Going through it now. What do you think, smart advice or overkill?
Monday, April 16, 2007
Friday, April 06, 2007
Mossberg on the horrors of buying a new PC
Doesn't this sound like a whole lot of fun? This is why I have built my own for the last 20 years but my next PC will be a Mac.
Monday, April 02, 2007
It's official, EMI first with DRM free high quality itunes tracks
Finally!
Good hint that The Beatles, AC/DC and other online holdouts are soon to be on the store. And that missing tunes from existing catalogues are filled in too. The higher quality encoding is a major bonus.
Here's a list of bands signed on to EMI:
Highlights:
- Nat King Cole (Capitol)
- Dean Martin (Capitol)
- Frank Sinatra (Capitol)
- The Animals (Columbia)
- The Band (Capitol)
- The Beach Boys (Capitol)
- The Beatles (Parlophone/Capitol)
- Pink Floyd (Tower/Harvest/Capitol/Columbia)
- The Yardbirds (Columbia)
- Beastie Boys (Parlophone / Capitol)
- Bob Seger (Capitol)
- Coldplay (Parlophone)
- Crowded House (Capitol)
- David Bowie (EMI America / Virgin)
- Duran Duran
- Garth Brooks (Capitol / Liberty / Parlophone)
- George Harrison (Parlophone)
- George Michael
- Geri Halliwell (Capitol, then later Virgin/Innocent) Halliwell completed her 3 album contract in 2005 and is the only solo spice girl to do so.
- Gorillaz (Parlophone)
- Grand Funk Railroad (Capitol)
- Heart (Capitol)
- Iron Maiden
- J. Geils Band
- Jane's Addiction (Parlophone / Capitol)
- Janet Jackson (Virgin America) Jackson completed her album contract with her latest album 20 Y.O. in 2006
- Joe Cocker (Parlophone)
- Kenny Rogers (Liberty)
- Korn (EMI America / Virgin)
- Kraftwerk
- Kylie Minogue (Parlophone)
- Paul McCartney (Parlophone / Capitol)
- Pet Shop Boys (Parlophone)
- Queen (Parlophone/Hollywood Records)
- Queensrÿche
- Radiohead (Parlophone) (Contract Finished as of 2003)
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Spice Girls (Virgin)
- The Chemical Brothers (Virgin)
- The Rolling Stones (Virgin)
- The Sex Pistols (September 1976 - December 1976)
- W.A.S.P. (Capitol)
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Mario and Sonic.... together. Yahoo Unlimited. 360 Elite. HD W ar
Could be an interesting combination...
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/03/28/mario-and-sonic-together-at-last-at-the-2008-olympics
Yahoo unlimited email, flickr next?
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070328-yahoo-mail-gets-unlimited-storage-flickr-may-be-next.html
360 elite is official.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070328-xbox-360-elite-launched-official-details-and-specs.html
I probably won't upgrade but am likely to replace my hard disk... The 20GB mine currently has has to get cleaned out every other month as it's too small....
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTMxNSwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
I concur with Ars, even tho I own both HD DVD and BluRay I think BluRay will be the eventual 'winner take all'
Monday, March 19, 2007
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Sci-fi embraces user created content, Playstation Home
Wanna make your own version of Battlestar Gallactica? Sci-fi channel is here to help you out!
http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/videomaker/tools/
Introducing Playstation home:
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/playstation-home-the-free-virtual-world-of-playstation-3/
Somehow I think this will never make it on my PS3... I've got it for games I dont need another MMORPG...
Little Big Planet however, looks AMAZING.
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/sony-unveils-cooperative-platformer-littlebigplanet/
NOT FOR THE SQUEEMISH, and DO NOT PLAY THIS IN THE OPEN LABS!!!! If you dont like F bombs, dont read the next one. However, we spent a lot of time this week talking about Typography. The following video shows just how powerful fonts can be!
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/298-animation-of-a-samuel-l-jackson-pulp-fiction-speech-in-type?
An open letter to Steve Jobs re DRM:
http://defectivebydesign.com/actions/open_letter/steve_jobs
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Dell's painfully lame viral marketing
http://www.projectnerdbuddy.com/
Wow, this is ALMOST as bad as Sony's terrible http://www.alliwantforxmasisapsp.com
It's sad to watch old guard companies try to jump on new initiatives. Want another example? Check out the new "Web 2.0-ized" http://www.usatoday.com
I always thought USA today was terrible to begin with anyway, but these attempts to be hip and current just make it even more obvious that they don't get it.
I suppose Dell's marketing worked tho, right? There's no such thing as bad advertising, but I'm no more or less likely to buy a Dell having seen these ads... On one hand I wouldnt buy any system from Dell that didnt say XPS or Alienware on it, unless their prices miraculously drop by about 50% overnight (tho their flat panel LCDs rock and are well priced, if you get on a coupon deal that happens about every 4 months anyway). And I certainly wouldnt use their lame support services which is what this product is about. On the other hand here I am talking about their site even if it's in a negative way...
