira (video)

This Chilean chubby is the real Shakira

Bad Day

TIL Frank Zappa had an idea in 1983 that mapped out a sophisticated filesharing system meant to bypass record companies.

Reader SunKing sends in this little tidbit that I'd not seen before (perhaps some of you have). It comes from The Real Frank Zappa Book and discusses his response to "the home taping movement" and the attempt to get everyone to rebuy their old albums on CD by proposing a system where you could subscribe to whatever genre of music you wanted and get it delivered in batches. He first talks about how ridiculous it is to focus just on selling discs of music:

MUSIC CONSUMERS LIKE TO CONSUME MUSIC . . . NOT PIECES OF VINYL WRAPPED IN PIECES OF CARDBOARD.

Then he talks about how to "embrace" home taping:

It is our proposal to take advantage of the POSITIVE ASPECTS of a NEGATIVE TREND afflicting the record industry today: HOME TAPING via cassette of material released on vinyl.... First of all, we must realize that the taping of albums is not motivated by 'stinginess' alone .... People today enjoy music more than ever before, and, they like to take it with them wherever they go. THEY CAN HEAR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOOD AUDIO AND BAD AUDIO . . . THEY CARE ABOUT THAT DIFFERENCE, AND THEY ARE WILLING TO GO TO SOME TROUBLE AND EXPENSE TO HAVE HIGH QUALITY 'PORTABLE AUDIO' TO USE AS 'WALLPAPER FOR THEIR LIFESTYLE'.

So he makes the following suggestion:

We propose to acquire the rights to digitally duplicate and store THE BEST of every record company's difficult-to-move Quality Catalog Items [Q.C.I.], store them in a central processing location, and have them accessible by phone or cable TV, directly patchable into the user's home taping appliances, with the option of direct digital-to-digital transfer to F-1 (SONY consumer level digital tape encoder), Beta Hi-Fi, or ordinary analog cassette (requiring the installation of a rentable D-A converter in the phone itself . . . the main chip is about $12).

All accounting for royalty payments, billing to the customer, etc. would be automatic, built into the initial software for the system.

The consumer has the option of subscribing to one or more Interest Categories, charged at a monthly rate, without regard for the quantity of music he or she decides to tape.

Providing material in such quantity at a reduced cost could actually diminish the desire to duplicate and store it, since it would be available any time day or night.

Monthly listings could be provided by catalog, reducing the on-line storage requirements of the computer. The entire service would be accessed by phone, even if the local reception is via TV cable.

The advantage of the TV cable is: on those channels where nothing ever seems to happen (there's about 70 of them in L.A.), a visualization of the original cover art, including song lyrics, technical data, etc., could be displayed while the transmission is in progress, giving the project an electronic whiff of the original point-of-purchase merchandising built into the album when it was 'an album', since there are many consumers who like to fondle & fetish the packaging while the music is being played. In this situation, Fondlement & Fetishism Potential [F.F.P.] is supplied, without the cost of shipping tons of cardboard around.

We require a LARGE quantity of money and the services of a team of mega-hackers to write the software for this system. Most of the hardware devices are, even as you read this, available as off-the-shelf items, just waiting to be plugged into each other so they can put an end to "THE RECORD BUSINESS" as we now know it.
Just imagine how different the music industry might be today if he'd been able to move forward with that idea. 1983 was probably too early, but jump forward ten years... and we'd be facing a very different sort of music industry.

Source http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090405/1806484395.shtml

[Message From Libya]TELL THE WORLD WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US!!!!!.

Hot Chicks In Spider-Man Costumes

Tyra has really improved in the last few years.

CNN+ Close

According to reports the Spanish daily El Pais ended after midnight CNN + emissions after 11 years on the air. It was the first private television which broadcast information 24 hours a day and its way of doing journalism "rigorous and independent, consolidated a mark reached an ideological balance where everyone could" in the words of one of its founders, Francisco Basterra. A brand also helped create such an innovative way to communicate and their recognized areas of debate.

The end of this adventure takes place after the TV PRISA (group editor of El País) quit producing the channel following the merger between Telecinco and Cuatro. PRISA had the option of renting a channel for a maximum of three years. To give it up the chain will be operated by its new owner, Telecinco, which has confirmed that initially devoted to reality show Big Brother. PRISA Group plans to create a new global news channel to new platforms.

CNN + resulted in the alliance between the main group of Spanish-language media, PRISA and the global network of reference news, CNN. "It was a good idea and has shown a balanced way of doing journalism in a time not long ago this for civic culture. With closure, the Spanish media loses," said Basterra.

Ending 11 years in which the canal passed through different business models but never found economic viability. CNN + was born in January 1999 as part of the platform Sogecable's satellite television and from the start, according to its leaders, was deficient. In 2008 the channel became widespread in open DTT, implying financed exclusively by advertising revenue. To this was not sufficient for a hearing that was 0.2% in 2008 and 0.3% in 2009. This resulted, according to a spokesman said yesterday PRISA TV, "a poor advertising revenue to the channel leading to significant losses."

In early 2010 introduced significant changes in programming, which went from the traditional news conference revolve around a series of major programs in the morning, afternoon and evening. This, together with the full deployment of DTT, resulted in a significant rise from the audience (from 0.3% to 0.6%) and an increase in turnover, but according to spokesman PRISA TV was not enough to prevent the channel again to close the year with heavy losses and "no prospect of profitability in the medium term."

In the past three years, since the issues in open, CNN + accumulated losses in excess of 40 million and more favorable projections calculated similar data in the next three years. "Unfortunately we have a problem operating margins or reduce costs, but not viable in the chain, even if we wanted to continue to provide quality service as coming by CNN +," the spokesman said.

"Separation of Four, string to CNN + has shared structure and wording, aggravate the situation. In fact, throughout the world, these channels survive with difficulty in large public or private television structures that operate multiple channels and optimize the exploitation of them. The model is not sustainable in itself and less in the current economic times, "added the spokesman. "But also, the profound transformation that is underway in the audiovisual dispute that, as expensive as a DTT with a model as irrational as shown in Spain, is this the right way to develop a current channel" .

In PRISA TV show that it is not viable under the current system may be through a platform supported on new technologies, which allow to produce and distribute content in a less costly and more responsive to the preferences of users in Spain and global market of Spanish. "It that's what we will devote our efforts to explore the possibility of launching a channel with a global current, supported PRISA brands are the international reference, like the country, or those that already have a strong presence in the Spanish market. " For this project, carried on CNN + over these 11 years is a benchmark of quality and good craftsmanship. "It was a channel that, perhaps more than any other in Spain, has been closely following the pulse of the political, cultural and social aspects of our country. Without any doubt, has been a window to the world for a decade. quality work that merits recognition by the company to journalists, technical staff, collaborators and all professionals who have made this possible, as well as viewers and advertisers who have supported this project, "said spokesman PRISA TV .

The Federation of Journalists in Spain (FAPE) yesterday issued a statement regretting the loss of this chain, which represented "a space for debate, to exchange ideas, for reflection and training criteria." "Society", he adds, "is more helpless before the power and weaken democracy." The FAPE reported that the journalistic profession has lost 3,496 jobs since November 2008. Closing CNN + also has led to protests from the Works of Sogecable.

The presenters of the various programs have been firing on the air one after another in recent days. So did Iñaki Gabilondo, José Antonio or San José María Calleja, among others, praising all the good work of a team "that could be fitted with another TV right now," said Basterra yesterday. "There can be no sense of closure because something was done wrong, it is economic conditions. This channel was necessary and leave a gap of journalism," he concluded.