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“A new service that provides information about the YouTube clips removed for copyright infringement”

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Ever wanted to view a YouTube clip but you couldn’t do it because it had been removed for copyright complaints? Ever wanted to know what happened with the clip and what’s the reason for the removal?

Now you can get all the information straight from YouTomb, a new service that tracks the YouTube clips which have been removed for copyright complaints and publishes details about them.

As you know, YouTube hosts a huge amount of videos, some of them published without the authorization of the owners. Because of that, YouTube is based on the DMCA act which requires the Google video sharing service to remove a copyright infringement clip once the copyright holder requires it.

YouTomb is a project developed by MIT Free Culture and currently monitors 223,593 videos according to some stats placed on the official page. No less than 4416 were removed for copyright violation while 13,437 were deleted for other reasons, it is added.

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Clicking on one of the YouTomb entries discloses the uploader, the upload time, the removal reason as well as the tags of the clip. Moreover, YouTomb also lets you know the time of the removal and how long it has been viewable through YouTube. However, please note that YouTomb does not allow you to view or download clips, it only provides data about the removed YouTube content.

“YouTomb is a research project by MIT Free Culture that tracks videos taken down from YouTube for alleged copyright violation,” it is mentioned in the About section of YouTomb.

“More specifically, YouTomb continually monitors the most popular videos on YouTube for copyright-related takedowns. Any information available in the metadata is retained, including who issued the complaint and how long the video was up before takedown. The goal of the project is to identify how YouTube recognizes potential copyright violations as well as to aggregate mistakes made by the algorithm.”

Source: Softpedia News

‘O2 rumoured to heavily subsidise the next model‘

The new 3G iPhone could be available for nothing in the UK through O2, as the operator plans to offer heavy subsidies in a bid to win more customers.

The company saw sales of the iPhone climb significantly when it knocked £100 off the price of the 8GB model earlier this year, and looks set to repeat the trick if / when the new iPhone is released.

Both sides of the pond

O2’s iPhone US counterpart AT&T is also rumoured to be considering a similar scheme in a bid to boost subscriber numbers.

Apparently, despite decent sales after the release, some customers baulked at the lack of subsidy being offered, so AT&T looks set to change its policy.

However, it will only be offered through AT&T outlets, so some incentive might need to be offered for those choosing to buy through the Apple store.

Encouraging new iPhone customers could be difficult should a new model be released only a year after the first iteration, with many still locked into 18- or 24-month contracts.

The companies mentioned could choose to offer a subsidised upgrade in order to appease the hordes of iPhone-lovers who will feel cheated after supporting the device from the outset.

Source: TechRadar

Bill Christensen at www.technovelgy.com writes:

Mentats are described in Frank Herbert’s Dune as “a class of Imperial citizens trained for supreme accomplishments in logic - Human Computers.” They can survey astonishing quantities of information and perform analytical feats - all without computers.

(Thufir Hawat, Mentat to the Atreides)

Here is a basic outline of the Mentat “feature list:”

1. Extraordinary capacity for conscious information acquisition
2. Rapid computation skills
3. Near total recall
4. Unshakable concentration
5. Calculates human and social costs without emotion
6. Wide-ranging analytical talents (social, financial, military)

Are there any tools or techniques available that could help? Let’s take a look at these items one-by-one.

1. Extraordinary capacity for conscious information acquisition

There are a variety of different methods that supposedly increase your ability to take in information. Early work by psychologists was done using the tachistoscope, a machine that flashes words before the user at a set rate. Additional work was done in trying to increase the size of the reader’s field of focus. The Evelyn Wood Speed Reading method was well-known in the 1960’s. (She coined the term “speed reading.”

A variety of methods have been evolved to help people acquire different kinds of information. Hermann Ebbinghaus introduced the idea of a “learning curve” in the late 19th century. The would-be Mentat would be able to surmount a steep learning curve effortlessly.

Individuals have shown remarkable results, so there is some real potential here. However, no study I’m aware of has distinguished between people who had a remarkable natural capacity, and those who were average and became extraordinary.

2. Rapid computation skills

There are a variety of different tricks for performing math in your head; some of these methods work well enough to encourage the idea that a person could have Mentat-level calculation skills.

One typical example that I recall reading about in the 1960’s was the Trachtenberg speed system. Trachtenberg was a Holocaust survivor who created the system himself in a Nazi concentration camp. His method consists of a number of different tricks to make particular mathematical operations easier to perform without pencil and paper.

My personal interest in speed calculation waned when I noticed that a) science and math teachers tended to make the answers “come out even”, b) slide rules worked well enough when only 2-3 significant figures were required and (the death knell) c) hand-held calculators were right around the corner.

