Category: News

The year 2009 has almost come to an end and what a year it has been for Beyonce.  She topped the music charts and movie charts, completed her biggest worldwide tour so far and won every major award there was to win.  Her ‘legend in the making’ status only got bigger and bigger during the past year. Here are some of the highlights of 2009!

January:
Single Ladies notches up a fourth non-consecutive week at number one
Beyonce performs twice during president Obama’s inauguration weekend

February:
Beyonce performs during a fundraising dinner to pay tribute to screen stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Courteney Cox.
Beyonce wins the award for ‘Outstanding Female Artist’ at the NAACP Image Awards and gave us a performance of Halo.
Diva catapulted straight to the top of the R&B/Hip Hop Songs tally
Beyonce performs ‘The Musical Is Back’ with Hugh Jackman at the Oscars

March:
Cadillac Records is beeing released on DVD.
New ads from L’Oreal, Samantha Thavasa, Crystal Geyser and Nintendo appear online
Beyonce manages to get on the biggest cover in the world…VOQUE
Halo enters the UK top 10 chart
The I Am… Tour kicks off in Edmonton
Beyonce wins favorite Song for Single Ladies at the 2009 Kids Choice Awards

April:
Beyonce is lending her voice to Nickelodeon’s animated kids’ show, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!
Beyonce is named as one of Vanity Fair’s Most Beautiful Women of the world
100 Single Ladies stop traffic in London with a performance of Beyonce’s Single Ladies
A promo tour has been organized including visits on the Today Show, The Late Show and The View.
Obsessed opens up at number 1, racking up $28.5 million.

May:
Beyonce continues her I Am… world tour, making various appearances all over Europe
Beyonce graces the covers of various magazines, inclusing Glamour & Self
The video for Ego has it’s world premiere on Beyonce’s official site

June:
Beyonce is spotted riding a bike (!) in Dublin, Ireland (it ís a big deal!)
Beyonce wins the Dutch ‘Glamour’ award for favourite beauty personality
George Michael joins Beyonce on stage to perform If I Were A Boy
The release of Above and Beyoncé: Video Collection & Dance Remixes
The video for Broken-Hearted Girl has it’s release on the internet
Beyonce kicks off the Show Your Helping Hand campaign
Beyonce performs Ave Maria at the BET Awards and wins two awards

July:
The Sweet Dreams video premieres on msn.com
Beyonce performs during the Essence Music Festival
Beyonce is announced as the best-paid celebrity under 30
The four night stint at Wynn Las Vegas’ Encore Theatre kicks off

August:
Beyonce leads the VMA nominations with a total of nine
Sweet Dreams climbs into the top five in the UK
Beyonce is a guest Star on America’s Best Dance Crew
Beyonce wins two awards at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards
The DVD for obsessed tops the rental chart
I Am… Sasha Fierce reaches a new peak position in the UK (#2)

September:
Celebrities and fans get together to wish Beyonce a happy birthday!
Beyonce becomes the fifth female in Hot 100 history to place six songs from one album within the top 40.
Beyonce performs DIVA at the ‘Answer the Call’ concert
Beyonce performs at the VMA’s and wins three awards, including Video of The Year
Beyonce is named as one of People’s 10 Best Dressed Women of the Year
Beyonce wins two awards at the 2009 Mobo Awards

October:
The I Am… tour pulls in over $53.5 million
Single Ladies features in the Alvin & The Chipmunks movie
Beyonce receives Billboard’s Woman of the Year award

November:
Beyonce wins three awards at the 2009 Soul Train Awards
Beyonce performs Sweet Dreams at the EMA’s and wins 3 awards
Beyonce teams up with Lady Gaga for Video Phone

December:
Alicia Keys and Beyonce join forces and release their first duet
Beyonce scores ten Grammy nominations
Beyonce is Billboard’s female artist of the decade
Rolling Stone calls Beyonce the queen of pop

Did you get a Pre or Pixi? They’re both great phones, but without a Touchstone, spare battery, or case, you’ll be missing out on the full experience.

The PreCentral.net Accessory Store has your back: now through Dec 31st, you can use the coupon code "PCNY" (no quotes) to get 10% off all accessories in the store.

