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Beau's Journey » 2008 » January » 27

Archive: January 27th, 2008

January 28, 2008: HELL FROZE OVER???? Say it isn’t so!!!!


 From today, feel free to download another 25 million songs – legally

  After a decade fighting to stop illegal file-sharing, the music industry will give fans today what they have always wanted: an unlimited supply of free and legal songs.

  With CD sales in free fall and legal downloads yet to fill the gap, the music industry has reluctantly embraced the file-sharing technology that threatened to destroy it. Qtrax, a digital service announced today, promises a catalogue of more than 25 million songs that users can download to keep, free and with no limit on the number of tracks.

  The service has been endorsed by the very same record companies – including EMI, Universal Music and Warner Music – that have chased file-sharers through the courts in a doomed attempt to prevent piracy. The gamble is that fans will put up with a limited amount of advertising around the Qtrax website’s jukebox in return for authorised use of almost every song available.

  The service will use the “peer-to-peer” network, which contains not just hit songs but rarities and live tracks from the world’s leading artists.

  Nor is a lack of compatibility with the iPod player expected to put fans off. Apple is unlikely to allow tracks downloaded from its rival to be compatible with iPods, but, while the iPod is the most popular music player, it has not succeeded in dominating the market: sales of the iPod account for 50 million out of 130 million total digital player sales. Qtrax has also spoken of an “iPod solution”, to be announced in April.

  Qtrax files contain Digital Rights Management software, allowing the company to see how many times a song has been downloaded and played. Artists, record companies and publishers will be paid in proportion to the popularity of their music, while also taking a cut of advertising revenues.

  The Qtrax team, which spent five years working on the system, promised a “game-changing” intervention in the declining recorded music market when the service was presented at the Midem music industry convention in Cannes.

  The singer James Blunt gave Qtrax a cautious welcome. “I’m amazed that we now accept that people steal music,” he said. “I was taught not to steal sweets from a sweet shop. But I want to learn how this service works, given the condition the music industry is in.”

  Qtrax, a subsidiary of Brilliant Technologies Corporation, has raised $30 million (£15 million) to set up the service, which is available in the US and Europe from today. Allan Klepfisz, president of Qtrax, said: “Customers now expect music to be free but they do not want to use illegal sites. We believe this . . . has the support of the music industry and allows artists to get paid.”

  Ford, McDonald’s and Microsoft are among the advertisers signed up to support what is thought to be the world’s largest legal music store. The service says that adverts will be nonintrusive and will not appear each time a song is played. As with iTunes, customers will have to download Qtrax software. They will own the songs permanently but will be encouraged to “dock” their player with the store every 30 days so it can gather information on which songs have been played.

  Jean-Bernard Levy, chief executive of Vivendi Universal, said the crisis in the music industry had been overstated despite EMI’s radical cost-cutting. He said: “Look at Universal – we have double-digit profit margins. But we would like strong competition from the other major record companies to help the industry grow.” Universal has poached the Rolling Stones from EMI and Mr Levy said that others could follow as thousands of staff and artists are made redundant.

  On the appearance of Qtrax, Mr Levy gave warning that the lack of compatibility between competing digital music players was as big a problem as file-sharing. And Paul McGuinness, the manager of U2, said that the sound quality of MP3 downloads was becoming an issue for bands and fans. “There is a growing consumer revolt against online audio quality,” he said.

  To download music http://www.qtrax.com/

 

 

January 27, 2008: Lucy…ahhhhhh so cute!

  Kristy sent me these photographs of Lucy!  I love the blanket one.  🙂


Yeah, I figured as much

 


AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW  TOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!

 

January 27, 2008: Tech Minute…WildCharge

WildCharge, the first wire-free charging and power solutions for consumer electronics and other mobile devices was selected as one of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions Of The Year 2007!!

Available now, WildCharge presents its groundbreaking WildCharger™ charging pad. Also available are WildCharge™ adapters that allow most Motorola RAZR V3 phones to draw power wirelessly from the WildCharger pad.

In the next few months, WildCharge will introduce adapters for other leading mobile phones, smart phones and music players. These include adapters for RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone and iPod family of products and more.

The WildCharger™ pad can simultaneously charge and power up to five such devices once these are enabled with our adapters (or have our technology built-in during manufacture.) WildCharge products eliminate messy, tangled wires and multiple wall bricks. Convenient to use. Good for the environment!

January 27, 2008: Adding comments to blog postings (for those wondering)

   I know everyone isn’t internet savy soooo….if you click on the NO COMMENTS button it will bring up the post you are currently reading.  You can then scroll down to the bottom of the page and add a comment.  🙂  That is how that works.  You can also click on the title bar of each post and it will pull up just that day’s happenings – you can then add comments to the bottom of the page.  I can then read those comments.

🙂

 

January 27, 2008: Back to Waterloo…

  Well it is time to head back to Waterloo.  It has been a fun trip up north (aren’t we already up north).  Huntsville, Ontario is a great place to visit.  You can learn more about it on this web-site (just click).  More about Canadian Pond Hockey here.  🙂  It will be a four hour trip home.  Looks like rain – YES RAIN – in the forecast for Tuesday.  🙁  SNOW on Wednesday with high winds (another snow squall???).  Then more rain/snow/ice after that.  VERY active storm pattern setting up across the United States.  Everything from severe weather to snowstorms.

 


My last picture from Deerhurst 🙂 

 


OK – sooooo ONE MORE PHOTO!!!!  I love the trees with the snow hanging off of them!

 

 


If you ever get a chance to eat at Moose Winooski’s then don’t pass up the opportunity.  Go for the ribs and
chicke wings.  🙂  Slurp!  Messy but good.

 


GIANT Moose out front.  I FINALLY GOT MY MOOSE.  I have been waiting for EIGHT years to see a moose up here in Canada.

 


Joey checking out the menu

 

January 26, 2008: Deerhurst and Huntsville, Ontario

  We went into Hunstville to take a look around.  They have a lot of cool shops.  There is a bookstore (visited it once before a few summers ago).  I call this the cottage bookstore.  Everyone goes here to find a book to read at the cottage.  I am sure they are busy in the summertime with all the Toronto folk coming up to visit the lakes.  In the winter I bet they stay busy with local people who don’t like to get out in the snow.  Cozy up to a warm fireplace and read a book.


The Bookcase – great place to visit

 


This Christian Church sits up on a hill in Huntsville

 


Church

 

 


We had to stop by the Chocolate shop!!!!

 

 


MORE CANDY than anyone could possibly EVER eat. 

 


Huntsville, Ontario

 


SOME VERY LONG ICICLES!!!!!

 


DAVID trying to stab me with a GIANT icicle.  The evidence would actually melt…the perfect crime????

 


SNOWSHOES ANYONE?????

 


So we kept seeing this restaurant on the way to Huntsville.  We finally decided that curiosity was getting
the best of us.  Sooooo we stopped by to eat.  They actually had GREAT FOOD.  3 Men and a Stove is the name
of the place.  Great steaks!

 


3 Men and a Stove

 


I guess that is the stove????

 

 

 


Joey trying to figure out what he wants to eat.  Probably tired of me taking his picture with the menu.

 


Joey and David walking in the snow…heading towards the cottage

 

 


One of the local "snow" kids.  Can you imagine living up here????  🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

 


Huntsville, Ontario – Canada

 


And more Pond Hockey at the end of the day. 

 

 

January 26, 2008: Snow Mobiling! Snow and more Snow!

  We spent most of the afternoon out on the snow mobiles.  I think this is probably the number one sport for me.  Sport?  Whatever you want to call it.  A machine in the snow – cold air blowing through your hair – through the forest – up and down hills!  Works for me.  Beautiful landscapes up here.  Snow covered trees – dripping with snow.  🙂

  It snowed all day…light fluffy snow.  Nothing heavy.  Looks like rain next week in Waterloo.

 


David on his snowmobile

 


Joey and David

 

 


SNOW DRIPPING FROM THE TREES!!!

 

 


That would be me…errr my snow mobile at least.

 


David in the lead…

 


David

 

 


That would be me 🙂

 


Me again…

 


SNOW SNOW SNOW AND MORE SNOW SNOW SNOW

 

 


Ontario 🙂

 

 


Joey and David racing down the trails…

 

 

 


Joey and David

 

 

 

 

 

 


Deerhurst, Ontario

 


David and Joey

 

January 25, 2008: Huntsville, Ontario – Ski Country

January 25, 2008

  Writing from the cottage.  No internet here…so will post this later.  It is beautiful up here in Huntsville, Ontario.   We are a few hours north of Toronto.  Perhaps three hours?  Snow – Snow – and MORE Snow!  The trees are just caked with snow.   This place reminds me of Evergreen, Colorado.  J  It snowed all the way here.  Light – fluffy snow.  Lot of blowing snow across the road.  Those wavy, snaking, blowing lines of snow that you see during a good winter storm when it is just starting to crank up.  Always reminds me of sand blowing across the road. 

  The snow here is dry.  It looks like the fake snow that you might see at Christmas in a store front.  It is supposed to snow all weekend.  Hopefully!

  We are going to ride snow mobiles tomorrow.  I am a big fan of the snow mobile.  Not a huge fan of downhill skiing – cross country is nice though.  Snow mobiles, though,  are definitely my favorite winter sport.

  Speaking of winter sports – they are having a HUGE pond hockey festival here.  We didn’t realize that until we got here.  Hundreds (thousands?) of people are here to view the event.  CTV was even here.  So we know that means it must be a big deal! 

  We went into town  (Huntsville) to watch the movie “The Bucket List”.  Great movie…if you haven’t seen it then try to go see it or rent it.  I made my bucket list years ago.  Slowly but surely I am crossing things off the list.  When you are given a second chance at life you tend to look at everything a bit differently.  Doesn’t mean there isn’t ups and downs because god knows there is.  It just means that you remind yourself what is and isn’t important.  You have to follow your passion – pursue your passion  – make your passion reality.     Anyway – thee stars for that movie (out of five).

Photos from today 🙂


Pond Hockey weekend at Deerhurst.  Apparently there were 17 countries represented.  Hockey people 🙂
come from everywhere. 

 

 

 


Some extremely large icicles!! 

 

 


I would love to take this four wheeler out onto the ice.  🙂

 


Red Bull anyone???  That would last me 5 years.  I would be bouncing off the walls.

 


OK – Could we just transport this down to Western Kentucky.

 


David walking in the snow

 


CTV was there.  You know it is a big event when CTV is there.  They are the CNN of the north.

 


Snow – Snow – Snow – Snow – Snow – Snow – Snow – Snow – Snow – Snow