Breaking Benjamin Split Due to Song Dispute

Breaking Benjamin, who are currently in hiatus, have broken up. Frontman and founding member Benjamin Burnley fired guitarist Aaron Fincke and bassist Mark Klepaski, and took legal action against them for allegedly remixing the group's song "Blow Me Away" without consent.

The dispute over the song remix erupted in May, and ended up with Burnley firing Fincke and Klepaski via e-mail. In the lawsuit document filed in June, Burnley claimed his two former bandmates signed a deal with Hollywood Records to remix their song without his consent. In compensation, he is seeking $250,000.

Also, Burnley is entitled, under the band's partnership agreement, to retain exclusive ownership of the band's name. However, Fincke and Klepaski counter backed the statement. They argued that the agreement they made in 2009 about Burnley having permission to dismiss them for "cause" had been invalid since the band took hiatus in June 2010 due to his illness.

Per judge's order, the dispute is going to arbitration.

Apple has more cash than the federal government

 

 Who's ready for iAmerica? As the BBC has reported, the software company Apple has more cash on hand than the United States federal government, according to the company's financial records.
Apple's quarterly financial report shows that the company responsible for the iPad, iPod and the iPhone now has $76.4 billion in reserve cash, while the Treasury Department is sitting on just $73.7 billion.

The feds could probably learn a thing or two from Apple's success. Congress remains embroiled in a debate over spending and whether the federal government, which currently owes trillions in debt, should be allowed to borrow even more. International credit rating agencies have threatened to downgrade the national debt for the first time in the nation's history if Washington doesn't come up with a solution to lift the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling while implementing a concrete plan to get the nation's financial house in order.
Meanwhile, Apple's financial report shows that the company's profits, even through the last recession, are booming.

i cheated myself like I knew I would…I told you I was trouble…

I know many are yet to blog about this heartbreaking event, and scores of people probably have already, but I am sincerely saddened by the passing of arguably one of thee greatest musicians of our time. Amy Winehouse. The name itself has a life of its own, and although the media have created a global image of the deceased star which could easily be misconstrued as much as it is goose-pimple inducing, my sentiments for the eternal Winehouse will forever be laced with a great respect for her as a remarkable artist. I pray that we not forget the magic she spun in songs like You Sent Me Flying and the infectious Rehab (below).
A life lost at the tender ripe age of 27, she goes down in history with other honoured greats like the greatest guitarist of all time, Jimi Hendrix, and first lady of Rock ‘n Roll, Janis Joplin.

Jimi Hendrix

Janis Joplin

Janice Joplin performs one of my favourite Alternative songs, Cry Baby. I love this song mainly for the powerful message it carries (of embracing and not taking for granted where one is and what one has) and the undeniable gritty, passionate performance she gives.

Amy’s first performance at Glastonbury in 2004. She would give her last in 2008.

tooo husky *0*

W.O.W! *gasp* This husky is TOO fierce for words. I feel like I can feel his soul.

Uganda's farmers using odk(open data kit s/w)

It's true! A few hundred "community knowledge workers" are connecting Uganda's farmers with important information, like when to plant crops and how to care for sick animals. It's all done using Android smartphones and the Open Data Kit software, created by researchers at the University of Washington.

That's just one example of the power of open-source software, and an open standard that empowers people around the world.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.


ref-opendatakit.org/blog/page/2/ 

malware explosion due to ladens death

With the biggest news in a decade dominating the Internet, it didn't take long for rogue viruses, Trojans and other malware to mess with computers given the chance.
Web searches and links to a variety of stories — real and fake — about the death of Osama bin Laden are sprouting with all kinds of malicious software as cybercriminals look for a big payday tied to the appetite for news about the Al-Qaida leader's demise.
"The bad guys were quite fast and started to poison searches results in Google Images," said Favio Assolini, a Kaspersky Labs expert on the security software company's blog. "Some of the search results are now leading users to malicious pages." 
As an example, Assolini shared a Google search page with the words "osama bin laden body" typed in the search box. "When clicking an image in the results page, the user will be redirected to one of the malicious domains," antivirus.cz.cc/fast-scan/ and pe-antivirus.cz.cc/fast-scan/, he said. Both are "offering" a copy of rogueware called "Best Antivirus 2011." And both can bring your computer down.
"When searching, even for images, be careful," Assolini warns.
And the computer programmer quickly becoming known "the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it" even found his own blog server stricken by malicious software.

