Michael Castellon

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Merry Christmas, from way out here https://www.instagram.com/p/DO4GdyOEvAE/ My #Maine squeeze 🦞🇺🇸 Happy birthday to the most amazing woman in my life. Your love, laughter, and kindness make every day brighter. Here’s to celebrating you and all the joy you bring to everyone around you. https://www.instagram.com/p/DE0AEGvPk0b/ After hundreds of hours in the Texas sky, I can say this: the quiet charm of small-town airports never fades. ✈️ #flying #aopa #eaa #aviation https://www.instagram.com/p/DC-lpVgtZg9/ https://www.instagram.com/p/DBXe_dsvXQ6/ https://www.instagram.com/p/DAOPYsOPboq/

  • Is file sharing really America’s problem?

    Google Trends proves what we all have known for a long time – file sharing is not necessarily a problem localized to just the United States. In fact, in many instances, searches for file-sharing apps in other nations drastically outpace those in the U.S.

    For years the RIAA have attempted to reform American copyright laws in an attempt to curb what they consider gross piracy among Americans. They have even lobbied to push those laws overseas in an attempt to create a more uniform code of laws that will prevent piracy globally.

    However, who is really using the internet to pirate copyrighted materials? Using Google Trends, I set out to answer, or at least address, this very question.

    Who is using Google to search for bit torrent? Take a look at the results here:

    1. Vancouver Canada
    2. Manchester United Kingdom
    3. Edinburgh United Kingdom
    4. Perth Australia
    5. Sydney Australia
    6. Toronto Canada
    7. Sheffield United Kingdom
    8. Birmingham United Kingdom
    9. Montreal Canada
    10. Santiago Chile

    U.S. cities don’t appear at all on this list of top 10 cities/countries producing search inquiries into the popular fire sharing method.

    Next, let’s see who is searching for Limewire, another widely used file sharing client:

    1. Edinburgh United Kingdom
    2. Manchester United Kingdom
    3. Brisbane Australia
    4. Birmingham United Kingdom
    5. Perth Australia
    6. Sydney Australia
    7. Montreal Canada
    8. Toronto Canada
    9. Amsterdam Netherlands
    10. Melbourne Australia

    Again, we see the U.S. doesn’t even appear in the top 10 cities/countries searching for Limewire using Google. Countries searching for MP3 are also surprising:

    1. Izmir Turkey
    2. Ankara Turkey
    3. Istanbul Turkey
    4. Warsaw Poland
    5. Buenos Aires Argentina
    6. Guangzhou Mainland China
    7. Nanjing Mainland China
    8. Beijing Mainland China
    9. Santiago Chile
    10. Hangzhou Mainland China

    It should be noted that piracy cannot be solely measured on Google search terms by region. But, this does offer ample evidence that a very large amount of users overseas are out-searching Americans for popular piracy-related materials. And while Google Trends is still in beta and its reliability isn’t 100 percent, it’s important to keep examining web trends to determine the truth.

  • iTunes has Red Hot Chili Peppers fans red hot angry

    RHCP fans are miffed at Apple iTunes for apparently not receiving codes that make them eligible for concert ticket pre-sales as promised:

    A large number of Apple Computer’s iTunes customers, who paid in advance for rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers’ new album “Stadium Arcadium” in order to receive a Ticketmaster code that would allow them to purchase advance tickets for the bands upcoming tour, did not receive those codes before ticket pre-sales began on Tuesday and are now enraged with the iPod maker.

    Hundreds of the angry iTunes customers are convening on the company’s support forms, demanding to know why they did not receive their Ticketmaster pre-sale code Monday evening as Apple had led them to believe.

    via AppleInsider

    While fans have reason to be upset it should first be determined who is reponsible for the blunder. It may be a problem that falls on the ticket broker in the event they didn’t properly distribute the codes to purchasers following the sale. Either way, this is going to be a marketing and public relations headache for all entities involved.



  • Blogging Ruidoso

    Ruidoso, N.M. is under a heavy fire advisory. Nearly every public area in Lincoln National Forest is closed for hiking and camping. Fishing has been restricted to the north side of the Grindstone Reservoir.

    My Flickr photoset of Ruidoso (click for slideshow):

    The forest floors we examined we covered in several inches of kindling. The monsoon season, still two months away, is expected to be of little help in delivering moisture. Ruidoso, it seems, is going to burn very soon.

    Our plans to camp near Sierra Blanca or Mt. Capitan squashed, Lauren and I took refuge at a cabin in town. We grilled a lot, and sampled a lot of local microbrews.

