Ticketmaster captcha the front page

Ticketmaster are dropping recaptcha captchas in favour of Solve Media captchas instead. Sure, Solve ones are easier to, erm, solve, but they're basically intended as a way of making captchas into advertising. (Getting site visitors to type marketing slogans, in short.)

So why is this change being treated by BBC News not only as a news story, but one that is...

... worthy of a front page slot?

Bookmarks: Autotune

Over on the Oxford University Press blog, Steve Savage launches a defence of Autotune:

As a recording professional, I see Auto-Tune primarily is a tool that allows for the occasional pitch fixing of a small part of a vocal performance. Before Auto-Tune I had numerous debates with singers about a particular phrase that I felt was especially emotional and effective but had one slightly sharp or flat element. I’d say “But the performance is great! No one is going to notice that tiny pitch issue.” Often the singer “just can’t live with that line” so we’d record it again. (We’ve been fixing pitch in vocal performances by re-recording for a long time.) However, when we’d re-record the line, invariably it wouldn’t be quite as emotional or expressive, but it would be more in tune. The singer would be satisfied and I’d be disappointed. Now, thanks to Auto-Tune, I can pitch fix the little problem and save that great performance.

Gordon in the morning: Mr Gallagher buys an iPad

In an attempt to try and find a story every day between now and the release of the album, Gordon Smart reveals Noel Gallagher has bought an iPad.

Talking about embracing t'internet, he said of his new iPad: "I'm now forced to use words and terms I never even knew existed like 'pop up server' and 'RAM' and f****** 'user' this and 'password' that. I've never had to come up with AND REMEMBER so many passwords!

"It's like some super spy s*** in WW2, and who decided where to put all the b****** letters on the keypad? Nonsense."

Yes, Noel, this new-fangled QWERTY keyboard that's come in in the last 138 years - how is anyone supposed to get to grips with that?

On the bright side, it's heartening to discover that Noel Gallagher has moved on from trying to be Paul McCartney onto trying to be Michael McIntyre. I can't wait for the toaster jokes.

Doubtless Smart has run this because his ultimate boss was also pulling the 'perfectly capable man pretending to be old and doddery and not really getting to grips with this modern world' schtick earlier this week.

Too hot for Spotify

Last night, Spotify vanished from the internet. Why? It was gettin' hot in there, so it took out all its nodes:

Saturday evening there was a power outage at a large data site in London where we host some of our servers. The backup power kicked in as planned, however, one of the big air conditioners in the data centre did not start properly. Heat is a major issue in large data centres and without this cooling unit the temperature rose very quickly and our servers shut down to protect themselves from over heating. Once we discovered the source of the problem we started work on bringing the servers back online but because of the large number of servers and the complexity of the system it took a few hours to get everything up and running again.

Yes, tonight they're pouring quarts of Ben And Jerrys into the computers. That'll stop things getting too hot, that's for sure.

Gordon in the morning: We're living in the future now

You won't have been able to sleep last night, with Gordon's announcement yesterday that he had some "amazing new technology which I'll be revealing". Whatever could it be?

Wonder no longer:

First, find the JLS video pane on my website. Then hold the star up to your webcam, as demonstrated by my colleague Lia Nicholls.

If the webcam can see the star, a performance of One Shot will start playing. If you remove the star, it will stop.

And moving the star in three dimensions moves the lads around too, with you in the background.

Oh. Augmented reality using a webcam? Sure, that might have impressed my grandfather, but - since Radio One tried and quickly abandoned the gimmick two years ago - you'd have to stretch the truth a bit to describe it as either "amazing" or "new".

You might be more interested to know that Editors have recorded a session for The Sun. Decent Editors at The Sun? That's got to be a first.

Dell break laptops to please the RIAA, claims blog

Interesting post over on Ripten, where Chad Lakkis was surprised to discover his audio malfunctioning on his Dell laptop - only to discover that Dell had disabled the "stereo mix function", apparently at the behest of the RIAA.

Even more surpisingly: although this was a functionality Dell disabled lest it fall into the wrong hands, some of their customers were told they could have it restored for $99.

So: Dell breaks your laptop because it's too powerful for anyone to have the audio function working, but will then charge you to return it to the sort of usable state you'd expect to have had it when you bought it. Presumably they pocket the hundred dollar bill, look round shiftily and say 'I ain't been 'ere, right...'

There is also a free fix, it should be said, available through the Dell website; a "Dell Community Ambassador" posted a link in the comments section of the Ripten piece. A direct link. To an .exe file. Who wouldn't click that, eh?

