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ARCHIVES -- JUNE 2010

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JUNE 14, 2010 -- JUNE 27, 2010

IS WEAKER COPYRIGHT PROTECTION A BOON FOR SOCIETY?

A lot of the misery the industry is feeling is its own fault..

The way the industry created this problem is by the way they marketed and monetized albums. They would sell the albums, but they also created singles. The singles were sent out to the stations and would be used to hype the bands. They also sold the individual singles in shops so there was more exposure and more opportunities for profit. They part and parceled the albums out to make more money. By setting the precedent of singles they derailed their own album sales.

As an older music fan I remember when albums were to be listened to as a compleat (english style for class;) work. The entire album was the story telling method. It started with track one and went thru the whole recording to create a mood or make a point. A perfect example of this is Pink Floyd's "The Wall" or "Tommy" by The Who. Nowadays albums are nothing more than a mishmash of singles. There is no incentive to listen to the whole album which leads to cherry picking when it comes to music consumption.

I'm gonna throw out the homogenization of music is part of the problem also. There are not as many music types being strongly supported as it was in the past. Now the industry has fallen behind a few
primary genus and is in the process of riding them into the ground.

So if the music industry is suffering it's of their own design.

Read the article ARS TECHNICA/File sharing has weakened copyright and hepled society.

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Breaking laws is never a good thing, except to the extent that it's an indication that the laws themselves are bad, unjust, or impractical. IMO, we should look at the results of this paper as telling us that the framing of the discussion provided by large copyright holders (piracy is bad, piracy is killing us, piracy must be stopped, etc.) is extremely problematic.

Casting this as a moral issue (amoral thieves and law-breakers versus hard-working rightsholders), or as an issue of law and justice (if you disagree, don't break the law, change it) ignores crucial features of the situation. You pointed out, quite correctly that this is a complicated issue, but the fact is that those arguing for more rights for rightsholders are over-simplifying at least as much, and at least as disingenuously, as anyone else.

'Piracy' of copyrighted works is not a good thing, but it exists, and we need to do something about it (that much is clear). As this article asks, why not simply make these problematic actions legal? Joe Gamer got to the heart of the true answer to that question.

Read the article ARS TECHNICA/File sharing has weakened copyright and hepled society.

ONCE UPON A VAST AND ANCIENT OCEAN OF MARS

Mars lost it's oceans because it's so small. That sounds obvious but it's a bit more subtle than it seems.

Mars is slightly smaller than the size needed for gravitational pressure to allow molten iron to exist at the centre. If it was slightly larger, we are talking 10% or so then it would. Earths molten iron centre creates our magnetic field, which is quite big considering the size of earth, as it is largley iron and is rotating at a fairly high rate. The magnetic field blocks solar radiation and the solar wind. Because Mars doesn't have a molten iron centre it's magnetic field is very small so the solar winds and radiation can strip the upper atmosphere away.Over millions of years this would gradually reduce the density of the atmosphere allow the water to evaporate and then be removed.

The lack of water on the planet means CO2 levels would increase leaving the planet we see now, largley dry, low density atmosphere and a very high level of CO2 (about 65% I think of hand).

Read the article DAILY MAIL/The red plains of Mars were once covered by a vast ocean

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Maybe all the asteroids in the belt beyond Mars were once a planet with an advance race of beings that destroyed themselves. Then a chunk of that planet crashed into Mars, causing Mars to lose its oceans. Then those beings migrated to Earth to start the self destruction process all over again. Read the article SPACE.COM/Ancient Mars covered by vast ocean

THIS OLD SHOE

PLOS ONE/RESEARCH ARTICLE

In 1938 University of Oregon archaeologist, Louis Cressman, found several sandals in a cave near Fort Rock in the Christmas Valley, in Oregon. The oldest one has been carbon dated to 9,188 +/-480 B.P. As the story of this Armenian shoe find is trickling around the world, it seems that history has forgotten Cressman's find. The sandal is on display in their museum on campus.

