The Howard Stern Show Tweeted This Morning that “It’s offical – Howard just signed on the dotted line – he is now the newest judge on America’s Got Talent!” followed by “Howard says he’ll start shooting in Feburary and actually be traveling the country to do the audition rounds.”.

There are no reports as to what this will mean for the Howard Stern Show.

America’s Got Talent is a reality show that features singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, and other performers of all ages competing for the advertised top prize of $1 million dollars. The show is currently on its third season.

Do you think Howard Stern will make a good judge on America’s Got Talent?

It’s Official! Howard Stern New Judge On America’s Got Talent is a post from: The Inquisitr

“At the break of day I look for you at sunrise When the tide comes in I lose my disguise,”

This was the tweet that went out from Chassidic (well, those days are over) Reggae Star Matisyahu put out this morning before releasing pictures showing that he shaved his beard and head.

He wrote on his website “”Sorry folks, all you get is me … no alias,” the statement reads. “When I started becoming religious 10 years ago it was a very natural and organic process. It was my choice. My journey to discover my roots and explore Jewish spirituality — not through books but through real life. At a certain point I felt the need to submit to a higher level of religiosity … to move away from my intuition and to accept an ultimate truth. I felt that in order to become a good person I needed rules — lots of them — or else I would somehow fall apart. I am reclaiming myself. Trusting my goodness and my divine mission.”

Although he has made a name for himself through his practicing of Chassidic Judaism, there seemed to be an outpouring of support  for his evolution on his fan page.  Fans wrote that it isn’t what is shown on the outside but what is on the inside that counts, and that although he may have lowered his level of religious observance, his spirituality and good nature still are coming through. Matisyahu promised this year to be writing and producing a lot of music about his rebirth.

Also,, just because he currently looks like a tall version of Moby doesn’t meann he is done. He wrote on his twitter account that he still went to prayers this morning as he does every morning.  He also hinted that the beard will be making a return.

“And for those concerned with my naked face, don’t worry … you haven’t seen the last of my facial hair.” He wrote

Should Matisyahu have stayed true to his brand or to himself?

Matisyahu Shaves Off Beard, Talks Religion is a post from: The Inquisitr

For as long as there has been software there has been piracy. From the earliest days of sneaker net floppy disks through to broadband speed web surfing piracy has been a fact of our computing life. The movie companies and music execs like to shout from the high hills of Hollywood about how bad piracy is and how it is destroying their businesses, even while they are recording record profits.

The reality is that you can take any numbers about the damaging effects of piracy and add them to a bunch of salt before throwing them over your shoulder. Piracy is only successful when the consumer doesn’t have an easy way to pay for goods on the web, which is something that the entertainment industry just doesn’t get.

Rather than making it drop dead simple to buy their products these industry giants try everything from DRM to convoluted payment methods, and as a result we have people trying to get something for nothing.

Here’s an interesting infographic outlining some numbers ts about piracy on the web.

via WindowsObserver

Some numbers and stats about online piracy [Infographic] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Every day it seems that governments, state or federal, seek out to prove over and over again just how much they do not understand how technology and the Internet work.

To show just how brain dead these officials are we have the news today, via VentureBeat, that Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has signed into law a bill that makes it illegal to not only share your Netflix account but any streaming subscription.

The bill makes it a crime for anyone other than account holders to log into services like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Rdio, or Rhapsody. It also empowers streaming media companies that identify illegal sharing to contact law enforcement authorities to press charges.

So, a college student who gives access of his Netflix streaming account to half the residents in a dormitory will now be punishable by law, according to the bill’s sponsor Gerald McCormick.

Needless to say this bill was being heavily endorsed and pushed by the various entertainment lobbying groups.

Tennessee Gov wins moron prize – makes it illegal to share your Netflix account is a post from: The Inquisitr

There is no doubt that the Internet has forever changed our entertainment industry. Even though the power brokers in the industry are doing everything they can to keep their talons wrapped tightly around the creation and distribution of what we watch and listen to the world of entertainment is in a total state of flux.

