Interview with Jimbo Wales

Saturday, December 10, 2005

While this wasn’t Interview with the Vampire, getting a live interview with Jimmy Wales of the Wikimedia Foundation is requiring more work and planning than ever. Four contributors to four different Wikinews language editions (with Swedish, Netherlands, and Polish) arranged to interview “Jimbo” in the Wikinews IRC channel, squeezed in before interviews with a periodical and a cable news source.

Friday, March 13, 2009

A team of archaeologists excavating an Ancient Egyptian tomb have discovered golden jewelry in a recently-discovered lower chamber at the Valley of the Kings burial site in Luxor, Egypt.

Two golden rings and five golden earrings were found in the tomb of Djehuty, an 18th-dynasty official of Queen Hatshepsut, and were probably the property of Djehuty or his family.

The discovery was announced by Farouk Hosni, Egypt’s current Minister of Culture.

Djehuty was overseer of the treasury and overseer of works for the Queen. Hatshepsut reigned approximately 1479–1458 BCE. Djehuty was responsible for managing the huge amounts of precious goods brought in from Egypt’s military expedition to Punt in the Horn of Africa and the vast building projects of Hatshepsut which have made the female pharaoh one of the most-remembered of any from ancient Egypt.

Djehuty died after Hatshepsut did, sometime during the reign of Thutmosis III. Both Hatshepsut’s and Thutmosis’s names are recorded on the tomb. In a fashion typical of ancient Egyptian rivalries, Hatshepsut’s name was partly obscured on the monument over the tomb sometime after the queen’s death.

The team, led by José Manuel Galán of the National Research Center (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC), in Madrid, Spain, had been excavating the tomb, designated TT11 and located in the necropolis of Dra’ Abu el-Naga’, since 2002. While much of Djehuty’s funerary equipment was lost to fire in antiquity, the lower chamber of his tomb was concealed at the end of a three-meter shaft and discovered at the end of 2008.

A superficial description of the tomb itself was recorded almost two hundred years ago by 19th-century French Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion, rubble blocking the entrance hindered excavation until the 21st century. In that time, emphasis in Egyptology has changed from the cataloging of treasures to the investigation of ancient culture, life and religion.

Since excavation began, Djehuty’s tomb has yielded a number of surprises. It was discovered that the tomb was re-used repeatedly up to and during the Greco-Roman period. There is an unusual face-on depiction of pharaoh Thutmosis III hunting ducks, and the mummy of a young, bejewelled, as-yet unidentified woman.

In 2007, 44 preserved bunches of flowers thought to be from Djehuty’s funeral were found in the site. In their 8th season of excavation, which ended on February 22, 2009, the team also found considerable evidence that below Djehuty’s tomb is a network of burial sites from the 11th dynasty, four thousand years old.

The lower chamber also displays passages from the Egyptian funerary text the Book of the Dead on its walls and a colorful mural of the goddess Nut, an embodiment of the heavens, on the ceiling. The names of Djehuty and his parents were also intact in the second chamber; the names were defaced in the previously-known first chamber of the tomb, which had also been looted.

According to a press release from Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Djehuty’s tomb is only the fifth known decorated burial chamber of the 18th dynasty. An additional unusual feature of the tomb is that its upper chamber is decorated in relief, rather than simply paint. When the excavation is completed, Dr Galán’s team plans to open the site to the public as the carved stoneworks will not be destroyed by tourists’ activities as paint would.

The identification of Djehuty is a complicated one, as a number of officials of the 18th dynasty bore the name, including a general and several governors. The name itself is an alternate transliteration of the name of the Egyptian god usually written in English as Thoth.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

A small aircraft struck an apartment building in New York this afternoon, killing the pilot and a flight instructor. Cory Lidle, a pitcher for the New York Yankees baseball team, was the registered owner of the aircraft and is believed to have been piloting it; his passport was found on the scene. The flight instructor was Tyler Stanger.

The plane, a Cirrus SR20 with registration number N929CD, hit the 26th floor of the Belaire Condominium, a 50 story brick luxury residential building on the Upper East Side at 524 East 72nd Street at York Avenue near the East River in Manhattan, New York City, of which the first 20 floors are a hospital. An eyewitness, present half a block from the building, reported that the plane hit the building, creating an enormous fireball, broke in two and crashed down onto on the street below. Authorities received a 911 call reporting a crash at 2:42 p.m. Eastern time.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a press conference at approximately 5:20 p.m. Eastern time to report that the plane was occupied by a flight instructor and a student pilot, but as next-of-kin had not been able to be notified, the identities of the two people on the plane would not be released at this time.