Coupon cannot be applied to shipping, taxes, or software and ends at midnight Pacific on the 31st. 

One of the more famous examples of abuses of the YouTube video takedown process was the case of Lenz vs. Universal Music, which involved Universal Music issuing a YouTube DMCA takedown to a woman who posted a very short clip of her baby dancing to a Prince song that was playing in the background. It was a clear case of fair use, and while after the woman filed a counternotice Universal chose not to sue, the EFF filed a lawsuit against Universal Music, saying that the DMCA notice was fraudulent, since it was such an obvious case of fair use. While Universal Music argued that since fair use is just a “defense” and not a “right” it need not consider fair use in sending a takedown, the court disagreed.

You would think, then, that any takedown notices on similar short videos of kids dancing to music would avoid a similar scenario. Copycense points us to the news that a guy has received a notice from Google of potential infringement for his short clip of his kid dancing along to what appears to be a version (not the original) of the Kool & The Gang song “Celebration.” As in the Lenz case, this video is a kid dancing to somewhere around 30 seconds of a song:

The notice claims that the video contains content for which the copyright is held by record label Razor & Tie. The guy who got the takedown seems a bit confused, in that he appears to be blaming McDonald’s for the mess, when it appears McDonald’s had nothing at all to do with the takedown. In fact, the record label Razor & Tie may not have anything to do with it either… as I’ll explain below. The song used in the video was from a CD that came with a McDonald’s Happy Meal. Looking around, it appears that in April, McDonald’s announced a promotion with record label Kidz Bop to issue music CDs. Razor & Tie is the parent company of Kidz Bop. The problem here is clearly not McDonald’s. All it did was include the CD in Happy Meals. It’s got nothing to do with the takedown, and the guy’s anger at McDonald’s is misplaced (though, you could make the argument — and it’s a stretch — that McDonald’s should tell its partners to avoid these sorts of ridiculous copyright claims that scare people away from buying Happy Meals).

The next assumption, then, would be that Razor & Tie is guilty of sending the takedown, but I don’t think that’s true. If Razor & Tie had sent a DMCA takedown, the video would be down. When Google receives a DMCA takedown, it almost always (or perhaps always) pulls down the content immediately in order to retain its DMCA safe harbors. The user would then need to file a counternotice to start the process of potentially getting the video back up. The fact that the video is up and the notice the guy received simply tells him to review the videos suggests that no DMCA takedown was sent.

Instead, the blame almost certainly lies with Google’s content recognition engine/filters that the record labels pushed them to use to try to catch copyright infringement ahead of time. Now, Razor & Tie is somewhat complicit here, in that it appears to have uploaded its catalog to train Google’s filters (if I remember correctly — and correct me if I’m wrong — Google needs the copyright holder to submit copies for its filter to work). So, Google had this particular song on file, and noticed the similarity. Google’s filter algorithms don’t appear to consider fair use (or, perhaps more likely, they do a bad job of it in many cases) and the guy then is sent the automated notification, even though it makes everyone — McDonald’s, Razor & Tie and Google — look bad, though the blame from the recipient appears to be in almost reverse order of culpability.

Unfortunately, the guy who received the notice also appears to be confused concerning his own rights. He says he is going to take down the video, though he clearly has a strong fair use case in asking for the video to be left alone. It seems likely that Google would allow the video to stay up, and I highly doubt that Razor & Tie would do anything else (it would be ridiculous to try to claim that this was not fair use).

Either way, this highlights a variety of interesting things. First, despite all the publicity of the Lenz case, these types of “takedowns” (even if it’s not a DMCA takedown) still happen. Second, people on the receiving end of these notices assume that there is no recourse that would allow the video to stay up. People get official sounding notices and they assume they need to jump. Third, Google’s content match filter isn’t particularly good on fair use issues. Fourth, when these sorts of bogus notices are sent, it reflects very poorly on a variety of companies. In this case, McDonald’s is getting most of the blame, despite being almost entirely blameless (well, it did decide to put out these silly music CDs, but that’s a separate issue). Even Razor & Tie may be getting misplaced blame (though it may depend on the “rules” it set for Google’s filter). Amusingly, it may be Google that deserves the most blame, and it appears to be getting the least.

