Nicks Internet

2011-12-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

Just a great video from Original Skateboards showing off their new line of Pintail Longboards. The video is great and the song is even better. I warn you that this video will make you wish it was summer and you might even feel the need to buy a longboard.
Original SkateboardsSong: The Swimming Song by Vetvier

How To Mine BitCoin On A Mac or PC With Your Browser

2011-06-22T20:23:00.002-04:00

What Is BitCoin?

BitCoin is a digital peer to peer currency created by Satoshi Nakamoto. BitCoin has no central authority unlike conventional currency. It is becoming more and more popular. How much 1 BitCoin is worth changes daily. BitCoin is stored virtually on your computer and is anonymous. There are two ways to get Bitcoins. The first way to get Bitcoins is to buy them from some of the many popular exchanges. The second way to get Bitcoins is to use your computer to mine Bitcoins. Your computer will solve complicated "puzzles" and when it finishes you are rewarded with Bitcoins. It can take a long time to mine Bitcoins by your self so it's a good idea to use groups when mining Bitcoins. You can mine Bitcoins on a Mac or a PC.

Mining BitCoins On Your Mac or PC With Your Browser

Mining BitCoins on your Mac or PC is easy. There are many ways to Mine BitCoins in Windows and Linux. Many people want an easy way to mine BitCoins on the Mac. This method is a CPU Miner and involves no set up. All you have to do is go to BitCoinPlus and make an account. (It's Free) Then you just hit the "Start Generating" button. BitCoinPlus uses Java script to generate BitCoins for you. This is a very easy way to get started with BitCoins. This is an easy method to use on a Mac or a PC. You can run BitCoinPlus on as many computers at the same time as you want. The more computers you are running it on the faster you will generate BitCoins. There you have it, an easy way to mine BitCoin on your Mac. Fast, Easy, And Simple!

Download BitCoin Client Here:
BitCoin

Generate BitCoins Here:
BitCoinPlus

Tune Up Your iTunes Library with: Tune Up

2011-04-22T11:17:00.000-04:00

Anyone with a large iTunes library at some point gets into trouble. Maybe you have a ton of mislabeled music or a bunch of missing album artwork. Hopefully you don't have the dreaded duplicate problem. I'm sure everyone at one time or another has had some if not all of these problems. But there is of course a solution to almost any problem.

TuneUp is an awesome application. It will clean up your entire iTunes library. You'll have all the correct names and all your album artwork. It does all this very quickly by digitally listening to your music. It really is pretty awesome to see Tune Up do it's thing, correcting all of your songs so quickly. The cool thing is that Tune Up is super easy to use. It's attached to iTunes so all you have to do is drag and drop your songs on to Tune Up and "BAM!" it does it's thing. The best part is that Tune Up just added "DeDuper" which automatically finds all the duplicate songs in your library and gets rid of them. If you have ever had a duplicates problem you know how painful it can be to have to manually delete each duplicate. Tune Up is an amazing application that can really help all us music enthusiasts.

Clean

Accurately fixes mislabeled or missing song information (like "Track 01" or "Unknown Artist") using cutting-edge waveform recognition.

Cover Art

Scans your entire music collection in seconds and automagically™ fills in missing album artwork.

DeDuper

Intelligently finds and removes duplicate music files from your music library using waveform recognition.

Get Tune Up Now!!!

Tron: Legacy / Tron: Five-Disc Combo

2011-04-10T15:50:00.002-04:00

If you are a Nerd then you are probably a TRON fan. And if you have not seen the new TRON: Legacy movie you need to do so now! TRON: Legacy has just come out on DVD. Amazon has a really good deal on the ultimate collectors editon. It is a five disc combo pack. You get the DVD, Blu-Ray, and 3D Blu-Ray all in one box plus some other great stuff. And it all comes packed in a TRON disc. If your a fan you need to pick one up now!

