Dutch log

I was reading another article by Cory Doctorow on giving away digital versions of the Science Fiction novels he writes which contained the line

They evangelize the books they love, form subcultures around them, cite them in political arguments, sometimes they even rearrange their lives and jobs around them.

This is so true. I work in a company almost exclusively populated with geeks and several of them took the last 3 days off to read the last Harry Potter book. I’ve never taken annual leave to read a book. I doubt I ever will.

Guess what year that acquiring music from the Internet really came into its own…

It seems the hackers have been at it again and this time profess to have cracked Blu-Ray disc encryption. Yeah for freedom.

A comment on this article notes that this initial cracking of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray encryption is only possible because people are using Windows XP. Microsoft’s new OS, Vista, is going to plug many of these holes. Microsoft did a deal with the likes of the MPAA and RIAA and have specifically engineered Vista to be much more “secure”.

If you look at the DRM technology in Vista, you realise they have implemented a framework there specifically for Content Protection. Stuff like polling the system a number of times per second, revocation of drivers if its a known leak of HD content, and checking for electrical fluctuations against possible tampering for hardware.

Such technologies will have an affect on system performance and stability. (It doesn’t take a genius to realise where there will be scenarios when the monitoring of certain components is too aggressive and causes problems for the user).

For an indepth analysis of the “cost” to users of Microsoft implementing this technology check out this article by fellow Kiwi Peter Gutmann. Also check out the Security Now podcast for other related stuff.

Not only is Vista more restricted, hardware vendors have been sneaking in hardware onto motherboards and such that has up until now remained dormant, but is poised to strike. Remember the whole “Trusted Computing” issue.

MS is basically “encouraging” hardware makers to implement crap like HDCP and in the future, extra chips in relation to sensing possible modifications to hardware. (called “tilt bits”). Hardware makers need MS, as MS controls 90% of the desktop market.

And implementing DRM technology doesn’t benefit the hardware makers. It doesn’t improve performance, provide new features worthy of selling, etc…In fact, hardware makers try not to emphasize it! (Otherwise, people won’t buy the hardware!)

Its interesting that the law makers have basically made the rules up of how a hardware company is supposed to act. That is, they must prove themselves worthy. What annoys me is that some of the technologies used to enforce DRM can also be used for security of the PC. So PR/marketing dept can use the excuse of security for selling the hardware, when the truth is, its to control the end-user.

And of course most countries have bowed to preasure for the US and WIPO/WTO hegemony and implemented stupid new digital copyright laws.

Stuff like DMCA or in Australia, the Copyright Amendment 2006. (America has infected Australia with a version of DMCA as part of the Free Trade Agreement).

So I’m going to stay away from Vista as long as humanly possible and to stick to open formats like CDs for music. As for movies, well the internet is rife with that stuff… Broadband is the future, not this optical media crap.

In the end industry will listen to peoples wallets. Don’t spend your money on products that restrict your freedom. Don’t buy mainstream dross, check out alternatives, use You Tube, etc.

I’m late to the party but I’ve just discovered LinkedIn. It looks to be an excellent resource for building ones professional network and maintaining an online resume.

Where possible, I subscribe to the Internet through Google Reader. It’s online nature makes it make sense to me

Some feeds only have half of the information on them - MySpace blogs (if you’re a Crowded House fan you might be interested to know their head roadie writes a diary) are cut off after about 200 characters, and web comics like Penny Arcade and the Perry Bible Foundation have RSS feeds, but without the actual comics in it.
But the Internet fixes these problems, even if the people who publish the information don’t.

• Yahoo Pipes will remix you a feed of Penny Arcade with the comics inline.
  
• David Rorex has a feed for the Perry Bible Foundation comics.
• MakeDataMakeSense will parse a MySpace blog and publish a full RSS feed. And they’ve also got a great Greasemonkey user script so you can read the web like a pirate.

Props to XKCD for publishing their comics in their feed.  I guess it takes a nerd comic to get it.

Well, ok, so I don’t hate Macs, but this guy does. A funny article for all you Mac haters out there. Personally I’d like to spend some quality time with a Mac learning it inside and out. My mum has a Mac and I liked using that. I bought it for her. But still don’t know enough about them. I don’t like Windows, but I use it every day at home and at work. I write software that only runs on Windows in C#, a Microsoft invented programming language.
I use Linux all the time, mostly on the server but I ran Linux as my primary desktop OS for a long long time. But in the last 12 months my system has pretty much stayed running Windows XP because there are programs I use that don’t run in Linux, eg Visual Studio Express, iTunes, etc. Also, I tend to not want to tinker with my PC so much these days. I just want to read mail, surf the web, and refill my iPod with podcasts each day.
The funny thing is that even though I’m running lots of commercial proprietary software on my PC the only things I’ve had to pay for besides games is Windows. Everything else is either free (as in Beer), or Open Source.
If I was a non-Linux using/aware person and I got a new PC (with Windows bundled in the price) there isn’t much I’d need to buy once I’d connected to the Internet. If I didn’t know about OpenOffice maybe I might mistakenly think I needed to buy Microsoft Office.
Actually when I think about it, Open Office really is exposing a soft underbelly of Microsoft. One of the massive cash cows at MS is the Office application suite. They sell truck loads of it to corporations and small businesses. 90% of which most office workers don’t use. Especially the small/medium business types. Sure some companies use it to ridiculous degrees and have entire document and workflow management systems built around exotic VBA macro nightmares. But heaps of people don’t use a fraction of what Office can do.
If OpenOffice could pull a Firefox and really get its marketing up to scratch they could put a large dent in Microsofts revenue stream. Firefox is attacking a free product in the form of Internet Explorer and winning ground. Surely the Open Source community can have an even larger impact competing with software that costs hundreds of dollars. If there was a “spread OpenOffice” campaigns like Spread FireFox and a snazzy professional “Web 2.0″ looking website like mozilla.com for OpenOffice I’m sure more people would take OpenOffice more seriously.
Ah well, enough ranting.

