I-Tunes North Almost Here

The Globe And Mail is reporting that despite some setbacks I-Tunes Canada will finally go live some time today.
I-Tunes is the music download service offered by Apple in The U.S. and Europe and looks to compete with both Napster.ca and Canada's original legal music download service PureTracks.com.
It was in October that Apple announced I-Tunes foray into the Great White North, more than a year after PureTracks.com started operations.
No word yet on the cost, but since both PureTracks and Napster offer .99 downloads, and the fact that I-Tunes charges $1 in the U.S. and Europe, it seems to make sense for Apple to stay within that price point.
Since launching I-Tunes in April 2003, Apple has sold more than 150 million downloads.
The best part of I-tunes going live is that hopefully Apple will finally add some Canadian artists to their download library.
I would love to see artists like Johnnie Degiuli and Liam Titcomb get some world wide exposure for their solo CD's, both of which have just been released and are awesome.
You can download I-Tunes here.

Make Love Not Spam

This is awesome.
Lycos in Europe has decided to hit Spammers where they live, on their servers.
A new website, developed by Lycos - MakeLoveNotSpam.com, has a downloadable screensaver which once executed joins other screensavers in launching a denial of service attack on known spam servers.
The idea is to overburden Spam servers to the point where they become slow and maybe even crash.
This would in turn force Spammers to endure ridiculous bandwidth bills for what would essentially be useless IP traffic.
According to a Lycos spokesman in Germany, each screensaver would generate an average of 3.4 mb of traffic per day, which means that if 10 million screensavers are downloaded they could collectively send upwards of 33 Terrabytes of traffic towards Spam servers.
So let's see I could help slow down Spammers hardware, clog up their bandwidth, and have them waste time by trying to figure out what is legitimate traffic and what is just garbage -sounds like an early Christmas gift to me.
You can download the screensaver here.

Free Windows XP For Pirates

There is a great story on ZDNet.com about how Microsoft is offering free copies of Windows XP to anybody who has a machine running a pirated copy of the OS.
The scheme is pretty simple first you have to sign up for Microsoft's Genuine Advantage Program and then let the folks from Redmond, Washington check to see if your OS is legit or not.
If your copy of XP is pirated, Microsoft will send you a free copy with a new serial key just for being honest.
Of course there is a catch, you must also fill out a witness statement and tell Microsoft what store you bought the computer from, and provide a copy of the bill of sale so Bill can go after the manufacturer.
Thus far about 80,000 people have taken part in the program.
You can read the full story here.

Getting A Thousand The Hard Way

If you think the guy that did the documentary Super Size Me had issues, then you should meet Brian a fashion designer from California who has added a new twist to the Pepsi challenge.
Here is the lowdown, Pepsi has released a new Holiday Spice variety of it's cola which according to their promotional department, has been spiked with ginger and cinnamon.
Now here is where it gets strange, Brian for some unknown reason decided to take a friend up on a dare to make Pepsi Spice the only liquid he would consume for 45 days. This means for six weeks Brian will consume no water, milk, ale or anything else in liquefied form unless it's Pepsi Holiday Spice.
The reward for abusing his body in such a manner? $1000 - yikes.
To help Brian cope he has started a blog documenting the daily torture he is enduring while on his Pepsi Spice diet.
Blog entries include him discussing a rash he has developed on his neck (he actually refers to it as a ovarian cyst), his need for an anal massager for his diarrhea problem, his swollen tongue and his excessive nose bleeds.
To read more about Brian and his Pepsi Spice adventures click here.

G4 + Tech = RIP Tech TV

Ok I have done everything I can to avoid hoping on the "Let's Bash G4TechTV" for the last few months or so, but in light of recent events I have decided to add my two cents.
First a little background. Tech TV was recently purchased by U.S. Cable giant Comcast and mergered with their sad little specialty channel dedicated to video games G4 TV.
After the merger the new channel was relabeled G4TechTV and as part of the merger G4 axed some of the most popular shows on Tech TV including Call For Help, Tech Live and Fresh Gear.
In the process of eliminating these shows several of the most popular Tech TV personalities were fired including Leo Laporte, Cat Schwartz and Jessica Corbin.
Fast forward a few months and G4 has stuck again, axing 80% of the on-air talent on the channel's most popular show The Screen Savers, and canceling Unscrewed with Martin Sargeant.
The genocide occurred on Thursday at 11 AM PST, with the effected staff being told to be out of the building a few hours later.
Among the axed was host Alex Albrecht, Mod Mad Man Yoshi, Dan Huard and Martin Sargeant. In fact the only on-air talent that survived The Screensavers cull was co-host Kevin Rose and Sarah Lane.
For regular watchers of G4TechTV, Thursday's axing should come as little surprise since the Tech has been less and less regular since G4 took control, in fact the channel has essentially been pillaged and plundered by Comcast for the better part of the last few months, still I held out a healthy optimism that Comcast would see the error of their ways and bring the tech back to fruition.
Alas it seems the naysayers were right though, as it looks like we are witnessing the slow and painful death of a true TV maverick.
Tech TV filled a void that seems to be absent on TV nowadays - Tech news and info for the masses.
RIP Tech TV you'll be dearly missed.

Spammers Get Jail Time

The fight against SPAM got a huge boost yesterday as a Virginia court sentenced Jeremy Janes, 30, to a nine year prision sentence for sending millions of junk e-mails to AOL customers. In addition Janes sister, 29 year old Jessica DeGroot , was fined $7,500 U.S. after being convicted of three counts of sending e-mails with fraudlulent and untraceable routing information.
The pair were involved in a scam called "The Fedex Refund Processor", which promised people ability to earn up to $75 U.S. per hour via their computer, as long as they paid a processing fee to the duo. In one month alone the pair recieved 10,000 credit card payments of $39.95. The scam was based out of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Prosecutors in the case compared the siblings to modern day snake oil salesmen, and charged the duo under the state's anti-spam law, which was passed in Virginia in 2003.
The legislation, thought to be thoughest in North America, prohibits the distribution of unsolicited or untraceable bulk e-mail. AOL is headquartered in Virginia.
"Spam is a nuisance to millions of Americans," said Virginia's Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore following the sentencing hearing. "But it is also a major problem for businesses large and small because the thousands of unwanted e-mails create havoc as they attempt to conduct business".