Wired: Top Stories (11 unread)
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Would You Pay $1,700 for a Digital Print of Dylan?
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 6:30pm EDT by Scott Thill
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Sony's Icon Collectibles line is indicative of an overall collapse in the music industry. In an earlier time, this venture would have been a peripheral bonus. But with CDs on their deathbed, and Sony still smarting from the Great Rootkit Fiasco of 2005, it feels like a desperation move.
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Toyota Announces Segway Killer: The Winglet Personal Transporter
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 5:30pm EDT by Jose Fermoso
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Toyota is about to begin testing a vertical, mechanized scooter intended to help people move about in public areas. The Winglet is the first gadget to duplicate the celebrated, and often mocked, navigation system of the Segway Transporter.
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SpaceX Falcon 1 Rocket Is Set to Launch Tonight
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 5:00pm EDT by Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides
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SpaceX announces the third launch attempt of the Falcon 1 will be today from 7 p.m. - 12 a.m. EST. The launch will be webcast on their site, www.spacex.com, starting 30 minutes before the opening of the launch window.
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Tutorial: Turn Your iPhone Into a Wireless Modem
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 3:30pm EDT by Brian X. Chen
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A few of us at Wired.com are turning our iPhones into wireless modems with the $10 NetShare application. But none of us could get it to work at first. With a little help from NetShare's maker, Nullriver, our connections are now up and running. Here is a step-by-step tutorial in case you're stuck, too.
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Once Common on Skin, Anthrax in Lungs Is Fatal
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 3:30pm EDT by Associated Press
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The spores that cause anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, occur widely in soil, and the skin form of the infection used to be common. When the spored are inhaled, as in the mail attacks seven years ago, they settle in the lungs, causing infection that is almost impossible to cure once symptoms start.
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Web Sites Using SiteMeter Are Crashing With Internet Explorer
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 3:00pm EDT by Kim Zetter
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A number of websites that use SiteMeter tracking code to monitor the number of visitors to their site are reporting that the code is causing Internet Explorer browsers to crash when users visit their sites.
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The Digg Science Review, Volume 2
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 3:00pm EDT by Alexis Madrigal
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Wired Science contributors, Brandon Keim and Alexis Madrigal, help you parse the headlines for the top 20 science stories on Digg in this weekly series.
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Stockholders Vote to Keep Yahoo Execs on Board
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 2:30pm EDT by Brian X. Chen
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Despite some stockholders' sour comments at Yahoo's 2008 annual stockholder meeting, the majority of stockholders vote to re-elect each member of the executive board.
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Apple, AT&T Extend Monogamous Relationship
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 2:30pm EDT by Brian X. Chen
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Non-AT&T subscribers who want iPhones: Stop waiting for Apple to open the phone to your network, because it's not happening anytime soon. AT&T and Apple are extending their monogamous relationship through 2009.
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Gallery: San Francisco Cable Cars Still Humming on 19th-Century Tech
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 12:00am EDT by Emily Lang
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: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comSAN FRANCISCO -- More than a century after their invention, cable cars still carry passengers up and over this city's hills.
The picturesque mode of transport narrowly escaped extinction after the 1906 earthquake, which devastated the city as well as the cable car barn and tracks. New tracks were laid and the system was rebuilt -- despite the advent of more cost-effective electric streetcars -- partially due to cable cars' superior ability to climb the steepest hills in San Francisco.
Cable cars faced extinction and persevered again in 1947, when San Francisco Mayor Roger Lapham proclaimed that the lines should be removed in favor of buses. Thankfully, a campaign led by San Francisco's social elite saved the cars. Today, people come from all over the world to experience a ride on the tried-and-true cable cars, first tested 135 years ago today.
Left: Cable car No. 20 of the Powell-Hyde line crests the hill on Taylor Street, fully loaded with passengers, against the backdrop of San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz Island.