Still, no matter what the situation, it’s simply ridiculous that a guy filming 30 seconds of his kid dancing should have to worry about any of this.

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Japanese hat makers CA4LA gives us a closer and colorful peak into their Autumn/Winter 2009 collection. For the season, CA4LA is releasing various styles such as fedoras, trilbies, conductor hats, fitteds, and more. Different materials such as leather and wool are present as well as prints and designs ranging from stripes to animal prints. CA4LA definitely has something for everyone.

Continue reading for more images.

Source: Mode

Farmland. Quietly it’s become a super-trendy alternative investment favored by inflation and war-fearing doomsayers. This week saw the launch of a dedicated farmland hedge fund.

So, in light of that, we thought it was timely that the KC Fed just published a report on farmland trends. It turns out that farmland has been on a four-year tear, and that while it’s cooled just a tad, prices remain close to the 2008 peak.

Values have been helped by ethanol policy, commodity prices, and an influx of non-farm buyers. Maybe it will continue, but if you’re a new convert, you’re already a bit late to the game.

MSE_0609 –

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Details On The New Hyperinflation-Beating Farmland Hedge Fund From Optima
• Jim Rogers Is Buying Farmland

With one of my first posts of 2009 I took a wild stab at my top 10 Media Gadget Predictions for 2009 with some long-shots and a few I though were very possible in the wild world of Media Gadgets.  I thought I’d use this last week of 2009 to see how I did.

Photo by “circulating” cc license

Eating a Lot of Crow – but a few were Closer Than Expected:

I think it’s probably wise to start with the predictions I really missed on first and then move down the list towards those that were close or actually accurate predictions:

 

• The first HTPC extender with a Blu-Ray drive arrives (or would that be Blu-Ray drive with HTPC extender) – possibly as soon as CES

Yes I really did predict this and I was really wrong.  Matter of fact we saw very few new extenders in the tiny HTPC market and definitely none with a blu-ray drive.  Although there was a media player that has Blu-ray capability with the PopcornHour

• Two of the freeware HTPC software programs will die and be abandoned.  The free-ware HTPC market will consolidate to two or three major forces (already has begun in 2008.)  I have my thoughts on which of those will die out in 2009, but will leave the names to your imagination…

This is one I think could still happen in the coming year.  I”m surprised that some of the smaller, freeware names still do any updates as names like XBMC and Boxee take up the little air that remains i this space.

• Apple re-enters the living room (yeah they’ve basically abandoned it at the moment with the current AppleTV) with a new version of the AppleTV and calls it AppleMedia.  AppleMedia will bring 1080p, more online video and HD-PVR capability becoming a major force in the HTPC world in one fell swoop.

I personally think Apple is still moving this way.  Even recently we’ve heard about Apple working with some TV networks on agreements to carry their content on some Apple product.  But so far it hasn’t happened and that reflects how difficult this market is with the many entanglements that come along with todays TV licensing deals.

• Microsoft cuts the budget for Media Center as HTPC interest wanes.  While Windows 7 is popular with current VMC users, number of consumers using Media Center stays relatively the same as with VMC.  Focus continues to shift towards the custom installers and highest-end customers.

I was wrong here – very wrong.  I say that even though I’m betting the actual budget for HTPC at Microsoft did not get increased and quite possibly decreased.  But I think Microsoft still values the HTPC/Media market and their improvements in Windows 7 demonstrates that.

• Apple will push the touch-screen platform further by releasing a iPod Touch mini (or nano) as well as a iMac Touch micro computer.

I was a year early on much of this one really.  But the not-yet-here Apple Tablet will do this in early 2010.

• Media companies continue the fight to eliminate analog outputs from all devices to remove their fear of the “analog hole”.  They fail in 2009, but make inroads to their goal.

This happened and continues to happen today.  Media Companies are working diligently to move away from analog ports and will eventually win this battle.  I just think it will take the better part of five years instead of one.

• TV Networks begin to abandon the old “local TV station” model and push further to online delivery.  Hulu and other online video sites skyrocket in use and profitability as advertisers strive to find the consumer anywhere they can.