From things like the Roku box, Boxee, Netflix, Amazon and Apple the landscape of how we find and watch our entertainment, be it television shows or movies, has shifted and continues to shift. Rather than having to watch the things we like at a time and day that the entertainment companies think we should we are able to pick when, and just importantly – where, we watch what we want to watch.

Except, what about serendipity?

What about those favorite programs that we came across totally by accident the first time because we were surfing the channels out of boredom?

This was a point that David Worthington at Technologizer raised a few days ago in a post and it got me thinking about this whole thing.

I know many people who have “unplugged” themselves from the shackles of costly year-long contracts. Why pay for channels that you don’t watch? Those people are typically more technically savvy than most of the population. I just recently upgraded my mother’s 1980s big screen TV to an HDTV.

My mother and I find what’s on TV in much the same way: we channel surf or use a “guide.” There are more than a few shows that drew me in by happenstance. AMC’s “Breaking Bad” is my favorite “accident.” Internet TV is surfing with a net, keeping us in the familiar, and not venturing out into the unexplored.

Sure, Internet TV has media guides that showcase featured content, but where does that leave programs that aren’t already in the spotlight? Would Internet TV allow me to stumble onto a “Twilight Zone” rerun at 3 AM? Sometimes randomness is nice – I don’t always like to know exactly what I’m looking for.

Would Mad Men be the hit it is if not first discovered by accident by some folks who then shared it with all their friends? How about Glee, or Dexter, or Sons of Anarchy?

There is something to be said for the joy of finding something totally by chance and instantly realizing that you have a new favorite show, which you then share with all your friends.

So one has to wonder if by removing that option to boredom surf if we aren’t actually having a negative impact on the quality of the shows we discover and watch. By removing that serendipitous moment because watching entertainment has become a ‘destination’ rather than a winding road are we removing the chances of finding that next great hit?

Is the Internet actually destroying the ‘surprise’ of television? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Their newest plan according to a report in Bloomberg today is that Warner Bros, Sony Pictures and Disney want to charge you $20 to $30 buck to watch a movie on your television before the release of the same movie DVD.

Calling it a premium service would let you watch movies at home long before the typical three to four month release window for DVD or first-run on cable.

“I think there are a number of other products that we will be able to create through Internet-connected television, particularly when you consider our brand focus,” Robert Iger, CEO of Burbank, California-based Disney said at a Goldman Sachs Groups Inc. conference on Sept. 21.

Sony Corp. tested the market with users of its Bravia TV by offering the Will Smith movie “Hancock” in 2008 and the animated film “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” in 2009 for $24.95. The Tokyo-based owner of Sony Pictures hasn’t announced plans for another movie through its TV sets.

Time Warner Inc. Chief Financial Officer John Martin told the Goldman Sachs conference in New York last week that the company’s Warner Bros. studio expects to begin tests on the service later this year. He said he expected the offering to be priced at $20 to $30 per viewing.

Source: Bloomberg

I’m not sure exactly what makes movie companies think that I am going to be willing to fork over $30 for a movie that I wouldn’t even pay to go to see in the theater, never mine buy a DVD for or pay some cable company to watch “on-demand”.

The fact is that maybe, just maybe, three or four movies a year are worth paying to see but if that is the case then I want to pay to see them in a theater, in all their glory, and not on some 32″ or 42″ LCD screen in my living room – that’s for watch re-runs or Netflix on, not paying $30 to watch a movie on.

Seriously? $30 to watch a movie on cable before DVD release? is a post from: The Inquisitr

His post was in response to the recent talk and speculation about Apple’s building of a massive data center and it’s recent moves to “close the holes” in web standards.

I had a phone talk with John Gruber from Daring Fireball the other day, which I requested, after reading a piece he wrote suggesting that Apple’s closing of the Flash hole in the iPhone/iPad was a way to enforce “web standards.” I said it’s a lot simpler and more insidious. Apple doesn’t care about web standards, nor do any other large companies. That term, and “open” are just fig leaves that cover up what they’re reallly doing. Instead of opening things up, they’re doing just the opposite. Closing as many holes as they can as quickly as they can. Because they’re doing what the media business wants to but hasn’t been able to do, yet — control and monetize user programming of content. Apple and many (if not all) of the tech companies want to get the control back from the users. Of course they can’t say this, and they won’t. But actions speak louder than words.

