Pirates are not thief

Written by J Shamsul, Friday, September 5, 2008 | 0

The word pirate here refers to digital media pirates, not the sword swinging, parrot on shoulder kind of pirates or the modern ones with AK-47, grenade launcher, ship hijacking pirates. They don’t go ‘arrrr’ at each sentence when they speak either.

I am referring to people who download digital media, you know movies, TV shows, music, etc. Your typical Internet/computer users.

Here is a simple logic of why pirates are not thief. Theft removes the original. They snatch things or money. Piracy on the other hand makes a copy of the original.

Valuable lesson one could learn from reading Digg comments

Written by J Shamsul, Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | 1

Digg.com is a social news website. People submit stories and other user ‘votes’ by either giving it a ‘digg’ or ‘bury’ for stories to either rise to the front page or bury forever in the hall of shame. The content of its website are moderated by its community.

Users could also comment and discuss on the story submitted. Other users then could also digg and bury comments. It’s a little bit advance then your 4chan or BBS type forum and the comment sometime are more hilarious then what you got on 4chan.

I spend a lot of my time on Digg and it is not because of the Snorgtees and Busted tee ads on Digg, no matter how cute. The Digg community sometime could be the most cynical people on the interweb. Unlike YouTube’s comment which is just plain rule and tasteless, Digg’s commenters are rule but in a very funny way.

Here is a little anecdote, one example to give you some idea of how it is on Digg, for those who are not familiar with Digg.

Nine Inch Nails did it again

Written by J Shamsul, Wednesday, May 7, 2008 | 0

Nine Inch Nails know how to work the web and they know their fans well. Trent Reznor, with his band had released their latest album, The Slip, officially available online to be downloaded at nin.com.

The band Nine Inch Nails is known for their shenanigans on the web as they promote and distribute their music. Although Radiohead might not wish to repeat their give away stunt, but Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails look like they are embracing this new style of distribution.

Supporting our local acts, past and present

Written by J Shamsul, Sunday, May 4, 2008 | 0

Support Local Acts “Support Our Local Acts!” is actually a 2 CD set compilation album featuring 20 of the finest bands coming from Malaysia’s local indie music scene. Even though few of the bands featured are more mainstream these days, you can’t denied their indie roots.

The compilation is a joint venture between Malaya Records and Universal Music, with bands like, ACAB, OAG, The Pilgrims, Butterfingers, Project AK, They Will Kill Us All, Komplot, The Suspect, Koffin Kanser, Gerhana Ska Cinta, FlopPoppy, Hujan, Couple and many more. It is a good mix of different genre in Malaysia local music scene and ranges between old and the new upcoming bands.

Revision3 TV Network for the Internet Generation

Written by J Shamsul, Friday, March 28, 2008 | 2

Gone were the days where television used to have good contents. When Astro, had TechTV on, I thought that they had made a channel with shows tailored specifically to me.

Then the G4/TechTV merger / acquisition thing happened and it all when downhill afterwords. The channel is no longer on Astro. I haven’t watch much of anything from Astro ever since then. I got all I need on the Internet thanks to media companies like Revision3 and others.

Revision3 is one of the few media companies that truly gets it. Born from the internet, designed to cater for the internet crowd, an ever growing on-demand generation. Revision3 is not YouTube, it is an actual TV network, producing its own original broadcast quality shows made for the web.

The Internet is under attack?

Written by J Shamsul, Monday, February 11, 2008 | 0

5 undersea Internet cables snapped within a short time frame. Is the Internet under attack? The Internet, most of it, are connected with intercontinental cables submerge undersea.

Several undersea Internet cables in Asia that connects to Europe and the rest of the world snapped. India and part of the Middle East are suffering from Internet traffic slowdown.

Some sources mentioned of ship’s anchor being drag by a storm which might have cause it. It’s must be a huge storm if it can drag anchored ships from Egypt to India (is that even possible?). May be it wasn’t the same ship, several ships suddenly dropped anchor on Internet cables around the same week.

Five cables around the Middle East snapped, ok so one was powered down for some odd reason, it is still weird and a little bit fishy to me.

Internet kill the TV star

Written by J Shamsul, Friday, February 8, 2008 | 1

Until the early 1990s, media had always relied primarily upon print and analog broadcast. Newspapers, magazines, radio and television broadcast are the known method for people to consume information and entertainment. These medium are easily controllable.

These days, I find myself not needing any of those.

I rarely watches television even though I have an Astro subscription with over hundred channels. These days I download all my entertainment needs from the Internet. I am not advocating piracy.