This one seems to be slowly moving the way I expected.  Hulu pushed around those trying to use their content (like Boxee for example).  Comcast’s XfinityTV is another example of the experimenting the media companies are doing.  While I personally am very against the online, streamed TV content as a primary source of TV and movies, I admit this is probably where media will go some day.

• SageTV announces two new hardware devices.  One is an extender/player, the other is a complete hardware-based Server/Player solution

How could I be so right on one hand, but so wrong on the other?  SageTV did release a very nice SageTV HD Theater (HD200) that is even better today than it was when it was first announced in January 2009.  So on that hand I was right.  But there still today is no hardware-based Server/Player solution and I’m not sure if we’ll see one even in the next six months.  Still I consider the SageTV HD200 one of the best media gadget devices I’ve ever purchased – and that’s saying a lot.

• Blu-ray becomes the de facto standard as prices of players drop as low as $70 and Blu-Ray Media prices drop to $15 by years end.

While some may disagree with me, Blu-ray is the standard now.  Blu-ray player prices have dropped to incredible lows over this past holiday season even though the regular prices for low-end models still over just below $99 instead of $70.  Many now have them and want their movies on Blu-ray – even if they are renting them.  The bestseller Blu-ray discs on Amazonrun anywhere from $14.99 for The Dark Knight to $39.99 for the Planet Earth Series.  And people who have no surround sound system at home are still renting and buying Blu-ray discs in the stores these days.  DVDs will linger on like VHS did, but they are now considered “old tech” by even the “regular folk.”

• A Leading for-profit HTPC software company ends new sales of their HTPC software leaving the market to two or at most three viable HTPC software companies and a bunch of free-ware HTPC programs.

There were a few possible companies I had in mind here, but the primary one was Snapstream.  Not because I thought Snapstream was failing, but because I saw their enterprise DVR/Search product offering so much and filling the perfect niche for a small company.  Somewhat as I expected, Snapstream announced they were “scaling back” their focus away from the consumer-based BeyondTV HTPC software and publicly admitting that their number one focus is for their Enterprise product.  It makes a lot of sense to me and while I’m sort of disappointed to see BeyondTV get left behind in the HTPC world as it was one of the best software PVRs available.

 

I proved one thing this past year – I’m not all that good at predicting the future.  But I do at least have a feel for the general direction of things.  I’ve asked my twitter followers what HTPC predictions they have for 2010 and I’m listening for your Media Gadget predictions too – let me know in the comments and I’ll provide a new list of 2010 predictions later this week.

A lone wolf named Brutus is helping U.S. Geological Survey scientists study Arctic wolf migrations in remote regions of Canada. These migrations can traverse hundreds of miles in 24-hour winter darkness at temperatures that reach 70 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.

There’s no way humans can physically follow the wolves under these brutal conditions, so Brutus is sporting a GPS collar that beams his coordinates back to a satellite every 12 hours. As it turns out, the wolves are covering a lot of ground, as can be seen in the map above. Now, the fjords visible in the summer image above have frozen and can be crossed on foot. In one trip, the wolf and his pack traveled 80 miles from Ellesmere Island to Axel Heiberg Island and back in just 84 hours. Just through November 30, Brutus has traveled 1,683 miles [Wired.com].

The tracking is part of the Northwest Territories’ Central Arctic Wolf Project and the project is chronicled by researchers Dave Mech and Dean Cluff on the International Wolf Center blog.

David Mech admitted that despite studying the wolves for 25 years, he had no clue what they did each winter after he left. Now he knows the wolves are traveling in packs, most likely to hunt enough food to survive to the spring. The members of the pack – 11 adults and an unknown number of pups that can now travel with the pack – hunt muskoxen and Arctic hares, which flourish on Axel [Heiberg Island]. “That would be the only reason to travel so far,” writes Mech. He and Cluff receive reports every four days, emailed to their computers from the Argos satellite of the collar’s twice-daily location check [Toronto Star].

Next the researchers hope to answer how a pack of this size is able to kill enough prey under the cover of 24-hour darkness to stay alive. Making the leap from pens and notebooks to GPS and satellites should help.

