You could just use twitter search to search for the #sxsw tag but this is one of the interactive and design events of the years so surely there is some exciting new way to see what is going on. Enter pepsicozeitgeist for a deliciously interesting visualisation, I especially like the swarm!

The report talks about the different categories of use that these digital youth have for and around different activities. It talks about how their digital messing around is actually essential in learning how to use and utilise all the possibilities for learning and research which surrounds them online.

The report cautions those worried about teens and younger kids seemingly just hanging out with their friends online, showing that this hanging around is an essential step in creating a comfortable existence online allowing the digital youth to grow and learn in this environment.

Of course one of the things I saw in the report which I found amusing was the image of my friends and I at one of our places a few years ago. Half a dozen of us all with laptops, swapping links playing songs and videos for each other mailing and IM-ing. So geeky and when another guest arrived who wasn’t such a geek she couldn’t understand us all. But it was so natural just pull out the laptop extension of your mind and communicate. I guess all kids growing up today can be as comfortable and more (much more) than we are with digital tools.

Tomorrow is an interesting place.

Of course one of the cutest things was when I found out who the guy giving the talk was. It is the guy behind the textfiles website, which is a fantastic archive of some of the early BBS communications and apart from a great historical resource can be a hilarious read.

But watch the talk if you get a moment. It is a very interesting look at people’s needs to communicate in their own way.

But when I think of New order I will still always remember what I think is one of the best songs ever recorded… love will tear us apart.

The service, which will work only on Windows machines for now, will offer movies from at least one major studio – Universal. Purchased movies will be deliverd as three separate files. One for PC viewing, one for portable device viewing (using Plays4Sure DRM), and one for burning to DVD. The last file may be burned three times to DVD within a thirty day period. After that it’s useless. New releases are being priced at AUD$33.99 (about US$26.50).

Techcrunch » Blog Archive » ReelTime To Launch The Next Failed Movie Model

The idea of letting users download three different files for three different uses is an interesting idea (but here is a better one abandon DRM!). In Australia where there are tough bandwidth limitations downloading three different large files per movie will quickly put most households over the limit. But with Australia’s backward copyright laws it does make a little sense since it would be illegal to convert a DVD into digital files for computer and handheld.

Pricey! Of course the fact that the PC version uses windows media player’s “playsforsure” DRM, AND ties the movie to your computer’s MAC address means that you are out of luck if you want to step out of the box at all, by say replacing your computer in 5 years. Strangely my DVDs don’t stop working when I buy a new DVD player.

The portable version also uses playsforsure which is interesting since the latest microsoft device the zune will not play playsforsure. Neither of course will my ipod. If the file wasn’t crippled by DRM then I could convert it, but it is defective by design so I can’t.

And finally the third file which is for making a DVD from, well it is a proprietary format made to try to limit how it is used. I wonder if it is like CinemaNow’s which some people say makes more coaster’s than playable DVDs

This whole system is bullshit! why would I go through all this pain and suffering just to be allowed to watch a movie. I don’t usually download movies but I certainly would long before I used a system like this one. Apart from a few business people who would never use such a system anyway who would think this was a ReelTime was a good idea. Then I read the fawning interview from APC

ReelTime has addressed the basic problem of giving customers the option to view downloaded content on a variety of formats without having to bypass DRM protection, and this alone makes the service highly attractive to tech enthusiasts in particular.

World first: download-to-own movie service | APC Magazine

I don’t know what the APC magazine is thinking but tech enthusiasts are the last ones I would expect to use a system like ReelTime. They change their computers too often, understand limitations and know how to get their media and content from multiple sources which don’t restrict how that content is used. DRM is no good for anybody, and building your business on the concept that you are afraid that your users will use your content seem inherently wrong.

The only way a movie download service is going to break into the big time is to give the user a better experience than downloading using p2p networks. So far no one has come close, and I don’t think any me too efforts in the near future will do any better

Technorati Tags: DRM, copyright, movies, downloads

At the moment the inhabitants of communities like myspace, facebook, and flickr are like the citizens in a dictatorship. They don’t really control their own community, and the dictators are free to do what they like. Within reason of course, if the dictator gets too much there could be a revolt, but revolution is a very extreme proposition. Emmigration is more likely, just look at friendster.

But revolt is always a possibility too, just look at the tax revolt over at second life. Or better yet the Ultima online nude sit in from way back in 1997

History has shown gamers that online protest can result in positive change, as exemplified in Ultima Online’s 1997 naked riot demanding bug fixes and server upgrades. Not only were some of the rioters’ issues addressed by the game publisher following the incident, but the event was widely reported, and gamers worldwide have been inspired to acts of virtual civil disobedience ever since.

alternet

For the most part though gamers are at the mercy of the game owners. If Blizzard decided to turn off the servers for WoW tomorrow there is not really anything that the millions of citizens of Azeroth could do. I guess the question I am asking is though, should there be anything they can do? As these virtual worlds become more and more complex and full featured the amount of time, money and creativity being poured into them is exploding. Is there a point where the citizens of virtual worlds start to want to have a say in how their worlds are run. If facebook can have a half a million angry members demanding change and being heard, what about if the same thing happened in WoW? There is a fascinating article from yale law meme which is asking these questions, and reaching the same kind of conclusions too.

I don’t think it is going to be very long before we start to see real world laws beginning to effect online communities. One really doesn’t have to look further than the wailing and gnashing of teeth around latest massive scam in the eve online world. This is a world with a built in focus on piracy and while some are asking the question why an enormous scam wiping out the hard earned fortunes of hundreds of players should be allowed others are saying why not. If piracy is allowed why not fraud.

It is a tough question of course, since the real world value of game items is rising we have to ask at what point stealing in the game becomes stealing in real life. Even if the game is built around stealing? Some of course are starting to propose a police force to hunt down criminals in Eve, but then of course you need laws, and government and…

Most online games are still incredibly primitive so I can only look forward to exciting times as these new worlds mature.

Technorati Tags: second life, wow, games, privacy, eve online, danah boyd, democracy

So their relationship… well they’ve almost certainly never met but Banksy recently pulled an new art stunt. He went and replaced 500 random copies of Paris’ new CD with his own slightly different. Slightly unflattering, versions. There is even a video of banksy and co doing the deed.

Even the spokespeople for the record stores seemed to think the idea was cute.

A spokesman for Virgin Megastores said staff were searching for affected CDs but it was proving hard to find them all.

“I have to take my hat off – it’s a very good stunt,” he added.

bbc online

So I guess at the moment it is Banksy 1 Paris 0. Or I suppose measured another way, Banksy 1 Paris several hundred million.

Technorati Tags: Paris, Paris Hilton, Banksy, Art