I have to agree with a fair majority here - total overreaction and disgusting treatment - what the authorities did to the kid was far closer to child abuse than anything the father did.

To #22 and people who can't believe the father didn't know what the drink was: Well, first of all, if alcohol advertising or displays make any dent in your psyche, you're interested in it. Apart from being an academic (so not totally immersed in the "real world" or popular culture to begin with), if the guy doesn't drink, he wouldn't notice. "Premium malt beverage" doesn't mean anything to someone who's unfamiliar with alcohol branding and from what I understand, the word "hard" isn't displayed on the ballgame advertising. Besides, if he really was just expecting lemonade, why would he examine the bottle before handing it over?

Even if that wasn't the case, a citation should have been the maximum penalty here - maybe the trip to the hospital if there really was suspicion that the kid had been drinking more than the bottle in his hand. Records would be made, and cross-references with existing abuse reports and further action taken if something was found.

As it is, a kid was abducted from his parents and sent away at the taxpayer's cost for doing something that's the normal with Mediterranean meals. Repeated high levels of alcohol could be abuse, but if you're splitting up innocent families that's far worse.

@mingo:

If only the public transportation was that good. Before I left the UK a couple of years ago, it would have taken me double the length of time and cost 25% more to take the 12 mile trip to work on public transport than by driving. So, I was getting screwed on the price and seeing nothing for it. I guess it's even worse now, though I don't know since I emigrated to Spain few years ago (where the public transport is admittedly a lot cheaper).

This seems like my desk back then only.... tidier... mind you, I was 8 years old in 83, and only had a ZX Spectrum until 87, when I upgraded to an Atari ST. I still love both systems but definitely remember paying 100 UK pound each for a floppy drive and 512Kb memory upgrade for the ST.

Wow. I'd hate to think how much the tape drives, floppy drive and printer in the screenshot cost!

Wow, that is a terrible piece of work. As pointed out, some of those criteria aren't anything to do with physics (breeding / communication). Some categories even contradict each other (dodging faster-than-light weaponry / faster-than-light travel. Are they inferring that weapons but not travel can be faster than light. How are any of the weapons in those movies *faster* than light anyhow)?

Then, you get onto the movies themselves, which are far better than they're suggesting. Take communication with alien races for example. In The Last Starfighter, this was achieved with a special babelfish-like communicator, which isn't exactly implausible for a civilization capable of having starfighters. For Contact? Are you kidding - "easy communication"? The entire movie was about the struggle to intercept and decode the message and a discussion about the implications of doing so, after while it's revealed that the aliens have been watching for centuries for the chance to communicate - hardly "easy".

"All planets have Earth-like gravity" for Stargate? Are they talking about the TV series or movie? Because in the movie, it was made explicitly clear that the planet was chosen for its similarities to Earth.

Then the dumbest one of all - did they even watch these movies? - the Alien movies. "Interbreeding between humans and aliens"? No. The aliens were parasites who invaded suitable hosts (mainly humans but also dogs/oxen and other alien species). Not the same things at all. "All planets have Earth gravity"? No. It's never made particularly clear what the gravity is like on the planet in the first movie, though I do recall a throwaway line that notes its similarity. After that, the second movie is on the same planet with terraformed conditions (i.e. deliberately made similar to Earth), the 3rd on a prison planet chosen for harsh but Earth-like conditions and the 4th on a space station... So one planet with previously unknown conditions in a movie where humans can traverse the galaxy - not far-fetched.

I can say without a doubt that Audible have lost many sales from me over the years as a direct result of DRM.

My first MP3 player was a Creative Zen Touch. Audible's DRM, for whatever reason, did not support this model although it supported most Creative players. Since neither my MP3 player nor my Linux laptop were supported by them, it was impossible for me to play back any of their content, so I didn't buy it.

That was several years ago. I would undoubtedly have bought a number of audiobooks from them had they allowed me to play them. Oh, I forgot, DRM is about "enriching" the customer experience...

@Codeloss: Penguin were involved in the launch of eMusic's DRM-free audiobooks but pulled out a few weeks later. The impression was that someone in upper management developed a sudden irrational fear of piracy and the books were pulled. I contacted Penguin at the time and just got back some marketing drivel about how they did that to improve their service. Idiots.

I'm not so bothered about this being non-free software (MP3 isn't a free format anyway), but more concerned about regional restrictions - the biggest problem for digital downloads as far as I'm concerned.

I'm in Spain, so can't use Amazon to download music, but also can't use Play, even though they're the source for most CDs and DVDs I buy.

This doesn't really bother me right now as I'm buying more great music than I can listen to through eMusic anyway. I fear for the future of this region-controlled music selling (if an album isn't available to my country, why wouldn't I just use P2P instead. How does this make sense?) but this is a nice gesture for those deemed worthy enough to give Amazon their money.

#6: Just because you blog about tech doesn't mean you can afford to buy it all. Bear in mind, the majority of the population still doesn't own an HDTV, so this is still useful news to a lot of people (the AppleTV is still a much more useful and much cheaper device to many than a new HDTV unit).

Besides, the blog post itself highlights a decent point - what if you're away from your HDTV (in a hotel or on a train for example) but still want to play your content on a laptop, for instance? what if you want to rent a few movies so you can watch them on the move? The Pirate Bay lets you do this, but Hollywood won't let you pay for it...

@tubman: name one other industry outside of entertainment where the blocks are deliberately put into place after the product is manufactured. The whole problem with this stuff is that it's only put into place after the product is created, and after that will only affect legitimate paying customers. It does nothing to stop piracy, only to punish those who actually pay.

#9: Well, this is the kind of thing that stopping me from investing in HD. I had enough ball-ache over the years with region coding, etc. in standard DVD so I'm not about to invest in HD until I can be sure that I can play my movies where I want to. It would be nice if Hollywood stopped bitching about piracy until they offer something that people actually want to pay for in the first place.

Need to get a visa and supply personal data, apply for a per-boarding permit and share the flight with armed guards?

Does the American government really not want money from tourists over here, or are there EU terrorist cells we're not aware of? Recent experiences with the TSA have made me think twice about coming over there again, this would stop me altogether. There's absolutely no reason why I would want to go through all of that for a 2 week holiday while I can go virtually anywhere else in the world with less hassle.

Enjoy your weakening dollar, America.

To rrsafety and others:

All of the objections to Guantanamo - its detainment tactics, the shady legal nature (neither declaring its prisoners as POWs nor under the protections normally afforded to such, the lack of evidence and trial) have all been correctly put forward in this thread.

But while we're on the subject of Gitmo and movies, watch Michael Winterbottom's The Road To Guantanamo. This is a docu-drama detailing a group of British men who were detained in Gitmo despite being innocent purely because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. There's no bad guys other than the system, but that doesn't stop it from being an absolutely horrible travesty.

While it's a slightly off-colour topic for a comedy, unfortunately there are people who should be educated on this topic who won't watch the documentaries or read the books, maybe this will help.

Yeah, unless you're talking about a secondary school in Cambridge, or remedial classes at the university, the suggestion that these are the same as Cambridge courses is a little misleading.

Unlike the US, it's possible to leave school at 16 with basic qualifications (GCSEs). I believe that a combination of GCSEs and A levels is considered roughly equivalent to a good high school diploma in the US, so this would be equivalent to McDonalds offering part of a GED. I might be wrong about that, but that's how I understand it.

Either way, you're talking about *part* of the entry requirement to the average university (many insist on 3 or more good A level passes)

"these guys are from england, and WHO GIVES A SHIT?

truer words were never spoken, mister kasem."

Ahem. Unless I'm missing something with that Kasem comment, they most certainly are NOT from England...

To Eric @ #7:

"Not to rain on the parade but... JESUS CHRIST. We're bitching and bitching for these crappy corporations to stop using DRM. And so finally Amazon puts together a DRM-free operation. And all I hear is complaints that "they use a *pointless* mp3 downloader software."

I haven't been bitching at them to stop using DRM. I've been bitching at them to stop trying to control what I listen to, how and where - they don't get a penny from me until that happens. This is a step in the right direction, but still I apparently can't purchase MP3s and listen to them on my MP3 player unless I have an OS and player that recognise the proprietary crap they're still trying to force on us.

Until this idiocy stops, I'm going to keep buying from *only* open a dn independent sources and not from the major labels. I know this isn't the RIAA's decision directly, but they're not going to get a cent until they decide to stop trying to control me (and yes, they can do that by licencing to more open retailers).

