Back from Tampere and this year’s Finncon. It was fun. There’s some reporting on the fandom blog, plus a few photos.

Digitoday reports of a music store that will sell digital music without breaking it with DRM. The Ground says it is negotiating with major music labels about featuring their music. The Finnish labels Fullsteam, Poko, Monsp, Texicalli, Rockadillo, and Backstage Alliance will be represented (possibly others too). They will also feature songs by ( Read more... )

It’s snowing - for once, because this winter has been the crappiest in a really long time. Last week was the winter break, but the weather made doing any winter activities a bit challenging. Anyway, the vacation was still welcome ( Read more... )

According to EFFI, the planned new electronic voting system will be carried out with technical implementation people aren’t allowed to examine because it is a “business secret”:Oikeusministeriön mukaan uusi sähköinen vaalijärjestelmä sisältää salassa pidettäviä ohjelmistoja ( Read more... )

I’m always annoyed when I go to the movies or rent a dvd and am forced to watch those patronizing ads about how copying a movie is supposed to be stealing. Hey, idiots, it isn’t the same thing! And besides, you’re targetting people who just paid money to see your content! Ironically, the easiest way to avoid that stupid crap would be to just ( Read more... )

Jeff VanderMeer recently moved his blog (always a good read with insightful commentaries and the occasional very funny Evil Monkey rant) onto WordPress, and gave it a very nice new look at the process (The site also has a lot of information about him and his works, so go check it out). He has posted on it his Locus article about traveling in Europe ( Read more... )

If you’re coming to Finncon already on Friday morning (or earlier), and want a sightseeing tour of Helsinki with other fen, check out Fandom Friday (and don’t forget to sign up by Tuesday).

If you’re interested in reading some quality Finnish fiction in English, check out The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy, edited by Johanna Sinisalo. It got a rave review on Strange Horizons recently. More info and links are on my sf blog.

The Finnish tabloid 7 päivää that caused an uproar by publishing an unmasked picture of the singer of Lordi - just after he had publicly asked magazines not to do that - has issued a public apology and promised to never again publish private pictures of the band’s members without their permission.

The net address to boycott the magazine has in a ( Read more... )