Heinlein fans will recall the calculation method mastered by the “man who was too lazy to fail” in his Lazarus Long collection Time Enough for Love. By memorizing a table of logarithms, he was able to perform remarkable feats of multiplication and division by simple addition and subtraction.

3. Near total recall

As one of those people with a good memory, I naturally wanted a better one. A variety of books came out starting in the 1960’s on improving memory. Most of these books use some sort of a system to make sure you are really paying attention by using some sort of imagery or other mnemonic device.

I was really impressed when Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris’ greatest literary creation, is shown to use a memory palace, also called the Method of Loci. The idea is at least several millennia old.

The traditional progenitor of this system was Simonides of Crete. He was attending a dinner with a large number of guests; when he stepped outside, the roof chanced to collapse. He was able to identify all of the mangled remains by going remembering their positions relative to each other.

The basic idea is that you remember a place, or a journey, well enough to visualize it. Then, you take the first of the facts to be memorized, and “walk” to the first location. Then you create a fantastic image that helps you remember the details of the fact. Off you go to the second location, where you create another image. By mentally “retracing your steps” and examining each image, you can recall the facts.

Mnemonics is another favorite; it takes time and concentration to create a good mnemonic, which reveals it as another trick to get you pay careful attention. It also puts facts into an ordered set, which provides additional information. For example, all physics and astronomy students remember the spectral types of stars in order by temperature - OBAFGKMRNS - using the mnemonic “oh, be a fine girl, kiss me right now, sweetie.”

Putting the facts in the form of a rhyme or song also helps; back in the day, I could reel off all 180 four line stanzas (plus lengthy introductory mantras) of my favorite meditation text from memory with no problem. I can remember all the words to “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mixalot using the same method.

4. Unshakable concentration

This brings us to concentration; there is no substitute. My daughter claims that she is at her learning peak when she is “multi-tasking,” which is what she calls it when she is a) watching “America’s Top Model,” b) instant messaging friends on a laptop, c) listening to music and d) studying - all at the same time. As soon as her grades start to slip, I’ll get my chance to defend the virtues of concentrating on one thing at a time.

Methods of forcing human beings to concentrate are as old as humanity. Most religions have some sort of tradition of improving concentration. Modern meditation teachers detach the methods from the religion for you.

As a sidebar on concentration, I would add that Mentats are known to use a substance, sapho juice, to “amplify mental powers.” The idea that there is a materialist method (that is, some sort of pill) for improving one’s concentration and mental powers is undergoing a real renaissance now.

5. Calculates human and social costs without emotion

It is very difficult to calculate and evaluate without emotion. Warren Buffett can do it, and most financial gurus believe that it is one of the keys to his success.

Mentats were famed for using Zen-like states of concentration - the Mentat semitrance - to enter new heights of one-pointed meditation on their data.

There are software products available that teach stock trading without emotion; the StockReflex simulator claims to help people learn to trade without being unduly influenced by fear and greed.

6. Wide-ranging analytical talents (social, financial, military)

This is probably the most difficult area for those who would like to become a Mentat. Although business schools teach that once you have learned the necessary principles, you can analyze any business situation, I’ve found it to be more difficult. Unless you know the details, you can’t really master any situation well enough to perform a successful analysis.

Source: Technovelgy

Sony Computer Entertainment head Kaz Hirai has confirmed that the company is looking into disc-free network gaming for future generations, but insisted that the global infrastructure is not yet in place.

With the PlayStation 3 finally beginning to look like the gaming powerhouse its legacy suggested it would be, Hirai is keen to promote the current flagship PlayStation model.

Future tech

But Hirai is mindful of the future, and the oft-talked about gaming purely thorugh online and not needing a physical disc, something he believes is not currently possible with the disparity in network speeds across the world.

“It’s something we would look at. We have had a lot of discussion internally about where the road map will take us,” Hirai told the BBC.

“With network gaming” we’re also dependent on the network infrastructure available in all the territories we do business in.

“Some have faster broadband access than others. When you consider that content that plays on PlayStation 3 can go as high as 50GB it’s going to be very difficult to deliver 50GB to consumers in some parts of the world in a timely fashion.”

PlayStation 4

Hirai also talked about the likely timeline for the next incarnation of PlayStation but confessed to not knowing what it would be capable of.

“It’s very difficult to say at this point in time,” added Hirai.

“We need to take a look at advances in technology in various areas, such as semiconductors, graphics chips, output devices, mainly TV and monitors, to see where we would like to benchmark our next generation product.”

Source: TechRadar