Related Content:
80beats: For the First Time in 36 Years, Rocky Mountain Wolves Are in the Crosshairs Again
80beats: Dogs Think Like Babies, While Wolves Think for Themselves
80beats: Wolves Have Dogs to Thank for Their Dark Fur

Image: USGS

This editorial from Italian magazine Style surveys the darker styles of the season. Darker hues such as black, grey, burgundy, purple, and some browns dominate the spectrum of the editorial. Since Fall/Winter are the best times for such colors, we see them in familiar cold weather items such as coats, sweaters, hats, and scarves. The editorial was photographed by Gianluca Fontana with Viva model Matteo Martari.

Continue reading for more images.

Source: The Fashionisto

If you were looking forward to getting inside an Aston Martin and thought the compact, somewhat affordable Cygnet was your chance, think again. In the latest issue of the Aston Martin Magazine, the Gaydon automaker says that the only people who can buy the Cygnet are those who currently own another Aston Martin model.

The Aston Martin Cygnet, a spin-off of the Toyota iQ, will be powered by a 1.3L engine making 97-hp, allowing it to hit a top speed of 105 mph.

CEO Ulrich Bez says that the idea of the Cygnet makes sense since environmental issues are “front of conscience.” He said that the Cygnet “is akin to an exclusive tender for a luxury yacht.”

Aston will produce about 2,000 units of the Cygnet with prices starting around £20,000 (about $35,000 USD).

Aston Martin Cygnet Concept:

– By: Omar Rana

Source NYT Wheels

Filed under: Etc., Videos, Toys/Games

That’s not a real Audi R8 pictured above. That’s a 1:18-scale Kyosho die-cast model, fitted with a Modell-Lichtsystem (ML) illumination kit. The ML light packages can turn a model car with photo-realistic detail into something that’s almost a smaller version of the real thing. On the BMW M3’s lighting, for instance, the cornering lights illuminate when the model car’s wheels are turned, and if you stomp on the tiny brake pedal, the taillamps light up.

We can’t tell much from the company’s website, which is strangely devoid of useful information, but there are more examples on Modell’s YouTube channel. If you’re looking for the ultimate in verisimilitude for your die-cast endeavors, this is surely it. Follow the jump to see a brace of impressive lighting jobs in 1:18 scale, including the R8, a pair of BMW models (M3 and M5) and a Lamborghini Murciélago. Hat tip to David!

[Source: Modell-Lichtsystem]

Continue reading Video: Sickest model car lighting kits ever

Video: Sickest model car lighting kits ever originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you missed it, Margaret Chan, MD, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), yesterday cautioned the world that the H1N1 pandemic is not over, even though you’re not hearing as much about it in the media or around the watercooler. “It is too premature and too early for us to say we have come to an end of the pandemic influenza worldwide,” Dr. Chan said at a press conference.

With much less attention being paid to H1N1 these days, Thrive asked Claire McCarthy, MD, a pediatrician and the medical director of Children’s Martha Eliot Health Center, if she thought families could stop worrying about the virus—and whether people should still get vaccinated if they haven’t already. Here’s what she had to say:

“I completely agree with the WHO. It’s true that we are seeing fewer cases and hearing less worry about it among patients and families. But while there are fewer cases, people are still getting very sick from H1N1, especially young people—and this virus is just too new for us to really know what it’s going to do. I am nowhere near ready to tell anyone that the pandemic is over. I’m still telling everyone to wash their hands (I sure am!)—and encouraging everyone to get vaccinated.”

In addition to H1N1 and the regular seasonal flu, which should be starting up in earnest pretty soon, Children’s researcher Florence Bourgeois, MD, MPH, recently published a study that said we should also be on the lookout for RSV this winter, since those infected with it had more than twice as many emergency department visits and six times more hospitalizations than those with seasonal flu.

In other H1N1 news, Children’s Adrienne Randolph, MD, MSc, is quoted in The Boston Globe’s article linking severe H1N1 cases with asthma. The decision about whether to vaccinate kids with asthma for H1N1 is something we wrote about on Thrive not long ago. Also check out Dr. Randolph’s very popular post on why you should get your child the H1N1 vaccine. The Boston Globe also reports that the H1N1 flu may be less contagious than we originally feared.