"It is a good thing my blog server is infected with malware today, I guess :-/" Sohaib Athar said on his Twitter page, after being inundated with questions by journalists and Twitter followers. 
But it is NOT a good thing if you click on Athar's website that's listed on his Twitter page. That's where some malware is sprinkled, and you could get hit.
Christen Gentile of Kaspersky Lab said as Internet users search for bin Laden news, "they should be aware of two new types of scams that are ready and waiting to take advantage of them."
Cybercriminals, Gentile said, have begun search engine optimization efforts, where they "take popular search terms," like bin Laden or anything associated with him or his death, "and use them to direct people to malware ... in popular search engines, trying to lure users to install rogueware."
Search results in Google images have been poisoned, he said. "Some of the search results are leading users to malicious pages. Upon clicking on this search result or image, the user will be redirected to a malicious domain which can infect the user’s computer."
Also, on Facebook, where an "Osama bin Laden is DEAD" page sprouted up, there are some advertising offers celebrating bin Laden's death and offering "free tickets or free sandwiches, in some cases," Gentile said. "By clicking on these ads, users will be redirected multiple times, each time asking for more information, resulting in the potential gathering of email addresses or sensitive information."
For more information on the Facebook scram, check Kaspersky Lab's blog.
SophosLabs has a good guide to help you decide what to do:

• Watch out for the links you're likely to come across in email or on social networking sites offering you additional coverage of this newsworthy event.
• Many of the links you see will be perfectly legitimate links. But at least some are almost certain to be dodgy links, deliberately distributed to trick you into hostile internet territory.
• If in doubt, leave it out!
• Sometimes, poisoned content is rather obvious. The links in this spam captured by SophosLabs, for example, give the impression of going to a news site:

SophosLabs

"If you go to a site expecting to see information on a specific topic but get redirected somewhere unexpected — to a 'click here for a free security scan' page, for instance, or to a survey site, or to a 'download this codec program to view the video' dialog — then get out of there at once. Don't click further. You're being scammed," says SophosLabs' Paul Ducklin on the company's blog.
So be extra careful on the Interwebs today, kids. Don't do what I did — click on a link that I thought was legitimate, only to be hit with a rogue installation of a Windows "Total Security Removal" Trojan that flashed fake security alerts and installed itself on my computer without my permission.
I'm working to get if off the laptop right now, and writing this on another computer. It's a Mac, but from colleague Rosa Golijan's report today, I see that's not safe, either.

Amy Winehouse's musical legacy will live on

 

Shocking death makes it easy to forget how she paved way for artists like Adele

Amy Winehouse, left, may have paved the way for British singers like Adele, right, whose music also dips back into the musical styles of the past.

