RealNetworks says it has settled the litigation over RealDVD, its software for making copies of DVDs on PC hard drives, agreeing to a permanent injunction against sales of the product and paying $4.5 million in legal costs and other fees to six major Hollywood studios and others that challenged the technology.
Here’s our previous post from 2008….
RealDVD is being touted as one of the only legal ways to “back up” DVDs. It seems to make a copy on your drive, keeps the DRM and adds more Real player style DRM. Here’s the funny part about all this - awhile back (1999) a ton of people were sued and got in trouble for trying to back up their DVDs, it still happens to this day although rare. That said you can’t build a DVD jukebox without getting sued. Most people nowadays rip DVDs using many of the free open source tools (lots of posts on MAKE about that). Back to 1999, when the encryption(s) on the DVDs were broken allowing copies to be made (DeCSS) - they key actually came from the XingDVD player, from Xing Technologies, a subsidiary of RealNetworks. I’m pretty sure to this day 2600 magazine cannot even link to the DeCSS program, source, or anything. I’m sticking with HandBrake.
Looks like I’m still sticking with handbrake… Makers, what do you use to rip DVDs? Or are you busy making things instead of archiving movies?
One interesting historical example of upcycled crafting is the bottleneck guitar- or as it is now widely known, slide guitar. The unique resonant sound of slide guitar was originally formed by playing with a glass bottleneck over one finger and running the slide up and down the strings. While the materials for making slides have evolved, bottles are still a popular choice of material. We were given one, and as it has been used over the years, the piece has developed some lovely scratches that give the glass beautiful character. Slideplayer.com has two great ideas for making your own, including a “Burning Twine” method that sounds really cool (and drunkenly dangerous).
La Subterranea [is] an ongoing research project which takes its name from a tunnel and viaduct system running underneath and through the city of Guanajuato, Mexico. As riverbed, vehicular thoroughfare, and the historical back alley to the city, La Subterranea has evolved in a state of tension with the city above. Its use, form, and place has shifted over time, registering changing attitudes towards hygiene, shifts in transportation and hydrological infrastructure, and alterations to the natural topography. At present, La Subterranea is embraced as uniquely embedded cultural capital–contributing to the city’s designation as a World Heritage Site in 1988–and as a practical solution to the transportation problems in the city center. The authors traveled to Guanajuato and employed High Definition Survey equipment to assemble a precise three-dimensional model of approximately 2 kilometers of the length of La Subterranea. This study has resulted in the first methodical and accurate mapping of this system.
UPDATE: Mike wrote in with a link to another blog post about laser-mapping caves. Thanks, Mike!
Polish Lego builder Paul “Sarial” Kmiec built this fantastic robotic arm using Technic Power Functions elements combined with an external pneumatic compressor!
Just another weekend build - this is basically a late realization of an idea I had back when I was a kid. The goal was to build a model of an entire human arm, with palm included, that would have as much realistic functions as possible while being of more or less accurate size. The look of the arm was considered insignificant.
The most complex part of the arm is obviously the palm with 4 fingers and a thumb. The thumb can be bent and raised/lowered, whereas the remaining 4 fingers have two joints in each of them. The index finger was operated independently, and it was fairly possible to operate every finger individually, except that it would take two times more pneumatic hoses, which were already quite numerous (8 of these was going through the arm). The palm can be theoretically rotated through full 360 degrees, but I never actually tried it for the sake of the hoses in the wrist. The whole arm was heavy and a bending under its weight a bit, but it worked well. I think it was pretty satisfactory for something that was built in just two days.
The half life lamp by Joris Laarman is apparently powered by living, bioluminescent hamster cells. Don’t worry, no furry rodents were harmed in the making, the lamp is said to be made from an old line of Chinese hamster cells. There isn’t much information available about it yet, however it is part of a show that is opening today at the Friedman Benda Gallery in New York. [via inhabitat]
This month on Make: Online we’re talking about DIY moviemaking. One important subset is the brickfilm: a stop-motion movie using Lego bricks to create the animations. For inspiration, here are some of the most awesome films that have been done:
Generally considered to be the first brickfilm, The Magic Portal was shot on film in the ’80s by a college student named Linsey Fleay.
Canadian animator Marc Beurteaux’s masterpiece blends technical proficiency with beauty and emotion.
Robota is a stop-motion film done entirely with Lego and Mega-bloks. I shot this film in my basement studio and worked on it on and off for three years. A lot of the Lego is from sets I had saved from when I was a younger. I also bought a whole bunch of new sets. The story: In a Lego underworld, a down and out robot searches for a quick fix.
This fake commercial is just one of many projects professional (Lego) animator David Pagano has worked on. He helped with 2008’s epic Go Miniman Go brickfilm produced by the Lego Group. Lately he’s been working on some Lego Space Police animated shorts for the the company.
Interested in learning more? Check out the two biggest brickfilms sites BricksInMotion.com and Brickfilms.com. Got something to share? The BrickFlix film festival is coming up in May.
Maker Thomas Spaans built this rugged looking high-end portable iPod amplifier into a military ammo box. Housing two 70-watt amplifiers and woven kevlar speaker, the A-Box is as aggressive as it looks. [via RetroThing]
The iPod/mp3 player can be connected on the outside of the A-BOX as well as the inside so you can listen to your tunes while running around with the A-BOX for example or just protecting your iPod from bullets and stuff.
In response to our Maker Business coverage, I got a wonderful email from Fran Shea of Zeichen Press. She wanted to tell us about her foray into the small letterpress business she started with her sister-in-law, Jen. Being a huge letterpress fanboy, how could I resist? Here’s a short interview I conducted with Fran. — Gareth
Jen (left) and Fran (right) in their element in front of the type cabinets at Zeichen Press
First off, can you give us a little background on your company, where you’re located, what you do, and what made you decide to go into this particular business.
We’re in Minneapolis, MN. We do a few things: We design and letterpress-print a line of greeting cards that are sold in indie boutiques around the world. THE WORLD. We also design and letterpress-print custom projects like: posters, invitations, business cards, etc.. We also handle creative and marketing for companies that trust us to do that for them. Jen’s background is in interior design, and mine is graphic design and art direction, so this seemed like a natural direction.
Blogsnapper at 10:03 am 
