Remember Matt Harding, the guy who did a silly dance in various locations around the world and posted it on YouTube? He’s at it again in Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) — and this time, he gets the locals into the act. Dancing Japanese maids FTW.

On a side note, this is how to do viral video marketing right — all heart, no bullshit. I honestly want a pack of Stride gum now. That’s probably why Stride has been sponsoring Matt’s sojourns for two years running.

(Via On the internet Video Watch.)

Tags: Dance, marketing, Matt Harding, Stride, Where the Hell is Matt

Source: gadgetsnews.info

Despite having cell phones and MP3 players, most men I know cling tenaciously to the practice of carrying everything they need in their jacket pocket or distributed among various pockets of their pants (which, let’s be honest, can lead to less than attractive results). We just can’t seem to shake the notion that any carrying case other than a briefcase, messenger bag or backpack is a handbag, no matter what you call it. The “man purse” is still controversial here in the U.S., whatever the trend might be in Europe.

Until we’re able to erase from our collective memories the man-purse episode of Seinfeld, we can just be thankful that these days cell phones and MP3 players are offered in super trim and lightweight designs, and that there are even some items of clothing specially designed to hide our devices.

The MP3 Music T-Shirt by Music and Sons, is an ingeniously designed and stylish wearable for you and your music player. You’ve to look close to even see that it’s designed to hold your device. Your iPod or other MP3 player fits in a tiny pocket at the front of the t-shirt, and the special, short stereo earphones that come with the t-shirt connect to your player through an integrated cable, and pop out at the neck of the t-shirt in the back (see photos after the jump).

Source: gadgetsnews.info

What good is your iPhone or iPod touch if you can’t get to it? WindowSeat gives your device the best seat in the car by mounting handily at eye level on your car’s windshield or dashboard, putting all of your street maps, directions etc. safely in view and easily within reach. Attaches with silicone suction pads and allows easy access to dock connector and headphone jack. When you leave the vehicle, there’s a convenient corner-release which lets you easily detach your device to take it with you, while leaving the mount safely in place. A nice touch is the swiveling ball-and-socket joint which makes it easy to adjust the angle.

Conveniently, it can be used in conjunction with Griffin Technologys PowerJolt charger for iPhone and iPods.

Just out, you can pick it up for $29.99 at Griffin. Also available at Amazon.

Source: gadgetsnews.info

This compact device will store your favorite music for you to listen to whenever you feel like it. Don’t let this tiny shuffle fool you. Despite it’s size, it still manages to keep the maximum durability and memory size your looking for in an MP3 player. So don’t worry about dropping it a few times, it’s last, and it even has a 1 year warranty to assure you that it will.

The 1 GB capacity will give you the ability to store 250 songs in the player. That’s more than enough to keep all of your favorite songs with you at all times. Besides MP3, it can also play WAV, AAC and MP3 VBR files. You recharge the device by simple plugging it in to the computer, since it is rechargeable via USB cable. This will give it a life of 12 hours, when it is fully charged. The specifics are that it weighs under a single ounce, a width of one inch and three inches of height.

Source: gadgetaddict.com

Former Gang of Four bassist Dave Allen at the MusicTech Summit

(Credit: Greg Sandoval)

SAN FRANCISCO–Apparently nobody–not even an artist–gets a pass from the music industry when it comes to copyright laws.

After unwittingly posting an unauthorized music file on his blog, Dave Allen, former bassist for Gang of Four, said he had received a cease-and-desist letter from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the group that represents the music industry worldwide.

“Talk about your irony of ironies,” Allen said after participating in a panel discussion at the MusicTech Summit held here on Thursday. “But I understood completely. I was wrong. I removed the music.”

Allen, a founding member of the post-punk British band, best known for the hit song I Love a Man in Uniform, said he believed that whomever sent him an unreleased copy of a song from the group Portishead had permission to do so. He said plenty of music acts send him their songs to post on his blog, Pampelmoose.com.

But not long after posting the song on his blog, Allen received a very long but “polite letter” from the IFPI telling him he was in violation of copyright law.

“I sent a message back apologizing,” Allen said. “What I learned from this is that I have to double my efforts to find out where files come from.”

Allen also said that while he never meant to pirate Portishead’s music, he was still alarmed when he received the letter. “I was chilled…they are much bigger than me and could shut me down,” he told the crowd.

Years ago, Allen used to say that he thought music should be given away. He has altered his stance since then.

“I don’t want to take money away from artists,” Allen said. “They deserve to get paid. We need some laws to protect musicians. Some copyright law is useful as long as it’s not heavy-handed law. We have to find cool ways to allow fans to take their music where they want, make it available to them and at the same time protect the artist.”

Source: news.com

Posts on my hunt for a cool MP3 player-plus-Web-access that was also less expensive than the iPod Touch brought in comments suggesting other ways to shop. Knowing that the appetite for shopping tools is near-insatiable in these precincts, I have now gotten around to checking those suggestions out.

For my trial runs on all the sites I have searched the Archos 605, an MP3 (and video) player with Web access and a touch screen that has gotten splendid reviews but lists for $200 less than the comparable Touch. (It appears that I am getting one for my birthday because this morning my SO asked for the model number. Goody.)

John wanted me to try out the shopping site he co-founded, Bountii.com, which covers electronics and accessories for same. On the basis of my one tryout, this seems like quite a nice place to shop. It found all the retailers of the 605 that had turned up on Google and CNET, and then some.

I was devastated when I saw that one of them was selling the 605 for a dollar less than the best price I had found. But a lovely feature of Bountii.com is that it lets you compare taxes and shipping costs as well as the item’s price. So it was easy to tell that, with taxes and shipping, the “low” price was actually several dollars more. Whew!

Bountii.com is a clean design, well-organized and intuitive to use. A big section of the site covers price drops, and you can track them easily by adding it to your feed reader. I am too ignorant to comment on what powers the searches, but - whatever it is - it’s clearly excellent. Oh, and one last bit of praise: Bountii is very fast. I plan to come back.

Source: gadgetsnews.info

A federal district court in New York ruled Wednesday that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is owed “reasonable license fees” by online media powerhouses AOL, RealNetworks, and Yahoo for the music streamed and distributed on their sites.

Currently, music streamed by sites owned by the three companies is advertising-supported and no dividends are paid to ASCAP.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York will now determine appropriate fees for AOL, RealNetworks, and Yahoo, all of which have applied for ASCAP licenses but have not been able to agree upon fees. The total payments to the group, which represents over 320,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers–not record labels–could reach $100 million. (Click here for a PDF of the court’s decision.)

The license fees would cover music distributed as early as July 1, 2002, and then up through the end of 2009. Because songwriters and composers often aren’t affiliated with record labels that distribute their music as performed by another artist, they presently are left without licensing fees from digital distribution on the three companies named in the court decision.

ASCAP President Marilyn Bergman wrote in a statement following the decision:

The court’s finding represents a major step toward proper valuation of the music contributions of songwriters, composers and publishers to these types of online businesses.

It is critical that these organizations share a reasonable portion of their sizable revenues with those of us whose content attracts audiences and, ultimately, helps to make their businesses viable. This decision will go a long way toward protecting the ability of songwriters and composers to be compensated fairly as the use of musical works online continues to grow.”

Source: news.com