News In Technology Examined
The NFL is playing some blacked-out games on its Web site, and there is controversy over Kurt Cobain's Guitar Hero avatar singing some very un-Nirvana songs. Omar Gallaga, technology culture reporter for the Austin American-Statesman, offers his insight.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
And there's still more football tech news. I'm joined as we generally are for All Tech Considered by Omar Gallaga who covers technology culture for the Austin American-Statesman. Hello, Omar.
OMAR GALLAGA: Hi, Robert. Good to be here.
SIEGEL: And you know, we heard recently about a potential rise in NFL blackout days this season. That's when the local TV broadcast of a game is blocked because the game didn't sell out. And I guess the NFL has since come up with a compromise.
GALLAGA: Right. Last week, the NFL said they will give access to those games via tape delay, about eight to eleven hours after the initial kick off. They will be streaming those games on NFL.com. So if you're in an area where the football game has been blocked out, you can get to it online and just not live.
SIEGEL: Now how does the blackout apply to those fancy football packages on cable or on DIRECTV, satellite TV? Could you get around the blackout that way?
GALLAGA: No. Actually, you know, on NFL Network and the NFL Sunday Ticket on say DIRECTV, those blackout rules still apply. It seems like the compromise is a bit of a signal that the NFL might be loosening up those restrictions a bit, but there's definitely some big games coming up this season that will probably still be affected by the blackout.
SIEGEL: Omar, let's move on to some personal technology news. As you know, I've been a radio guy all my working life and I understand there are…
GALLAGA: Oh, yeah.
SIEGEL: …many ways of listening to radio without a radio, but boy, for me the big high-tech news was that in the new nano iPod, the big new high-tech future is, along with a video camera in this tiny thing, an FM radio.
GALLAGA: Yeah. Some would say the video camera was the bigger deal, but yeah, FM radio is very nice to have in the iPod nano. Apple announced last week that the iPod nano, the very diminutive colorful iPod is going to have FM capabilities. It will also have a buffer where you can pause live radio for up to fifteen minutes. Now an FM tuner in an MP3 player is nothing new. We've seen that in the Microsoft Zune, the Sony Walkman, the digital one, the Sandisk Sansa have all had FM radios for years now. And, you know, what's interesting is Microsoft's Zune has a new HD version coming out tomorrow that will have HD radio.
SIEGEL: Hybrid digital radio, yeah.
GALLAGA: Yeah. It seems like the latest is this older technology, and Apple finally acknowledging that, that some people might want to be listening to a live FM broadcast.
SIEGEL: Still maybe we do in the future?
GALLAGA: I - hey, I hope so.
SIEGEL: We won't be…
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIEGEL: …we won't get rash about it.
GALLAGA: Very new.
SIEGEL: Kurt Cobain, the late lead singer of Nirvana, is in the news. The newest version I gather of the video game Guitar Hero includes a likeness of Kurt Cobain, and he's singing Nirvana songs. But like other Guitar Hero avatars, he can also sing other people's songs.
GALLAGA: Right. In the game, there's a career mode where you can unlock Kurt Cobain as what's called a playable character. That means you can play as him in the game. And where the controversy stems from is that, you know, we're all used to seeing videos of Kurt Cobain playing Nirvana songs but he's also singing a Billy Idol song, "Dancing With Myself." And, you know, here's another song you wouldn't expect to hear Kurt Cobain singing.
(Soundbite of song, "You Give Love A Bad Name")
Mr. JON BON JOVI (Singer): (Singing) Shot through the heart, and you're to blame. Darling, you give love the bad name.
GALLAGA: "You Give Love A Bad Name" by Bon Jovi. One song that probably never made it on the Nirvana playlist on tour.
SIEGEL: Uh-huh.
GALLAGA: So it's a bit jarring to see Cobain in the green sweater on stage mouthing those words.
SIEGEL: So…
GALLAGA: You're actually hearing Bon Jovi's voice there.
SIEGEL: So who's complaining?
GALLAGA: Well, the other members of the Nirvana, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl have said publicly that they are not thrilled about this. But the person who is most furious is the widow and executor of the Kurt Cobain estate, Courtney Love, who on Twitter, among other places, has been very vocal, very angry about how he is being used in the game.
Now Activision, the company behind the game, says that they had her full cooperation in putting him in the game. They had an agreement with her. I think where the disagreement was, was how he would be used in the game: whether he'd be only singing Nirvana songs or, as we see in this video, whether he'd be playing other people's songs that you would never associate with Kurt Cobain.
SIEGEL: Any other avatars creating troubles here in the new Guitar Hero?
GALLAGA: You know, the one I'm not hearing about is Johnny Cash in the game. And there's actually a video floating around of five Johnny Cash characters on stage at the same time playing a Public Enemy song called "Bring The Noise." So, no outcry over that.
(Soundbite of laughter)
SIEGEL: Okay. Thank you, Omar.
GALLAGA: Thanks very much. And we will be posting both videos on the All Tech Considered blog at npr.org/alltech. You must see.
SIEGEL: Omar Gallaga, covers technology culture for the Austin American-Statesman and for All Tech Considered.
(Soundbite of song, "Bring The Noise")
PUBLIC ENEMY (Musicians): (Singing) Yeah, boy. Bass. How low can you go? Death row. What a brother knows. Once again back is the incredible the rhyme animal the untenable D Public Enemy Number One - Five O said Freeze.
SIEGEL: This is NPR, National Public Radio.
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