Apartments were seen to be engulfed in flames. The FBI has stated that it was not an intentional attack. The New York area was grey and overcast during the time at crash; however, visibility was not hampered.

After an hour and a half, the fire was extinguished by the FDNY. According to CNN Television ten people have been injured, six of them firefighters. The New York Times, however, reports that eleven firefighters have been injured.

Initial reports suggested that a helicopter was involved, but the FAA has stated that it was a fixed-wing aircraft. CNN Television reported that it was a single-engine fixed-wing plane which left Teterboro Airport, a busy General Aviation airport in New Jersey, circled the Statue of Liberty was tracked on radar until it was lost near the 59th Street Bridge, that the plane may have been having fuel problems or fuel pump problems, and that it was “a pilot in distress.”

Wallace Sines, a source for CNN stated he believes the plane was a Cirrus SR-20 with an installed parachute, which did not deploy. The whole-plane parachute system may have saved the lives of the aircraft occupants had it been safely deployed clear of buildings, but the system is not designed to prevent the trauma associated with a plane impacting a builing. The Cirrus SR-20 was introduced in 2001 and the Cirrus line of 4-seater aircraft has since become one of the most purchased single engine aircraft in the world. The SR-20 does not normally carry an airline-style flight-data recorder, but some are equipped with GPS equipment which logs flight direction, speed and altitude.

The aircraft was owned by baseball player Cory Lidle. He was on board reported by AP. Lidle was killed, according to reports. CNN Television reported that the FBI stated he was at the controls as the only occupant of the plane, and that his passport was found on the ground below the accident.

A little over an hour and a half after the crash, the fire was extinguished after 39 fire units and over 100 fire fighters responded.

The White House has said that there has been no change in the terror threat alert level and that President Bush is being updated constantly.

La Guardia airport was temporarily restricted to no take offs from other airports, however by 4:10 Eastern Time, CNN Television reported that all New York-area airports were open.

CNN Television announced at 3:50 p.m. Eastern Time that as of a few minutes earlier, NORAD is putting fighter aircraft on patrol over certain major American cities as a precautionary measure similar to the actions taken after the 9/11 attacks as a “just in case” measure. It also reported that tomorrow is the 6th anniversary of the attack on the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen.

Moments after the crash, there was a drop in the New York Stock Exchange, however it quickly returned to normal after it was reported that the crash was an accident.

The New York Yankees organization confirmed the plane is registered to Cory Lidle of the New York Yankees, who was planning to fly from New York to Florida, and that some unnamed member of the Yankees organization was on the plane.

One eye-witness interviewed by the BBC stated: “I was wondering why the plane was doing acrobatics and then the next thing I knew was that it had crashed into the building.”She also added that the plane was a small, white, 4-seater winged aircraft and not a helicopter as many news agencies were reporting it to be.

CNN Television broadcast reports from eyewitnesses who reported:

• A pilot who saw the impact stated, “It looked like a pilot who was desperately trying to get to an airport.”
• Another eyewitness who saw the event from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, also referred to the incident as appearing as if the plane was “desperately trying to get to LaGuardia” and that as to whether he “clipped” the building, or struck it directly, that “he hit it dead on.”
• “I heard a buzzing noise and then an explosion which looked like a mushroom cloud.”

Thursday, February 11, 2010

At the end of January, Bach Technology announced their new music file format, MusicDNA, which was developed as an intended replacement for the mp3 format, which has been the dominant format in music since its inception. MusicDNA uses similar compression methods to mp3, but then also adds an xml file which defines other content that can be included. Wikinews reporter Tristan Thomas caught up with Bach Technology CEO Stefan Kohlmeyer to find out more.

((Wikinews)) Thank you for agreeing to answer our questions.

((WN)) Can you briefly explain what MusicDNA is?

((Stefan Kohlmeyer)) We believe that MusicDNA is the successor to the MP3, the MusicDNA media extension enables music fans to access from one application the wide range of music-related content they want alongside the music itself – from lyrics, artwork and tour dates to blog posts, videos and twitter feeds.

In addition to all this extra content, MusicDNA files are also intelligent, and include extensive audio analysis information for each single track. This means that search and recommendation tools or automatic playlist generators will be much more sophisticated and provide much better results.

((WN)) How long has it been in development and what role has Karlheinz Brandenburg, the man credited with inventing mp3, played in that?

