30 May 2003
M$, SCO and Windex

Another pundit weighs in on the SCO lawsuit madness .... this one straight from The Pulpit:

Going for a Streak-Free Finish Will Microsoft's Answer to Linux Be Windex Instead? [I, Cringely]

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I don't think they like blogs

Gee, is it just me, or do you get the feeling that The Register doesn't like weblogs?

Most bloggers 'are teenage girls' - survey.

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

29 May 2003
Unclear Channels

Below is a particularly florid piece of prose (even for The Register) but pretty much dead on. Why would I, a pretty dyed in the wool libertarian, be against such a "deregulation" move? Because while in the "free market" a monopoly could not sustain itself for long as more and more new forces enter the market to take it on, we have anything but a "free market" in media content or other "intellectual property" in general. Copyright and patent law is being used to constrain and direct the market to the advantage of the larger players - content is what media "sells", after all. Therefore once this deregulation takes effect you will see increased concentration, rather than, as the case when the airlines were first deregulated, increased competition.

If you're going to deregulate this market, then damnit, deregulate it! That means, of course, restructuring onerous IP laws to accurately reflect a free market, rathen than a monopoly as is currectly the case. If it were done in this fashion, then the barriers to entry would truely be lowered, and you could expect to see greater diversity. As it stands, well, I hope everybody likes ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and CNN on TV and Clear Channel 'national' radio for your drive time ....

Clear Channelization of America to commence Monday. Opinion Media pigopolist coup d'etat on schedule [The Register]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Bullshit Alert

Bullshit alert!

The following article, while it's pretty on target with the business analysis, contains a serious technical half-truth.

Apple did not"disable Rendezvous" - Rendezvous is a networking technology that is content agnostic: it doesn't know if it's streaming pirated music or sharing an Office document. Apple limited the Rendezvous access of a specific program, iTunes, to it's own subnet. This is not a trivial distinction - I can still stream music on my LAN just fine. I just can't stream music over the Internet via iTunes, whioh would not only piss off the RIAA, as the article points out, but which could also cause a serious security concern. I know I always like to know that I'm running a server ....

Apple Finds the Future for Online Music Sales. Apple Computer's new service, iTunes Music Store, has been the first real success story in the long effort to sell music over the Internet. By Neil Strauss. [New York Times: NYT HomePage]

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Orthodox Christianity lowers your cholesterol

This was just too good a headline to not post ...


Orthodox Christianity lowers your cholesterol [Science Blog]

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Macs and Music

Here's a more accurate analysis of Apple's move into online music sales - this one lacks the bullshit from the New York Times....

Microsoft, again: Apple's old nemesis. While the Mac maker commands today's headlines, it faces a series of obstacles from the Windows empire ranging from software licenses to influence in media industries. [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

28 May 2003
Novell Challanges SCO

I've mentioned this rather transparent lawsuit here in previous posts - now it's getting real interesting:

Novell challenges SCO's Linux claims. The second of four companies to own Unix rights takes issue with the rights infringement claims that SCO Group is making against Linux. [CNET News.com]

This report has a very strong statement by Bruce Perens:

Novell Claims Ownership of UNIX System V [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Criminal Copy Protection

GREAT piece of writing by the auhor of Small Pieces, Loosely Joined.

Copy Protection Is a Crime. Digital-rights management sounds fine on paper, but Wired magazine's David Weinberger explains why it's not just pirates who should balk at the idea. [Wired News]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Fixed Price Patent

Ohmigosh! I've infringed a patent! I offer goods for sale at at fixed price! It's patented!

Some things are beyond stupid ....

Jury: eBay guilty of patent infringement. A federal jury determines that eBay infringed on two patents and orders the online auction giant to pay $35 million in damages. [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Relinking the Matrix

If you've seen The Matrix Reloaded and want to read some interesting speculation on it's meaning, check out this set of links from Secular Blasphemy.

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

27 May 2003
Catch a Falling Momma

Well, missed another day! But, seeing as how I just got back from taking my mom to the hospital, I think I have a reasonable excuse!

She fell, about 4:30pm, in her living room. She initially thought she tripped over the cat, but then thought she may have had a "dizzy spell", whatever that means. She told us she was fine, but we insisted on coming in to see her after dinner, and got there about 8:30. By 9 we were at the emergency room.

Got some more work done in the barn lot earlier today - Kris went in with her Dad and Julie and planted flowers at the cemetary, as is our custom. I managed to break my glasses - the nosepad fell off when cleaning, so I imagine that I'll be over at LensCrafters sometime tomorrow.

I'm supposed to get to work on some comm code tonight, but frankly, I just too toasted. Off to bed for me ....

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

26 May 2003
Fencing, fencing

More fencing today - set about twenty feet on the east side of the paddock. This had long needed done, the only fence that was there when we started were some rotten old boards and a couple of strands of barbed wire that weren't attached to anything. Really strange stuff - all this was backed by two wooden gates (!) that had been tied to the fence posts with baling wire! Real secure...

Even though it was a short run, it took us longer (about 7 hours) than yesterdays run of nearly 100 feet. We had to dig out some mis-set tee posts, and wrap to the barn side by lag bolting a 2x4 to the corner post of the barn. Of course, that had to be done higher than the fence, because the main support post for the barn has some serious dry rot problems! Yow! This meant that we had to find a long brace to serve against the bolted "post" so we could use the strecher.

It was a real pain in the ass, but it looks alot better, and we'll be able to set a water tank so that the stock can get to it from the paddock or the pasture. It's also close enough to the barn to be able to run a heater to it this winter, should that be necessary.

Needless to say we're both beat. So it's early to be for me this evening.

00:00 /Home | 0 comments | permanent link

25 May 2003
Barn of Death

Well, some excitement tonight for sure. We had set a new fence today, about 100 feet from the corner of the smaller east pasture to the barn edge. This will increase our paddock space considerably, and give the animals more access to the barn(s).

We noticed that the new kittens were missing this morning - late this afternoon we found one of their bodies, pretty badly chewed. The adopted mother cat had been acting pretty strange, as has the tom, Jasper. In fact, all the livestock were kinda edgy this afternoon, keeping close to the paddock and close to each other. We had a predator on the prowl.

Tonight when we went to do the barn check about 9, we found him - or one of them. A very large raccoon, and a very hurt one. I'm pretty sure he got the kittens, and I could see that the mother cat had taken her toll on him in their defense. I finished the job with a .22 pistol in the hay mow - a bloody mess, to be sure. But we can't have those kinds of omnivores running loose in our barn - not only would we not be able to keep any cats (and hence risk a rat population explosion) but coons can carry some fairly serious diseases for livestock.

But the fence is straight - and I'm reasonably certain that the coon got the kittens, and that problem is obviously solved. I just hope that it was the commotion of the the coon in the barn that spooked the rest of the livestock, and not a pack of coyotes. With Tup running around, he'd be the first to go. And that would not be good.

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24 May 2003
OSM

This was bound to happen ....

Open Source Music [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

MPAA Says No Way to Dynamic Pricing Model

The MPAA complains bitterly about 'piracy' and then turns around and refuses to allow innovations in a business model that would lower prices for consumers. Hmmm, and I always though 'monopoly' had eight letters ....

Low Cost Cinema Through Dynamic Pricing [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link