Tron: Legacy / Tron: The Original Classic (Five-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy in Identity Disc Collectible Packaging)

Donate To Japan: Get Free Downloads

2011-03-28T12:59:00.001-04:00

Right now on iTunes you can donate $10 to the relief efforts in Japan. As a reward for doing so you will get 38 songs from various artists for free. This is a great deal that also really helps the people of Japan. This is available for a limited time on the iTunes store.

Free Apple Tutorials

2010-11-23T13:41:00.001-05:00

We all know that Apple makes the best computers in the world. Apple Computers are capable of so much that it can get a little hard to keep track of it all. Thats why I've got a brand new site for you.

FreeAppleTutorials

At FreeAppleTutorials.com you can find all the info you need to get the most out of your mac. With step by step tutorials that are easy to follow your are sure to love it. Check it out now!!!

New Products and Upgrades At Apple's 2009 WWDC

2009-06-08T16:26:00.004-04:00

It's that time of the year again. Apple is hosting their 2009 WWDC and unleashing all sorts of new products and upgrades to their old stuff. Every one has been waiting for Apple to release a tablet PC, Snow Leopard, and new upgrades to the iPhone. 5200 developers from 52 different countries showed up to see what Apple had to offer.

Apple released Snow Leopard OSX, it will be $29 for current users to upgrade. Their Macbook and Macbook Pro have gotten some small upgrades. The Macbook Pro has had a price drop, now starting at $1199. This is a really big step for Mac, the price drop is going to sell a lot more units, especially to college kids. As I currently am a college kid, I see their Macbooks everywhere. Now I expect to see more of the Macbook Pros. Apple also stated that their new notebooks are the greenest in the world.

Apple has sold over 40 million iPhones and iTouches, that is quite a lot. But of course what we have all been waiting for, a new iPhone. Well guess what, you got it. It's called the new iPhoneS. It comes in 16GB or 32GB. I've been waiting for a 32GB model to come out, now I'm finally going to buy one. The new iPhoneS is 3X faster than the old iPhone. The iPhoneS comes with a 3MP auto focus camera, It can also now record and edit video. You can also use the new "Find My Phone" feature on the iPhoneS, this allows you to log onto any computer and find the exact position of your phone on a map. This also features a remote wipe, that way if your phone is stolen you can wipe all your data to keep your privacy. New Turn-By-Turn directions from your iPhone could signal the end of stand alone GPS units. You will be able to by a car dock that will keep your iPhoneS charged and make it easy to use as a GPS. The iPhone OS 3.0 will also be released this month, it will come with all new phones and be $9.95 to upgrade older phones. All these new features in the iPhone make it pull far ahead of the competition, will other phone companies be able to compete, we will see this summer.

New Legalize It Commercial

2009-04-22T20:00:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I wrote an article on Above The Influence. Well NORML, National Orginization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, had a contest to see who could make the best advertisement for their orginization. This video is the winner of the 2009 AD contest for NORML. NORML is a non profit organization for the legalization of Marijuana. They fight for Marijuana Law Reform. Less people in jail and more money for the government. NORML is run by a host of famous stars like Tommy Chong and Willie Nelson. Founded in 1970 NORML is the premire nonprofit company for Maijuana Legalization. This video will be run across the nation. The advertising campaign is paid for completely by donation. This ad will be running both on TV and the internet. If you would like to donate money to NORML, please click here. I'd like to know what you think about this subject. Should the United States legalize Marijuana? How should it be done? Let me know below.

The Pirate Bay Verdict: Guilty

2009-04-20T13:02:00.008-04:00

A while back I did a report on The Pirate Bay Trial. Well the verdict is in. I've known about it for a few days, but I've been putting off reporting on it. The verdict of course if you have not heard is guilty. Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, and Carl Lundström were all found guilty. They must each pay $905,000 in damages and spend one year in jail. That comes to a total of $3,620,000. These four men will be spending the next year of their life in jail, all for making a website that internet users could connect on. They did not host any of the copyrighted content on their website. The verdict was obviously made due to high political pressure. But this is not the end for The Pirate Bay.

