firehose

A man who says he was the ghostwriter for composer Mamoru Samuragochi, known for his work on the Resident Evil and Onimusha games, for more than 10 years is raising questions about the industry veteran's hearing disability, reports ABC Online.

Samuragochi has long been thought to be deaf, but according to alleged ghostwriter Tagashi Niigaki, this may not be the case. In a press conference held earlier today in Japan, Niigaki said he was was never given reason to believe Samuragochi was deaf when he was contracted to compose music for him.

"I've never felt he was deaf ever since we met," Niigaki said. "We carry on normal conversations. I don't think he is (handicapped). At first he acted to me also as if he had suffered hearing loss, but he stopped doing so eventually. He told me, after the music for the video games was unveiled, that he would continue to play the role (of a deaf person)."

Niigaki also said Samuragochi paid him seven million yen ($68,971 USD) over 18 years for 20 pieces.

"I am an accomplice of Samuragochi because I continued composing just as he demanded, although I knew he was deceiving people," he said. "I told him a few times that we should stop doing this, but he never gave in. Also he said he would commit suicide if I stop composing for him."

Earlier this week, Samuragochi issued a statement through his lawyer saying he had been commissioning pieces for years from an unnamed ghostwriter. This statement was given after Japanese figure skater Daisuke Takahashi revealed he will be skating to "Sonatina For Violin," one of Samuragochi's credited works, during the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Last year Amazon Studios joined the original content game with its first two series, the comedies Betas and Alpha House. Both programs received generally favorable reviews, but they didn’t exactly turn into cultural juggernauts — and meanwhile Netflix was taking victory laps at the Emmys and Golden Globes. For better or worse, prestige has always been earned on the battlefield of drama, and without a House of Cards or Orange is the New Black Amazon was letting Netflix become the de-facto destination for high-quality original programming on the internet.

Today, that’s changed. Amazon is back with a slate of 10 new pilots, using the same crowdsourced process as before: Amazon Prime customers can stream the episodes for free, weigh in with their opinion, and help determine what becomes a full-fledged series. Shows aimed at children account for half of the new pilots, but it’s the mature fare that marks a real departure. Running the gamut from dark comedy to noir to the latest from X-Files mastermind Chris Carter, the emphasis is almost entirely on mature, dramatic subject matter — and after watching the full line-up, it’s clear that Netflix is no longer the only game in town.

Louise Monot in The After

"I think the first wave went well."

"I think the first wave [of pilots] went well and had good results," says Roy Price, director of Amazon Studios. Piloting shows not only provides feedback for creators, but for the studio as well — and that safety net of customer feedback gives Amazon the freedom to become a little more ambitious. "It allows us to probably take more chances than you might otherwise, in that you know you’re going to do a pilot and you can put it in front of customers," he says. "I think that’s very liberating and it opens the opportunity for interesting and new concepts."

For this crop of pilots, that’s resulted in two one-hour dramas. Chris Carter’s The After is the kind of ensemble sci-fi mystery that populated the airwaves in the wake of Lost. Heavy on the intrigue, it hums along at a brisk pace before hitting a cliffhanger ending that will have both X-Files and Millenium fans ready for another episode. Bosch is a television adaptation of Michael Connelly’s best-selling novels, focusing on a modern day Los Angeles detective (played by TV mainstay Titus Welliver), and filled with all the crackling dialogue and dark turns of classic noir.

'Bosch' and 'Mozart in the Jungle' are visual standouts

On the half-hour side, Jill Soloway (United States of Tara, Six Feet Under) has created the comedic drama Transparent about a dysfunctional family in Los Angeles, while Mozart in the Jungle explores the sex-and-drugs fueled underbelly of the New York classical music scene. Though billed as a comedy, it’s more of a smart and sexy soap — think Gossip Girl with oboes — succeeding in no small part due to its creative pedigree (the pilot was written by Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola, and Alex Timbers, and features Gael Garcia Bernal as a visionary conductor). Only The Rebels — a comedy about a trophy wife running a football team — goes for caricatured, slapstick laughs, and it’s arguably the only misstep in the bunch.

From top to bottom, production values are higher this time around — Price says budgets are on par with cable and network counterparts — with Bosch and Mozart in the Jungle serving as particular visual standouts. And like many cable favorites, the new shows flaunt Amazon’s ability to go beyond what traditional network programming allows. From the subject matter, to the heavy use of nudity, to the number of characters dropping f-bombs in almost every single show, the collective group makes a clear statement: these are shows for mature audiences.