Then I read this article in CNET that says Apple wants to cut a deal with the entertainment industry to store all their content on Apple servers. There’s a chilling comment in the middle of the story saying they want to get rid of hard disks. That, my friends, is Hollywood’s dream. The real culprit, the real cause of their economic problems isn’t the Internet, it isn’t the wires that connect computers. It’s the under-$100 terabyte hard drive. With a terabyte you can store hundreds of hours of movies and TV shows. That enables you to do your own programming.

To Hollywood, a perfect world would be one without hard disks.

To Apple, a perfect world is one where every moment a user is reading, listening or watching causes cash to flow back to Apple.

The fact is the Internet isn’t becoming more open or transparent. Instead it is becoming more about piling all our information into the databases of individual corporations. Instead it is becoming more about finding better and more targeted ways to market to us within those separate arenas of user generated content that is making fewer and fewer companies richer and richer.

What we are seeing is the massive consolidation of the web into a small number of digital robber barons.

And we shrug our shoulders and carry on feeding these monstrosities because we get service that just do the least possible in order to keep the natives quiet.

The end game for Apple and the entertainment industry is a post from: The Inquisitr

The march of Harry Potter continues with what has to be one of the largest expansions for the franchise yet with the announcement and details of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter that is set to launch in the spring of 2010.

Working closely with J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. theme park giant Universal Orlando Resort is looking to provide visitors with a one-of-a-kind experience that will include

At the entrance of Hogsmeade, billowing steam and an iconic whistle signal the arrival of the Hogwarts Express into Hogsmeade station

Across the way is Zonko’s, a joke shop with a collection of tricks and jokes, including Extendable Ears, Boxing Telescopes and Sneakoscopes

Honeydukes is next door and full of treats like Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans

The Three Broomsticks and adjacent Hog’s Head pub will feature traditional British fare and drinks including Butterbeer and pumpkin juice

Across from the Three Broomsticks is The Owlery, where owls roost and await their next delivery

The Owl Post sends letters with a certified Hogsmeade postmark and sells official stamps from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Ollivanders wand shop is an incredible interactive experience where the wand chooses the wizard

Completing Hogsmeade is Dervish and Banges, the magical instruments and equipment shop featuring Quidditch equipment, Triwizard apparel, Spectrespecs and Remembralls

The first attraction, Dragon Challenge, features a twin high-speed roller coaster with many iconic elements from the Triwizard Tournament

Next is Flight of the Hippogriff, a family coaster simulating a Hippogriff training flight over the grounds of Hogwarts castle

Located in Hogwarts castle, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a thrilling new state-of-the-art attraction that uses entirely new technology to bring the magic, characters and stories of Harry Potter to life in ways never before experienced

Before exiting back into Hogsmeade, Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods is full of Ministry of Magic and magical creatures merchandise, Omnioculars, and even remote control Golden Snitches

From the press release

"All of the action and adventures of Harry Potter’s world will come to life here at Universal Orlando Resort," said Tom Williams, chairman and CEO, Universal Parks and Resorts.  "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be unlike any other experience on earth and we can’t wait to see the looks on our guests’ faces as they enter this rich environment."

Here are some of the artist rendering of this new addition to the theme park

Dervish & Banges

Flight of the Hippogriff

Hog’s Head

Hogsmeade

Honeydukes

Ollivanders

The Three Broomsticks

hat tip to My Modern Metropolis

Harry Potter coming to Universal Orland Resort [PICS] is a post from: The Inquisitr

In some ways you have to admire the audacity and amount of hot air that lawyers for the entertainment industry can expel. Nowhere though is this type of verbal buffoonery more apparent than the defense they use to prop up the concept of DRM’ing our music and movies.

A good example of this attitude can bee seen in the submissions made to the Copyright Office during its triennial DMCA review by Steven Metalitz, a Washington lawyer who represents the MPAA, RIAA and other rights holders. This is his response to the Copyright Office over the possible exceptions that would allow users to legally strip DRM from content if a store closes and takes down the authentication servers.

