BlackMylar Europe

StealFrame at MySpace for now

2007-05-04T00:04:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately due to technical and other problems stealframe.com does not excist anymore. We hope to recover some of the StealFrame Europe posts.

StealFrame is now located at MySpace as long as the new website isn't finished. You will find StealFrame at www.myspace.com/stealframe.

Blackmylar Europe becomes StealFrame Europe

2006-01-03T23:01:00.000+01:00

Blackmylar Europe is the European version of Blackmylar.com. Blackmylar.com has become StealFrame.com. Therefore, Blackmylar Europe has become StealFrame Europe.

You willl find us from now on at www.stealframe.com, category Europe. All new posts can be found there, as well as future podcasts (StealFrame EuroCast).

In the meantime this site will continue on line, so you will be able to read back all the old posts from Blackmylar Europe. In time we will transfer these posts to StealFrame.com.

So thank you for your support here at Blackmylar Europe and we hope you will keep visiting and supporting us at StealFrame.com.

More information can be found in the first StealFrame Europe post.

Microsoft goes public with Office file format

2005-11-22T23:53:00.000+01:00

Microsoft has decided to make the file formats of it's Office Suit public. The file formats of Word, Excell and PowerPoint will be released before the upcoming Office 12. At least that is what Microsoft is aiming for.

Microsoft wants the document formats of it's Office Open XML to have international recognition and hopes to get an ISO certification for it.

According to Microsoft the pressure from local governments has contributed to the attempt to publish it's document formats as an open standard.

If the Microsoft document format will become an open standard, this will be the end of close document formats at Microsoft.

Presidential medal for internet fathers

2005-11-07T23:29:00.000+01:00

The fathers of internet, Robert Kahn and Vint Cerf, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom which is the highest civil award in the US.

Other prominent figures that will receive the medal are Muhammad Ali, three-time heavyweight-boxing champ; and Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve of the US.

Kahn and Cerf are the developers of the TCP/IP protocols which are used to transmit traffic across the internet. They developed the protocol in 1973 for the US military.

The TCP/IP protocol today is the standard for all internet communication.

Today Robert Kahn is CEO for the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), a non-profit organization for research and development of the national Information Infrastructure.

Vint Cerf is working for Google, today's largest Internet search company and is developing architectures and systems and standards for the next-generation applications.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom will be presented November 9 at the White House.

First official visit in 300 years

2005-11-02T22:54:00.000+01:00

It takes some patience, but after 300 years a Russian leader pays an official visit to The Netherlands. Last Tuesday president Vladimir Putin arrived for a two day state visit.

First stop was the War Memorial on Dam Square where Putin and his wife remembered all Dutch casualties of wars. Next Putin met with high officials and important people of Dutch Corporate life.

Putin said he hopes that his visit will promote trade between Russia and The Netherlands. He claimed the Russians always have admired Dutch entrepreneurship.
Well, thankyouverymuch Mr. Putin!

Putin also paid a visit to Zaandam, where he visit the house in which the Russian tsar Peter the Great stayed some time at the end of the 17th century.

Wednesday evening Putin said his goodbyes to our Queen and off he went.

Well, I say that was worth waiting 300 years. Wasn't it?

A story of your own? Let us know!

2005-11-01T00:15:00.000+01:00

If you have something to say, got inside information or can write about that specific topic like no one else and it is fit for BlackMylar Europe?

Don't hesitate and mail to blackmylar.eu ad gmail dot com!

BlackMylar: seriously dangerous ideas!

World of Warcraft peaks into your personal life

2005-10-31T22:14:00.000+01:00

It appears that game producer Blizzard Entertainment installs spyware with people who play the game World of Warcraft on line, which is about 4.5 million players.

Every 15 seconds an on the fly downloaded program called the ' The Warden' is scanning the titles of all opened windows, email addresses from your MSN and url's of visited websites to name a few. Even the PGP key manager is not save and can be opened by ' The Warden'.

These accusations come from software programmer Greg Hoglund and the digital civil rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Hoglund describes in his weblog what the program ' The Warden' exactly does.

This so called 'anti cheating software' like Blizzard describes it is nothing more than a big breach of the privacy of the players, according to EFF.

The response of Blizzard is that it is doing nothing with the collected data.

Yeah, right....