Linux 3.0 Released; Linus Torvalds Explains Why You Shouldn't Care

The Linux 3.0 kernel was officially pushed out Thursday night, a milestone that even Linus Torvalds says you shouldn't care about.
Torvalds made the announcement Thursday night on Google+, after the release was delayed four days after the discovery of an "incredibly subtle" pathname lookup bug, in Torvalds' words.
But even Torvalds himself said in late May that there was nothing noteworthy about the new release - only that it was designed to approximate the 20th anniversary of his announcement of Linux, which occurred Aug. 25, 1991, via the Usenet bulletin-board system.
"I decided to just bite the bullet, and call the next version 3.0," he wrote in a thread on gmane.org. "It will get released close enough to the 20-year mark, which is excuse enough for me, although honestly, the real reason is just that I can no longe rcomfortably count as high as 40."
"The whole renumbering was discussed at last years Kernel Summit, and there was a plan to take it up this year too," Torvalds added. "But let's face it - what's the point of being in charge if you can't pick the bike shed color without holding a referendum on it? So I'm just going all alpha-male, and just renumbering it. You'll like it."
So what has changed in Linux 3.0? Torvalds himself has already answered that.
"So what are the big changes?" Torvalds wrote. "NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Sure, we have the usual two thirds driver changes, and a lot of random fixes, but the point is that 3.0 is *just* about renumbering, we are very much *not* doing a KDE-4 or a Gnome-3 here. No breakage, no special scary new features, nothing at all like that. We've been doing time-based releases for many years now, this is in no way about features. If you want an excuse for the renumbering, you really should look at the time-based one ("20 years") instead."
In early July, another ancient piece of software technology, Java, received its first update in six years, developers announced.
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, a former writer for eWEEK, notes that the new kernel will include improved support for UEFI, a BIOS replacement for PCs, as well as improvements to the way Xen hypervisors interact with the OS, allowing them to run faster.
The only thing left for Linux devotees to do is start compiling.

The Ultimate Guide to Buying a Computer for Blender

Operating System

Everyone has their own preferences in terms of usablity and stability, but for me the winner is Linux. In the past I’ve used blender on both Windows and Linux, and I found that Linux crashes less, handles memory better and generally runs more smoothly than a windows operating system.
However… what most people won’t tell you is that Ubuntu can be an absolute pain in the ass to set up.
If you come from a windows background  then expect to be punching holes in the wall when you find out that you need to type complex commands in the terminal just to connect to a wired LAN. It really is like entering another world. Everything is done differently and tasks that would usually take 2 seconds in Windows to setup could take hours in Linux, if you don’t know what you are doing . A technical savvy person may say that Linux is a piece of cake. Go figure.
So for that reason I actually recommend Windows 7. It’s fast, easy to use and comes with 99% less headaches than Linux if you don know what you are doing.

CPU

The faster your CPU, the faster your render times. This is the meat and bones of your PC and will play the greatest influence on how quickly your render will finish.
I recommend choosing a CPU with multiple cores, as this will allow blender to render more tiles simultaniously. My current CPU has 4 cores, which means blender will render 4 tiles simultaneously. This really pays off in render times.

Cores = Like having multiple CPUs and only paying for one.

Other than that there’s really no secret to choosing a CPU. Buy the fastest one that you can afford!

RAM

Second on my priority list is RAM. Whilst it won’t effect your render times, RAM will set the limit on how “epic” your scene can be. Now I say the word “epic” loosely here, but really I’m talking about memory usage limits. Everytime you use a large image texture or bake a high resolution simulation you use up more RAM. When you run out or RAM, blender crashes.

Thanks for reminding me to purchase more RAM!

The more RAM you have, the more you can push your scene to it’s extremes. If you had only 2GB of RAM and created a fluid simulation, you may only be able to use a domain resolution level of 100 before blender crashed. But if you upgraded to 16GB you may be able to reach 800.

And who knows, in the future you may even reach over 9000!

If you’re a simulation junkie then I recommend splashing out and buying lots of RAM.

Graphics Card

Photo by Fred.org

A common misconception by beginners is that you need a super duper awesome graphics card to use blender. This is false.
A good graphics card will only help you when you are navigating around the 3d viewport. It will not effect your render times! For the past 7 years I’ve used a graphics card that was at least a year older than the current leading card (I’m cheap), and my work has never suffered from it.
Unless you plan to do lots of high poly sculpting in the future, then an expensive graphics card is a waste of money.

At least as far as Blender is concerned. Crysis however...