Hot on the heels of the OTA push of the webOS 1.3.5 update on Monday, Palm has just posted a webOS Doctor version containing this latest version, at least for Sprint Pre and Pixi users (the Bell and O2 versions for Palm Pre users are currently still at 1.3.1.).

If you aren’t familiar with webOS Doctor, it is a Java-based program that will restore your Palm webOS smartphone to its factory settings. The user downloads a small Java program that downloads the full webOS Doctor, connects the Pre or Pixi via USB, and runs webOS Doctor to restore the device to factory-fresh status. While it will overwrite any personal information and the operating system changes you have made, it does not (as of version 1.3.1 at least) delete the USB drive portion, so photos, music and other files remain in place. Unlike the OTA update process, though, you do not have to delete elements like themes or patches, since webOS Doctor will overwrite them with the original system files. After running webOS Doctor, the user must reactivate the phone on its carrier’s network, and then either log into an existing profile to download contacts, App Catalog apps and (some) other profile data or create a new profile. webOS Doctor is also used by third party tools such as Jason Robitaille’s webOS Repair Utility to verify and repair individual elements within webOS.

A few additional notes. First, if you are going to run webOS Doctor, be sure that you have the version that matches your operating system. Otherwise, you may be unintentionally downgrading, which can lead to problems reactivating or accessing your profile. Second, assuming you’re running webOS Doctor by choice rather than by necessity, it can be helpful to do a manual backup just prior to the Doctoring, to ensure that once you reload your profile, it has your most recent account settings and app purchases. Finally, if your computer fails to recognize that your Pre or Pixi is plugged in and therefore webOS Doctor won’t run, you may be able to force the device into recovery mode to make the connection.

For more information on webOS Doctor generally, you can see Palm’s support pages (like this one for US customers).

Thanks to Eject_Porkins for the tip!

FROM ALL THINGS D: As predicted, online retailers did OK during the holiday season. Actually, a little bit better than predicted, according to Comscore: The Web-tracking service predicted a 3 percent bump, and it’s now reporting that sales jumped by 5% in the last two months of the year. That’s $27 billion and change, all told.

Continue reading at All Things D>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Goldman Sachs: A Late Mall Surge May Have Salvaged The Holiday Season
• Holiday Sales Figures Aren’t Completely Horrible
• Yahoo’s Brilliant Holiday Marketing Stunt

En su página de Facebook, Volvo ha difundido un nuevo video del S60, esta vez mostrado desde los más diversos ángulos. La noticia de que Geely finalmente llegó a un acuerdo con Ford para la venta de Volvo, fue como un bálsamo para la marca sueca, quién hizo público el nuevo video.

Después de ver tantas fotos espía y renderizados, nada mejor que el modelo terminado. Me llaman la atención particularmente el conjunto de luces, tanto traseras como delanteras que le dan un toque muy particular, ya que siguen el contorno de la línea del coche y le dan identidad. Será inconfundible en la noche.

Queda por ver los interiores del nuevo S60, pero es de esperarse que habrá un próximo video-teaser del mismo muy pronto.

Vía | Página de Volvo en Facebook

By analyzing how waves change speed and direction, researchers were able to locate the boundary between rigid tectonic plates and the hot, pliable asthenosphere.

Apocalypse aficionado Marc Faber was on CNBC today talking about his house on the beach in Vietnam, among other things. Key points included:

-A stronger dollar will be positive for equities based on historical market data.
-The U.S. market will outperform emerging markets for the first half of 2010.
-Stocks and associated indices may have 10-20% correction, followed by another rally.
-The worst thing you can do for a long-term buy is purchase Treasuries.
-The private sector is de-leveraging while the government levers up. This process is expected to continue.

Watch the entire interview below. Thanks to PragCap for the video.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Faber: Dollar Will Rally 10% More, Stocks Will Keep Running Higher
• Marc Faber: Gold Is Never Going Below $1000 An Ounce
• Faber: Krugman Just Wants To Create Another Bubble!