Radiohead is now notorious for innovative distribution after their "pay what you want" initial sale of their last LP, In Rainbows, breaking from the traditional label system. In many ways, they are leading the fight against major music labels. All this adds up to some interesting speculation on the leak of a new Radiohead song, entitled "These Are My Twisted Words."
Last night, the song leaked on a torrent site and was quickly picked up by Radiohead fan forum ateaseweb. While it's not 100% confirmed to be Radiohead, there seems to be a consensus that the musical style is undeniably theirs. Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory, so the discussion quickly turned to suggest that Radiohead themselves had leaked the track. Much of that speculation lends itself to the included nfo file (reproduced here) that includes elaborate ASCII art, which displays the song title and the text "Wall of Ice," along with a Thom Yorke-esque poem. The seemingly anti-music label poem reads:
"i just wanted to reassure readers
that following representations
seeking confirmation
that before your very eyes
behind the wall of ice
that the box is not under threat
however they are set to remove
other boxes
in fact i have the list in front of me
i went to a briefing on their plans
and challenged them to tell me
exactly what the cost would be
they spoke in broad terms"
To cap it all off, the file contains a release date of 8/17/2009 (Monday). Combining this with the news coming yesterday that Radiohead won't be releasing any more full length albums, but rather focusing on singles and EP's, fans are expecting the "Wall of Ice EP" to drop on Monday.
I wouldn't put it past Radiohead to intentionally leak their own song in this fashion to generate buzz about an upcoming EP. They've been at the forefront of innovative distribution methods and have proven to be internet savvy in the past. If successful, this release would be another smack in the face to the record labels and a step towards more direct distribution from bands to music fans. Whether or not this conspiracy theory ends up being true, all eyes will be on Radiohead Monday for another sudden release like they had with In Rainbows.
The jury is still out on whether Thom Yorke is geeky enough to read xkcd and name their EP after this anti-RIAA comic (also seen below), but we can hope.
One of the many examples of plain text passwords being transmitted through email.
Nothing strikes fear into our hearts like seeing one of our secret passwords, that we have guarded with our lives (well, maybe not so much), displayed in plain text. Even though you would be hard pressed to find anyone who approves of the practice, we find many websites that greet their new users with an email containing their super-secret password. As you open that email you almost feel betrayed. The password that you have worked so hard to protect is right there in front of your eyes.
Even if there is no significant security risk to transmitting passwords via plain text, it gives users the impression that security is not a top priority for the creators of the site. There is no reason for this practice to still be in existence today. Good password management technology for websites is very prevalent. If you can't build a proper password system for your site, just opt for using OpenID or another similar service.
I propose that all sites should have an automated password reset system that either allows the user to create a new password from an authentication link or through a one-time use password, sent to their email. Plain text passwords should never be displayed or sent through email.
No more excuses. Let's squash this lazy practice once and for all.
(Credit:
CC Alaskan Dude)
A new Internet meme, in the same vein as the wildly popular Chuck Norris Facts, has been spreading for the past couple of days. The subject this time around is John McCain's recently announced running mate, Sarah Palin. The "little known facts" about Palin have been flying around Twitter and a new site has even popped up, dedicated to finding the best facts. A Twitter user, Michael Turk, is credited with starting the craze.
This fast spreading phenomenon was spawned out of the lack of information about Palin when McCain announced that she would be his running mate. Here are a few of my favorites below. Take your best shot in the comments.
- Sarah Palin taught MacGuyver everything he knows.
- Sarah Palin always beats the point spread.
- Sarah Palin knows who was on the grassy knoll.
- Sarah Palin knows the last digit of pi.
- Sarah Palin wants more cowbell.
- Sarah Palin invented the Rick Roll.
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