All four of the defendents have vowed not to pay the money, not a single dime. They will also be filling an appeal. This appeal is due by May 9th. The fight is not over. This court case will go on for years before we get a final decision. One amazing thing is that The Pirate Bay is still up and running. You can still download anything you want from them. The site was apparently never on trial, only the defendents.

All of this means that the US Entertainment Industry can now go after all of the torrent sites. Its going to be very easy for them, after all they have one major win in the bag. So your favorite torrent site might be gone in the next year. This is going to end up being a huge deal. Apparently, US Copyright law is now enforced is all contries. Another major problem is that this gives the entertainment industry the ability to start sueing ISPs. If The Pirate Bay is responsible for what it's users post and download, then so are the ISPs. This will be a major problem for the web and may hinder its development.

The judge was asked if he feared for his safty after the trial, because of the verdict. The judge responded with a no and was surprised by the question. There were of course many protests because of the verdict, both in Sweden and other countries. The internet is abuzz with this outrage. The entertainment industry has won a huge battle against illegal downloads. Right now these corporate leaders are going after The Pirate Bay, but they might be going after you next.

Above The Influence: Is Bullshit!

2009-04-18T15:46:00.006-04:00

We have all seen the Above The Influence commercials. And unless you live under a rock you know that they are complete bullshit. These government funded commercials do absolutely nothing to stop drug use and are a complete waste of money. Millions and millions of dollars a year go into these Anti-Drug programs, yet no matter what we will always have drug use. We need to educate people about the dangers of drugs, meaning the truth not lies. Then people can make informed decisions for themselves about whether or not they want to use them. People have know that smoking is terrible for your health for years, yet still 1 in 5 Americans smoke. So why is it any surprise that people use drugs. The Above The Influence campaign is full of lies that kids can see right through, if you lie to kids they will not listen to you. The commercials always involve some kids smoking a little weed and then killing themselves. Now, I know stoners can do some dumb things, But they usually involve food and no one dies.

The War On Drugs continues in America. We have more people in jail than any other country. The majority of our jails, more than 50%, are drug users. So apparently our solution to drug use is to put people in jail. The Above the Influence campaign is funded by the government, more specifically by Office of National Drug Control Policy. In 2006, The US Government released a 5 year study. This study showed that the government funded anti-drug programs where not working. After the release of this study President George Bush decided to increase funding by $130 million. I guess Mr. Bush thought that if he threw more money at the problem, it would fix itself. This was a trend during his entire presidency.

The government policy has always been that if we scare the crap out of kids they won't do drugs any more. But, as we all know this is not true. Teens have been doing drugs since the 40s and it is not going to stop. Above The Influence has a survey you can take all about drugs. The problem of course is that the survey is completely biased. The US government keeps spending tons of money on anti marijuana commercials because they call it the gateway drug. Apparently if you ever use marijuana your going to be addicted to crack, heroin, and cocaine. The truth is that the type of people that are going to do crack probably don't pay any attention to anti-drug commercials. The way I look at it is this. If people use marijuana before they use heroin, then the same can be said about caffeine. heroin users used caffeine before heroin, therefore caffeine is also a gateway drug. And if caffeine is a gateway drug then it should be banded too. I'm of course just using caffeine to make a point but I thought I would send an email to Above the Influence and see what they thought. The email I sent is below.

"I was checking out your site. I never knew that smoking weed could lead to a heroin addiction. But then that got me thinking. If weed leads to heroin, then so does caffeine. Because people use caffeine before heroin. So we need to stop kids from drinking coke and soda too. Caffeine can lead to a Heroin addiction. We need to spread the word. NO CAFFEINE!!!!!"

