NEXTFEST 2005, a collection of exhibits about the future of exploration, entertainment, transportation, science and medicine, communication, design, defense, was held at Chicago's Navy Pier the other day, so I went armed with a disposable camera I now cannot find for the life of me. Yes, I checked the trash, and the refrigerator. So you will have to make do with more professional pics of the cool stuff that was on display (and there are more at the Wired link above).
The Moller Skycar (pictured at the link) was one of the more exotic entries, but the exhibition had everything from the next generation of cellphones to hydrogen-powered cars (which ranged from GM's Autonomy, pictured at right to a fuel cell-powered Hummer), life sized models of the Cassini space probe and the Mars Rover, demos of computer face-recognition technology, clothes that used nanotech to generate and store their own electricity, unmanned flying internet servers that beam the latest intell to out troops in battle, the lobsterbot (pictured at right) that clears minefields from past and current conflicts, the 17.5 foot tall hub from one of GE's windmills, which have a wingspan the size of a football field, The dolphincraft (pictured at right, with much more at the Innespace site), hydroponic agricultural products being deployed by the U.N. in the third world, and robot DJs (pictured at right) scratching with mathematical precision. And cute cloned kittens (pictured above… awwww).
THE GROKSTER CASE: Though some headlines read “Hollywood wins Internet piracy battle” or “Supreme Court Rules Against Grokster,” or “Grokster Loses Copyright Case,” the reality is a bit more complicated. A panel of experts convened by the Wall Street Journal correctly note that Grokster and StreamCast may lose at trial if the evidence shows they purposefully marketed their software to facilitate illegal activity, but the Court's opinion leaves plenty of room for P2P technology that is not marketed that way. The experts also note that their first impressions leave open the question as to whether software companies will have to take easily available steps to reduce infringing uses. Ernest Miller rounds up reax, including one from Douglas Lichtman, who wrote a “friend of the court” brief in the case, who reads the opinion as making it clear that “evidence of unreasonable product design can be considered only if there is also smoking-gun evidence of intent.” There's plenty more expert analysis to be found at the SCOTUS blog's Grokster sub-blog. Hilary Rosen, formerly with the RIAA, cautions her friends in the record biz: “I hope all sides will take a deep breath and realize that this Supreme Court decision doesn't change one bit their responsibility to move forward together on behalf of their consumer.”
GROKSTER AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: As the headlines for Grokster suggest, press coverage of the Court in general is often inaccurate. For example the Associate Press story on the “Ten Commandments cases” states at one point: “In that 5-4 ruling and another decision involving the positioning of a 6-foot granite monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Texas Capitol, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was the swing vote. The second ruling, likewise, was by a 5-4 margin.” The same story notes that in that second case, “Rehnquist was joined in his opinion by Scalia, and Justices Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. Breyer filed a separate opinion concurring in the result.” So Justice O'Connor ruled against the Ten Commandments displays in both cases. Breyer was the swing vote. But the press is used to reporting that O'Connor is a swing vote, so she is, even when she isn't. And if you really want to know the difference between the two cases, the rule is that it is constitutional for government to display monuments to the Ten Commandments if they were donated to promote Cecil DeMille's epic movie.
GANG OF FOUR is re-recording some of their classics for Whitey's Gift, due on September 20th. In the UK, some copies will be sold with a second disc containing remixes and covers of the Gang of Four songs done by the Dandy Warhols, the Others and others.
NOW HERE'S A TOP TEN LIST: In response to Spin magazine's list of top albums during the mag's run, Chuck Klosterman presents: “The Ten Best Proper Nouns of the Spin Era That Are Not Albums (or EPs), as Selected by People Who Are Currently in My Office.”
DAVID BYRNE apparently put on quite a show at the Hollywood Bowl, bringing the Arcade Fire and a marching band for good measure. Plus it seems that DB and I share a guilty pleasure.
ALANIS MORRISETTE sold 56,000 copies of Jagged Little Pill Acoustic at Starbucks last week, landing at No. 17 on Billboard's Top Comprehensive Albums chart. Just thought you oughtta know.
MYSPACE: The Hollywood Reporter looks at the use of the web-based social network by Foo Fighters and Billy Corgan, both noted here previously.
THE GIRAFFES “play rock 'n' roll as if they just caught 'Cat Scratch Fever' from Ted Nugent, or like they just staged a Thin Lizzy-style 'Jailbreak,'” according to the New York Daily News. And you can stream some of their “sexy metal” from the band's page at MySpace, coincidentally. There are also a few downloads at the band’s official site.
LIVE AID: With Live 8 looming, the New York Post recalls some of the lighter moments of the original global concert event.
WOODY ALLEN, in an interview with Der Spiegel, says, “As a filmmaker, I'm not interested in 9/11. Because, if you look at the big picture, the long view of things, it's too small, history overwhelms it. The history of the world is like: he kills me, I kill him. only with different cosmetics and different castings: so in 2001 some fanatics killed some Americans, and now some Americans are killing some Iraqis. And in my childhood, some Nazis killed Jews. And now, some Jewish people and some Palestinians are killing each other. Political questions, if you go back thousands of years, are ephemeral, not important. History is the same thing over and over again.” In contrast, Woody Allen's films never repeat themselves. For example, there's that one where he plays the nebbishy, hypochondriacial Jewish writer who has the offbeat affair with the younger beautiful woman… you know, the one where he talks about how great NYC was in the Jazz era. C'mon, you know the one I mean, it has all those standards in the soundtrack…
STEVEN SPIELBERG, in contrast, admits there is a 9/11 influence on his version of War o the Worlds.
