house party

Police said to use Facebook to stop punk rock house parties

Police going undercover on social media to catch gangsters and murderers is one thing, but posing as punk rockers to catch bands playing illegal house parties?

That's just what Boston police are allegedly doing, according to Slate.

After a nuisance control ordinance (PDF) passed last year, the city has been working to squelch local punk and indie rock parties featuring loud bands. And to find out where these raucous festivities are taking place -- in order to break them up before they get started -- the police are supposedly sleuthing out party addresses via e-mail and social media.

Acting … Read more

Djay for iPad fulfills your mixmaster fantasies

I'm not a musician, nor am I a DJ. I do fantasize about it, though, hence my obsession with DJ Hero, and my amateur songcrafting in GarageBand. I'd never buy a full-fledged turntable, nor would I know what to do with it. However, I'm a big fan of what's been accomplished on Djay, a new turntable app for the iPad.

Algoriddim's Djay app isn't cheap--at $20, it's in the high end of the App Store economy--but what it does matches what you'd expect from a regular PC/Mac application. In fact, it'… Read more

Inside a Windows 7 house party

Although some scoffed at the notion of Windows 7 house parties, Elliott Minor of Albany, Ga., said his event was a hit.

Roughly two dozen people showed up to the event, which was held at his church. Although not a huge gathering, the event seemed to be one of many that served Microsoft's purpose--helping spread the word about its just-launched Windows 7 operating system.

Two techies from the area teamed up to highlight Windows 7's key features and answer questions.

"Judging from the oohs and aahs of guests, I'd say they were favorably impressed," Minor … Read more

eBay sales of Windows 7 party packs halted

Attention those with leftover Windows 7 house party kits: don't try to sell them on eBay.

Readers report that several auctions of the house party kits have been canceled. Among other things, the kits provided to those hosting Windows 7 house parties include a Steve Ballmer "signature edition" of Windows 7 Ultimate.

The auctions may have been canceled at Redmond's request, although several other auctions appear to be ongoing.

"While we cannot confirm why eBay has removed these specific auctions, Microsoft routinely works with online auction sites such as eBay to remove infringing auctions," … Read more