I have not received a response yet, but when I do I will post it. There is one website you should check out. Its called Above The Ignorance. A website devoted to trying to showcase the facts about drug use and not be biased. You should check it out. I would love to hear what you have to say about this. Do you think that marijuana should be legal? Have you used Drugs in the past? What is your take on the Drug War? Let me know in the comment section below.

The Customer Is Not Always Right

2009-04-08T13:30:00.000-04:00

If you have ever worked any job where you have to deal with the public you are going to love this website. It is called Not Always Right, As in the Customer is Not Always Right. These have got to be some of the funniest quotes I have every read. Here is a sample or two.

Customer: “I’m looking for the autobiography of Jesus.”

Me: “Um, do you mean a biography of Jesus?”

Customer: “No! I want the AUTO-biography of Jesus! Where would it be?”

Me: “Well, I guess you could try the Bible section…”

Me: “Welcome to ***, how may I help you?”

Customer: “Yes, I was calling about a corner fireplace you are supposed to have on sale.”

Me: “Yes ma’am, let me get you a price on that and check our stock.”

(I leave, check the sale price ($299), and come back to the phone.)

Me: “Ma’am?”

Customer: “Yes?”

Me: “Looks like the unit is $299.99 on sale.”

Customer: “WHAT? I have a piece of paper right here that says it should be $315!”

Me: “Oh, sorry. I said it’s on sale for $299.”

Customer: “What the h***, it says it right here on my piece of paper! Corner fireplace for $315!

Me: “Ma’am, $299 is less than $315.”

(There’s a very long silence.)

Customer: *click*

Go check out more of them here.

Google Image Trick

2009-04-07T23:42:00.000-04:00

Alright, Want to see something cool?
Check it out.

1. Go to Google Images.

2. Search for whatever you want. Anything.

3. After Google finds the images and you see the thumbnails type the following into your browsers address bar.


javascript:R= 0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6;  y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI= document.images ;  DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i<DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style;  DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=Math. sin(R*x1+ i*x2+x3)* x4+x5;  DIS.top=Math. cos(R*y1+ i*y2+y3)* y4+y5}R++ }setInterval('A()',5);  void(0)

Let me know if you like it.

Which Linux Is For You?

2009-04-06T21:17:00.000-04:00

Everyone should know what Linux is at this point. If you don't well, go here. I suggest that everyone try Linux at least once. But which distribution should you try?

There are a ton of Linux distributions that you can download for free. It can be very confusing as to which Linux is right for you. But, I found this great test. Its a quick two minute test and it will tell you exactly which Linux distribution is right for you. Even if your an expert in Linux the results can be interesting.

Which Linux Is Right For You.
Take the test-
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

Guilty Gamer Moments

2009-04-02T11:38:00.000-04:00

If you are a gamer you have to check out, 9 Video Game OCD Moments You Know You Are Guilty Of. If you have played the games on the list, which you should have, then you know exactly what the author is talking about. I know for a fact that I am guilty of #4 on the list. Check it out!

Conficker Computer Virus

2009-03-31T19:36:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is April fools day, but you might not be laughing when you try to log into your computer. The Conficker Virus is apparently set to be activated on April 1, 2009. The worm has been very difficult for law enforcement to track down due to the way that the virus operates. No one is really sure what it will do when it activates but you need to make sure that you are protected. All of the major Anti-Virus programs have released updates to counteract the Conficker. One sign that you are infected with Conficker is that you can not update your computer with Microsoft. If you can't get your automatic updates their is a good chance that you may be infected by the Conficker virus. Some people are not even going to be on the Internet on April 1st. This is one of the worst computer viruses since the SQL Slammer. Microsoft is offering a $250,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of those responsible for Conficker. If you do not have virus protection software you need to get yourself protected now. Some experts have suggested turning off your WiFi on April 1st. That is the only way to be 100% sure you are safe. The Conficker Virus may or may not turn out to be a "big deal". It may even been a sick April fools joke, but don't count on it. Get protected from the Conficker Virus now.