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comRufus Bennett, a veteran cable car operator and gripman of "28 years and 7 months," transports passengers from the Powell Street turnaround to Fisherman's Wharf. According to Bennett, a trip on a San Francisco cable car is more than just a ride for the tourists who come from all over the world: It's an experience. "Today is the best day of my life," said Bennett, who clearly loves his job. "I've been through thousands of Thursdays, but I ain't never been here before."
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comThe winding wheels of the historic Washington-Mason cable car barn and powerhouse feed the approximately 58,000 feet of cable that runs cars on the city's three lines. The cable, composed of a hemp core wrapped in wires, zips unseen below ground at 9 mph. The cable cars grip the cable and are towed up and down the steep hills of San Francisco, carrying daily commuters and tourists alike to destinations around city.
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comThe central control panel monitors "strand alarms" for all four cables that run under the city's streets. The alarm warns of a possible damaged cable. While the vintage panel appears at first glance to be straight out of 1930, it was actually installed during a 1984 overhaul of the system. "The system is designed to be relatively simple, and there's no reason to complicate it," said Wesley Valaris, a former gripman who now trains a new generation of operators.
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comUrsula and Link Wolsram of Stuttgart, Germany, take in the sights and nearly deafening sounds at the Cable Car Museum, housed in the Washington-Mason powerhouse.
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comA coil of used cable awaits its fate in the cable car barn. The wear from the grips and dies of the cable cars clearly shows in its glossy appearance, just like a used brake pad would on your car.
The cable generally needs to be replaced after anywhere from 100 to 250 days of use. The process takes around five hours, as new cable is attached to an end of the old cable and pulled through the system, with used cable recoiling around another spindle.
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comBeneath each cable car lies one of the most essential mechanisms of the whole operation: the grip (at this angle, appearing to the right of and above the cable). The grip is hidden below the street and the cable passes through its center.
When the gripman is ready to move the cable car forward, he closes the jaws of the grip slowly around the moving cable, accelerating relatively smoothly to the cruising speed of 9 mph. When the gripman is ready to slow the cable car, he slowly releases his hold on the cable, allowing the cable to slip through the jaws of the grip. To completely stop the car, he allows the cable to glide completely free through the grip, then steps on the brake.
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comThe cable car barn houses the entire fleet of San Francisco's cable cars. The city operates 28 single-ended cars on the Powell Street lines and 12 double-ended cars on the California Street line.
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comThe gift shop in the Cable Car Museum is alluring to tourists of all ages, with its colorful baubles and picturesque postcards that commemorate a visit to Fog City.
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comA heavenly ride on San Francisco's famous cable cars attracts riders of all ages, nationalities and occupations.
: Photo: Emily Lang/Wired.comA Powell Street car makes one of its last runs of the night near Union Square, delivering tourists back to their hotels. The cable cars run until after midnight some days.
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Guitar Hero, Rock Band and the Rock 'n' Roll Money Machine
Posted: August 2nd, 2008, 12:00am EDT by Bill Hochberg
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The booming success of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises has dropped a bomb on the music biz. Record labels and rock stars alike are eyeing new revenue streams as gamemakers compete for musical talent, scramble to secure rights to original master tapes and bring in aging artists to re-record classic rock hits.
Activision Blizzard -- publisher of Guitar Hero, the groundbreaking videogame that lets wannabe rockers tap out songs on Les Paul-shaped controllers -- raked in a reported $830 million in 2007, an annual record for any game franchise.
Now an industry reeling from the disruptive effects of technology is looking at music games as a lucrative new income stream.
Here are a few ways that Rock Band and Guitar Hero are changing the game for the record industry:
Old bands, new fans
Young gamers are getting turned on to classic rock songs recorded before they were born, with videogame consoles functioning almost like radio did in its hit-making heyday.
"Guitar Hero is a really funny craze, kind of like the Hula-Hoop," says Nancy Wilson of Heart, whose 1976 hit "Crazy on You" appears in Guitar Hero II. "It also is one big reason why so many really young kids are showing up at Heart concerts these days."