    Here are my recommendations if you ever find yourself here:

    cabins:
    Apache Village

    restaurant:
    Michelena’s (by far the best restaurant in Ruidoso)

    Resources:
    Ruidoso fishing
    Lincoln County fire conditions

  • Apple threatens legal action against Web site that links to user manual

    Something Awful has received a cease and desist order from Apple threatening legal action if a link from the site to the MacBook Pro’s user manual is not removed.

    Apparently, a SA user posted a link to the manual while attempting to help other users resolve the ongoing problem of MacBook Pro’s disassembly/heat problem:

    May 2, 2006

    Re: Infringement of Apple’s Intellectual Property Rights webmaster@somethingawful.com

    Dear WebMaster:

    Apple Computer, Inc. (“Apple”) recently noticed that Apple’s copyrighted material is available for download at your website http://somethingawful.com. Specifically, there is a link to Apple’s Service Source manual for the MacBook Pro in the discussion thread at http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh…readid=1864582.

    The Service Source manual for the MacBook Pro is Apple’s intellectual property and is protected by U.S. copyright law. Linking to the manual on your website is an infringement of Apple’s copyrights. We therefore must insist that you immediately take all necessary steps to remove the Service Source manual and any other Apple copyrighted material from your site and to prevent further unauthorized use or distribution of Apple intellectual property.

    The site’s WebMaster posted this response:

    NOTHING, I repeat, NOTHING is even hosted on SA. All we have is a link going to somebody else’s webspace. I guess Apple has no clue how the Internet even works; they should be threatening to sue the ISP hosting the horribly illegal service manual, not some guy who runs a forum where his forum members are TRYING TO HELP people fix issues with their faulty Apple computers. I replied to Apple and told them basically to screw off because I’m not doing anything illegal. All I got back was a standard form letter, so who knows if they even bothered reading it.

    Read more here.

  • iPods help trapped miners pass the time

    From The Australian:

    The two trapped Tasmanian miners have been given iPod music players to help them pass the time as workers wait to begin drilling their rescue tunnel.

    Brant Webb, 37, and Todd Russell, 34, are now into their eighth day trapped 925m underground in the Beaconsfield gold mine.

    Rescuers will begin using a raise borer this afternoon to drill through the final 12m of rock to reach the men, who have been huddled in a steel cage since being trapped by a rock fall on April 25. (more)

    I wonder what they’re listening to. I might recommend Enya for such circumstances.



  • Cash’s final song set for July 4 release

    Producer Rick Rubin has announced that Johnny Cash’s final songs will be released on “American V” July 4:

    “These songs are Johnny’s final statement,” Rubin says. “They are the truest reflection of the music that was central to his life at the time. This is the music that Johnny wanted us to hear.”

    A song utilizing one of Cash’s favorite subjects, trains, “Like the 309” is one of two original songs on the disc. The other, “I Came to Believe,” was written and recorded earlier in his career about addiction and salvation through a higher power. (more)

  • Daou on Colbert

    Peter Daou has posted his take on Stephen Colbert’s performance at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner:

    The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was televised on C-Span Saturday evening. Featured entertainer Stephen Colbert delivered a biting rebuke of George W. Bush and the lily-livered press corps. He did it to Bush’s face, unflinching and unbowed by the audience’s muted, humorless response. Democratic Underground members commented in real time.
    …
    Bush’s clownish banter with reporters – which is on constant display during press conferences – stands in such stark contrast to his administration’s destructive policies and to the gravity of the bloodbath in Iraq that it is deeply unsettling to watch. This may be impolitic, but wouldn’t refraining from frat-style horseplay be appropriate for this man? Or at the least, can’t reporters suppress their raucous laughter every time he blurts out another jibe… the way they did when Colbert put them in their place? (more)

  • McDonald’s offers DVD’s to go

    In what should prove to be an interesting marketing scheme, McDonald’s is dabbling in including DVD dispensing machines at some locations:

    McDonald’s is experimenting with a new venture — movie rentals.

    The DVD’s are dispensed from a big red vending machine about the size of a soda machine.

    The machines, run by McDonald’s subsidiary Redbox Automated Retail, are being tried in Mickey D’s in six cities in an experiment to see whether they drive more customers into the stores.

    Each “Redbox” holds 500 disks and includes a touch screen so customers can pick a movie, and a credit-card reader for paying the $1-a-night fee. They don’t take cash. Customers return the movies at the machine.

    McDonald’s came up with the idea in 2003.

    Rental chain Movie Gallery is experimenting with DVD rental machines, too, saying the machines will make rental transactions easier for customers and make its stores more efficient. (more

    Kids love McDonald’s, and they love movies. They also love machines that dispense stuff. It’s my guess this could be a pretty successful contraption.