time keeps on ticking

Official announcement time (dun dun dun), I am now officially single. Naomi and I have parted ways, and are no longer the proverbial item (tears, sniffs, sobs). All very mature, we’re still friends, but that’s enough of the gossip.

Some intriguing legal activities afoot, with Viacom suing YouTube for breach of copyright. Fair enough you say, if it’s Viacom’s property it’s Viacom’s property. However, in the filings by YouTube, it has been revealed that Viacom uploaded much of the contents which they are claiming breach of copyright over; and even explicitly did not request the removal of user uploaded content. Viacom actually paid multiple marketing companies to upload professionally fuzzied content from internet cafes and other anonymous IP addresses to get their product out there. So confusing was the whole thing, that Viacom would often ask for the removal of contents, only to have to sheepishly come back to YouTube cap-in-hand because it was uploaded to one of their “special” accounts. The fact that these accounts were made using false email addresses and information, makes me wonder if YouTube should be counter suing for breach of their conditions of use.

[update – YouTube co-founder Steve Chen once warned fellow co-founder Jawed Karim to stop posting pirated videos on their website (via NZ Herald website)]

Related to that, I’ve also set up my own YouTube channel which is available here. Nothing flash as yet, just all my favorites, but I’ll have to make some vids and post them in the near future. The wedding of my great mate Hamish next weekend could well be the first!

Other cool things recently are:

• my discovery of the inverse graphing calculator – you enter what you want the graph to say, and it generates the equation to make it so
• the re-release of the Commodore name on a keyboard PC – don’t know if it’ll amount to much, as it is just a licensing of the name, but still could be worth a look
• I got myself an Apple wireless keyboard and Mighty Mouse combo for $99 – sweet and cheap, also going to be perfect for hooking up with my iPad when they release and I grab one.
• The awesome of America’s Next Top Model failures… – this one is fabulous dahling!!

I’ll end this post with a great clip from Antiques Roadshow in the US. Sometimes it is just fantastic to watch other people have their day (or even their week/year/life) made unexpectedly, even if they are very serene in their “excitement”: