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The NewsDemon Blog
Newsdemon.com Extends T-Shirt Program
By Newsgroup Usenet September 17th, 2008
Newsdemon.com announced today that it will extend it’s current T-Shirt program until October 31st. Any new users who sign up for select unlimited plans are automatically eligible to choose t-shirts between three colors and a variety of sizes. T-Shirts are also shipped free to new customers.
The original promotion, which began on September 1st, was originally scheduled to end by September 31st. Due to the enormous demand and success, Newsdemon.com has extended the free t-shirt program until October 31st. Simply a sign-up for one of Newsdemon.com’s flexible unlimited plans automatically qualifies new members for the t-shirt alongside free shipping .
Coupled with this offer, you also receive all of Newsdemon.com’s member benefits including:
-Blazing Speed
-20 Simultaneous Connections
-SSL Encrypted
-115 Day Binary Retention
-700+ Text Retention
-Excellent Support
-99.9% Completion
Others can qualify as well by assisting in Newsdemon.com’s Free Usenet Program. The program was created to grow awareness of Usenet specifically for Universities and Charities. Qualifying candidates include webmasters, active members of forums, social networks, blogs and others. Details are located in the Newsdemon.com Free Usenet Program offer.
These incentives are all part of the Newsdemon.com campaign to expand awareness of Usenet and to help expand the community. Newsdemon continues to push ahead as a leading provider of Usenet services and Newsgroup access. With this extended offer, Newsdemon.com expects a continuing success in maintaining customer satisfaction.
DRM through DECE without Mickey
By Newsgroup Usenet September 15th, 2008
A consortium of leading studios, including Warner Bros, Sony, NBC Universal, Fox Entertainment, Paramount and Lionsgate, has teamed up with Microsoft to develop an industry-standard digital media framework – excluding Disney because of its association with Apple.
Initially, more than 20 companies will be involved in the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) – a digital rights management initiative to standardise the acquisition and playback of content across a range of services and devices. This could lead to the development of a rival to Apple’s digital entertainment retail store iTunes.
In addition to the above studios, other DECE launch partners will include Alcatel-Lucent, Best Buy, Cisco, Comcast, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Philips, Toshiba and VeriSign.
The consortium will aim to “address growing consumer confusion around buying, downloading and playing digital content offered by multiple services by working towards a simple, uniform digital media experience.”
Over time, DECE will issue a licensable specification, along with a recognisable brand and logo for compliant products and services, which it says will “assure consumers that content they download will play on their devices.” The specification, based on mutually agreed industry standards, will outline the hardware and software requirements for companies to follow.
New Zune Software Slated For Release
By Newsgroup Usenet September 12th, 2008
A significant software upgrade for Microsoft’s Zune music player will be available next week. It will not garner the attention of Apple’s recent iPod news, but the changes are notable and worth consideration if you want a new portable music option.
Zune and other music competitors remain well behind the iPod in market share, yet Microsoft is doing some interesting things and have a more robust view of music that Apple has so far overlooked. Zune’s software upgrade will be available to download and shipped on new devices starting Sept. 16.
Here’s what’s new:
Buy from FM. The Zune has a built-in FM radio. So if you hear a song you like while listening to the Zune’s radio, you can tag it and the song will download to the Zune the next time you dock the device. This is similar to the HD Radio feature called iTunes tagging. I’ve tested that and it works great.
Zune Pass improved. Microsoft has always embraced the music subscription approach (Apple does not), and if you pay $15 a month for the Zune Pass, you’ll find that the feature for discovering new music has been significantly enhanced. You can download songs that stay on your device, as always; but with a subscription, you also can choose among 3.5 million songs to listen to at anytime.
Channels. These are programmed playlists that will change regularly. Channels will include songs suggested by top music programmers at radio stations, a selection from the Billboard Top 100, genre categories like folk, rock, hip-hop, etc., and even music for workouts. If you have Zune Pass, these channels will be refreshed with new music weekly.
Picks. These are songs recommended for you, based on what you like. In one respect, this is similar to the Genius program Apple offers on iTunes 8, but the difference is that when Apple suggests a song you like, you need to buy it. If you have Zune Pass (yes, you pay $15 a month), you can download and listen to full versions of as many songs as you want.
Social. You can listen to what your friends like. If one of your buddies always is the first to listen to some cool music, Zune can deliver those songs to your device.
There are more capabilities, but the real news is that Microsoft continues to distinguish Zune as an alternative approach to music. It’s a fine player if you take the traditional approach — load your CD collection onto the player or buy digital music online — but if you really like music discovery, Microsoft’s subscription plan is a great bonus.
A Kirk-less Star Trek
By Newsgroup Usenet September 12th, 2008
If you’ve been waiting for the announcement that William Shatner’s James T. Kirk would be making an appearance in the upcoming new Star Trek flick…er, don’t hold your breath.According to a recent interview with Star Trek director J.J. Abrams, Shatner was written into the film for a cameo, but refused to agree to anything but a pivotal co-starring role so it was nixed.
“It was very tricky,” Abrams said. “We actually had written a scene with him in it that was a flashback kind of thing, but the truth is, it didn’t quite feel right. The bigger thing was that he was very vocal that he didn’t want to do a cameo. We tried desperately to put him in the movie, but he was making it very clear that he wanted the movie to focus on him significantly, which, frankly, he deserves. The truth is, the story that we were telling required a certain adherence to the Trek canon and consistency of storytelling. It’s funny — a lot of the people who were proclaiming that he must be in this movie were the same people saying it must adhere to canon. Well, his character died on screen. Maybe a smarter group of filmmakers could have figured out how to resolve that.”
Record TiVo With Your Blackberry
By Newsgroup Usenet September 12th, 2008
Research in Motion is turning the BlackBerry into a fully featured digital media entertainment centre.
A series of agreements with companies like TiVo, Ticketmaster, Slacker, MySpace and Microsoft will bring new digital content and media services to the company’s BlackBerry wireless platform.
The new relationship between TiVo and RIM will, for example, allow BlackBerry smartphone users to see what shows are on TV and let them schedule recordings while away from home.
The companies say they will focus on software applications to simplify mobile access to video content in the future.
Slacker and RIM, meanwhile, will enable users to hear their favorite Slacker radio stations wherever they go – even when not connected to a wireless network.
As well, RIM and Ticketmaster have announced a live entertainment agreement, letting BlackBerry users browse music listings, listen to sample cuts, and finally, purchase tickets to related live event.
“TiVo subscribers will soon be able to wirelessly control their TiVo DVRs using a BlackBerry smartphone – anytime, anywhere – and that is a powerful example of how our respective technologies can complement each other to serve our mutual customers,” said Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research In Motion. “As the BlackBerry smartphone continues its evolution as a modern lifestyle device, the importance of home entertainment integration will continue to grow and TiVo will be the key in providing consumers with greater flexibility in accessing television content.”
“TiVo continues to transform and revolutionize the way people control and watch television and broadband video,” said Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo Inc. “RIM and TiVo share a commitment to great user experiences, which cause our products to become seamlessly integrated into the consumer’s lifestyle. We also share a vision for the future of mobile entertainment services and we look forward to a variety of future innovations as a result of this relationship.”
The first software application from RIM and TiVo is expected to be available later this year. Under terms of the Ticketmaster agreement, RIM’s popular suite of BlackBerry smartphones was exclusively designated as the “Official Smartphone of Ticketmaster.”
With this agreement, Ticketmaster moves beyond the physical ticket to providing wireless, fan-friendly convenience with BlackBerry.
BlackBerry users will be able to browse, search, and purchase tickets to live entertainment while on the go, the companies describe.
Extra! Extra! Google Goes Newspaper
By Newsgroup Usenet September 9th, 2008
Google has started an ambitious project to digitally archive millions of pages of old newspapers.
In 2006, Google started working with the New York Times and the Washington Post to index existing digital archives and make them searchable via Google’s search technology. The new effort expands that initiative, with the goal of reaching every story ever printed, “from the smallest local weekly paper up to the largest national daily,” according to a post on Google’s official blog.
“For more than 200 years, matters of local and national significance have been conveyed in newsprint–from revolutions and politics to fashion to local weather or high school football scores. Around the globe, we estimate that there are billions of news pages containing every story ever written. And it’s our goal to help readers find all of them,” wrote Punit Soni, a product manager at Google, on Google’s blog.
Google plans to archive the stories exactly as they appeared on the original paper, not just text versions. The stories would include original photographs, headlines and advertisements as well.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company is partnering with ProQuest and Heritage, two online archiving companies, on the project.
“You’ll be able to explore this historical treasure trove by searching the Google News Archive or by using the timeline feature after searching Google News . Not every search will trigger this new content, but you can start by trying queries like [Nixon space shuttle] or [Titanic located],” Soni wrote on the blog. “Over time, as we scan more articles and our index grows, we’ll also start blending these archives into our main search results so that when you search Google.com, you’ll be searching the full text of these newspapers as well.”