Jeffrey Tambor in Transparent

"One of the things that people respond to, whether on Amazon or elsewhere, is very talented people who have a passion for shows, a passion for doing something new," says Price. Networks like HBO have been able to lure those kind of writers and directors by eliminating many of the hurdles and obstacles present when making shows for traditional broadcast networks. It’s something that Netflix took note of when it gave the creators of House of Cards a two season order without even seeing a pilot — and Kevin Spacey has been singing its praises ever since. Amazon may be going through the rigors of the pilot process, but talking to the people behind the new shows it’s clear the company is focused on enabling them to do their jobs with as much support as possible.

The creative freedom shows up on the screen

Author Michael Connelly watched his hardboiled detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch linger in development for 15 years at Paramount while the studio struggled to turn the novels into a movie. When Connelly finally got the rights to his creation back, he focused on long-form television as the best venue — and closed the deal with Amazon Studios executive Joe Lewis without ever shopping the project around. "I have some experience in this," Connelly says, "but I never had the kind of freedom that I had [on the pilot] — that was actually promised at the lunch table with Joe Lewis way back in May of 2012."

That creative freedom shows up on the screen. Connelly’s detective is a man of veiled emotions and internal conflict, and it’s easy to imagine a network rushing to portray him in binary black and whites, even if it ruined the character’s nuance and charm. Instead Bosch takes its time to focus on small moments and the slow burn — crafting a moody, compelling character drama that’s easily the best of Amazon’s new batch.

"Amazon had this really amazing vision."

While the prospect of vetting pilots by internet denizens could prove daunting to some, Amazon’s unique approach was actually part of the reason Jill Soloway decided to partner with the company on Transparent. "Amazon had this really amazing vision for letting artists do their thing without a ton of the usual levels of interference," she says. Compared to the world of film, where one can struggle for years trying to get funding and then distribution, the prospect of creating a pilot and getting it out to the public in a matter of months was inspiring, she says.

Gael Garcia Bernal in Mozart in the Jungle

It’s a common refrain that’s echoed by almost all of the creators of the new shows. When Amazon decided to take on Mozart in the Jungle, says Roman Coppola, the company was direct and to the point. "You know sometimes there’s a lot of discussion and a lot of process, and they were very supportive of the script that we had. Hands-on in the right way, and hands-off in the right way."

"We responded to the same tone in things, and so there was a real sense of teamwork in making the show," Coppola explains. "That sounds like bullshit fluff, but it’s sincere."

"Hands-on in the right way, and hands-off in the right way."

Of course, a group of intriguing pilots is still a far cry from Emmy wins and third-season renewals, and it remains to be seen if audiences will like the pilots enough to warrant season orders in the first place (everything save The Rebels left me anxious to see more episodes as soon as possible). But the crowdsourcing approach appears to be paying dividends for children’s programming at the very least: one of the new pilots is Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street, the first pilot produced from Amazon Studios’ open submission process rather than conventional Hollywood channels.

Considering how quickly the company is evolving, it wouldn’t be a total shock to see this pivot to more dramatic shows result in a nomination or two for Amazon Studios in the years to come. Price is humble about the prospect — with a bit of dry humor thrown in for good measure. "This is an incredible era for TV fans and we would love to help the creators on the shows find those kind of accolades and success," he says. "So yes, Emmy voters — please feel free to include us in all of your Emmy plans."

Amazon’s new pilots are available for streaming on Prime Instant Video in the US and on Lovefilm in the UK.

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) has spoken out against a Google Glass app that uses facial recognition to identify strangers. Yesterday, Franken published an open letter to the makers of NameTag, an app meant to match people's faces with photos from social media accounts or other online sources. "Unlike other biometric identifiers such as iris scans and fingerprints, facial recognition is designed to operate at a distance, without the knowledge or consent of the person being identified," he wrote. "Individuals cannot reasonably prevent themselves from being identified by cameras that could be anywhere — on a lamppost across the street, attached to an unmanned aerial vehicle, or, now, integrated into the eyewear of a stranger. "

"Individuals cannot reasonably prevent themselves from being identified by cameras that could be anywhere."

Because of Google's across-the-board ban on facial recognition, NameTag isn't an officially sanctioned Google Glass app. Nonetheless, it's currently available in beta, and the claims on its website are sweeping. "NameTag can spot a face using Google Glass' camera, send it wirelessly to a server, compare it to millions of records and in seconds return a match complete with a name, additional photos and social media profiles," says the description. Right now, it appears to work with social media accounts, but the company behind it says it's also working on a system to scan profiles from dating sites and criminal databases like the National Sex Offender Registry.

We haven't tried the app, so it's not clear how well this actually works — the experimental nature of Glass lends itself to apps that promise a lot more than they can reasonably deliver. Creator Kevin Alan Tussy, though, seem to hope for exactly the kind of system Franken fears. "A user can simply glance at someone nearby and instantly see that person's name, occupation and even visit their Facebook, Instagram or Twitter profiles in real-time," the site says.