Technorati Tags: EFF privacy Security

Informer of Dutch Intelligence and Safety Agency arrested

2005-10-28T23:39:00.000+02:00

Dutch Bureau of Investigation arrested a 28 year old man on suspicion of being involved with the terror network "Hofstadgroep'. Members of this terror network have been saying that the arrested man is an informer of the Dutch Intelligence and Safety Agency. Department of Justice is denying the accusations.

Two members of the so called 'Hofstadgroep' are claiming that this official supplied them with the hand grenade that was used during the raid earlier this year when members of the 'Hofstadgroep' were arrested.

If this is true, this means that a member of the Dutch Intelligence Agency, who supposed to protect us, is supplying terrorist with the means to carry out attacks.

This will also have a big effect on the upcoming trial against the 'Hofstadgroep' on december 5th. I wouldn't be surprised if a number of members will be acquitted once again.

These are strange times....

No Gmail in the UK

2005-10-21T22:55:00.000+02:00

The very popular free email service from Google, called Gmail, won't be available anymore in the UK under that name. Instead, new users signing up in the UK for a gmail account will have an email ending with ' @googlemail' . Earlier this year Google already had to change the name Gmail into Google Mail in Germany.

Reason for this name change is a trademark dispute between Google and UK financial research company Independent International Investment Research (IIIR). IIIR's Pronet subsidiary has a web-based email service called G-Mail. Google filed it's trademark application to little to late. In the mean time IIIR had claimed rights to the Gmail name, forcing Google to change the name to Google Mail in the UK.

Google also had to change the name Gmail into Google Mail in Germany earlier this year for almost the same reason. A Hamburg-based company had registered the name GMail five years ago to use it for advertising a 'hybrid mail service'.

A short explanation from Google can be found in the Gmail's help pages.

You would think a big company like Google would do a thorough investigation on a brand name and try to get a worldwide trademark for it before going public. I guess not....

Samir A. and Jermaine W. amongst 7 arrested by Dutch police

2005-10-15T17:28:00.000+02:00

Samir A. and Jermaine W. are two of the suspects arrested by Dutch police last friday. They were arrested on suspicion of preparing an attack on several politicians and a government building.

Jermaine W. is a former suspect of the so called 'Hofstadgroep', who was arrested earlier last year during a raid in The Hague. Samir A. was earlier acquitted on charges of preparing a terrorist attack, due to lack of evidence. On this arrest of last friday, police got hold of a video tape on which Samir A. was reading a testament in which he points to a deed he had done. Clearly this tape was ment to be found after his death, probably a suicide attack on a government building or a politician.

All seven suspects are still in custody.

7 arrests made by Dutch police

2005-10-14T14:09:00.000+02:00

In addition to the sealing of the government buildings in The Hague, Dutch police made seven arrests on the accusing of plotting terrorists attacks.

The arrest have been made in a series of raids last night and this morning in The Hague, Almere and Amsterdam. Gun fire was reported in one of the residential area's in The Hague where Dutch police were raiding a house.

The arrested people are six men and one women, all below the age of 29. Among the arrested is Samir A. Samir A. was acquitted in April of plotting terror attacks.

There are renewed threats towards the two Dutch politicians Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders. Both have been threatened frequently the past year. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been spending time abroad, escaping the highly threats made towards her.

Both politicians are assumed to have fled the country once again for their safety.

There is heightened security currently effective in the country.

Government buildings sealed of by Dutch police

2005-10-14T12:38:00.000+02:00

Dutch police have sealed of the government buildings in The Hague due to ' some kind of threat'. It is not clear what the exact reason is for sealing the government buildings. It looks like a precaution measurement.

Police have also sealed of a school in the Van Mierisstreet in The Hague. Members of the Swat Team are present and a person was arrested in the same street. It is not clear if this is related to the sealing of the government buildings.

New goodies...

2005-10-13T19:46:00.000+02:00

Well, I guess you've all heard tha news: new goodies by Apple!

Apple launched a new iPod which can also play videos.
Together with that is a new version of iTunes, where you now also can buy music videos and tv shows and put it on the new iPod video.

And Apple introduced the new iMac G5. The new iMac is a little thinner and is provided with a built-in iSight videocam.