As much as I think Clarkson is a loudmouthed idiot who got what he deserved with this stunt, I think this whole thing is great for several reasons. First, this proves that there is a major issue when peoples' bank account information is lost. Imagine if this was an ordinary parent on benefits whose bank account was emptied just before rent was due - they may be entitled to get money back but it would cause no end of problems for them in the meantime. Hopefully this extra publicity will make people more vigilant with their data (and other peoples').

However, I have to give Clarkson major kudos here. He literally put his money where his mouth was, a rare thing nowadays. When he was proven wrong, he's basically shrugged and said "yeah, you got me. I was wrong". Can you imagine any other public figure who would do that without trying to get revenge or deny the story or make some other public display trying to pretend they weren't at fault? I can't.

@Skeeter (#45):

"We did make the album available digitally, and did sell a few more that way. But only a few. Eventually we released it free as a way to help the artist make more per gig. (I get no cut of that, and didn't and wouldn't ask for a cut. I understand some record companies are starting to in new contracts.)"

OK, glad to hear that you weren't one of these guys who try once and then give up, and I know it's frustrating if the band's eventual success isn't shared with you financially. Maybe if you had realised the market, your strategy would have differed and you'd be sitting on a nice profit now, it's a damn shame you weren't successful and spurred on to make similar investments.

I do have a couple of small questions, though. First, I notice that you've made several posts without mentioning the band's name or URL. Was this deliberate or an oversight? I've seen several posts on a number of blogs recently from people bemoaning their bands' lack of success without ever thinking of promoting the band within their message. I don't know if there's areason why you haven't mentioned who you helped promote, but if not why not plug them here?

Do you get a cut of CDs sold at gigs now? Also, was your payment just for the CD pressing or the recording session. Do you get a cut of the sale if a non-CD recording were to be sold (see my next point)?

Finally, is there a way to pay the band for the album if I were to download it and like it? There's a trick missing if not. Case in point: I listen to a lot of independent music but can't make it to local gigs because I currently live in the south of Spain, 800 miles from Barcelona (the closest that most international acts make it to me). Clearly, I can't support the band via gigs and CDs would be inconvenient to have delivered. So, if I were to stumble across the band and wished to support them, is there a donation or digital purchase option? If not, you may well be missing an interesting revenue stream.

#35 - oh, how wrong you are...

Yes, it's true that there has been a sea change against physical media amongst the college-aged crowd. It's a shame that you didn't see this happening before getting the CDs pressed, but that shouldn't be the end of the story:

First, you're assuming that the reason why people were not buying CDs was because they were just going to download for free later on. What if they were thinking "I don't have enough cash tonight, I'll get a couple of beers now, then buy the album from their website"? Was the album on the website to download, or at iTunes/Amazon/eMusic/Napster/etc...?

If not, there's the problem. You wasted some capital pressing physical media that your target audience weren't interested in. However, it's wrong to extend that into "nobody wants to buy music". Look to the future, I suggest at least the following:

You have a recording. use it. Forget the CDs - though you can offer the CDs for $5 on the band's website (they do have a website, don't they? Big problem if not...). More importantly, use the recording. Use a song as promotion through a free podcast (e.g. Indiefeed, KEXP, KCRW) or music blog, linking back to ways to pay for the rest of the album.

Get the CD onto a retailer's site - iTunes, Amazon and eMusic are the biggest right now, but try and get it onto others. Try Magnatune - where customers name their own price. If that doesn't work, try the NIN/Radiohead model - many customers will pay something if you tell them to pay what they want. Yes, some of what's suggested here involves giving something away for free, but that doesn't mean you can't recoup losses from the CDs - free promotion is promotion after all.

In short, you made a bad investment by pushing money into a shrinking market (CD sales) among a demographic that has no interest in that market. True, you tried selling 8-tracks to a cassette market - why not move onto cassettes?

If the band generated the buzz it did, giving up after not selling a few CDs rather than switching to digital downloads is suicide. To qualify a few of my statements - I am a massive fan of music, spending at least $60/month on music. It's been at least 2 years since I've bought anything from the RIAA and I never buy CDs. I should be the prime demographic for that band - list their site and I'll go there. Give me a way to listen to and buy their music that doesn't involve going to a particular bar and buying CD, and I might do so.

So, even in prison she still gets to act like an entitled celebrity and get special treatment along with material for her show when she gets out. Typical.

It's not freeloading off Rowling's work. The money made from selling the book would be a reward for the investment that the author put into making a reference to guide people through Rowling's work, making the originals more interesting.

