A Comic Reader Removed from the App Store

After Tris, it's the turn of a software called Comic Reader to be censored by Apple. Indeed, this application which enables users to read comic books on their iPhone, was removed from the App Store candidate list. The reason of this removal is that the software is provided with a single comic book named Murderdrome which is known for its heavy violence.

So, Apple refused to market this application in order not to "shock" its users. Anyway, the decision made some noise: On the one hand, Apple defenders say that they are happy to see that the App Store will remain "clean", on the other hand, Web users and bloggers don't appreciate to see Steve Job's firm being a censor.

So, what do you think?

French Blind Singer Sees Things More Clearly than the Music Industry

Among all the legal proceedings relating to music download, it is always good to see artists take a stance against the blindness of music industry. Indeed like it was reported on Numerama (in French), Gilbert Montagné is a good example.

Ironically, this French singer who has been blind since he was born, is actually blaming the music industry to be the blind one. He states that they should have adapted to current trends and even anticipated them. His solution would be to applicate a tax to computers sales the same way they did it with tape cassettes. Moreover, he goes even further by adding that Music Majors will no doubt disappear one day.

I'm fairly certain that he's not alone in feeling like this and let's hope others will speak out as well so that one day people will once again be able to fully enjoy music.

Does Project Gazelle Revolutionize the Private Tracker Community

A few month ago, a new BiTorrent tracker script was born under the name of Project Gazelle. According to their Website, "Project Gazelle is an initiative started by the What.CD? crew to create a reliable, lightweight and secure codebase."

TorrentFreak realized a study to evaluate Gazelle's first steps. Indeed the script that was to be faster than the TBSource code, more secure and more adaptable than other scripts, has already received some good reviews from users.

Thus several Websites such as What.cd and Ntorrents are already running Project Gazelle and more should follow. Finally, if you want to know more about this code, check out this article on Social CMS Buzz.

How to Download Torrents Without a Software

I'm pretty sure that many of you want to download Torrents from their workplaces but cannot do it because they don't have the right to install software. So, don't worry because it will no longer be a problem.

I will not give you the tip to install software on your work PC, which would not be very appropriate, but I'm giving you this link to FileShareFreak on which you can find some Web addresses to download Torrents directly from the Web. It's beautiful, isn't it ? :-)

However, if Websites of this kind are blocked at your workplace, I can't do anything for you ;-).

Podmailing was Spoted on Lemontv.tv

The Argentine Web TV channel, Lemontv.tv, aired a program on various High-Tech content and dedicated a part on Podmailing. This "Programa 89" presented by Ursula Vargues, Lucas Alcalde and Facundo Vargues introduced the software and showed how it works.

Thus, Ursula Vargue underlined the fact that Podmailing is a good utility that enables you to send any file with no limitation of size. The file doesn't go directly to your mail but is first hosted on a server. You then receive a mail to notify you that someone sent you a file called a Podmail.

Besides, the presenter then explained a bit about the technology it is based on that is to say that it works with P2P which permits a fast transfer regardless of your Internet connection.

Finally, because it's best to let other people praise your product, here is the video. But I must warn those of you who don't come from Argentina, that it's quite difficult to follow.

Thanks to Caroline for her help.

The Web and the Language are United With Ubiquity

Who never wished they could insert a map into a mail to meet up with friends at a new place? Not many people I'm sure. This is one of the several problems that Ubiquity is set to solve.

Indeed Ubiquity is a Firefox plug-in currently developed by Mozilla labs that aims to connect the Web with language. The following screencast explains really well how easy it will be, thanks to this new tool, to insert a map into a mail, to translate a Web page, to twitter an interesting paragraph, among other things.

This new feature should once again change the Web experience for the better and I don't know about you, but I personally can't wait to try out this new service myself.

Ubiquity for Firefox from Aza Raskin on Vimeo.

OpenTape Takes the Place Left Open by Muxtape

You may have used Muxtape in the past to upload your music on the Web but sadly this service was shut down by the RIAA. But wipe out your tears, you'll still be able to do it again, albeit with a different platform named OpenTape.

As explained on their Website, "OpenTape is a free, open-source package that lets you make and host your own mixtapes on the web." The main difference with Muxtape is that it's open, as stated in its name. That implies that in case of legal proceedings with the RIAA, only users will be held responsible and not the service itself.

Thus OpenTape should avoid the same fate as its predecessor, but as raised on Mashable other questions remain. Indeed users may be more careful as to what they share since they will be personally liable and as a consequence less music will be shared on the Web which is rather a pity for a distributing platform.

Once again music sharing is hampered by legal issues which prevent users from easily sharing and discovering new artists the way they want.

A Tetris-like Removed from the App Store

Tris is a Tetris clone available on the iPhone for free. In fact it "was" available as the game was removed from the App Store this morning after receiving complaints from the Tetris Company.

Indeed, this company stated that Tris was violating the Tetris copyrights. To avoid any problem, Apple asked the game creator, Noah Witherspoon, to remove his game if he cannot find an arrangement with them.

So, the iPhone lost one of its best free games, which leaves room for the official but paying version of Tetris.

However the story is not finished yet. Indeed, Noah Witherspoon announced on his blog that he will try to find a good lawyer and make Tris available again. To be continued.

Ganzbot: The Cardboard Nabaztag

If you are a geek and love rabbits, you surely want to buy a Nabaztag. But there is a little problem: you cannot afford to pay its very expensive price.

But now, you have the solution thanks to this cardboard full of electric wires named Ganzbot and which can read twitter messages. It's true that Ganzbot is less beautiful and trendy than its lagomorph competitor, but it will surely cost less if its owner manages to actually sell one.

Ganzbot also moves its eyebrows to express its different moods. And it's also funny; you can judge by yourself.

I don't know if it's a fake, but it has the merit to make me laugh.

P4P: Should we Prepare Ourselves for a Web Revolution?

P2P uses 70% of the global Internet bandwidth, which leads Web actors to seriously think about replacing it with P4P.

This evolution looks like P2P because it also allows file sharing between PCs, but it differs by taking into account geographic data.

Indeed thanks to this protocol, Web users who share content will connect to the nearest address in priority. This technique would allow an increase of download speed by 60%.

The P4P is an initiative of the Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) which is a group of ISPs, P2P companies and Entertainment industries. The main objective of the DCIA is to fight against piracy thanks to this protocol. This association was in fact created thanks to the support of Hollywood studios such as Disney and Sony Pictures.

However, the P4P installation has its problems because the only way to implement it is to lead ISPs and download platforms to work together. It may not be simple, even if it can be a benefit for each part.

Another problem is that in case of a P4P generalization, people who don't have access to it will see their connection slow down. Indeed, P4P users will be more likely to share their files with people who live near them.

So we're not sure about seeing this evolution become the next download standard even if it brings many advantages. If you want to go further, you can check this excellent article on TorrentFreak.