GROUND ZERO: Jeff Jarvis probably has the best solution to the controversy over the installation of the International Freedom Center and the Drawing Center at Ground Zero in NYC and the inevitable complaints that Gov. Pataki should not be demanding that they refrain from controversial exhibitions at the site.
PIGLET died the same day as Tigger. If John Fiedler hadn't been 80, I would have a conspiracy theory for you.
TOM-KAT UPDATE: Cruise is desperate for ex-wife Nicole Kidman to be there when he weds Katie Holmes. He sees no Scientology in War of the Worlds. But some Scientology observers say that a rumored move to a higher level of Scientology could explain Cruise's recent behavior. And the children he adopted with KIdman are home-schooled with an emphasis on the works of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The American Psychiatric Association sharply criticized Cruise for televised remarks in which he called psychiatry a “pseudo science” and disputed the value of antidepressant drugs. But his confrontational interview with Matt Lauer may boost Today's ratings.
ELTON JOHN had flunkies tell the invitees to his annual White Tie and Tiara party at his Windsor mansion in England not to speak to the Rocket Man unless spoken to. I guess he's let that life-sized chocolate statue go to his head.
MISS TRANSVESTITE PAGEANT DISRUPTED by Islamic extremists in Indonesia, but the show went on.
IRAQ: Arthur Chrenkoff has his usual round-up of under-reported news from Iraq up at Winds of Change. Time magazine interviews a suicide bomber that might be summarized with a single quote: “The only person who matters is Allah–and the only question he will ask me is 'How many infidels did you kill?'” Army Gen. George Casey tells reporters that U.S. officials have not met with insurgent leaders directly involved in attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces… yet. Casey also said that “A lot of these folks claim they have leverage over the insurgents that we've yet to see realized, frankly,” a statement consistent with my interpretation of the story yesterday.
SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R-PA), the conservative No. 3 Senate Republican known for his tough stance against abortion and gay marriage, is praised by the Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
DOGS are rising from the dead to walk the earth again, courtesy of Pittsburgh's Safar Centre for Resuscitation Research.
EUROPE IS OVERRUN WITH WOLVES, as economics and declining birthrates push large areas of Europe back to their primeval state.
JOURNALISTIC CREDIBILITY: one finding I missed in a recent Pew poll is that 45 percent of journalists are less trusting of the professional behavior of their own colleagues — up from 34 percent in 2003.
THE NEW YORK TIMES will attempt to diversify the its staff and viewpoints, not only in terms of race or gender, but also in political, religious and cultural terms, “to stretch beyond our predominantly urban, culturally liberal orientation, to cover the full range of our national conversation.”
LAWSUIT OF THE RINGS: The New York Times covers Rings director Peter Jackson's suit against distributor New Line Cinema, which claims New Line committed fraud in its handling of the revenues generated by The Fellowship of the Ring, and as a result, he was underpaid by as much as 100 million bucks. A litigator for New Line, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is working on this lawsuit, said “there's a certain piggishness involved here. New Line already gave him enough money to rebuild Baghdad, but it's still not enough for him.” At Slate, Jack Shafer notes that the paper violated its own policy on anonymous sources to print the lawyer's attack. BONUS: THE TRAILER FOR JACKSON’S KING KONG is now online in glorious QuickTime.
JESSICA SIMPSON: According to a new poll conducted by In Touch magazine, women want her hairstyle. The magazine did not poll what part of her men want. Speaking of which, Simpson continues to deny rumors of an affair with her Dukes of Hazard co-star, Johnny Knoxville. But Page Six reports that hubby Nick Lachey canceled a party to celebrate the beginning of his new reality show due to “marital issues.”
HOW DID STELLA GET HER GROOVE BACK? By marrying a gay man, apparently. Not that there's anything wrong with that, except for the resulting divorce.
HAVE YOUR TAX RECORDS BEEN HACKED? The IRS is investigating whether unauthorized people gained access to sensitive taxpayer and bank account information but has not yet exposed any privacy breaches, an official said on Friday.
YOUNGER WORKERS do not know how to effectively deal with sexual harassment.
CHINA: People are raising concerns about the qusi-communist dictatorship's growing global economic influence and its unexpectedly large military advancements.
A MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL who shocked some parents and community members by suggestively dancing with male students at a talent show, will not be fired. She wore short shorts, had a male student pretending to be a police officer handcuff her and tore the T-shirt off another boy during an encore of the songs “YMCA” and “Macho Man.” There's no picture, but if she's not getting fired, I'm betting she's a knockout.
A TORTOISE ESCAPES its owner by burrowing under a fence. It may not be fast, but it doesn't take a break to laze around under a tree, either.