"A user can simply glance at someone nearby and instantly see that person's name."

Tussy's flavor quote nears self-parody: "I believe that this will make online dating and offline social interactions much safer and give us a far better understanding of the people around us ... It's much easier to meet interesting new people when we can simply look at someone, see their Facebook, review their LinkedIn page or maybe even see their dating site profile." In what's sure to become the app's slogan, NameTag "can make the big, anonymous world we live in as friendly as a small town."

The text is ambiguous what level of consent the system will need: if it only matches against a database of people who have signed up, that's much less of a privacy issue. Tussy promises that the app will offer privacy safeguards, but what he suggests sounds like an opt-out system that will let people log in to NameTag and prevent their profiles from being shown. Franken, however, is attempting to clear up these questions, asking where the company scans for records, whether it will use an opt-in system, and how it plans to prevent stalkers or hackers from abusing it.

Franken has previously written Apple to raise privacy concerns with the iPhone's Touch ID system, and as chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, he's well-placed to create a legal framework for facial recognition on something like Glass. Today, the executive National Telecommunications and Information Administration will also begin work on creating such a framework with the help of industry groups and privacy experts. "I strongly urge you to postpone the launch of NameTag until the NTIA completes its study and best practices for this technology are established," Franken tells NameTag.

Vancouver is embracing the strange and lighthearted nickname that a local artist gave to one of its public spaces: Dude Chilling Park. The nickname came about after the artist installed a replica park sign in Vancouver's Guelph Park, playing off of a wooden statue installed there resembling a person relaxing on the green. After initially removing the Dude Chilling Park sign back in 2012, Vancouver's Park Board this week reinstalled it as a permanent piece of public art — though the park's official name will stay the same.

"There is a school there ... I don't think this is a joke."

"We were really impressed by the community that came out and said, 'We really love this sign, it really resonates with us," Niki Sharma, chair of the Vancouver Park Board, tells Global News. In the year after it was removed, over 1,800 people signed an online petition requesting that Vancouver actually rename the park itself, and Sharma says that the vast majority of residents who the Park Board spoke with supported bringing back the sign. Shortly after the sign was first pulled, Global News reported that street artist Viktor Briestensky had taken credit for its creation.

Not everyone is happy about the park's silly new sign, however. Global News reports that a local group thinks the sign is actually a drug reference and will be detrimental to the community. "A lot of the residents feel that this isn’t a game," Steven Bohus, a representative of the Residents Association of Mount Pleasant, tells Global News, "There is a school there, there’s a parent advisory committee, and I don’t think this is a joke."

Michael Dennis' "Reclining Figure," located in Guelph Park, inspired the "Dude Chilling" name.

Sharma suggests that most residents haven't read so far into the playful new installation. "I don't think [Dude Chilling Park] is in any way associated with drug use or in any way enables it," she tells Global News. "It's a really creative piece of artwork." She and the Park Board are excited about the outpouring of support and the broad attention it's brought to Vancouver. "If it brings people to our parks, if it helps them enjoy their experience while they're there, then we're happy about it."

Chris Woods

Twenty-five years after the Web's inception, its creator has urged the public to reengage with its original design: a decentralized Internet that remains open to all.

Speaking with Wired editor David Rowan at an event launching the magazine's March issue, Tim Berners-Lee said that although part of this is about keeping an eye on for-profit Internet monopolies such as search engines and social networks, the greatest danger is the emergence of a balkanized Web.

"I want a Web that's open, works internationally, works as well as possible, and is not nation-based," Berners-Lee told the audience, which included Martha Lane Fox, Jake Davis (aka Topiary) and Lily Cole. He suggested one example to the contrary: "What I don't want is a Web where the Brazilian government has every social network's data stored on servers on Brazilian soil. That would make it so difficult to set one up."

Twitter's latest transparency report is out, and the company seems furious about what it can't reveal. While Google, Facebook, and others have reached a deal with the US government to break out national security requests in broad numbers, but Twitter wasn't one of the companies involved, and it says such numbers aren't useful for its purposes. "Allowing Twitter, or any other similarly situated company, to only disclose national security requests within an overly broad range seriously undermines the objective of transparency," writes policy manager Jeremy Kessel, though he says the compromise is a step in the right direction.