Apple introduces the iPhone. Wow. Best phone ever. Click the link and watch the demos if you don’t believe me. Costs a lot though at $500USD. I also wonder if it will ever get to Australia. It is a GSM phone so Vodaphone could partner with Apple to sell it here. Does Telstra or 3 Mobile use GSM?

This article talks about Second Life VR “game” client going open source. Which is cool. However the author doesn’t know much about Open Source.

Netscape the company failed because it couldn’t compete commercially with a free browser bundled with the dominate desktop OS of the time. But their gift of the Mozilla (aka Netscape Navigator & Mail) source code to the Internet community and founding of the Mozilla Foundation has produced Firefox which now enjoys a 30% “market share” by some metrics.
Linux has not failed in the market. According to ZDNet Research Windows commands 65-70% of the corporate server operating system market, while the Linux share stands at 15-20%. Currently, Linux server shipments represent the fastest-growing segment of the market. Fastest growing doesn’t sound like a failure.

David Hewlett plays my favorite character, Rodney McKay, on Stargate Atlantis. It seems he’s a geek in real life as well as on the show. He’s made a little indie movie and used his computer knowledge to make a little website to promote it. And in doing so managed to generate enough buzz with his existing fan base to get the movie picked up by MGM and a TV show spun off in the process. If the following trailer is anything to go by, this could be quite good.

Judge for yourself.

Well, OK so he didn’t rip off the entire song. But he did use a fairly big sample out of it and has done so multiple times. Just another example of why “producers” in pop & hip-hop music are really just post-modern mix-artists pulling together other peoples work into catchy mash ups & loops. More musical talent than I’ve got maybe, but not exactly Beethoven.

October 3rd is anti DRM day over at DefectiveByDesign.org. DRM bad. Creative Commons good.
DRM (aka Digital “Rights” Management). More accurately known as Digital Restrictions Management is bad for artists and bad for consumers. The only people it is good for is “Big Media”.
If you use the iTunes Store with Apple’s Fairplay DRM or any online music/video service that uses Microsoft’s Plays for Sure DRM technology or even just own DVDs you might as well be burning your money. You don’t own any of that audio/video content. DRM controlled media can be turned off at a whim by a copyright holder so that you never get to see or hear it again without paying them more money.
DRM software on your PC, spies on you, treats you as a criminal and curtails your rights. DRM does nothing to stop piracy as any pirate with half a clue knows how to defeat it. The only reason it exists is to extract more money from you the “average joe” consumer. Learn more at DefectiveByDesign.org.
Down with DRM. Spread the word.

It seems the hackers have been at it again and this time profess to have cracked Blu-Ray disc encryption. Yeah for freedom.
A comment on this article notes that this initial cracking of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray encryption is only possible because people are using Windows XP. Microsoft’s new OS, Vista, is going to plug many of these holes. Microsoft did a deal with the likes of the MPAA and RIAA and have specifically engineered Vista to be much more “secure”.

If you look at the DRM technology in Vista, you realise they have implemented a framework there specifically for Content Protection. Stuff like polling the system a number of times per second, revocation of drivers if its a known leak of HD content, and checking for electrical fluctuations against possible tampering for hardware.
Such technologies will have an affect on system performance and stability. (It doesn’t take a genius to realise where there will be scenarios when the monitoring of certain components is too aggressive and causes problems for the user).

For an indepth analysis of the “cost” to users of Microsoft implementing this technology check out this article by fellow Kiwi Peter Gutmann. Also check out the Security Now podcast for other related stuff.
Not only is Vista more restricted, hardware vendors have been sneaking in hardware onto motherboards and such that has up until now remained dormant, but is poised to strike. Remember the whole “Trusted Computing” issue.

MS is basically “encouraging” hardware makers to implement crap like HDCP and in the future, extra chips in relation to sensing possible modifications to hardware. (called “tilt bits”). Hardware makers need MS, as MS controls 90% of the desktop market.
And implementing DRM technology doesn’t benefit the hardware makers. It doesn’t improve performance, provide new features worthy of selling, etc…In fact, hardware makers try not to emphasize it! (Otherwise, people won’t buy the hardware!)
Its interesting that the law makers have basically made the rules up of how a hardware company is supposed to act. That is, they must prove themselves worthy. What annoys me is that some of the technologies used to enforce DRM can also be used for security of the PC. So PR/marketing dept can use the excuse of security for selling the hardware, when the truth is, its to control the end-user.

And of course most countries have bowed to preasure for the US and WIPO/WTO hegemony and implemented stupid new digital copyright laws.

Stuff like DMCA or in Australia, the Copyright Amendment 2006. (America has infected Australia with a version of DMCA as part of the Free Trade Agreement).

So I’m going to stay away from Vista as long as humanly possible and to stick to open formats like CDs for music. As for movies, well the internet is rife with that stuff… Broadband is the future, not this optical media crap.
In the end industry will listen to peoples wallets. Don’t spend your money on products that restrict your freedom. Don’t buy mainstream dross, check out alternatives, use You Tube, etc.