AVG Free Anti-Virus Software - Highly Recommended
Microsoft Update - Update Your Computer Now(Only Usable In IE)
Microsoft Info On Conficker - For More Information

*The Conficker Virus Only Effects Windows Computers.

Nintendo Wii

2009-03-28T19:16:00.000-04:00

I really love the Nintendo Wii. It's just so much fun, and its easy to play. Even if I've had 6 beers I can still beat you at Tennis. The graphics are not as good as say a 360 or a PS3, Wii is in a whole other category. The Nintendo Wii has continually out sold both the PS3 and the xbox. The system appeals to so many people Sony and Microsoft just can't compete. I just wish that Nintendo would produce more challenging games for it. Every game on the system seems to be fun easy to play games. Nintendo needs more RPG and action games, which they will hopefully be releasing soon. I hope to see some really good games at this years E3(June,2009). But only time will tell.

Shameless Blog Promotion

2009-03-25T18:52:00.000-04:00

As you know my name is Nick. And I am a 21 year old college student. I really have a hard time paying the bills but I get by. There are two types of people who go to college, those who pay for it themselves and those who have other people pay for college. I fall into the first category, I pay for college all by myself. I've decided to start a new blog in addition to this one. It is called Make Money At College. I want to share some tips and tricks I use to make myself some extra money for everything from beer money to paying tuition. This will not be another make money online blog. I just want to help some people and give them some ideas. Plus have a little fun in the process, so if your a college student, or a parent of one, check it out. Thanks very much.

Make Money At College

TweeterGetter: Get More Twitter Followers

2009-03-21T16:55:00.001-04:00

Tweeter Getter is a cool new web 2.0 tool for twitter users. It gets you free twitter followers, yep free. All you have to do is go to the site and put in your twitter user name and password. Then you start getting more and more twitter followers. Gary McCaffery is the designer behind the tool, you can find his twitter account here. If your a web entrepreneur or just want more friends on twitter go and try out the tool. Twitter is still relatively new, it will be interesting to see what people do with it in the future.

Site Build It: The Scam

2009-03-20T23:59:00.000-04:00

Just thought I would give people a heads up. If you want to start your own blog or website there are a lot of free resources out there. You should never pay a company money to make a website for you(There are exceptions to this). Site Build It is a company that you pay $300 a year to and they make a website for you. They promise that there way will make you money. The truth is that you could do exactly what they are doing for around $5 a month, and everything that Site Build It does you can do. Most of the products Site Build It sell are free on the internet. So really Site Build It is a scam, please don't waste your money on it. There are tons of free resources out there that can help you get started with a website or blog.

An interesting thing happened over at Lis Sowerbutts blog, she wrote a review of Site Build It. She wrote about what a big scam it is, and guess what. A bunch of Site Build It cheerleaders showed up and bad mouthed her in the comments. These cheerleaders of course make money with Site Build It, they make about $75 every time someone uses there affiliate link. Well of course if they make money from the website they don't want people telling the truth about the fact that it is a scam. The interesting thing is, that the CEO of Site Build It even left a comment on Lis's blog. They really must not want a bad review out there, sounds a lot like what Scientology does. Go and check out Lis's Review Of Site Build It. Make sure to read the comments, it's really funny that these people felt the need to bombard Liz with comment after comment, they even call her stupid. Site Build It is a SCAM plain and simple. Don't buy any of there products, it is a waste of your money.

Disclaimer: This is completely opinion, please do your own research.

Moot: 2009's Most Influential Person?