Sam
You don't know Jack
Jack's back!
http://www.digg.com/playable_web_games/You_Don_t_Know_Jack_full_games_now_online
I'm firmly convinced that YDKJ was 10% of the reason for the growth of the internet in the 90's and certainly one of the biggest innovators in using Adobe Flash.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
FW: [IP] Boucher and Doolittle Introduce the FAIR USE Act of 2007
Sorry for the dorked up formatting, looked this bad when I got it.
-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber
Subject: [IP] Boucher and Doolittle Introduce the FAIR USE Act of 2007
BTW, the weather i Tokyo is fine and warmer than Pittsburgh djf
Begin forwarded message:
http://www.boucher.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1011&Itemid=75
Reps. Boucher and Doolittle Introduce the FAIR USE Act of 2007
(February 27, 2007)
DATE: February 27, 2007
Reps. Boucher and Doolittle Introduce the FAIR USE Act of 2007
Legislation Would Protect the Fair Use Rights of Digital Media Consumers
U.S. Representatives Rick Boucher (D-VA) and John Doolittle (R-CA),
today
introduced the Freedom And Innovation Revitalizing U.S.
Entrepreneurship Act
of 2007 (FAIR USE Act) to protect the fair use rights of users of
copyrighted material and thereby enable consumers of digital media to
use it
in ways that enhance their personal convenience. The legislation
contains
several improvements to the Digital Media Consumer's Rights Act, similar
legislation which the lawmakers introduced in the 108th and 109th
Congresses. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) is an original
cosponsor of
the legislation.
Because the fair use rights of consumers of digital media are severely
threatened today, Boucher and Doolittle propose amending a 1998 law, the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was enacted at the behest of
motion
picture studios, the recording industry, and book publishers.
"The fair use doctrine is threatened today as never before.
Historically,
the nation's copyright laws have reflected a carefully calibrated
balanced
between the rights of copyright owners and the rights of the users of
copyrighted material. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act dramatically
tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the
expense of the public's right to fair use," Boucher said. "The FAIR
USE Act
will assure that consumers who purchase digital media can enjoy a broad
range of uses of the media for their own convenience in a way which
does not
infringe the copyright in the work," Boucher explained.
"Without a change in the law, individuals will be less willing to
purchase
digital media if their use of the media within the home is severely
circumscribed and the manufacturers of equipment and software that
enables
circumvention for legitimate purposes will be reluctant to introduce the
products into the market," Boucher added.
"America can and must be a world leader in technological innovation,"
said
Doolittle. "This objective is hindered by the provisions in the DMCA
that
discourage the free flow of ideas and information. The FAIR USE Act
removes
those disincentives, and I look forward to seeing the benefits that will
ensue."
The FAIR USE Act differs fundamentally from H.R. 107 and H.R. 1201, as
proposed in the 108th and 109th Congresses, respectively, by
Representatives
Boucher and Doolittle. In an effort to address the concerns expressed by
content owners, the FAIR USE Act does not contain provisions which would
have established a fair use defense to the act of circumvention.
The legislation instead contains specific exemptions to section 1201
of the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act which do not pose a comparable
potential
threat to their business models. For example, the proposed
legislation would
codify the decision by the Register of Copyrights, as affirmed in a
determination made by the Librarian of Congress under section 1201(a)
(1) of
the DMCA, to allow consumers to "circumvent" digital locks in six
discrete
areas. The bill also contains narrowly crafted additional exemptions
that
are a natural extension of these exemptions.
Other new elements of bill include limiting the availability of
statutory
damages against individuals and firms who may be found to have
engaged in
contributory infringement, inducement of infringement, vicarious
liability
or other indirect infringement. A more narrowly crafted provision
codifying
the Supreme Court's Betamax decision to eliminate any uncertainty
about a
potential negative impact on the Supreme Court's holding in the Grokster
case is also contained in the legislation.
Finally, given the central role that libraries and archives play in our
society in ensuring free speech and continuing access to creative
works, the
bill includes a provision to ensure that they can circumvent a
digital lock
to preserve or secure a copy of a work or replace a copy that is
damaged,
deteriorating, lost, or stolen.
"I look forward to working with my colleagues and all interested
parties in
an effort to properly balance the rights of content owners, consumers
and
other constructive users of content. I will welcome their suggestions
about
how the measure might be further improved as it moves forward in the
legislative process," Boucher concluded.
"As a consumer, I am excited about the possibilities that the FAIR
USE Act
brings," stated Doolittle.
Supporters of the FAIR USE Act include the Consumer Electronics
Association,
the American Library Association, the American Association of Law
Libraries,
the Association of Research Libraries, the Special Libraries
Association,
the Home Recording Rights Coalition, the Computer & Communications
Industry
Association, and other organizations representing the public interest
and
the consumers of digital media.
-------------------------------------------
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Monday, February 26, 2007
Monday links
Mostly from Slashdot, not much this weekend out there:
show us the Code!
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/25/009222
IRS to ebay: Snitch on your customers!