Sadly, these RIAA-style tactics will only make people less interested in her work. Not that she cares with all the money she's already made, I suppose.

Unfortunately, this is the kind of issue that's a losing proposition for the consumer, unless something legal is put into place.

If fans re-buy the content again (or just forget about the previous content and buy new games), MLB has no reason to treat fans better and other content providers may follow suit. They make their profits anyway.

If fans don't buy replacements and either stop watching or obtain their content from other avenues, MLB scream 'piracy' and demand that tighter restrictions are put into place. Since they have a monopoly on content, would-be customers can't vote with their wallets.

It's a shame, and I don't normally like this, but I think class action is the only realistic way to go.

“I find myself, when I’m signing a record deal now, asking, ‘Can this sell as a ringtone?’”

It's been mentioned above, but I have to repeat it - with this quote, Steve Rifkind has inadvertantly encapsulated everything that's killing the music industry.

They're not interested in songs and soundscapes, just music that can work when sold in 20 second chunks. they're not interested in consumer value, but rather want to resell songs in artificially repackaged pieces, at a premium of course.

That's why the major labels are on a downward slide. In previous eras, the bands (e.g. The Beatles) that had been missed by the majors still ultimately had to sign deals with the majors at some point. Nowadays, that's not the case. New bands are becoming successful without necessarily needing to access the majors' resources while increasing number of established bands are refusing to re-sign.

The majors are killing themselves with a dependence on marketing the new fad. Ringtones won't be a lucrative business in 5 years, especially if that sector is forced down the non-DRM route like other downloads are today. Acts like The Beatles, Led Zep, Nirvana and The Prodigy are still selling 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 year old albums, while the majors are concentrating on pushing the new 10 minute pop star. They demand attention for Britney's newest public meltdown, yet (in the UK at least, where I'm from), the #1 album is by the f*ing Eagles, for God's sake and #4 is Robert Plant!Are they really selling Plant ringtones?

Their business model is self destructing, and all they can think of is "how do I sell this to the same people in 5 different formats" and blame piracy for their mistakes. unless they change, the majors are history, and I for one say good riddance. Good music will prevail, these idiots won't.

@Nonesuch #45

Now, that's being simplistic. Here's the facts that seem undisputed:

1) The guy was being held for 10 hours before the incident, after which he started become beligerent and violent (albeit towards inanimate objects).

2) The guy didn't speak English.

3) His mother was outside, being fobbed off by airport personnel.

4) When the guy became unruly, the police tased him.

Now, there may have been some other details or incident between #1 and #4 of the timeline above that we're not aware of, but there were plenty of ways in which the situation could have been avoided. The guy didn't speak English, and none of the articles mention him talking to a translator. In that case, he had absolutely no idea what was happening to him after nearly half a day. Of course he started to become unruly, and as a commentator above noted, he could have been suffering from some kind of diabetic or psychologic condition that triggered his behaviour.

Since his mother was outside, she could have translated if an official translator was unavailable. There would surely have been some preamble to the guy becoming violent, so even if her translations would be unsuitable for the official screening process, she could have been asked to talk to him and calm him down before he became such a problem.

Once the guy became violent, it was clearly as a result of him being frustrated at being held for 10 hours without any clue as to what was happening. This means he was lashing out, not attacking personnel but inanimate objects. he was frustrated. He couldn't exactly express this frustration through words as he wouldn't be understood, so he expressed it through violence instead. He would have been easily detained by trained officers without the necessity for potentially lethal force, as his intention was not to attack personnel.

At the end of the day, this is the story of a guy who, despite having valid documentation, was held against his will for hours without any information. When he became frustrated, the response to his show of said frustration was a show of force that could, and did, kill him.

It's disgusting, and I'm sure everyone on this site defending the police would be up in arms if it was, say, an American killed in China under the same circumstances.

Hmmm... while I understand the reasons behind the protest (livelihoods being taken away, etc.), I don't see why they'd think that this would achieve anything. that is, of course, if they go through with their extreme threat.

Surely by killing themselves, they'd be ridding the town of prostitutes permanently, which is what the authorities wanted in the first place...

Yet, despite all the it's pointless anyway... I'm sure that out of the (I think) 60 million living in the UK at the moment, far less than 1 million are carrying knives in the first place. You could get 59 million signatures from people who will honour the pledge and yet not stop a single knife crime.

Old news, really. There were Doctor Who easter eggs and Dalek mugs a few months ago.