Apple Unveils New Line of iPod and iTouch
By Newsgroup Usenet September 9th, 2008
Apple has taken the wraps of the latest version of its iPod Nano and Touch, with Steve Jobs making a joke about the recent leaks that initally broke the news of the new version.
Speaking about the announcements, Jobs said: “We’re confident that this line up will give us the strongest product range we’ve ever had in the lead up to the holiday season.”
The new iPod Nano is set to recieve a major overhaul, with the Apple detailing the thinnest-ever device, with it set to feature the accelerometer from the iPhone and iPod touch.
The addition of the device means that can now display content not just in portrait mode, but also in landscape mode when tilted. The technology is also at the centre of the model’s Shuffle mode, with users shaking the device to enable it.
Jobs revealed that the new Nano will come in 8GB and 16GB devices, with them shipping by the end of next week. The new iPod Touch would ship with 8GB, 16GB and 32GB models.
A recent criticism of the firm has been battery life problems on the iPhone, with Jobs revealing that the new Nano will have 24 hours of battery life when it comes to playing music and four hours for video. The iPod Touch is set to benefit from 36 hours of music life and six hours of video.
One thing that is likely to appeal to customers is the wide variety of colours, with around nine various colors available.
The Large Hadron Collider Atom Smasher
By Newsgroup Usenet September 9th, 2008
On Wednesday, 10 September 2008, a massive physics machine will begin spinning up. After that, things could get very interesting…
We are, of course, talking about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — a 17 Miles underground ring below the Swiss-French border that will see particle beams being hurled in opposite directions, traveling around the entire ring in less than 90 microseconds.
The first of these particle beams will be run through the ring on Wednesday — and then on 21 October two beams travelling in opposite directions are going to be placed in a collision course with each other.
And that’s what people are worried about.
Physicists are pretty sure that the resulting collision will allow them to finally see the theorised Higgs boson in action. Doomsayers fear a black hole could be formed and suck up the planet.
OK, that does sound suitably alarming and it’s not really that bad. But the LHC is still a very interesting piece of machinery.
In short, the machine could provide a miniature scale of the big bang theory in effect. It can provide an act of demonstration reflecting years of scientific theories. Or, for the very conservative, the end of the world.
More tomorrow.
UPDATE: 9:30. First beam injected and stopped at 1/8 of a circuit. Loud applause in the control room. The world is safe for now.
Sport your support for Usenet with a free Newsdemon T-Shirt
By Newsgroup Usenet September 4th, 2008
You now have the opportunity to sport a cool and stylish Newsdemon.com t-shirt when you sign up for our unlimited plan.
In a continuing effort to grow awareness of the benefits Usenet has to offer, we’re offering a Newsdemon.com t-shirt absolutely free for any of our new customers that sign up for our unlimited plan.
Be the envy of the neighborhood by owning our limited edition Newsdemon.com t-shirt while helping a good cause to grow the ever expanding world of the Usenet community.
You can also be eligible by assisting in our Free Usenet Program designed for Universities and Charities by promoting awareness of Usenet. Send us your links of our banners on your site, forum or blog and we’ll send you your choice of color and size t-shirt right to your door. We’ll even pay for shipping!
Newsdemon.com is dedicated to our users and the Usenet community. Newsdemon is known for blazing speeds, high completion rates, retention and outstanding support. With this offer, you now gain a long lasting stylish t-shirt as well!
What are you waiting for? Supplies are limited and this giveaway ends either way by September 31st, so don’t delay! Sign up now for our premium Usenet unlimited plan and join the largest community network on the planet. Newsdemon.com
Newsdemon Now Offers 50% More Bandwidth
By Newsgroup Usenet September 4th, 2008
On September 1st, Newsdemon.com began offering new customers 50% more bandwidth per month on each of its plans. This special is available to all plans that remain at the same low price.
This limited time offer is part of the Newsdemon initiative to grow awareness to Usenet and to grow the community.
Almost 30 years ago, the foundation of Usenet was created by two college grads. Since then, Usenet has grown to become one of the largest online community.
Newsdemon.com is proud to announce that all new customers will now receive 50% more bandwidth per month on any available plan. Additionally, the 50% more GB per month offer continues each additional month of uninterrupted service.
As stated before, this offer is for a limited time. If you’ve been thinking about joining Usenet, or if you’re a season veteran of the Usenet community – now is your time to join now at this low price for America’s #1 Usenet provider – Newsdemon.com