On top of that it carries a remote control and a new thing: Front Row. With the remote control and Front Row you can use the new iMac as a multi media station which you can watch from your couch.

If you want to see Front Row in action, go to this QuickTime movie.

Like I said.... new goodies! Ain't it great....

Justin Timberlake to buy the world-renowned labels Sun and Stax?

2005-10-04T23:40:00.000+02:00

The capital city of soul and rock 'n roll is trembling on its solid grounds once again as stories are going round that former boy band singer Justin Timberlake is planning to build a huge recording studio complex in Memphis. And in the process he wants to buy up two of the most world-renowned record labels that once put Memphis on the map: Sun and Stax. This would be a major step in the history of these labels as well as for the city of Memphis, which launched the careers of such stars as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Otis Redding, B.B. King, Rufus Thomas, Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison, Booker T and the MG's, Carl Perkins and many, many more.

If these stories are true this plan most likely would revive the city of Memphis as a creative music centre not seen since the sixties. With the closure of Stax, the last true musical meaning of the city disappeared.
So if Timberlake, a Memphis native, would be building a huge recording studio complex and host within it the two most influential record labels of all times, this would probably mean a lot of new jobs for a city that went from a star-city to a city with high unemployment and poverty. Not to mention the crime. And the once so influential labels are only attracting tourists today, keeping the city alive.

But there is a downfall to this all. First, how will the identity and history of these labels be protected? How can we be sure that these labels are not used for something outside there boundaries which will not fit these labels? And will this do harm to these labels which today are more a brand than just a record label?
And second, what would happen to all those small and independent labels that are already in Memphis? Cause Memphis counts a lot of small labels and studios that have been struggling for years. They could be ruined if a big powerful studio would arise and sign the local talent.

But before we go on, we have to wait and see how much of the story is true. According to John Singleton, president of the Nashville company Sun Entertainment Holding Corp., there have been conversations with Rey Flemings, president of the Memphis Music Foundation. Flemings told Singleton he represents a group of a dozen Memphis investors. But Flemings denied that he had indicated that Justin Timberlake was one of the investors

Ken Sunshine (what's in the name ;-) ), who is a New York spokesman for Justin Timberlake, told the Memphis newspaper the Commercial Appeal it is not true that Justin plans to invest in a buy of the Sun and Stax label and catalog.

Singleton said he had understood during his conversations with Flemings that Timberlake was one of the investors mentioned. But Singleton also said that Sun would be for sale if the price is right. For the Sun label that would mean at least $ 35 million. Not bad for someone who bought Sun in 1969 for 'only' $ 1 million.

Then take in consideration that Stax is worth over $ 1 billion at this point and add up to that the costs of a new studio complex, it is not likely that Timberlake would be the source behind all of this. Cause even a big time music icon like Jay-Z does not pull in that kind of money.

So I guess it is save to say that this is still 'a story'. And it's not the first time that someone shows interest in buying Sun. Other musicians have expressed interest in Sun in the past, like U2's Bono, Robert Plant and even the Rolling Stones.

For the time being Sun and Stax will stay where they are. And with the Stax Museum and the Stax Music Academy just back in place in Soulsville and the continuous tourists visiting Sun Studio I think it's best to leave it like this for a while. After all, it's music history... you just don' t mess with that!

Sun and Stax to be sold

2005-10-04T23:03:00.000+02:00

Hey there everybody.

It's been a while since there have been some posts on Blackmylar Europe, but we hope this will improve.

At this point we are looking at a story about a rumor that is going round that Justin Timberlake is to buy up the Sun and Stax label and is planning to build a big studio complex in Memphis.

Now, it is already late but I'll try to get this story up as soon as I can, within say 30 minutes from now. I'm very tired, so I hope y'all can make some sense out of the story. If necessary, I will be adjusting it later this week.

' We have let our people down'

2005-09-15T23:02:00.000+02:00

My friend Don from Memphis send me the following comment on how he felt about the way the government acted upon the tragedy that took place in New Orleans. I am posting it here on BlackMylar Europe to share this insight with y'all.

I feel compelled to write about this -- this summer of 2005. I have seen the very foundations of my belief in the security of our government shaken and smashed. We were a powerful nation, one that was built upon a principle based on equal treatment of its citizens. Mistakes have been made in our short history. No government is perfect. In fact, I'd say quite a few are flawed to the point of self collapse.