2009-03-19T23:05:00.000-04:00

As we speak the anon's from 4chan.org are voting on Times 100 most influential people of 2009. Who are they voting for you ask, well Moot of course. Moot is the creator and owner of 4chan.org. Moot's real name is Christopher Poole. 4chan is responsible for basically every Internet joke ever made, including the rick roll and lolcats. So really moot is a very influential person. Though at the same time 4chan has done some crazy things too. You can see the full list of candidates here. Currently Moot is number 1 followed by John Stewart. Both of whom are beating out people like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Everyone should go and vote right now, you can vote as many times as you want. If 4chan pulls this off, it's going to be one of there greatest raids ever.

How To Download Torrents

2009-03-15T20:48:00.000-04:00

A torrent is a file type that is used in P2P data transfer. It is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to transfer data. Torrents are the most popular file transfer system in the world. They work by sharing data small or large, one piece at a time. The file is not hosted at any one particular server but on users computers who are downloading or have already downloaded the file. Everyone who is downloading a torrent is known as the swarm. The larger the swarm the faster the download. One person can upload a torrent and within hours millions of people could have downloaded it. The system only works if people share, you need to upload as much as you download. It's a very easy system to learn.

First thing you need to do is download a torrent client. The client you download will depend on your operating system. You may pick from the list below, go to the website and download which ever one meets your needs. Then install the client. For Windows, My favorite client is uTorrent.

Windows
Original BitTorrent
ABC
BitBuddy
BitTornado
uTorrent

Mac
Original BitTorrent
Tomato Torrent
Bits On Wheels

Linux
ABC
BitTornado
Original BitTorrent

Okay, So now you have your torrent client downloaded and installed. Next thing we need to do is find some torrents for you to download. Finding torrents is not like other P2P file sharing programs. Torrent info is kept in small text files, (.torrent). Torrent files can be found all over the Internet, you can even search google for torrents. One of the best places to search for torrents is Torrents TO. Torrent TO searches the popular torrent networks for whatever you want. So the first thing to do would be to decide on what you want to download. You can download a movie, music, books, photos, or TV shows. So make a choice on what you want.

Popular Torrent Sites
The Pirate Bay
MiniNova
isoHunt
BTjunkie

Torrentz

Once you know what you want, preform a search for the file. A list of search results should come up, choose the one you want. Next there should be a link that says "Download This Torrent" or "Click Here To Download". Click on the link and it should download a small file, less than 1mb. It will ask if you want to open it. The file should default to open with your bit torrent client, if it does not you will have to manually open it with your client. Then bit torrent will read the file and start downloading your torrent. You are now part of the swarm. Congratulations on downloading your first torrent.

One thing to always remember about using torrents is that the system only works if everyone shares the file. It is considered bad form to close your torrent client immediately after you download the file, these people are refereed to as leechers. You should try to maintain a 1.0 ratio. Your ratio is your upload to download comparison. One should always try to have a higher upload ratio than download ratio. In the future you may want to join sites like Demonoid and WhatCD. These are member sites and not open to the public. If you do get invitations to these sites make sure you maintain a good ratio. If you don't you will be kicked off the site. If you have any questions just leave a comment and I will get back to you. Now go find more torrents to download!

The New iPod Shuffle

2009-03-12T15:07:00.001-04:00

The New iPod Shuffle is a big jump from the old one. It got 4 gigs of space and a new sleek design. The cool new feature is Apple's VoiceOver. Though iPod Shuffles have never had a screen, you now can know what song your listening to. VoiceOver will tell you the name of the song and the artist that sings it. It will also tell you the name of your playlist. The new iPod Shuffle has no buttons on it, so how will you change songs? The buttons are on the headphones, duh! Now this does mean that you will have to use Apples earbuds. The 4 gigs lets you hold about 1,000 songs. It still uses a USB cord to connect to your computer and it has about 10 hours of battery life. Currently it only comes in light gray and dark gray, bleak choices I know. The Apple iPod Shuffle is gonna set you back about $80 US.