Musical mimicry
"Crazy on You" might be winning Heart new fans, but it's not the original recording that gamers are playing along to. Of the 106 recordings featured in the first three releases of Guitar Hero, only nine are original recordings. The other 97, including the Heart hit, are re-recordings done by a stable of studio hired guns at WaveGroup Sound in Fremont, California, according to Will Littlejohn, WaveGroup's president.
"We usually shoot for the same vibe, and pick players and vocalists that will work with the song," says Littlejohn. "We don't over-think it, we just have them play the song as they hear it or sing the tune with their own voice. In terms of the arrangements, we often make changes to the guitar and bass parts in order to make gameplay more interesting in Guitar Hero."
Looming lawsuits
While record labels and classic rock groups are enjoying newfound success as a result of music games' popularity, at least one band is not happy about the situation and is challenging Activision in court. Members of '80s rock band The Romantics are suing Activision, claiming their hit "What I Like About You" and the Guitar Hero cover version of the song sound so much alike that gamers are confused and the band suffers as a result.
"There's at least a half-dozen other bands waiting in the wings to see what happens with this case," says Romantics' attorney Mike Novak.
Activision insists it obtained proper licensing to include the song in the game, and says the band is on a fishing expedition. "What they did was file for a preliminary injunction over the Thanksgiving holiday trying to disrupt sales of Guitar Hero on a theory that just doesn't hold water," says Activision attorney George Hedges, referring to The Romantics' lawsuit. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has agreed with Activision at least at the preliminary stage, finding that the band sold its rights in the song and recordings to a music publisher and record company, neither of whom is suing.
In her opinion denying the band's bid (.pdf) for an injunction to stop sales of the game, U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds noted that the lead singer of the song, Jimmy Marinos, is not even a plaintiff and is no longer in the band. The court held a summary judgment hearing July 9 and is expected to decide soon who wins.
Old bands, new sessions
Studio magic tweaks classic rock songs for today's hottest videogames. Dave Urrutia and Will Littlejohn work behind the soundboard at WaveSound, while Darryl C. Anders, Marcus Henderson and Scott Dugdale (left to right) lay down tracks.
Photo courtesy WaveSound GroupPerhaps in part because of litigation fears and the game's wild success, Activision is now more often using record labels' original master recordings or going to original band members for re-recordings of their hits rather than using sound-alike recordings.
"In some cases it's karaoke, except with the original band members," says Marti Frederiksen, a top producer who has re-recorded hits by Aerosmith, Foreigner and others. "Other times they'll go back to the original to get the vibe but go for something new. With Aerosmith, the vocals and guitar and every sound is different. We didn't go for retro, we wanted it different for Guitar Hero."
Frederiksen and mix engineer Anthony Focx have remixed many original Aerosmith multitrack recordings for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, an upcoming release to feature only tracks from Aerosmith and select bands that have toured with the 38-year-old supergroup. Because master tapes of the band's debut album have been lost, the band recently re-recorded megahits "Dream On" and "Mama Kin."
Power to the performers
Many artists would rather re-record an old hit and own it outright than share licensing income with a record label. For example, the timing was perfect for Sammy Hagar when Activision came looking for a re-recording of his hit "I Can't Drive 55" after Geffen Records couldn't locate the master.
"By coincidence," Hagar says, "we had re-recorded the song a couple years earlier because we did a commercial for Napa Auto Parts, but we couldn't close the deal at the time and so we had a great multitrack of the song sitting on the shelf. Guitar Hero needed it, we were ready."
Games as starmakers
With once-dominant record labels now staggering blindly, young bands like the Silversun Pickups view Rock Band and Guitar Hero, which licensed the band's hit "Lazy Eye," as a sort of band-breaking vehicle similar to MTV in the '80s. With music titles rocking the videogame charts, getting a song picked up for Guitar Hero is a great way to gain all-important exposure.
"It's really cool to have a record out, or radio spins, or get your song in a movie," says the band's label head, Jeff Castelaz. "But kids don't listen to a song on the radio or watch it in a movie 30 times a night with a bunch of friends."