[image: RiP: A Remix

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Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies” is a grave and beautiful work of art.

What? Dawn of the dinosaurs? In the Ice Age? You’ve got to be kidding.

And they say the Oscars are never much of a surprise.

Electronic musicians are always looking for new ways to do the same old things. Case in point: OTTO, developed by Luca De Rosso at the IUAV University of Venice for a master’s thesis. Based on an Arduino and Cycling ’74′s Max / MSP software, you can drop an audio loop in it (via USB) and manipulate it in real time by moving your hands around the touch surface. Sure we’ve heard these kind of edits before, but never on a device that somewhat resembles the old Simon memory game. That has to count for something, right? Suffice it to say: we want one. Be sure to check it in action after the break.

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Swedish software firm Global Gaming Factory X this morning announced it has agreed to buy file-sharing service The Pirate Bay for 60 million Swedish crowns (which currently converts to approx. $7.7 million). In addition, GGF has entered into an agreement to acquire the shares in Peerialism, a software technology company that develops solutions for data distribution and distributed storage based on new p2p technology.

The transaction is scheduled to be closed in August 2009.

Update: The Pirate Bay has confirmed the news (see their commentary below).

Last April, the founders of The Pirate Bay were sentenced to one year in jail and a fine of $3.6 million for running the site, which is one of the world largest for downloading files on the Internet (one of the 100 most visited websites in the world according to the press release). The case had been brought on by a number of groups from the music and movie industry.

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The signature weapon of Red Faction: Guerrilla is great for wreaking havoc. But you’ll probably never experience the supreme majesty of the sledge unless you take the gameplay down a notch.

Next month, Yoostar will start selling a $169 system that includes a camera, green screen, and software that will put you into well-known movie scenes. Once the automagic compositing is done, you can share the resulting video with friends on Facebook or other sites. (It’s like blending the offline ego trip of karaoke with the online ego trip of social networking!)

From Variety’s coverage:

Five studios — Paramount, Universal, MGM, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate — have partnered with the company, as have the National Basketball Assn. and Sesame Workshop’s “Sesame Street” franchise. The package will ship with 14 clips (11 from films, one from “Sesame Street” and two “moving backgrounds,” which allow users to improvise a scene).

Included are single scenes from pics as old as “Double Indemnity” (1944) and “Sunset Boulevard” (1950) and as recent as 2006′s “Rocky Balboa” and “Employee of the Month.” The original “Terminator” and “Beverly Hills Cop 2″ are also in the starter pack.

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Mushroom Networks has been in the “broadband bonding” business for quite a while now, but we’re guessing they’re going to find a few more fans with their new wireless broadband gear, which promises the fastest cellular-based internet connection to date. Like the company’s previous PortaBella device (pictured above, not exactly to scale), its new rig can combine up to four different cellular data cards into a single high-speed connection, but this one is fully portable (just over a pound) and, perhaps most importantly, it has an optional battery pack that’ll let you be truly mobile with it. That, Mushroom says, makes the device ideal for a whole range of applications that can be a bit tricky with a single modem, like mobile TV broadcasting or temporary offices set up in a disaster area. Unfortunately, there’s no word on pricing just yet, but it doesn’t exactly take much guesstimating to figure out that it’s likely not the most cost-effective solution around.

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