Apple iPod Shuffle

Capacity: 4GB (Flash)
Screen: N/A
Battery: 10 Hours
Connection: USB

Height: 1.8 inches (45.2 mm)
Width: 0.7 inch (17.5 mm)
Depth: 0.3 inch (7.8 mm)
Weight: 0.38 ounce (10.7 grams)

Whats In The Box:
iPod shuffle
Apple Earphones with Remote (no mic)
USB cable
Quick Start Guide

You can buy one here.

Robots Can Love?

2009-03-09T17:45:00.000-04:00

I read a story earlier this month over on GeekoLogie.com about a robot that was programmed to love. The robot, built by Toshiba, apparently malfunctioned and went into stalker mode. The robot trapped a female in a room and would not let her go. Toshiba has decided to decommission the robot so that it does not hurt anyone. Read the full story here.

I think this is one of the coolest stories I have seen in a long time. We really are living in the future now. Robots that can love, that's a insane task for Toshiba to take on. Yet, I'm so glad that someone is putting research and money into Artificial Intelligence. Maybe one day we will all have our very own robots.

Impenetrable

2009-03-08T16:52:00.000-04:00

Since the dawn of time man has tried to armor himself in combat. Man has used everything from shields, suits of armor, helmets, and most recently Kevlar. But the days of Kevlar may be numbered. A brand new substance made by d30 Labs is out on the market, and no it's not a force field. The new product is called d3o Gel, That's right it is a gel. Great Britain's Ministry of Defense has even given £100,000 to a small company that developed the gel. If all goes according to plan the gel may be able to replace the bulky plates that our soldiers have to wear in combat. It will be used in helmets, gloves, and body armor. It may even be modified to reinforce vehicles.

The gel works by hardening on impact, yet its light weight and flexible. Anything moving at high speed that impacts the gel causes it to become a solid, when the pressure is released it becomes a gel again. It is still being tested for military use. The defense contractors that work for the government still have to test and work with the gel, it may be 5 to 10 years before we have bulletproof soldiers. Yet, the gel is already being used by athletes. The gel can be found in sporting goods, racing suits, gloves, shin guards, and even ballet shoes. You may already own it and not even know it. This is exactly the type of innovation and technology our world needs.

The Pirate Bay

2009-03-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

The Pirate Bay(TPB) is a popular file sharing website using torrents to allow users to connect and share files, information, photos, video, and just about everything you can imagine. The site was launched on November 21, 2003 and currently has 3 million registered users, though you do not have to register to use the website. The site has had over 25 million unique peers.

The content available for download is not hosted on the Pirate Bay's website. Users connect via the Pirate Bay and download the content from each other. There has always been controversy associated with The Pirate Bay due to the fact that users can share anything, whether it is copyrighted or not. On January 31st, 2008 charges were filed by the big record companies against The Pirate Bay. Universal, Warner Brothers, Sony BMG, and EMI are seeking over $13 million dollars, The trial was set for February 2009. The defendants are facing over $180 thousand dollars in fines and 2 years in prison. But the pirate bay is not going down without a fight. The first day of the trial was February 16th, it was met with protesters and press. Lines of people were outside the trial cheering on The Pirate Bay and telling them that the people were with them. The website Filesharer.org even let people upload a picture of themselves so that the record industry can see what a criminal really looks like. In my opinion the music industry is desperate, there profits have been going down for years. With many artists leaving the big record companies to start there own, and the music industry being down 30% since 2001.

The prosecution says that The Pirate Bay is the "number 1 source of illegal music" and the the owners of The Pirate Bay are profiting off of the illegal file sharing, through advertising. The Pirate Bay plead not guilty. The defense states that they can not control what there users post and because they do not host the content they can not be held responsible. The trial lasted 9 days, with both sides not willing to submit. The closing statements were on March 2nd and March 3rd was the trials official last day. It is unclear at this point who will win this battle. The verdict is due by April 17, 2009. Neither side is willing to lose this fight so an appeal is inevitable. I only hope that the music industry decides to concentrate on making music instead of going after Innocent people.