13 Jan 2006
Yahoo! loses! Nazi! lawsuit!

Free speech darlings or corporate chicken hawks? I suppose that the question their legal analysis addresses was really: There are cheese eating surrender monkeys, and there are brutal and oppressive totalitarian dictorships - which one do we want to openly defy?

On the other hand, who knows? Maybe the Chinese were the biggest customers for the memorabilia in question... it would make sense in a twisted sort of way.

Yahoo! has lost a lawsuit in which it claimed a French court violated its right to sell Nazi trinkets.

(link) [The Register]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

The Choice Between DRM and Security

Interesting argument ... and maybe one that'll be able to gain more political traction in this post 9/11 environment than abstract concepts like "fair use".

Victor Yodaiken has an article up on Groklaw in which he discusses how DRM may decrease security and reliability. He raises several questions that the developers of DRM technologies ought to answer - because not all computers are merely personal entertainment systems for 'content' consumers. From the article: "Sony BMG put DRM software onto CDs that broke the basic system security and made the entire system slower and less reliable. Imagine that your children put such a CD on your computer and opened an avenue for hackers to make copies of your business memos and personal email ... We are entering the era of ubiquitous and safety critical computing, but the developers of DRM technologies seem to believe that computers are nothing more than personal entertainment systems for consumers. This belief is convenient, because creating DRM mechanisms that respect security, safety, and reliability concerns is going to be an expensive and complex engineering task.

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Music stops for Mac Windows Media Player

It's getting closer ... a real challenge to the Microsoft's virtual monopoly on the desktop. And Microsoft knows it: they may be the Evil Empire™, but they're anything but stupid. They're hunkering down and securing the hatches.

All Jobs has to do is to flip a few bits in the new, Intel-based OS X so that it'll run on commodity boxes and M$ goes down in flames. Really. It's that much better a system.

Of course, unless the price is right, and the quantities materialize in time, that kind of move could put a serious dent in Apple's profits, most of which are based on hardware. But as more of those profits come from devices like the iPod (Microsoft's XBox division must be green with envy), the temptation will be there.

That would be jumping into the arena with the undisputed heavyweight champion and dropping the gauntlet. Apple has always fundamentally thought of itself as a hardware house: this would be a dramatic move away from that internal self-conception. The question is: does Steve have the cojones to do it? It's the stuff TV movies are made of, a real life Revenge of the Geeks.

Microsoft halts development of its Windows Media Player for the Mac, CNET News.com has learned.

(link) [CNET News.com]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

USDA Using Satellites to Monitor Farmers

Man, this is scary shit on several levels - ever see the movie Enemy of the State? And I was wondering about enforcement mechanisms for NAIS ... no longer. Remember: it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you!

AP - Satellite images are now increasingly turning up in courtrooms across the nation as the Agriculture Department's Risk Management Agency cracks down on farmers involved in crop insurance fraud.

(link) [Yahoo! News: Top Stories]

00:00 /Agriculture | 1 comment | permanent link

Cow escapes slaughter

Well, according to the article, the heifer's support also included Del Morris, manager of Mickey's Packing Plant, who said he decided to let the cow live the instant he saw it cross the Missouri River through Great Falls.

The last time I took old laying hens on their final trip, there was one who escaped my attention. We returned to find a single Rhode Island Red still roosting in the henhouse - and immediately christened her "Miss Lucky" - and she'll live out her days here, whether or not she ever lays another egg.

Irrational, to be sure, but sometimes we farmers can be a superstitious lot.

(link) [CNN.com - Offbeat]

00:00 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

Happy Birthday(s)

Wham-O Frisbee Flying Disk logoI have always loved the Frisbee™ - I probably own 30 of them of various sizes and designs. Tossing between friends or playing disc golf has been my favorite outdoor pastime for years. And last evening, while randomly surfing, I discovered that it was on this date in 1957 that the Wham-O concluded a deal with the inventor of the "Pluto Platter" and began production. It wasn't until 1958 that the Frisbee Baking Company went out of business and the name was applied to the flying disc, but the product itself is 49 today.

Coincidentally (or synchronistically?) January 13th, 1957 also happens be the day I made my personal debut. And this is the last year that either I or the Frisbee™ will be able to claim to be "forty-something". Strange world, eh?

00:00 /Home | 2 comments | permanent link

iCell in the Works?

Hrumph ... I post this yesterday, and look what shows up this morning!. Draw your own conclusions...

Ars Technica is running a story speculating on the possibility of an Apple cellphone. From the article: At last week's CES, Motorola officially dumped Apple with its new ROKR E2 phone and its new iRadio digital music service. ... After the ROKR's lackluster launch, speculation abounded that Apple was saving the 'good' iTunes phone for itself, and the new 'Mobile Me' trademark lends credence to that line of thinking. At this stage of the game, it looks like Apple is moving in the direction of launching its own cellular service complete with its own lineup of phones (or phone, as the case may be).

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Technology | 1 comment | permanent link