The company echoed a common refrain: by placing overly strict limits on talking about national security, the government is preventing it from reassuring users about how little information it's actually asked to give up. Kessel said that Twitter should be able to not only disclose how many accounts it receives but also tell users that it hasn't received certain types of requests. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, and LinkedIn have all settled their complaints with the government, but Kessel says Twitter is still pushing for more transparency. If the Department of Justice doesn't respond, it may go to court, arguing that NSA and FBI gag orders are a violation of its First Amendment rights. This tack has been taken in other cases, but so far, it's been largely unsuccessful.

The US still tops the list for information requests

The information Twitter has published in its report, which covers the second half of 2013, shows an increase in overall government requests for account information worldwide. In its first transparency report, covering the first half of 2012, Twitter noted 849 total requests. By the first half of 2013, that number had risen to 1,157, and now it sits at 1,410. Most online services have seen steady increases in requests, although some of that is likely due to an overall increase in accounts. The majority of requests in late 2013 — 833 — came from the US; about 70 percent of those requests were honored by Twitter. As Twitter notes, though, these numbers don't include classified national security requests.

Saudi Arabia, which made 110 orders, and Japan, which made 213, were the only other countries to break the hundred-request mark, and most of those weren't actually honored. These numbers don't necessarily reflect how many accounts were specified, since multiple requests can be made on one account and multiple accounts can be specified in one request. By that metric, though, US and Japan still topped the list.

Requests to remove illegal content like libel or other prohibited speech jumped massively in late 2013, but that's due almost entirely to one country: France. A series of racist and anti-Semitic tweets sparked a minor firestorm in mid-2013, and Twitter received 306 takedown requests from the government, ultimately removing 133 tweets. France also asked for the third-highest number of account disclosures, and Twitter ended up providing information on about a quarter of the 102 specified accounts after a lengthy court battle.

Apple has slowly been pulling Bitcoin trading apps from the App Store, and yesterday it removed an app that claims to have been the "last remaining" one. Blockchain, which says its self-titled app has been in the store for two years, has written a scathing harangue on its blog criticizing Apple for the removal of apps that allow users to trade bitcoins. "These actions by Apple once again demonstrate the anticompetitive and capricious nature of the App Store policies that are clearly focused on preserving Apple’s monopoly on payments rather than based on any consideration of the needs and desires of their users," writes Blockchain.

Bitcoin price-monitoring apps remain in the store

Blockchain suggests that Bitcoin threatens large corporations' control over existing payment systems and could stymie the success of services like Google Wallet. Apple doesn't currently operate such a service, though there have been hints that it is beginning to create one — and Blockchain's CEO, Nicolas Cary, tells Wired that he thinks this potential Apple service is the reason Bitcoin trading apps are being pulled.

Over the past several months, Apple also removed Coinbase and CoinJar, apps that similarly functioned as Bitcoin wallets — effectively an account that allows the digital currency to be traded. In a blog post discussing its removal from the App Store, CoinJar wrote that it had been in contact with Apple and was told that apps allowing bitcoins to be sent and received are generally not allowed. It suggests that Apple is concerned about legal issues surrounding Bitcoin trading, writing that it hoped to eventually be reinstated in the App Store "when [Apple has] a more clear view of Bitcoin’s place in their regulatory landscape." Other Bitcoin and virtual currency apps still remain in the App Store, however those tend to focus on monitoring the value of different currencies. Apple declined to comment for this article.

Unlike CoinJar, Blockchain says that Apple did not contact it prior to removing its app and did not provide an explanation beyond noting that there was an "unresolved issue" — apparently Blockchain's utility for trading Bitcoin. For now, pulling Bitcoin apps may be an overreaction if Apple truly is concerned over its legal stance. Though Bitcoin itself has been tied up in money laundering scandals, the US government hasn't placed many regulations on personal use of it so far. Nonetheless, Bitcoin's young and niche status may be part of what's lending to this conservative approach.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro celebrates the 20th anniversary of FMLA last year.

Aziz Ansari has announced dates for a fairly extensive stand-up tour launching this spring. The Modern Romance tour comes in advance of Ansari’s new book, due out this September, and finds the Parks And Recreation star delving into the intersection of love and technology.

A full schedule of Ansari’s dates is below. Tickets—which would make a great Valentine’s Day present, especially coupled with some apps and 'zerts—are already on sale for most dates.

Aziz Ansari tour 2014
March 7—Morris Performing Arts Center—South Bend, Indiana
March 9—Peace Center—Greenville, South Carolina
March 10-11—Carolina Theater—Durham, North Carolina
March 12-13—Charleston Music Hall—Charleston, South Carolina
March 14—Fox Theater—Atlanta, Georgia
March 15—Hard Rock Hotel And Casino—Hollywood, Florida
March 16—The Mahaffey Theater—Saint Petersburg, Florida
March 26—Keller Auditorium—Portland, Oregon
March 27—Hult Center For The Performing Arts ...