Ok, so the whole 3D-printer thing is pretty awesome and will eventually (sooner than later) be a major game changer in terms of production and industry.

The folks at Organovo are taking it to a whole new and mind-bending level…

Ok, so the whole 3D-printer thing is pretty awesome and will eventually (sooner than later) be a major game changer in terms of production and industry.

The folks at Organovo are taking it to a whole new and mind-bending level…

More than a social statement than an actual utility for aspiring Colton Harris-Moore* copycats, a new site called Please Rob Me has popped up to expose the potential pratfalls of the geolocation craze: If you’re pushing a “check-in” from Gowalla, Brightkite, or Foursquare to a local restaurant out to your public Twitter stream, you’re broadcasting that you aren’t home. Which could be taken to mean that your home is ripe for burglary.

On the one hand, you say, “well, what kind of an idiot would publicly broadcast when they aren’t home?” Then you realize you do it all the time in one way or another. Sure, a site like PleaseRobMe.com shines a light on the monumental security flaw that is social media, but it won’t actually stop anyone from helping out a lazy thief.

Be cool to see some stats on robberies and see if there is a real correlation between who is being robbed and how they use social media.

If you buy this for your child you should be punished. If you buy it for yourself, perhaps arrested.

Some pushed back on the lack of measurability because they couldn’t figure out how to quantify the ROI for these campaigns through their typical methods (read: spreadsheets shown to bosses demonstrating the money has been well spent).  Yahoo’s response is to commission a study from a third-party like Nielsen or Dynamic Logic, but no one we spoke with was taking them up on that offer.

The first part of this article didn’t really interest me but the second half, exploring why Yahoo (and everyone else) is having trouble selling branded web content. Until the sponsors can be given clear proof of value (aka ROI) this is unlikely to change.

The other big problem, of course, is that so much of the branded content so far has lacked in any real entertainment value, meaning that the brands were not even benefiting from their association with great original content but instead are just seen as clogging up the pipes.

That’s where the home karaoke track culture comes in. Using software and your favorite MP3s, you, too, can create the ideal collection of tracks for you and your friends to show off. However, as with most things musical, some are concerned that there’s a maze of copyright issues involved in creating your own tracks. We decided to dig into the technicalities to try and find out.

Great article about the constant fine-line distinctions that serve, in the end, to limit the ways in which fans can legally and freely interact with the music they love.

Still not sold on Bing but this is some cool stuff…

Robots versus pirates!

Read the whole thing over on the Make blog.

BBC reports that Warner Music Group will no longer offer its songs to free music-streaming services like Last.fm or Spotify.

Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. said, “Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry” and the model “is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future.”

Warner Music Group drives yet another stake into the hearts of the bands they represent and the fans who love them. It won’t be long now before companies like WMG, regardless of how big they are right now, will be unable to make a decent argument for why anyone should let them represent and control their musical future.