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/24/2113211
Software grounds the F-22 (hope the same software isnt in the intercontinental nukes):
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/25/2038217
Creative Commons 3.0 launched:
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/07/02/26/1157223.shtml
Friday, February 23, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
The Security Power Point Slides
Sorry, they can be grabbed at:
http://zorak.monmouth.edu/~posten/security.ppt
-----Original Message-----
Sent: 2/21/2007 2:36 PM
Subject: The Power Point Slides
Dear Prof. Posten,
I didn't see the Power Point slides on the class website.
Friday, February 16, 2007
FW: [IP] Techdirt. DMCA Takedown For Professor Showing How Copyri ght Owners Exaggerate Their Rights
Irony at its best!
from the ah,-irony dept
We've covered way too many bogus DMCA takedown notices, but sometimes new ones stand out for being extra special. Wendy Seltzer, a law professor who used to work for the EFF and who founded the awesome Chilling Effects clearinghouse for providing an archive of various takedown notices, has apparently received her very own first DMCA takedown notice (found via Boing Boing). Seltzer posted a snippet from the Superbowl for her students to see. Not just any snippet, mind you, but the snippet where its announced: "This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience. Any other use of this telecast or of any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent, is prohibited." She posted it as an example of a copyright holder exaggerating its rights -- as the NFL cannot ban all of the things they ban in that statement. Yes, this is getting more and more ironic. Take a moment to think this through for the layer upon layer of absurdity. A law professor puts up a short clip for educational purposes (fair use allows both short clips and educational uses of content) for the sake of showing how the NFL exaggerates its copyright control -- and the NFL responds by then sending a DMCA takedown notice to better highlight how they not only exaggerate their claims, but then misuse the law to shut down fair use as well. Somehow, though, I doubt the NFL planned to help Seltzer demonstrate how the law is abused by trying to takedown her example of how they were abusing the law (got that?). Either way, it seems that the NFL is helping prove Seltzer's point.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Linux/Unix inquiry
Forwarded reply to a previous it10250 student with answers that may be
of interest to existing students:
---
Hi Brian! Let me see if I can answer your questions as best I can. I
am no expert in Solaris, I stopped at Solaris 2.5.1 and there have been
years of improvements since then but will see what I can do.
-I had you last semester for IT and we talked about linux and Solaris 10.
-I have an HP(Compaq) R4000 laptop(AMD 64) and was thinking about
-installing the software to use as my OS. Question?
-1 Should I do this?
Well, the key questions here are CAN and SHOULD. You certainly CAN on a
machine of this calibre. Should is much more tricky. What are your
goals for doing so?
Common answers would be things like:
To avoid virusses and spam / get safer surfing
To learn more about Linux and Unix
To avoid Microsoft products
Because it is interesting/fun
Skillset for employment
Embrace Free and Open Source philosophy
If you find yourself saying 'yes' to any of the above, then yes, maybe
Solaris or Linux is a good fit for you.
-2 Can I access XP from the Solaris? Or like switch OS to OS
You sure can. In fact if you use something called a Live CD, you never
install the new OS at all, you simply boot to it from CD, do your work
in that OS and then the next time you reboot, XP is back like it never
knew it wasnt running. The downside of course is the CD is a LOT slower
than a hard disk. If you find that you like the new OS, you can install
it so that you get a Dual Boot mode, ie you can choose to run XP or the
new OS each time you reboot. You need to set a part of your hard disk
aside as a seperate partition, this is somewhat tricky but definitly
doable, especially if you follow any of the billion tutorials available
online.
The Solaris Live CD can be found here:
http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/3647306
<http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/3647306>
You can also check out Knoppix at:
http://www.knoppix.org <http://www.knoppix.org>
and Ubuntu at:
http://www.ubuntu.com <http://www.ubuntu.com>
Both are great versions of Linux that can be found either as installables or live CDs.
-3 I think I will have more security and be able to surf more effectively. True or False
Somewhat true, but you could get most of the benefits by simply ditching
IE and moving to Firefox. I'd start there and see how you like it.
-4. Do you like it?
For work, absolutely. For home, no I wouldnt use it as my only OS. I'm
too much of a gamer and games and Linux arent really on the same sheet.
Even Mac OSX is kind of lame as far as gaming goes.
-5. Any thing I should consider or Know about installation?
Back up everything =) And dont get discouraged if things dont go right
the first time. Unix is a lot different and it takes a bit of getting
used to, but there are many advantages in a lot of areas.
-Thanks Professor Posten, I hope you don't mind questions from time to
time.
-Brian
My pleasure! Some other great places to get you started:
http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html
<http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/knowing-knoppix/index.html>
http://www.justlinux.com/ <http://www.justlinux.com/>
http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/ <http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/>
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8
<http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=8>
http://thelinuxnewbie.blogspot.com/
<http://thelinuxnewbie.blogspot.com/>
May I forward your question and my answer to my blog and current class?
The blog is at:
http://infotechbuzz.blogspot.com <http://infotechbuzz.blogspot.com>
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