But with the recent hurricane and the near total destruction of New Orleans and most of the Gulf coast comes a revelation. I have seen images of human misery that rival those if not in numbers, but in intensity, of the Holocaust. The horror of it is it has happened in the richest, most powerful nation on Earth.

America was the country that helped others in despair. We sent money, medical help, engineers, whatever it took to aid the world. And now, God help us, we can't even help our own citizens. It is true the disaster that struck the Gulf coast was "catastrophic" even "biblical in proportion" as described by the press. But be that as it may, we have let our people down.

The powers that be knew a category 4 or 5 hurricane was headed for this densely populated metropolitan area. The scenario of what could happen to New Orleans had been mapped, forecasted and presented to officials for years. Reinforce the levees, upgrade the pumps, plan evacuation routes, stockpile necessary supplies and so on. Maybe denial kicked in or the lack of funds bullshit that is handed down from our leaders so frequently in their high-handed way. Whatever the cost would have been, it would have been justified in comparison to what has happened.

I cannot understand why it took so long for help to arrive. As I watched the disaster from my home, I first went into a kind of shock. I simply couldn't believe that a city I visited often and fell in love with through the years was being subjected to the scale of destruction dealt by mother nature that it was. But this was indeed mother nature and she has never played favorites. Then the true horror set in after the storm's fury passed.

I do not believe that the order to evacuate New Orleans was given in time. Also knowing the demographics of this city, meaning the high poverty level, meant a large part of the population did not have the means to flee. Why was public transportation not provided? Did it never occur to anyone to press busses, trains or whatever it took into service? To my knowledge this did not happen. Then the levee system failed. Yes, that prediction actually happened and the city was flooded.

Why was martial law not declared immediately after the storm? With the absence of utilities and control, the gang activities, looting and general chaos that began in the streets this would seem a logical step. The relief providers feared for their own safety and thus efforts to enter the city and begin helping those who needed it were slowed. This was a major disaster! Where was the military? The National Guard? The Marines? Do we think simply surrendering the streets for days and days is the answer? Since no real effort was made to evacuate the citizens who needed help in the first place, was it the right thing to do to let them fend for themselves in a devastated city without even the basic tools for urban survival? Was Washington blind to what was going to happen?

The president of the United States called the response time and effort "unacceptable." I could not agree more. Time is so very critical when an event such as this occurs and yet the response time drug on and on with maddening slowness. It seemed it took the attention and disbelief of the rest of the world to get things rolling. And still --- almost a full week later -- we hear the tales of misery and suffering that have been caused by the snail's pace relief efforts.

I hope we have reached a turning point in the situation. Maybe this is the end of the beginning. I know full well that the rebuilding process will be a long one. There is no way around that. But when I think of the suffering, misery and death that could have been avoided, my angers rises. The organized government of this nation has let our citizens down. Nothing will change my mind about that. I am embarrassed and ashamed that our people have been treated so poorly. They deserved better.

Maybe we will learn something from what has happened this summer of 2005. Maybe we will remember this when the glittering promises drown us at election time. I know I will remember.

BlackMylar EuroCast 1: Katrina Relief

2005-09-07T23:43:00.000+02:00

The Katrina Relief podcast is dedicated to all those who are affected by hurricane Katrina.

Listen to the show here: BlackMylar EuroCast 1.

The best way you can help is to give your support and donate to the American Red Cross.

Thank you!

Joe Guercio's wife passed away

2005-09-05T17:43:00.000+02:00

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Joe Guercio's beloved wife Penny.
Mrs. Guercio had been battling cancer for a long time, but lost this battle this morning.

Joe Guercio was Elvis his arranger and bandleader from 1970 to 1976.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Joe Guercio, his family and close friends.

Katrina

2005-08-31T22:50:00.000+02:00

Hurricane Katrina completely devastated parts of Louisiana and left at least 55 people dead.
Hundreds of thousands of people are left with no homes and no hope for the future.

The best way to help is to give your support and donate to the American Red Cross.
Anything you can offer will make a difference, be it five dollars or five hundred dollars.

For more information or a donation go to www.redcross.org.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of hurricane Katrina.

Kind to our kin

2005-08-29T22:30:00.000+02:00

In one of the comments at BlackMylar Europe Meroll put a post saying

My China has been hairlipped because I see no link to meroll.com/portal? Ain't I kin? Don't family count for shit anymore?

Well, we at BlackMylar Europe want to show that we care about our kin, so here's a link to the portal of Meroll. You'll also find it on the right hand side of BlackMylar Europe under Links.

And if you don't like it, well we don't give a damn if it hairlips the Pope.

To enclose or not to enclose

2005-08-26T22:08:00.000+02:00

Here's an update on the feed and the enclosure-tags of Feedburner. The problem of the BlackMylar Europe feed has been solved. Problem was that Feedburner didn't recognize the mp3-file in the post and therefore didn't ad the enclosure-tags in the feed. Now this problem is solved.

The server on which the file was published seemed to be the problem. At first we published the audio file at garageband.com. But Garageband.com doesn't provide a link directly to the file. Instead the link it is using returns HTML that then launch a player in them that point to the actual audio file... And thus Feedburner didn't see it as an mp3 but just as another link to a HTML file.

So now we finally succeeded in uploading the file to the free service of ourmedia.org which we talked about yesterday at BlackMylar Europe. Ourmedia.org stores the file and provides a direct link to the audio file. And now Feedburner does recognize it and does add the enclosure-tag in the feed.

Also we can now be found and heard on the Podsafe Music Network. Next step will be adding the BlackMylar EuroCast to iTunes, so y'all can subscribe to the podcast.

Now, all the technical stuff is out of the way, we can concentrate on making the first actual BlackMylar Eurocast number 001. The trial podcast we made earlier this week was solely intended to test all the technical issues.

Now the fun can begin....

Short update today

2005-08-25T23:21:00.000+02:00

Today a short post, telling you what we are working on.

As you might have noticed, we have added the XML button so y'all can subscribe to the feed of BlackMylar Europe. Now, this feed was also intended to generate enclosure-tags when the podcast is published. That way, you can subscribe to the podcast and automatically get the latest podcast without manually have to look for it and download it.

To make the RSS feed, we use Feedburner. Feedburner says that whenever they find a link to a audio file in a post, they will ad the enclosure-tag in the feed. But for some reason, this is not working yet.

We think it has something to do with the server were the podcast file is uploaded to. So we are currently looking for a different server to upload the files to. We are now testing ourmedia.org, which provides

"free storage and free bandwidth for your videos, audio files, photos, text or software. Forever. No catches."

as they put it themselves.
Ourmedia.org is open source.

Now this sounds cool, so we made an account and managed to upload the file. We hope that the generated link to the file will be good enough for feedburner to recognize it and generate those enclosure-tags we need. But in the process, we have been kicked out of ourmedia.org for several times. So we couldn't check if the file was uploaded correctly.

That was a slight disappointment. We thought we found a good service where you could upload all your media files and store them for free. But if the service is that unstable that you are kicked out every hour, then the fact that it's free isn't that big of an issue anymore. It then becomes a pain in the ass and we will be glad to pay $ 50,- for an account at audioblog.com.

Anyway, we'll give them one more change tomorrow. Ourmedia.org that is. If it's still not working properly, we'll move on.

Oh and by the way: we lied. It wasn't a short post after all....

Talk is cheap

2005-08-24T22:36:00.000+02:00

End July Croll66 at BlackMylar.com posted a review on free internet voice chat apps. It covered Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Teamspeak 2, Skype and Gizmo.

Now a new member can be added to the family. Google launched the beta version of Google Talk. With Google Talk you can talk and instant message (IM) with ... well.... anybody. Google Talk will work closely with all the other Google gadgets you might have, including your Gmail account. In fact, Google Talk requires a Gmail username and password.

Now, I hear you thinking. Another IM program. Another voice chat app. Well, yeah. Adding to the row. I really am curious how this program will stand up against all the others. So, let's go ahead and download it. But wait...... Mmm, only Google Talk available for... for..... (can't get it out of my throat)... for...Windows!?@#? No, can't be. Let's look closer.

Ah, here we go. ' Mac and Linux users can connect too Google Talk using other IM clients', is what Google says. And they did think about that. They made the Google Talk service to support industry standards. And that's what we like at BlackMylar Europe: people who support industry standards (you here that, Bill Gates?)!

And there you have it, a list of clients we can choose from depending which OS we are using. For OSX we can choose from Adium, GAIM, iChat (of course our favorite) and Psi. Linux users can choose between GAIM and Psi.

So, it looks like it's worth giving it a try. I will hook up with Croll66 to try it out and he'll post a review on BlackMylar.com and compare Google Talk with the other apps.

And if he doesn't? Well, we don't give a damn if it harelips China.

BlackMylar EuroCast 000

2005-08-21T23:57:00.000+02:00

The trial podcast of BlackMylar Europe is finally here: the BlackMylar EuroCast 000.

Remember, this is only a trial podcast. We are still looking into the various programs to find out which one is the best to use. Also we are still playing around with all the settings and pre-settings to get the best possible result for you, the listener.

Also we are looking for the right place to host our podcasts. Right now, this is done at garageband.com, cause it was the fastest way to put the podcast live.

There will be more trial versions to follow before we actually start with the serious podcasting. But until then, this is it.

The King is alive: thousands pay homage to Elvis

2005-08-16T23:02:00.000+02:00

Like every year thousands of fans from all over the world gathered at the Elvis Presley's Graceland estate in Memphis to pay homage to Elvis his life and legacy on the 28th anniversary of his death.

The truly impressive Candlelight Vigil turned Elvis Presley Boulevard in a sea of candlelight as thousands and thousands of fans participated in the Candlelight Vigil. I never knew so many people could be so quiet. And even more impressive is that a singer that has been gone for so long still draws a crowd like this, not for a concert, but for remembering his life and legacy.

I sure can tell you that everytime I see something impressive like this, I still get choked up, even after all these years of being a fan. Having visited Graceland many times, I still get that strange, special feeling everytime I walk through the gates of Graceland. It's like time has stood still and you can still feel the presence of Elvis...

My dear friend Don from Memphis used to work at Graceland. He just sent me an e-mail where he tries to capture that feeling. I'll just share that with you:

... I was watching the Candlelight Vigil at Graceland tonight. The weather is very hot and muggy but also there's a clear sky with a beautiful moon. I was thinking of when I worked at Graceland and how quiet and lonely the mansion would be after the last guest left and we turned out the lights. Do you believe in ghosts?

We did have some good times through the years and I hope there are many more to follow. The spirit of Elvis is alive tonight in Memphis. You can feel it. When I sign off, I am going to drive to Whitehaven, past the mansion and who knows -- maybe I'll catch a glimpse of the King on the lawn.....

It's amazing that Elvis still can move so many people around the world. Even people who worked for a long time with Elvis and are coming back to Graceland to remember the anniversary of his death are having trouble keeping their eyes dry.

I guess that says a lot on the impression Elvis made to a lot of people.

And it still goes on: Elvis Lives!

Thankyouverymuch!

Wiretapping, Privacy Law and groceries...

2005-08-14T22:14:00.000+02:00

The US Government wants to be able to do wiretapping (or should we say webtapping :-)) on internet telephony just as it can on the conventional land line phones. The US Government is supporting the development of a new technology which can be used to wiretap internet telephony.

Researchers of the George Mason University have collected a quarter of a million euros subsidized funding to perfect this technology, which already exists. In fact, it has been successfully tested on one of the most famous internet telephony programs used today, Skype. According to the US government, the technology will be deployed in the battle against terrorism and crime.

I don't know how it is in the US, but I know in Europe and especially in The Netherlands there is a complicated Privacy Law which protects the privacy of the civilian. That way, the government or companies can not give privacy information to a third party and there are rules to which the government and companies have to comply if they want to store information on a citizen or a client. This law protects the citizen or the client to a great extend.

But how far can you go with this protection? Do you keep this law intact for the sake of the protection of people who are really doing nothing wrong and therefore have nothing to hide, while people who do not have such good intentions can abuse this law and communicate and plan all kinds of horrific things, like a terrorist attack?

Which part is weighing heavier in the community, protecting your identity and your personal information, and thus also terrorist, or the ability to track down terrorist and prevent attacks because you know about them on forehand through the wiretapping?

It's hard. Cause when you ask somebody in a country which has not experienced any hostility and hasn't had any attacks on their soil, it's probably hard for them to understand that giving up some privacy is necessary in order to keep the country more safe.

But would you ask somebody in say New York or London, they'll probably be glad to give up some parts of their privacy in order to be able to get on the subway to go to work in the morning without breaking out in a sweat and wondering on every backpack that gets carried on if it contains a bom or just today's groceries.....

Leopard ready to take on Tiger

2005-08-09T22:32:00.000+02:00

While Jimmie Vaughan is taking over my iTunes and asks me ' Do you get the blues?', I think that Tiger (or MacOs 10.4) may very well get the blues in say about a year. Although Apple just released Tiger it is already building on the new version, MacOs 10.5. Codename for this baby to be: Leopard (I guess Apple just wants to work down the whole cat family). Leopard is scheduled to be released end of 2006 or beginning 2007.

So, the 150 euro I had to pay for Tiger, and then the 79 euro I had to pay for the iLife '05 package, will be down the drain and again I will have to spend a lot of money to upgrade a system that will by then be only a year to a year and a half old.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a huge Apple fan, but Apple is smelling the money a little bit to much lately. So how long before Steve Jobs turns into a clone of Bill Gates and just want to sell and to sell, paying no more attention to the users (=buyers) and the quality of the product?

I don't think it will go that far, but I find it rather fast wanting to put out a new MacOs version already while the ink on your MacOs 10.4 bill is not even dry.

At the same time Apple will release Leopard it will say it's goodbye to the PowerPC processor of IBM it is currently using in the Apple computers. Apple is shifting to Intel processors, stating that the PowerPC G5 processor isn't fast enough and is using to much power.

And of course Apple has to make sure it feeds it's new Leopard well......

Singer Ibrahim Ferrer past away

2005-08-07T20:12:00.000+02:00

And again said news here at BlackMylar Europe. Did we earlier report that legendary bluesman Little Milton Campbell has passed away, now the very said news came to us that famous Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer has passed away last Saturday, August 6th.

Ferrer became world famous with the Buena Vista Social Club, a project of Ry Cooder. Buena Vista Social Club put Cuban music back on the map and the band toured around the world and became one of the most famous Cuban groups ever.

Ferrer started his singing carreer at age 14. In the fifties he worked with the great band leader Pacho Alonso. His whole life he kept singing intriguing and emotional Cuban songs. But it was not long after his retirement that in the nineties he had his international breakthrough when guitarist Ry Cooder put together a band that would exist off older Cuban musicians and became known as the Buena Vista Social Club.

Last month Ibrahim Ferrer attended the Dutch North Sea Jazz Festival. During his following European tour he went back home cause he was feeling ill. Several days later he was admitted to the hospital of Havana with stomach pains. The actual cause of death is not know at this point.

Ibrahim Ferrer died at age 78. The funeral will be held coming Monday, August 8th.

Our thought and prayers are with his family and close friends.

Elvis guitarist John Wilkinson in Belgium August 16th

2005-08-07T19:39:00.000+02:00

John Wilkinson will be a special guest in the Belgian Elvis-shop in Turnhout coming August 16th. Wilkinson was playing rhythm guitar with Elvis and later on became his close friend.

John Wilkinson will appear between 2 and 6 pm and will talk about his time with Elvis. You'll be able to meet with this famous guitar player and listen to his stories. And here's the best part: all day there will be free entrance!

Now that's showing your Elvis fans you care.

For anybody that wants to attend, the address is 98 Otterstraat, Turnhout, Belgium.

Little Milton Campbell

2005-08-05T18:15:00.000+02:00

A sad day at BlackMylar Europe.

We have received a message of the staff of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, based in Memphis, that former Stax Records artist, legendary bluesman, and great friend of Soulsville Little Milton Campbell has passed away after suffering a massive stroke.

Here you'll find the content of that e-mail:

Dear Stax Fans,

We are sad to let you know that former Stax Records artist, legendary bluesman, and great friend of Soulsville has passed away after suffering a massive stroke on July 27th.

We have lost one of the greatest musical treasures in the world, and one of the most beloved members of the Stax family.

Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers. We do not have details yet on memorial services, etc., but will let you know as soon as we do.

Our Last Mondays in Studio A concert with Little Milton, which was scheduled for September 26th, will take place with an artist(s) yet to be determined. It will be dedicated to Little Milton and will be a celebration of his life.