"We reject the view," he writes in a letter to the top legal advisor at the Copyright Office, "that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works. No other product or service providers are held to such lofty standards. No one expects computers or other electronics devices to work properly in perpetuity, and there is no reason that any particular mode of distributing copyrighted works should be required to do so."

Source: Ars Technica :: Big Content: ludicrous to expect DRMed music to work forever

Talk about priceless but it doesn’t stop there. He continues on with this

"To recognize the proposed exemption would surely discourage any content provider from entering the marketplace for online distribution… unless it was committed to do so… forever. This would not be good for consumers, who would find a marketplace with less innovation and fewer choices and options."

Even as Amazon and iTunes make music available without any form of DRM we still get this lawyer blow hot air up everyone’s butt. It’s no wonder that people are getting fed up with the whole entertainment industry.

Lawyer says it’s stupid to expect DRM’d goods to work forever is a post from: The Inquisitr

Almost a month before Wolverine hit the movie theaters a workprint copy of the movie was “leaked” onto the Web. It was a copy that was half finished as far as the special effects were concerned with green screens and wire framed character models visible for all the world to see. The great fight scene at the top of the nuclear reactor was more stickman like drawing that anything to do with the actors. In the end it was an incomplete movie that really only left the majority of those that watched it wanting to see the real thing.

In contrast Star Trek made it to the theater without a hitch and not a single “leak” to be found on the web. There were no FBI agents busting down doors and seizing servers or freelance reviewers losing their jobs because they reviewed something that they shouldn’t have. Everything was above board and unlike Wolverine the Star Trek movie became the darling of the weekend critics; which will last until the next great movie hits.

On one hand you have a great action movie without any pretentions of greatness getting panned and making movie executives fall all over themselves crying about how piracy was going to ruin the movie. On the other side of the coin you have a movie that made it to the theater with movie executives pleased as punch that they had kept those nasty criminal pirates from ruining yet another movie.

As we make our way through the weeks following the big weekend releases of both movies we have some serious dollar figures that obviously will show that those terrible pirate must have ruin the success of Wolverine while letting Star Trek surge ahead. There is only one problem with that assumption – it’s full of crap.

On opening weekend box office dollar figures we have  the following:

• Wolverine earned more than $85 million
• Star Trek netted $75 million

So there you have it folks. The movie that caused the most uproar over piracy in recent time actually earned more money than the other hot movie that garnered critic praise and not a peep about piracy. In the process an ISP data host lost millions of dollars and had their reputation severely impacted. As well a long time FOX freelance movie reviewer has lost his livelihood. All because of the pirating of an incomplete film that ended up earning more money on opening weekend box office that the golden boy movie.

Someone care to tell me exactly how piracy is hurting the movie industry?

Wolverine, Star Trek and how piracy destroyed them both is a post from: The Inquisitr

It is always interesting to see just who from our traditional forms of media grasp the ideals of social media and our new media world. Back in December of last year I wrote about musician Peter Himmelman and the interesting stuff that he was doing online. Since that time he has gone on to create Peter Himmelman’s Furious World which is where you will find him every Tuesday providing live music and conversation – with the community that has built itself around him.

Then yesterday I was hanging out on Friendfeed when a link to Kevin Pollak’s Chatroom was posted by Brooks Bishop in a thread about Paget Brewster (star of CBS Criminal Minds) who appeared on his show. Since I was curious about Paget and also because I like Kevin I thought I would check out this Chatroom show of his.

Now I will say that I’m not overly big about sitting and watching online videos of anything but something about Kevin’s show sucked me right in. For the next four hours I got caught up with with much of his past shows and didn’t even notice the time go by.

The thing that got me was during his conversation with Paget they got to talking about the community that creates itself organically around shows like his. It showed me that understanding the value of a community isn’t just limited to those of us within the tech blogosphere and social media but has managed to spread into areas that resistance would have been thought to be a given. However as either Kevin or Paget said during this part of the conversation artists (musicians and actors : my take away) who find themselves being crushed by the power of the industry will often seek out other ways to reach out and perform.

This is what I see happening with things like Himmelman’s Furious World and Pollak’s Chatroom – the artists are beginning to see that if done right; and with the right kind of openness and honesty, they can be empowered by their community. Whether or not we will see more things like what these two gentlemen are doing still remains to be seen but I sure hope so. The only fear is that the powerbrokers of the entertainment industry won’t like seeing their stranglehold being broken like this and as a result find ways to shutdown things like Furious World and Kevin Pollak’s Chatroom.

If they do it will be a sad day but until then you can watch Kevin Pollak’s Chatroom every Sunday and see how a community can bring new and interesting things to the web.

Kevin Pollak understands new media communities is a post from: The Inquisitr

Strauss’s new book, Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life–the author’s first full-length release since his foray into the world of seduction–details his eight-year attempt to figure out what it’d take to make it in a world with no structure and no government support. The story explores a worst-case-scenario side of society most people only imagine encountering.

From the book’s official description:

“After the last few years of violence and terror, of ethnic and religious hatred, of tsunamis and hurricanes–and now of world financial meltdown–Strauss, like most of his generation, came to the sobering realization that, even in America, anything can happen. But rather than watch helplessly, he decided to do something about it. And so he spent three years traveling through a country that’s lost its sense of safety, equipping himself with the tools necessary to save himself and his loved ones from an uncertain future.”

‘Emergency’: Exclusive Sneak Peek

Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life will be available starting March 10. The Inquisitr, however, has an exclusive sneak peek now at an entire chapter from the text.

You can read through some other scattered samples from the book on the publisher’s official Emergency preview page.

Exclusive Sneak Peek: Neil Strauss, Author of ‘The Game,’ Takes on Survival in ‘Emergency’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

They force things like draconian digital rights management on entertainment and software producers because they don’t want to lose a single penny. Of course it isn’t just the trade organizations like the RIAA, MPAA or their software counterparts. It is also the corporations producing the mass quantity; much of which is pure dribble to begin with, that issue the marching orders or end up paying for the lawyers suing people into the poor house.

Why is it that the whole concept of the first sale doctine goes out the window the moment we move to digital goods. Just because you spend your hard earned money to buy something online in a digital format shouldn’t mean that it isn’t yours. That however is just what all these entertainment and software companies are saying. You can go to a bookstore, record store or gaming shop and plop down your money and that tangible item is yours. You could go the very next day and trade it in on something else and the store can sell it as used goods. You can sell it to your best buddy and no-one can tell you any different. Why – because you owned it – period.

In Canada when we go to buy any black media to copy onto (cassette tape, video tape, cd, dvd) there is a tax built into the price; otherwise known as The Private Copying Tax, that lets us make as many copies of something we want for our own private use. This has pissed off the folks like the RIAA and MPAA because it makes it next to impossible to enforce their perverse version of copyright law through our government. This is whyorganizations like the RIAA and the MPAA have been trying very hard to influence our Canadian government to change the laws – copyright laws that are in fact fairer to the content producers that anything the U.S. has.

It’s bad enough that organizations like this have gained the control they have in the US but this misappropriation of rights is now spreading beyond the U.S. borders and I’m sorry but it’s got to stop. As long as I am not breaking the law buy trying to profit from selling copies of things under sane copyright laws then why am I; and you being, treated like criminals. Why do we let this bullshit continue?

I’m an honest person as well I am sure that you are. Sure we’ve all probably downloaded something we shouldn’t have at some point in our lives but to continue to let these bastards extert the kind of power they have over our lives is just plain insane. Especially when you consider that we have the power to change this. A power so incredibly displayed by the Obama campaign – the power of the people. Not the power brokers, not the lobbiests but the power of the people to say enough is enough. They need to be told that we are not criminals and that both the entertainment corporations along with their trade organizations have no right to treat us as such.