((SK)) In essence MusicDNA in its current context has been in development since the start of the company in 2007. Bach has an important strategic partnership with Fraunhofer IDMT with its CEO Karlheinz Brandenburg who is an important person for us in all research projects and visionary discussions about the development of the music market.

((WN)) Is this just going to be another consumer hurting format war with iTunes LP? What makes MusicDNA better than iTunes LP?

((SK)) Unlike iTunes LP, MusicDNA files have been built on open standards and are completely platform agnostic, which means that, unlike iTunes LP, you’re not tied to one device or media player. So it’s about the opposite of format wars really.

Whilst LP goes some way to adding value to digital music, it is still essentially a static file with some extra content bolted on. MusicDNA not only gives back all the things we lost when we switched to digital formats, lyrics, liner notes, artwork, but crucially it goes beyond that allowing fans to access everything from Twitter feeds and videos through to concert tickets, this will all dynamically update whenever you’re online, so music fans always have the latest information to hand.

Importantly with MusicDNA you can customise single tracks, you’re not restricted to purchasing complete albums as you are with LP.

And because all the additional rich media is integrated into the file (unlike iTunes LP), that content can be easily transferred from one device to another.

Mark Mulligan, vice president and research director of industry analysts Forrester Research recently put it well to the UK’s Telegraph newspaper “innovations like the iTunes LP need to go further. People should pay just once to get everything that artist does over the next year in one file that is regularly updated.”

((WN)) Is this really what listeners want-more clutter to distract from the music itself? What’s wrong with mp3?

((SK)) A lot of people, especially those who grew up buying music on vinyl and CD, miss the packaging, the liner notes, all the things that went hand in hand with albums, so for them that ‘clutter’ is an important part of the experience. We developed MusicDNA based on how people interact with their favourite music and musicians today, so we’re just following the public’s lead in many ways. MusicDNA enables fans to stay constantly connected with the worlds of their favourite artists in a really convenient way. Importantly, MusicDNA files can be customised so that they contain as little or much extra content as the listener wants.

You have to remember the MP3 was developed over twenty years ago, think of how much has changed in that time. It has had a profound effect on the music industry, but beyond portability it doesn’t actually add anything to the experience, the opposite in fact.

((WN)) Will MusicDNA be any less susceptible to piracy than other formats?

((SK)) As only paid for files will dynamically update MusicDNA should be an incentive for people to purchase legitimate files rather than downloading them from p2p networks.

Over the last decade a lot of effort has gone into trying to stop piracy through sanctions and enforcement, and, well, the results speak for themselves. We believe in a carrot approach, giving the public what they actually want and a great incentive to go the legit route.

((WN)) Many people argue that music is moving away from being owned and more towards models like Spotify; free, streamed music. Is MusicDNA not too late to the party if this is so?

((SK)) Like many in the industry Bach are of the view that there is no one silver bullet to suit all types of consumer, rather a variety of services will serve different fans with different needs.

There are many occasions when a download is preferable to a stream, and MusicDNA files have the advantage of customised, at your fingertips, rich media available on- and offline. And that is before considering the impact of streaming on growing bandwidth and energy requirements.

((WN)) So when will we start to see MusicDNA and where?

((SK)) Rollout will be staggered over 2010, with the first beta versions available around Easter and the full commercial rollout expected over summer.

((WN)) And finally, your favourite artist at the moment to be released on MusicDNA this year?

((SK)) It’s too early to say, but we’re in talks with some very exciting artists. I would love to see all my old heroes on MusicDNA, starting with Led Zeppelin and The Clash.

((WN)) Thank you again for your time. Good luck with the launch.

The time is 18:00 (UTC) on August 27th, 2006, and this is Audio Wikinews News Briefs.

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Monday, October 9, 2006

On Monday, October 9, 2006, Google Inc. announced its decision to purchase YouTube, the popular video-sharing site, for $1.65 billion in stock. Following the closure of the deal, YouTube will operate independently, “to preserve” its user community and its brand, the announcement said.

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google stated “The YouTube team has built an exciting and powerful media platform that complements Google’s mission to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Our companies share similar values; we both always put our users first and are committed to innovating to improve their experience. Together, we are natural partners to offer a compelling media entertainment service to users, content owners and advertisers.”

“We are excited to have the resources to move faster than ever before,” co-founder Chad Hurley, YouTube’s 29-year-old CEO, told the Associated Press during a Monday interview.

100 million videos are watched on the YouTube’s flash based site every day, including professional movie and TV clips and music videos, as well as amateur content.