NME has a vacancy for a technology correspondent

Obviously, music journalists aren't expected to be tech journos, but the NME.com coverage of Rhapsody's new mp3 store is a little shoddy even making allowances:

An online download service, Rhapsody, has put itself into a position to potentially rival the Apple iTunes download service, by making the MP3s downloaded from the site compatible with iPods for the first time.

The website does not use digital rights software, and for the first time its MP3s will be compatible with Apple's range of MP3-playing devices, reports Brand Republic.

Rhapsody, of course, has never sold mp3s before, and mp3s have always been compatible with iPods. But other than that, it's spot on.

What's the big idea?

Given that the tempo of Nude hardly lent itself to remixing, and with a suspicion that Radiohead were doing the competition as a bit of a pisstake, James Houston set about making a remix that:

grouped together a collection of old redundant hardware, and placed them in a situation where they're trying their best to do something that they're not exactly designed to do, and not quite getting there.

[Via Codepope on Twitter]

Gordon in the morning: Clash of limpbacks

Britney. Whitney. Their names rhyme, their careers have got a little lost recently, and now, according to Gordon Smart, they're going head-to-head:

The clash was set up because Brit has impressed label chiefs so much with her new material.

Gordon reckons that both artists' albums will be released at the same time, but his explanation makes little sense - let's assume that Arista and Zomba are acting in concert; what business sense would it make for them to say "Britney's new album is so good, we'll release it on the same day as Whitney's?"

The odd thing is, Gordon's so convinced this is going to happen, and yet his piece just talks vaguely of "at Christmas" - no mention of any exact release date for this battle of the titans.

Still, that this is all a bit vague doesn't stop Smart picking sides:

Christmas 2008 could be all about Brit though and I’m lumping on a full-scale Britney comeback...

The thought of Gordon lumping on anything is one we don't really want at breakfast. But if you're wondering why Smart favours Spears over Houston, it's apparently down to Whitney's terrible crime:

ageing

Gordon also has a bit of tech coverage today, too, with a report on the Girls Aloud trojan circulating:

Emails promising pictures of the girls are circulating widely, but actually contain software that scans your hard drive to get personal information that can be used for identity theft.

Except, of course, the email promises a Girls Aloud mp3, but since this is actually just a weak excuse to run pictures of Girls Aloud in what Smart claims are basques - but actually aren't - why bother about getting the facts straight? He also doesn't bother to mention that the same trojan is disguised as other files as well, which makes the piece of little value as a warning.

Oh, and it's being distributed through file-sharing networks and not through email, too.

Still, he does try to come over all GigaOm:

Boffins at anti-virus firm McAfee tell me the outbreak is the worst threat to PCs for three years.

Boffins? Good god, he really is like a thirteen year-old boy who is frightened of anyone with a degree of competency, isn't he? Maybe, come to think of it, Gordon has just got a thirteen year-old boy to write his stuff for him, waylaying him outside the bike sheds in the time-hnoured "you do my homework for me" style. Only instead of "Do the thirteen questions on page 127", it's "write me 60 words about Keeley Hazell's breasts by lunchtime."

Still, it's interesting that McAfee told "him" it was the "worst" threat to PCs in "three years" - you might have thought that had they actually spoken to him directly, rather than Gordon getting Zammo from Year 11 to read the story on BBC News for him, he'd have reported that it was the most-widespread distribution of a file for three years.

Also this morning, Gordon seems surprised at a young man having sex with various women prior to entering a relationship and settling down. It's Ashton Kutcher, in this case.

The tape runs out

We're slightly dubious about the claims that Currys decision to stop stocking cassettes is the official end of the road for the tape, because Currys do have a bit of form for announcing that it's taking some piece of technology or other off its shelves, so there's a haunting feeling this is just a bit of PR to take advantage of a quiet news period. But even so, with Woolworths apparently having dropped them too (to be honest, it's more surprising to hear that Woolworths is still going than that they're not selling tapes), it does feel like the end of an era. Currys managing director Peter Keenan tries to be gentle at this difficult time:

"I remember the tape with some fondness," said Peter Keenan, the managing director of Currys. "The hours spent putting together compilation tapes and the all-too-familiar experience of finding your deck had chewed your tape, will resonate with many now in their 30s and 40s."

Yes, who wouldn't remember "with fondness" their favourite tape being chewed to death. It's like having a chuckle over scratching your best single.