erco's Christmas Deal: $10 Voice Command Christmas Tree Lights & Music
erco
Posts: 20,259
Just bought this tonight. Run out to Home Despot (Christmas department) and buy this tacky "Mr. Christmas" technogimmick on clearance for $10: was originally $40! Voice command your Christmas tree lights on/off or name one of twelve Christmas carols and it plays it out of the under-tree speaker box. Surprisingly accurate voice recognition. A not-too obnoxious British voice speaks the prompts, and thankfully there is a volume control (plenty loud to quiet). Music is all instrumental, no singing, so you can carol or karaoke along. "Maestro Mouse" ornament/microphone hangs on your tree and is wired to the big green speaker/control box under the tree to switch your lights on/off and flash in sync with the music. One mode for voice recognition, another for continuous music play. Also Demo mode. And an off switch. 
Something else to hack into when the novelty wears off. This would have been handy for the "Hack the Halls" contest. Parts alone are worth $20! I'll buy another one as a silly gift for a friend.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=203266260&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&cpncode=32%2d207027761%2d2&srccode=cii%5f35912516&cm_mmc=shopping%2d%5f%2dpricegrabber%2d%5f%2dD28X% 2d%5f%2d203266260
Something else to hack into when the novelty wears off. This would have been handy for the "Hack the Halls" contest. Parts alone are worth $20! I'll buy another one as a silly gift for a friend.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=203266260&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&cpncode=32%2d207027761%2d2&srccode=cii%5f35912516&cm_mmc=shopping%2d%5f%2dpricegrabber%2d%5f%2dD28X% 2d%5f%2d203266260
Comments
Lots of other full movies on Youtube, bad and good. If you don't have the free YTD video downloader, get it. You can download Youtube, Vimeo, etc videos to store on your computer in several different formats.
http://download.cnet.com/YTD-Video-Downloader/3000-2071_4-10647340.html
I just didn't want to alert anyone to my desperate obsession to get to all of them before anyone else. There's only so many gallons in my ex-fire extinguisher converted to pepper spray vortex howler/dispenser, so I figured I didn't want the crush of the crowds to overwhelm my defensive shopping tactics.
Thanks for the Plan 9. How legal is that? Or is such a treasure simply too precious to all humanity to keep locked away under the exclusive rights of copyrights and whatnot?
XLNT question. Many full (and far better) movies are out on Youtube, like many of the Disney classics, Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, and many have been there for months or over a year. I've seen some things taken off in a matter of hours, so not sure what Youtube's policing policies are.
If the copyright is expired, meh.
If the copyright is still in force, you all ready know the answer.
How can you tell if a copyright is still in force? Is there some central clearinghouse that indicates it? They've changed the laws on it so many times, and years ago (pre-1960ish???) there was some requirement for renewing it, etc. I know I've tried a number of times to find if copyrights were still good on something from the 1940's or 1950's, only to never know for sure...
Thanks for the link to the YTD video downloader.
A guy flying a shoe around a mountain. How could Nike not place an ad on the side of that?