Idée Multicolr Search Now Includes 10 Million CC-Licensed Flickr Images

Cameron Parkins, September 4th, 2008

Idée Labs, the “technolgy playground” for image identification and visual search software company Idée, updated their Multicolr Search today to include 10 million CC-licensed images pulled from Flickr’s interesting images pool. The simple interface allows you to search Flickr according to a specific color palette (up to 10 colors total), shooting back 50 image sets that are aesthetically stunning.

Below are two purple/yellow palette sets taken from Idée’s announcement - the first image has a greater presence of yellows while the second emphasizes purples:

Check out Idée’s post about Multicolr Search to learn more about the tool or, better yet, experiment with it yourself. It is a ton of fun and a great way to find some really beautiful CC-licensed images.

NYTimes Reccomends CC for Free Music Downloads

Cameron Parkins, September 4th, 2008

Yesterday, the New York Times published an article titled “Free Music Downloads Without the Legal Peril ” in which they gave CC a nice plug:

Creative Commons is a site that helps copyright holders decide which rights they want to share — for instance making songs free for personal use and distribution, but not for sampling or commercial use. The five-year-old organization said it had licensed about 1 million songs, and lists them at creativecommons.org/legalmusicforvideos. One user of Creative Commons, the eclectic radio station WFMU-FM, posts legal in-studio performances at freemusicarchive.org.

The article mentions some other free music alternatives (such as promos on iTunes and Amazon MP3) and although it doesn’t exactly nail what we do - we haven’t licensed any songs ourselves, that is all thanks to YOU in the CC community - it is great to be featured regardless.

SF Salon - CC & Citizen Media - Open Request for Presenters!

Allison Domicone, September 4th, 2008

Attention citizen media advocates and organizers! Our next CC Salon in San Francisco will focus on CC in the realm of citizen media, and this time, we’re trying something a little different: we’re making an open request for presenters! With so many organizations and projects currently tapping into a more democratic and open approach to information sharing, we feel this is a perfect time to spotlight such innovative approaches to media.

The Salon will be held on Wednesday evening, November 12, just post-election, a fitting time to explore the ways in which Creative Commons can help facilitate the exchange of ideas (political or otherwise) through citizen journalism and other forms of media. Presentations should be 10 to 15 minutes long, allowing time for questions and discussion at the end, and may include a variety of media (including film, sound bytes, power point, etc.). We will accept presentation requests until September 30, at which time we will choose two that we feel best exemplify a spirit of open and shared culture.

Be sure to spread the word to citizen media organizations and projects that are either located in the Bay Area or have representation there. 

For more information and to submit a presentation request, please send an email to salon@creativecommons.org.

CC Salon LA TONIGHT! Xeni Jardin and GOOD Magazine

Cameron Parkins, September 3rd, 2008

One last reminder that we are hosting the latest CC Salon LA tonight (9/3/08). Details below:

• WHO: Xeni Jardin, Tech Culture Journalist + co-editor at Boing Boing, Casey Caplowe, Creative Director at GOOD Magazine
• WHAT: Discussions of openness in journalism with live music provided by Vosotros
• WHEN: Tonight, 7:30PM - 9:30PM
• WHERE: FOUND Gallery in Silverlake (Google map)
• PRICE: Free entry and free drinks
• NETWORK:Upcoming // Facebook

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Picasa Now Supports Creative Commons

Fred Benenson, September 3rd, 2008

This week Google threw its hat into the photo-commons ring with by announcing its newly upgraded Picasa Web Albums service. Users of Picasa now have the option to individually license their photos on the site under any of our six licenses, and can also set their profile to default to a particular one:

Just look for edit button next to the “All Rights Reserved” text on the right side of any photo page, and the “Photo Usage & Licensing” section in your profile settings (requires Google Account) to set a default license.