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Ah, Second Life - that game/not-a-game which has captivated the hearts of brothel running single mothers and Martin Luther flying saucers the world over. Nearly buried beneath the news of Viacom’s GooTube shakedown was word that Second Life is going to Japan. Japanese companies are already starting to worry about performance (via Mainichi via Gizmodo):

The Japanese version is on the way, but the American subsidiaries of automakers like Toyota and Nissan have already put cars on the market in the virtual world. They do it for promotional purposes, but performance in the virtual world is said to reflect performance in the real world, too. If a Japanese language version starts running, more Japanese companies are gonna get involved… This is the first large-scale online game where real money is involved. It’ll be interesting to see whether the cops will be prepared to deal with disputes that have occurred within the game. I can see all sorts of social problems coming out of this.

Personally, I think their concern is misplaced. If Furries are bumping and grinding in Second Life what will the Japanese version bring? Tentacle pr0n?

With all the great Mac products out there ever wonder what happened to the Power PC? That Apple computer with the cool name and non-Intel chipset? Well, wonder no more:

If you only read the feed (RSS) version of militantgeek you may not have seen the little Google Reader widget that is embedded on the right hand side of the page. It keeps a list of all the stories that I tag that are geek worthy throughout the day that I may not have time to comment on at the moment. As yesterday developed it filled up with news about Viacom suing YouTube (through parent Google) for a billion dollars. From Mike Arrington’s TechCrunch coverage (who is quoting the actual lawsuit):

There is no question that YouTube and Google are continuing to take the fruit of our efforts without permission and destroying enormous value in the process. This is value that rightfully belongs to the writers, directors and talent who create it and companies like Viacom that have invested to make possible this innovation and creativity.

After a great deal of unproductive negotiation, and remedial efforts by ourselves and other copyright holders, YouTube continues in its unlawful business model. Therefore, we must turn to the courts to prevent Google and YouTube from continuing to steal value from artists and to obtain compensation for the significant damage they have caused.

ValleyWag has an interesting take: sue back. If Summer Redstone (Viacom’s voracious vulture-in-chief) wants to wave his legal stick about do so in kind. We want to see the kind of knock-down, drag-em-out sword fight to end all sword fights (in the strictly platonic sense, of course). Its about time that somebody with cahones steps forward, DMCA Safe Harbor Provision in hand, and puts an end to calling lawyers when the revenue sharing deals aren’t to one’s liking.

Your move Google. You knew this was coming a month ago and you sure as hell should have had something prepared. Are you going to fight? Or are you going to make yourself a target for every content owner with an ambulance chaser on speed dial? Your call.

There are the poor saps who toil from day to day like you and me. And then there are those like Oracle’s Larry Ellison: a reincarnated Caligula trapped in the modern age. In this ongoing series we’re going to do a public service of pointing out what a cruel, cruel place the world can be when you really are better than everyone else.

So lets say that, yet again, you’ve failed to crack the top ten of Forbe’s richest men in the world. You know that your extreme intellect is unjustly being buried beneath a bushel of plebeian ignorance. But where can you go? What can you do? If you’re Larry Ellison the solution is simple: buy a Malibu fiefdom to cater to your every whim. According to the Los Angeles Times:

By some accounts, he has shelled out as much as $200 million for more than a dozen properties, including five adjacent residential parcels on Carbon Beach, two nearby restaurants, the Casa Malibu Inn and a vacant gas station or two that he apparently intends to use for customer parking.
…
So far, Ellison, 62, has submitted plans to the city of Malibu for two new restaurants, including one expected to feature ultra-high-end Japanese cuisine. That would be in keeping with his affinity for the finer things in life and for all things Japanese.

Ah, yes. There’s nothing like local serfs toiling to make Japanese cuisine to take the sting out of only being the 11th richest person in the world. But when making sushi for the ultra-rich what other issues are there?

Mayor Ken Kearsley, who voted against the amendment, said he fears that the restaurants will cause a traffic backup on the highway. He also said Ellison should honor a development agreement between the city and the previous owner, who had promised to donate $400,000 to local schools and include a community room in his proposed beach club and spa.

They want a $400,000 from a man worth only $20 billion? For kids?! That aren’t even illegitimate Japanese heirs!!! It’s as if people think just because he’s rich he has the capacity to help them. Another gross misunderstanding by the world at large.

POOR ELLISON!

What happens when you take the pretentiousness of an Apple product unveiling and combine it with current geopolitical events? Why, the iRack. Make sure to watch till the end for the revealing of Apple’s follow up to the iRack, the iRan:

Hat Tip: Geeks are Sexy

For anyone that has been following the string of Apple OS names the compulsion for big cats is puzzling - Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, and Leopard. Sure, maybe Steve Jobs just has an unhealthy love of whiskers. Or perhaps, Apple has been naming their operating system after German armored vehicles. From blog-for-a-homepage:

But why does Mac OS X and german tank models share the same naming convention and other similarities? Could it be something having to do with the shared, well deserved, feeling of being the best in engineering on the respective fields? Maybe the tendency of both parties to respond well to strong leadership? The desire for total control over the different territories and the need to enforce this with great tanks, well organized armies, DRM and operating systems locked to run on specific hardware?

Of course, the naming could be a run-down of a clone-maker’s product line that was conveniently crushed back in 1997. Somehow Steve Job’s rubbing a former competitor’s nose in trademarked spoils seems a tad more scandalous than the German tank bit. However, how often do we get to use the phrase ‘Mein Gott’ in a post title?

Yahoo Yawwn! Parody T-Shirts in the Militant Geek Tee Shop - Starting at $15.99

It’s been long enough since we had shared the latest Yahoo blunder that we began to wonder if they had righted the ship. However, today’s news doesn’t disappoint - Yahoo owns HotJobs. HotJobs has positions to fill. And, according to Donna Bogatin, Yahoo has resorted to placing ads on the free Craigslist classified site to fill those spots. Rather embarrassing for a service which declares itself as “the world’s number one Internet brand”.

Continuing our propaganda against bull-headed lawyer conglomerates today we have this incredible anti-anti-piracy poster. It’s funny because its true:

This Sunday’s FoxTrot, one of the more geek savvy of the mainstream comics, correctly points out the absurdity inherent at the RIAA. Big props for the issue being placed in front of people who don’t normally read about this sort of thing everyday: