cher

Confusing Twitter hashtag leaves Cher fans in mourning

Do you believe in life after death?

I believe that several fans of singing icon Cher have had such beliefs bolstered by events that occurred today on Twitter.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher passed away today.

She was admired and derided in almost equal measure. Some adored how she assaulted entrenched British institutions with her handbag. Others thought she was a petty and divisive shopkeeper's daughter.

One Web site that espoused the latter view is called Is Thatcher Dead Yet? It rather looked forward to her passing to the Safeway in the sky.

So when her death was announced, it immediately created the hashtag #nowthatchersdead.… Read more

Dear HTC: Don't get into the mobile OS business

To: HTC Chairman Cher Wang

Re: Your interest in potentially acquiring a mobile operating system

I imagine after your comments about HTC's internal discussions over potentially buying a mobile operating system, you're getting a lot of calls and advice. If I may be so bold, I'd like to offer my two cents as well.

DON'T DO IT.

It may be appealing to own both the hardware and software components, crafting a unique HTC experience without influence from outside parties. But given the scarcity of options out there and the long-standing dilemma of attracting developers to an … Read more

Lady Gaga's YouTube account dies (and lives again)

There are, perhaps, several million people who can't live without Lady Gaga's YouTube account. Which says as much about the world as it does about those people.

So when echoes reached me today that her Ladyship's account had been suspended, I was worried there might be a spate of stress-related illnesses occurring randomly across the globe.

Time Out Tokyo reported that the account had been suspended because some monster in the midst of the Gaga Empire had uploaded a 10-minute video from a Japanese TV show called "Smap x Smap," which sounds like a boundless dollop of scintillation.

Yes, it was Gaga performing in this video. But no, she allegedly wasn't in possession of the copyright of this video. So, without official comment from YouTube, or the TV station--FujiTV--no one could be entirely sure what had happened. The official notice on the site reportedly said: "This account has been suspended due to multiple or severe violations of YouTube's Copyright Policy."

However, poised claws were being pointed in the direction of a creatively named company called Media Interactive, which has allegedly been behind some other Japanese musical removals from YouTube.… Read more

T-Pain's Auto-Tune iPhone app: You can do it all by yourse-el-el-el-elf

After months of anticipation, singing robot T-Pain has finally unleashed his secret weapon: an iPhone application that gives users the power to make their tone deaf voice sound...just as crappy. But digitized! The iPhone application is called I Am T-Pain, and it might be the end of music as we know it.

Even though T-Pain isn't the first artist to use the Auto-Tuner, this is the easiest and cheapest way to obtain the popular vocoder software that disguises and corrects improper pitch by distorting the human voice.

The $2.99 app is a portable version of the tool that includes an instrumental collection of T-Pain's greatest hits in addition to a "Freestyle" mode to cover your own songs. You can also record yourself singing and easily upload the tracks to various social networks.

I installed the app on my iPhone and it works pretty well, but instead of "Buy you a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" I went for Cher's timeless hit "I Believe" on today's episode of The 404 Podcast. Check it out and let me know if I have a future in the recording industry.

Check out more screenshots of the I Am T-Pain iPhone app after the jump.… Read more