Please check www.staxmuseum.com for updates.

For more information on Little Milton Campbell, including his biography, visit www.littlemilton.com.

Thank You,

The Staff of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music

Our thought and prayers are with his family and close friends.

Mighty Mouse for a big cat

2005-08-04T23:02:00.000+02:00

And once again Apple is introducing a new toy: a single-button looking mouse with multibutton functionality. And we call her: Mighty Mouse!

The new scroll ball on MM let's you scroll in every direction without lifting a finger. It gives you 360 degree scrolling, not just up and down. And this all without the need of lifting your hand or finger from the mouse.

And if that's not enough, there's build in touch sensitive technology, which detects where you are clicking. With this technology, the single button mouse transforms into a multi button..., well..., Mighty Mouse ;-)

On the sides of the mouse you'll find force sensing buttons, which will work closely with your Mac Os Tiger allowing you to open Dashboard for example. Better yet, program them yourself. Cause Mighty Mouse is build to work in sync with your Mac.

So basically, it's a mouse with the attitude of a Tiger. But for a retail price of $ 49 or € 55 I'll hope for the mouse's sake that there's no cat around! But that money will buy you a mouse with Apple's famous design and functional features.

Like Big Mamma

2005-08-04T00:08:00.000+02:00

A quick post today, cause I'm running late and it's already past midnight.

While listening to the latest Daily Source Code, which by the way was packed with great podsave music, I was putting some final touches to BlackMylar Europe.

The Google Search bar has been added for example, like y'all are used to at the Big Mamma site of BlackMylar Europe: BlackMylar.com.

Anything to make you feel at home. And why? Well, because we can! Ain't that great? You gotta love these digital times ;-)

If all goes well, we'll have are first podcast very soon at BlackMylar, so I was told by croll66 last Sunday. And furthermore we are looking forward to your stories, comments and reviews here at BlackMylar Europe. You can send it to blackmylar.eu@gmail.com.

That's all for today folks.

The Way To Amarillo

2005-08-02T19:35:00.000+02:00

It looks like it's gonna be a long summer! Cause everywhere there are videos popping up. Well now, there's nothing wrong with a video. But when CEO's of big companies starting hopping around in a video that plays the song 'The Way To Amarillo', you might start wondering.

It all started with the very popular video made by British soldiers stationed in Iraq. In the video, the Brits dance around to the music of 'Is This The Way To Amarillo'.

Not to long ago the same trick was done by some Dutch soldiers in Afghanistan, dancing around in a video on the same music.

Now the virus has spread to the corporate life. The Dutch news site Nu.nl is calling upon companies to make there own version of 'The Way To Amarillo'. They figure that in these summer months there won't be a lot to do in all those offices. Most people are on vacation and business is slow. So why not make a video?

To set an example, the employees of Nu.nl have made their video dancing through the office buildings. And apparently, now it's up to the rest to do the same.

I must admit, you do get kind of a happy feeling when the music wells up and you see even the executives hopping around while a dark brown voice is singing Is This The Way To Amarillo!

For a few moments you forget what the world is like today......

Welcome to BlackMylar Europe

2005-08-01T00:05:00.000+02:00

Welcome to the European section of BlackMylar. We hope we can make this a place for all European related topics and for all European readers of the BlackMylar website.
This will not replace the original BlackMylar site and you will of course be able, and in fact be invited, to keep posting your thoughts and comments to BlackMylar.com. See this really as a section of BlackMylar.com: the European Section!

After talking to Casey, my friend and member of the editorial staff of BlackMylar.com, about an European contribution to BlackMylar.com we just went ahead and put our money where our mouth is. And see there, while we were talking with each other through Skype for a couple of hours, me in Amsterdam and Casey back in Alabama, US, we just made this European section :-)

Now it will be a matter of time to get started and get some interesting stories and discussions going on. Also keep an eye out on the first BlackMylar Podcast, which will be coming soon. Also BlackMylar Europe will be bringing you a podcast in the future.

So if you have something interesting to say, let us know. We are interested in your story, being your personal view on a political matter, a review of the greatest movie you've ever seen or if you are the next Stephen King and want to send in your story: let us know, send it in and be a part of BlackMylar!

Thankyouverymuch!

Pasquinel
BlackMylar Europe