Give the Canadian Parliament credit for at least attempting to drag its copyright laws into the 21st century. But one gets the feeling that a digital hornets’ nest has been stirred up by new legislation introduced by Industry Minister Jim Prentice.

Canada’s government tried to find the right balance between personal freedom and protection of artists’ rights with its amendments to the Copyright Act. Yet judging from the coverage, critics will no doubt point to similarities to the U.S.’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which digital rights advocates accuse of favoring Big Media, Inc. More personal use is authorized with the pending Canadian legislation; consumers can download legally-acquired music for use on iPods, and fines for illegally downloading that music for personal use have been drastically reduced. Anyone caught selling those illegally-acquired copies on the open market, however, is still subject to large monetary penalties, as is anyone trying to break digital rights management (DRM) locks on music or movies.

As with any effort to apply 20th century copyright concepts to the digital world, enforcement remains a big question mark. It’s almost as if the Canadian Parliament is throwing in the maple-leaf-emblazoned towel on this issue: for example, ISP’s don’t face any sanctions for illegally-copied materials going over their networks. Also, the new bill allows time-shifting of TV programs on digital video recorders, but bans keeping those programs forever in a personal library. Yet there’s no mention of how the government plans to check each and every DVR in the Great White North to make sure no one is illegally stashing away final-season episodes of “Royal Canadian Air Farce.”

Read [Reuters]

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Are you still looking to achieve that ultimate Chuck Norris physique? In order to flex your beard to its full potential you need a wide array of exercise equipment so you can ensure you’re always able to get your work-out going. The problem is if you don’t have enough space in your home, you certainly can’t just place a home gym in your living room.

That is unless you have the right gym! This excellent Otto-Bench hides the home gym right in your own living room, disguised as a place to sit or even an extra-large ottoman. The Otto-Bench provides an “adjustable Olympic bench press and a free weight set to create a workout solution for small urban living environments.”

Designed by Gabriel Prero and Life Fitness, the Otto-Bench is still in its conceptual stages, but if this gadget does hit the mass market eventually, the renderings suggest that 10 color choices will be available, making it easily integrated into your decor. We imagine this would save a ton of space in apartments and small homes.

When you move into a small place, there is a lot of personal belongings you might have to sacrifice. Hopefully the Otto-Bench will allow us to keep our home gym equipment with us wherever we might travel. You never know when financial trouble might put you in a tough spot.

Product Page via Baller House

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BlackBerry looks set to unveil a couple more smartphones in the near future - first off, we have the blackberry Javelin that won’t have specifications as piercing as it’s namesake. It will be a non-3G handset with a larger screen and higher resolution, while the BlackBerry Seawolf (or 9110) isn’t some submarine patroling the seas, but a flip cell phone with GPS navigation that might eventually end up on AT&T. More so, there is also the BlackBerry Aurora that has gotten everybody buzzing, although it might also have ended up in the R&D graveyard if not already. Do you like rumors, or prefer solid news pieces instead?

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by Darren Murph, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 11:41AM
When PureDepth said its Multi-Layer Display technology would be “shipping soon,” it meant “really soon.” Nary two months after the company made said assertion, we’re now hearing that IGT (a global computerized game machine company) has secured the aforesaid technology for a number of slot machines and other casino-bound systems. The REELdepth family of games, which includes around 70 of IGT’s classics as well as a few new AVP (Advanced Video Platform) themes, should be luring vacationers and gamblers alike in the not-too-distant future, but sadly, we’re not given a clue as to what casinos will be adopting said machines.

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What’s the dealy yo? Why are vendors in Qingdao, China putting goldfish inside of these mini-keychains and selling them off? Well, money, of course. But how twisted is this, for real? Sources say that the fish inside would only survive a few hours, and is usually lucky to get past the manufacturing phase in one piece.

China must have some sort of animal cruelty laws set-up in their government, so we doubt that these Live Goldfish Keychains will last very long. But what the hell?! Even if the fish survived would people even actually rock this on thier keys? Screw the whales for the moment. Save the Goldfish!

Since the plastic heart-shaped keychain is completely sealed, the fish gets very little air and there is no way to feed the little guy. So in other words, unless you carefully scalpel the keychain open without slicing up the fish in the process, the little gold swimmer inside is doomed for a slow death of suffocation, and we don’t even harvest goldfish for food.

If you live in the waterfront Qingdao area, please, do something. I dunno. Just buy all of them up and set the little guys free. Maybe even just punch the vendors in the face a few times. Just do something! This is both cruel and unusual. And I’m not even a fish guy.

Source via Geekologie

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December 25th is still a long way off, but the USB Typing Xmas Tree is already out in the market a good five months early. Well, I suppose this would make for the perfect gift for those who love getting things and errands done in advance, although this is taking things way too far. The faster you type, the more lights will start to, well, light up to create a Christmassy mood in your cubicle - despite the fact that summer’s upon us. There is a wide range of tree designs to choose from, so knock yourself out.

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Man, I really loved Garage Butler in 300, but he really needs to stay with really cool action films, and not do things like P.S. I Love You or Nim’s Island. Oh wait, that’s Gerard Butler.

The Garage Butler is, as its name implies, a butler for your garage. I must admit that this sounds slightly ironic, because if I could afford a butler, I probably wouldn’t want him in my garage. “Would you like me to sort your power tools, sir?” But hey, to each his own, right?

The Garage Butler is designed to sit next to the button on your wall that opens your garage. This is assuming you have one, for a garage door switch on your wall is required to get the Garage Butler to work for you. One of the functions of this device is the 6 timer settings, so a user can set the garage door to close in three to ten minutes after it is left open.

It also comes with a warning sensor, hold button, and even has a light sensor that will automatically close the door when it gets dark.

The Garage Butler is guaranteed not to interfere with the normal garage door operations. It also takes a little time to install (20-30 minutes), that is done without any drilling and comes with all the mounting brackets and instructions.

You can get the Garage Butler for about $59.98 on the Full of Life website. You can get Gerard Butler if you have a script for a kickin’ action film.

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I’ve written before about both my love of good (preferably large) watches and my nostalgia for cassette tapes, and here’s a design that brings them both together with a dash of style.

It’s available for £35.00 (around $69) from Asos, who for some strange reason have it in the men’s section of their website… Hey Asos, girls can be geeks too, y’know!

[Via Shiny Shiny].

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 12th 2008 at 10:28AM
There’s something that makes us a bit uncomfortable about a robot that sports a “glamorous body,” walks like a lady, and offers up some serious snogging. Today, Sega announced the E.M.A. (Eternal, Maiden, Actualization) robot that sings, dances, and — yes — kisses. If you get close enough to E.M.A., she drops into love mode and, well, the rest is up to you, big guy. Set up with infrared sensors to avoid obstacles (and, seemingly, sense your desire for some love nubbins) and movable elbows, shoulders, waist, and knees, E.M.A. will run around $175 and hit store shelves on September 26.

[Via CrunchGear]

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Yamaha has collaborated with Koizumi, rolling out a new set of lightning speakers known as the YST001. These new speakers not only pump out sound, but they light up your room with the relevant ambience as well. Each speaker comes with three halogen lamps of 25W along with a remote control for you to take note of the brightness. Other features include a frequency response of 70Hz-35,000Hz, and an impedance of 6?. They will retail for approximately €800.

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