Now when it comes to choosing a GFX card, I always recommend Nvidia. In the past many blender users (including me) have had issues with ATI cards, wherein the menu flickers or some other glitch makes itself known. So for that reason I always recommend other blender users purchase Nvidia.
But! Having said that my last laptop had an ATI card and had no issues whatsoever, so maybe those glitchy days are over? Nope! According to the comments below, the ATI issues are still very much alive. Stick with Nvidia people! :P

Side note: If you follow 3d news, you may have heard about a new, faster method for rendering that uses your GPU instead of the CPU. Unfortunately, this technology is not yet available for Blender, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s developed soon. In the meantime use an external renderer like SmallLuxGPU or Octane if you would like to take advantage of GPU rendering.

Case

If you’re going to be doing lots of rendering on your PC then I’d recommend finding a PC with adaquet cooling.
My last PC suffered permanent internal damage when rendering my New York Earthquake animation, because I only used a standard PC case.  As a result, it overheated and now refuses to turn on.

But hey, at least it didn't catch fire.

Standard cases are suited more for air conditioned office environments, not prolonged rendering sessions in your stuffy bedroom. Take note :)
I’d recommend choosing a gaming case as these generally have better cooling than standard cases.

Hard Drive

In terms of speed within blender, you aren’t going to see any noticeable difference by purchasing a faster hard drive. So let’s focus on stability instead…
The last thing you want is for your hard drive to fail, right? Well unfortunately hard drive failure is a sad fact of life so the best thing you can do is be prepared and create a backup.
And what’s the easiest way to do that you ask? Set up a RAID array.
A RAID array. It’s a system configuration that uses two physical hard drives to mirror each other, so that if one fails you always have a backup. All you need to do is purchase two identical hard drives and set it up in the BIOS settings. I highly recommend that you do this before the inevitable happens! ;)

HACKERS HARASS BOXING BOSS

Early this month hackers accessed the yahoo account of the Kenya Boxing secretary general Shabaan Ogolla and deleted all his business and personal contacts after sending an SOS mail to everyone.
The mail asked for assistance claiming Shabaan was in dire financial constraints in the Philippines. It read: “I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept. Presently my passport and things are been held by the hotel management pending my payments. I will like you to assist me with a loan of $1550 to sort-out my hotel bills and to get myself back home. I'm presently in Malolos, Philippines.”
Shabban got a call from a worried Kenyan boxer based in Denmark, Ashira Oure, asking if he indeed needed help. “This is a real setback for me as I have lost all my business contacts besides being made to look like a con artist. I’ve had to call the secretary general of Africa Boxing Union in Uganda, C.D Mindra, who in turn informed the World Boxing Council to ignore the email, and any other suspicious emails from my yahoo inbox.”
Shabban also hinted that the email hacking could be ‘his enemies who are out to get him.’

Apple releases refreshed MacBook Airs

Technology giant, Apple has released refreshed MacBook Airs line, adding a host of new features and a faster port technology.
The company upgraded both the 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch model. The models now feature a Thunderbolt port, Intel Core i5 or Core i7 chips, backlit keyboard, and faster 1333 MHz memory in up to 4GB.
The models will move to Intel's newer Sandy Bridge processors and the company will also introduce thunderbolt, a joint collaboration between Apple and Intel to produce a high-speed port. The new models will come with an attractive $999 price tag, which is the same as the entry-level MacBook.
The Air was first introduced in 2008 and has gradually emerged as the main focus for Apple in the laptop market.

