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Looking for ham radio themed movies? I had missed this one.

Making Waves is a 2004 comedy product of British writer, director and editor Nicolas van Pallandt.  Van Pallandt is best known for his TV work.

The movie’s tagline is, "Some people will go to any wavelengths for a date".

The plot involves two hams that have a romance that begun over the air. Hey, it could happen.

NTSC copies can sometimes be found on eBay. It is also available for rent from Netflix.

Squeeze your cheeks together, here comes another round of rampant corporate greed. Not surprisingly, the FCC is in the middle of this one too. It is worth your time to read the complete article, particularly if you were an HDTV "early adopter".

At the request of theatrical film makers, the Federal Communications Commission on Friday quietly launched a proceeding on whether to let video program distributors remotely block consumers from recording recently released movies on their DVRs. The technology that does this is called Selectable Output Control (SOC), but the FCC restricts its use. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) wants a waiver on that restriction in the case of high-definition movies broadcast prior to their release as DVDs. (Read more)

SOURCE:arstechnica.com

So, you just had to be an early adopter and bought a HD-DVD player before the “standard” was established. What do you do now that Toshiba has thrown in the towel and the HD-DVD format has become the Betamax of the twenty-first century? Do you also own a Minidisc player and a Laser Disc player?

The option you will like most is to try to make the best of the situation by converting your movie collection to Blu-ray. Consider that you may also get some extra deep discounts on HD-DVD formatted movies as they are blown out of retailer’s inventories.

The first step is to buy a Blu-ray recorder. You can then make copies from HD-DVD to Blu-ray. WIRED’s wiki has some good advise for you as you Convert Your HD DVDs to Blu-ray.

If you have joined the ranks of big-screen LCD, or plasma, TV owners, you may have had thoughts of hanging that beauty on a wall, or even a (not recommended for obvious reasons) ceiling.

The Wired How-To Wiki, a collaborative site dedicated to the burgeoning DIY culture, has a stub about just that.

The very useful tips are at: Hang a Flatscreen

Pounding another nail into the HD-DVD coffin, Wal-Mart will only be selling Sony’s hi-def movie discs in all of their 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores. This is like the old VHS/Betamax war where it was all about who has the program material, rather than any technical issues determining the survivor. Only this time, Sony is looking like it will be the winner

National discount retailer Wal-Mart announced Friday that it had decided to only sell Sony’s Blu-ray hi-definition movie discs, and will phase out Toshiba’s competing HD-DVD formatted discs over the next several months.

Wal-Mart said that by June, its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores would sell only Blu-ray discs and Blu-ray hardware players. Blu-ray and Toshiba’s HD-DVD format are not compatible. (Read more)

SOURCE: CNN.com

$99 Buys a Lot of Pocket Video Gadget Goodness. These mini video players are small on size but are big on features with full-size bright high-res screens and 8 hour battery life. They’re perfect for playing your favorite movies and music. Choose from the Neon M3 with heat sensitive glowing buttons and a 2.4 inch LCD screen or the Ice with a brushed aluminum finish and a slightly larger 2.8 inch display. Both have 2GB of storage built-in and can be expanded via memory card. They are available from ThinkGeek.

One of these and a set of earbuds would almost make junior high tolerable.

Opening in theaters nationwide [Friday, October 19, 2007], the feature film Rendition is about the CIA kidnapping of a fictional character, Anwar El-Ibrahimi. Unfortunately, the practice of extraordinary rendition is all too real.

The unlawful practice of “extraordinary rendition,” abducting foreign nationals for detention and interrogation in secret overseas prisons—has been used by CIA operatives since Sept. 11, and must be stopped.

Khaled El-Masri’s story is but one real-life example of the damaging effects of extraordinary rendition. El-Masri, an innocent German citizen, was on vacation in 2003 when he was kidnapped by the CIA. Black-clad masked men beat him, drugged him, and flew him to a secret prison in Afghanistan. He was held incommunicado for five months, long after his captors became aware of his innocence. (Read more)

This is the latest in the continuing saga of the RIAA’s Draconian marketing campaign.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today sent another new wave of 411 threatening letters to 19 universities nationwide.

The RIAA sent letters to these schools schools:

• Drexel University (17 letters)
• Indiana University (23)
• Northern Illinois University (25)
• Occidental College (19)
• State University of New York at Morrisville (18)
• Texas Christian University (20)
• Tufts University (15)
• University of Alabama (14)
• University of California
• Berkeley (19)
• University of Delaware (18)
• University of Georgia (13)
• University of Iowa (18)
• University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (20)
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln (13)
• University of New Hampshire (30)
• University of New Mexico (17)
• University of South Florida (43)
• University of Southern California (37)
• Vanderbilt University (32).

Each letter informs the school of a forthcoming copyright infringement suit against one of its students or personnel. The letter requests that university administrators forward the letter to the appropriate network user to allow the individuals the opportunity to promptly resolve the matter and avoid a lawsuit.

Universities could help avoid these legal battles by educating students about the widespread availability of legal sources of free music, including free music podcasts and Creative Commons licensed music.

SOURCE: Podcasting News

Is this the beginning of the end for YouTube?

Several of the world’s leading Internet and media companies today announced their joint support for a set of copyright guidelines for user-generated content designed to protect the intellectual property of content owners.

According to the companies, the principles offer a comprehensive set of guidelines to help user-generated content (UGC) services and content creators work together to bring more content to more consumers through legitimate channels. The companies supporting these principles include CBS Corp., Dailymotion, Fox Entertainment Group, Microsoft Corp., MySpace, NBC Universal, Veoh Networks Inc., Viacom Inc. and The Walt Disney Company.

Notably absent is Google, whose YouTube video sharing site led to these media companies coming together. (Read more)

Here is a sample of what you will find in the article 25 Interesting Things That You Learn About Computers Only in the Movies.

1. Word processors never display a cursor.

2. You never have to use the spacebar when typing long sentences.

3. All monitors display 2 inch high letters.

4. High-tech computers, such as those used by NASA, the CIA, or some such governmental institution, have easy-to-understand graphical interfaces.

5. Those that don’t will have incredibly powerful text-based command shells that can correctly understand and execute commands typed in plain English.