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::: Thursday, June 27 ::: |
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Update: TCPA / Palladium FAQ
This is an excellent no-nonsense FAQ about what Palladium is and why you don't want it. What it doesn't cover is how we can avoid having it foisted onto us if all major hardware manufacturers start embedding these "Fritz" chips in anything that beeps. Eventually all the hardware that currently exists will die and have to be replaced. When this happens there may not be any legal means of purchasing a new PC without Palladium "features".
2:47 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Sigh: The Big Secret
Microsoft Palladium promises to protect you from the nasties, you just have to give up the idea that you control your machine. Let's assume that I took leave of my senses and decided that this was a good idea... that I was willing to give someone else carte blanc over my system. That entity would certainly not be Microsoft, who have proven time and time again that they are simply not worthy of trust.
The Reg also puts forth another possibility and posits that this might just be a thinly veiled attempt to neuter the GPL and, by extension, Linux. I'm not heavy enough into the GPL concept to know if their arguments are valid. They certainly seem to have taken some time to think about the repercussions, however, something that Steven Levy (the article of the first article) doesn't seem to have done. His article reads more like a press release than investigative journalism.
2:30 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Monday, June 24 ::: |
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::: Thursday, June 20 ::: |
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::: Wednesday, June 19 ::: |
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Oops: Why software is so bad?
"Microsoft advised (and still advises) users to back up critical files before installing the patches. Buyers of the home version of Windows XP, however, discovered that the system provided no way to restore these backup files if things went awry. As Microsoft's online Knowledge Base blandly explained, the special backup floppy disks created by Windows XP Home 'do not work with Windows XP Home'."
As bugs go, that's a bit of a show stopper. Well, it would have been if Microsoft gave a damn about consumers. This the sort of bug that invariably results from "dumbing down" a piece of software.
If a programmer expects a piece of external code to act a certain way, s/he often won't program very good exception handling. So when the suits come through and randomly disable bits of code, it causes a ripple effect throughout the entire system making it inherently less stable than it otherwise would be.
4:06 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Monday, June 17 ::: |
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::: Friday, June 14 ::: |
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Fascinating: File sharing - Innocent until proven guilty
I'm impressed that someone who is so clearly in favor of Digital Rights Management and per-play micro-payments considers the DMCA "draconian". Then again he believes that the RIAA is a slave to the free market system. While this may have been the case in the past, I think the very reason that the RIAA and the MPAA are pursuing legislation so feverishly is to free them from the restratints of market econmics. If *all* media is required to be protected by DRM then what choice will consumers have, but to pay up?
10:58 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Thursday, June 13 ::: |
Cool: Task List Programs
This is a wonderfully useful resource for anyone running Windows. It lists a cubic buttload of programs which show up in your task list, but aren't readily recognizable. They also tell you which ones can be safely disabled.
2:18 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Whoa: Not one, not two, but three
I really wish Microsoft wouldn't send these things in the middle of the night. It makes my mornings just that much harder to face. Luckily we're not affected by any of these, but it's the principal of the thing.
9:18 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Wednesday, June 12 ::: |
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::: Thursday, June 6 ::: |
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Preach on: The Netflix way
"Disney CEO Michael Eisner keeps saying that if we can't control all the content, we won't let it out there," Griffin says. "But that's historically incorrect. It's the lie being used to shove digital-rights management down people's throats. The truth is that with radio, television, satellite TV and webcasting, we've always let content out. This is the future, and our past."
Very well said. I keep meaning to sign up for NetFlix, but I've never gotten around to it. It sounds like a cool concept.
11:19 AM CST :: 1 comment
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::: Wednesday, June 5 ::: |
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Not likely: Clamping down on digital TV free-for-all
What these morons are forgetting is that, nine times out of ten, mpeg versions of such programming are traded in very low quality samples. In much the same way that any audio recording could be recorded from analog back to digital, any video stream can be captured from the screen and sent to mpeg.
If a given piece of media can be seen or heard, then it can be duplicated freely. End of discussion.
8:39 AM CST :: tell me a story
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Thhptt: Best Buy changes privacy policy
"Why have them make a decision about something that's seamless to them?" said Beth Givens, director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
Seamless or invisible? I'm wondering how many Best Buy consumers would even consider the possibility that their buying habits were being recorded and compared to purchases made in the stores? Not many I'd wager.
8:32 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Tuesday, June 4 ::: |
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Hmm: Nissan vs. Nissan
Given the specific facts in this case, I see no reason whatsoever that Nissan, the car company, should have any rights to the nissan.com domain. Bankrupting the domains owner is both heartless and counter-productive. How many people, after reading about this, would even consider buying a Nissan? I know I wouldn't.
8:34 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Monday, June 3 ::: |
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dinoneil[at]newdream[dot]net
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