ALFRE WOODARD: CONNECTING WITH HER KENYAN ROOTS

ALFRE WOODARD: CONNECTING WITH HER KENYAN ROOTS

Hollywood actress Alfre Ette Woodard was in the country for a one-week workshop with African filmmakers and actors that ended July 16.
Woodward was part of the visiting delegation from The Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences (presenters of the ‘OSCARS’) who have participated in the ‘One Fine Day Film Workshop’ workshop, as part of their East African Outreach program.
The Academy's International Outreach program brings delegations of visiting film artists to countries with developing film industries, as well as creating opportunities for creative conversations between emerging and established filmmakers from many nations.
The Academy delegation included producer Stephanie Allain, cinematographer John Bailey, sound mixer Willie Burton, editor Carol Littleton; writer-director Phil Robinson, production designer Wynn Thomas, and Ellen Harrington, the Academy’s director of exhibitions and special events.
Besides the educational and cultural exchange with African filmmakers in Kenya Woodward who is a twelve-time Emmy nominee and a five time winner has Kenyan roots.
Her in-laws are the Douglas Hamiltons who are based in Naivasha. Dr. Iain Douglas and Oria have two daughters Saba and Mara Moon, known as Dudu.
Woodward said, “I have tried to come to Kenya for the last 30 years. I have in-laws here in Kenya, Douglas Hamilton, Oria, Dudu and Saba. I have big families all over and it seems so far but I have been to South Africa for an event and spent a lot of time and I always want to get here.”
Adding, “I hope to come back in Christmas and now that I’m here I’m so grateful and excited.”


Marvis, Iain Douglas Hamilton and Alfre

The actress who is famed for role in Desperate Housewife was thrown by the beauty and hospitality in the country.
“When I got here, standing under the Kenyan sky and looking at the soil, this colour is so organic and rich, the people have beautiful skin, and I’m humbled.
The sheer beauty is amazing; any cinematographer would love it here. Kenya has a magic hour, which lasts for five hours something that is rare in America.”
Though the True Blood series has not yet aired on Kenyan TV stations, many urban series enthusiasts have watched the vampire series. Something Woodward hadn’t done before her nieces and nephews egged her on to be part of the show.
“I never watched it. I meet Nelsan Ellis who plays Lafayette in the series at a Hollywood party where my daughter Mavis (Spencer) who was chosen Miss Golden Globe (for The 67th annual Golden Globe Awards) was in attendance. This guy walked up to me wearing a fedora and said, ‘I would love to work with you on True Blood. I would love you to be my mama.’ You know, all actors tell each other that, I did not know if he really meant it.
I told him ‘Yes I would love to.’ He then replied, ‘You would have to play the mother of a gay son who is a demented, racist bigot.’ And I said to him, I could play that. And we laughed about it.


On the set of True Blood

“A week later my manager calls me and tells me, ‘No disrespect but there is a small role on True Blood and Nielsan insist that it is you he wants for the role’ he was very polite he thought I would be insulted but was very surprised when I said I would do it.
“Even the producer Allan Ball said he would write some more. All I asked was the role good? And they said it was. So I said I will do it. There is nothing like too small a role as long as it’s good.”
And that is how she joined the cast of True Blood as Ruby, Lafayette’s mother in the third season. She also shared the secrets to longevity and success in her illustrious career on TV.
“When I came into the industry, I came with an idea of having longevity. With any discipline you have to turn your talent to skill and keep your motives pure. It is similar to investments you could make buckets of money in the short-term investments or you could invest in stocks.”



She made her film debut in Alan Rudolph’s Remember My Name (1978) and went on to appear in Robert Altman’s Health (1980) and Martin Ritt’s Cross Creek (1983), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Other films include Morgan Freeman’s South African drama Bopha! (1993), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Maya Angelou’s Down In The Delta (1998) and Love & Basketball (2000). Woodard’s work on television has garnered her five Emmy Awards.



“We are descendants of griots, we are still story tellers. We stood up in told stories entertaining the rest who sat around in the campfire. For me it is a service to pay rent to be in service of man. It lets me serve and give a voice to the to the people I play.”
Woodward’s participation in the outreach programme saw her partnered with Chun Mei Tan who is a film-acting connoisseur in the Film/Acting master classes.
The acting workshop saw 12 actors work with the two in basic acting, character creation and various relaxation exercises to help them “surrender to the creative principle, to be able o take on anther personality to help tell the story.”

She is in a new TV series Memphis Beat. Here is the promo