The fact is that once we pay our money for a product; physical or digital, it is ours plain and simple. However until we tell these soulless greedy pricks to back off we get what we deserve. They aren’t going to stop doing everything they can to maximize every red cents they can regardless of our rights as consumers – as people. We are to blame for the situation we are in now and only we can change it. The companies won’t, the politicians won’t – we have to. But we’re too busy running to iTunes or other online entertainment content stores to get the latest and greatest even if we do whine and moan about things like DRM.

How do we change this? I don’t know because I don’t think this is important to enough people that any real concentrated movement to effect any change. Don’t bother crowing about Web 2.0 and social media and how it is changing things because right now those ideals don’t mean squat to the corporations and trade organizations. Just think though for a second if for even 6 months is not a thing was bought from iTunes, not a single game was downloaded or not a single pirated version made the rounds. How much of a change do you think could happen when all these companies that need our money in order to keep running suddenly are faced with this kind of action.

It could be done but honestly I doubt it will ever happen no matter what the power of the people showed during the election. I could be wrong but I don’t think so – what do you think?

New Year Resolution: smack the RIAA/MPAA into oblivion is a post from: The Inquisitr

First Katie Holmes was bringing in a dismal number of All My Sons sales (presumably in part from her husband scaring people away), but it look like She’s Back. According to Variety, things aren’t as bad as they might seem. They claim that All My Sons is “selling just fine“:

“However, if the advance figure released by producer Eric Falkenstein is accurate, “All My Sons” looks to rank alongside “Equus” as one of the fall season’s biggest nonmusical box office performers.”

What? Really?! It’s too bad that this report comes waaay too late for anyone to believe it. Then again, these anti-Scientology protesters might do the trick in terms of publicity. Things could turn around after all!

Will you watch Katie on Broadway?

Image: WireImage

Katie Holmes Might Just Do It! is a post from: The Inquisitr

DMX is in jail. . . again. Sigh. It looks like he’s going to have lots of material for his reality show, because he’s currently in police custody in Phoenix after being extradited from Miami. He pled guilty just two weeks ago to attempted cocaine and marijuana possession, after which he was fined $483 and sentenced to time served, but things aren’t over yet. The state of Arizona reclaimed DMX for an outstanding warrant after he skipped a court date, and he’s currently facing $25,000 bail.

Surely he’s getting low on bail funds at this point?

Image: WireImage

DMX in Jail, Getting Fodder for New Reality Show is a post from: The Inquisitr

What the F? Mary-Kate Olsen is completely off the hook (and probably breathing a sigh of relief) now that the Heath Ledger case has been closed. Even though she tried to make it clear that she had nothing to hide, the whole subpoena thing was looming– and looking slightly dim.

According to reports, prosecutors shut the case after determining that there was “no viable target” in the investigation over how Ledger got two of the drugs that had resulted in accidental overdose.

After reading this piece on Ledger in the L.A. Times, I’m glad to see the focus on Heath and his final days let up a little.

Image: WireImage

Heath Ledger Case Closes Like a Clam is a post from: The Inquisitr

As cool as it is to discover your talents, I’m not sure if I want to see Joss Stone doing it on one of my favorite programs, The Tudors. After all, she still fleshing out her career on both the large and small-screen with a just a few films to her name. . .

According to The Telegraph, Joss will be playing Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII’s homeliest wife, in season three. Given Joss’s style transformations over the years (nose ring, black hair, purple hair, pseudo-hippie duds), I’m having trouble imagining her flouncing about all royal and immaculate. However, since the show has already been criticized for its historical (in)accuracy, let’s see how Joss turns out. She’ll probably look as much like Anne of Cleves as Rhys Myers looks like Henry VIII!

Joss Stone to Potentially Ruin One of My Favorite Shows is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’ll find out soon enough! Britney been “working hard” on her body, but I think I’m going to wait until I see the proof since she was filming the new Pussycat Dolls video yesterday. I’m pretty sure that that means she’ll be wearing the smallest possible lingerie set as per the usual Pussycat costume regulations. Do I dare look? I’m sure things have improved, but I’m not sure how much, and it’s scary to imagine Brit’s cameo involving this.

I hope that this one turns out better than the last time Brit dressed in her skivvies.

Does Brit Have Her Bod Back? is a post from: The Inquisitr