Read the article SCIENCE NEWS/Ancient shoe steps out of cave and into the limelight

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Imagine 1000s of years from now when they uncover a city from our time and try and figure out why there are a pair of sneakers hanging from a power line.....

Read the article CNN/Armenian cave yields what may be world's oldest shoes

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“It is astonishing,” said Manolo Blahnik to the National Geographic, “how much this shoe resembles a modern shoe!”

Not really, when you consider how much the foot that wore it resembled a modern foot.

Read the article MACLEANS.CA/World's oldest shoe found in Armenia

JUNE 7, 2010 -- JUNE 13, 2010

RINGING CHANGES WITH iPhone 4

Honestly, I find it amazing that people still haven't learned their lesson when it comes to Apple. Every time Apple releases something, the nay-sayers start telling how their favourite device has had the same features for years already. And this happens every single time. And those people never learn the one simple fact: it's not about what you can do with the device, it's how you do it.

Case in point: Safari in the iPhone. After the first demo of the iPhone we got a lot of comments on how "my phone already has a browser, what's the big deal?". Well, the deal was that Safari on the iPhone was the first mobile web-browser that was actually useful, and iPhone domination of mobile web-browsing showed that fact. Seriously, when those comments started appearing, I thought to myself "are these people blind? did they watch the same keynote?".

But still, after all these years, when Apple introduced some new feature, people make those same identical comments. This time it's apparently "my phone already has video-calls, what's the big deal?". Well, the big deal is that this seems to be the first time video-calls might actually be usable.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. And it seems that Apple nay-sayers sure as hell haven't learned a thing.

Read the article ARS TECHNICA/iPhone 4  unveiled

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Those of you who think apple is making a "mistake" by failing to make the iphone available through networks other than just AT&T have conveniently forgotten the way that cell phone service tends to work in the U.S. The carrier normally dominates the customer relationship and has complete control over the equipment. For many reasons, this would not have been suitable for the Apple and the iPhone. Apple managed to alter this hegemony in its relationship with AT&T, but only by offering unusual consideration -- a multi-year exclusive relationship.

The other thing about Apple is that they don't care about market share. Rather, Apple cares about margins. And I think they have this right. Look where the pursuit of market share above all else has gotten companies like HP and Dell. Even Microsoft is now in decline due to this strategy.

Google is following a microsoft-like strategy with Android. This works even less well in the cell phone context than it has with PC's. Those of you with Android phones that can't be upgraded to 2.1 or 2.2 know what I'm talking about.

Read the article WALL STREET JOUNRAL/Apple unveils iPhone 4

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I am on my computers all day. My home office and remote sites have WiFi. I can’t use the phone when I’m driving anyway. I know where I’m going so don’t need the GPS. I make, oh maybe three to five calls a week. I have a really great Canon camera we got last year. There’s so many reasons to not get an iPhone.

But you know, that camera is sweet. And the prospect of having Skype available so my aged family members could call me anytime at no cost is appealing. And supposedly the data plans have improved in the last year. And being able to check weather on the road would be nice. And…well… I’m tired of being the odd man out.

OK, fine, I’ve said it. There is a degree of feeling like the poor kid with K-Mart shoes on the playground when everyone else is wearing Nike. Everyone, literally EVERYONE I work with has a smart phone as do most of my friends and relatives. Half iPhones and the rest a mix of BlackBerries and Android phones. Heck my 80 YEAR OLD MOTHER has a phone that does more than mine.

My phone doesn’t even have a camera, or voicemail, or IM. It’s the bottom end, cheapest, talk only and do nothing else whatsoever phone. It’s getting embarrassing for me, an IT Guru, to have such a crappy phone.

Sure it does what I ask it to. I keep wondering though if I’d use my phone more if it could do more. Heck, for the first time I might even start to LIKE my phone. Well, 6 months till my contract is up. Then I’ll decide.

Read the article MAC OBSERVER/A Luddite reacts to iPhone 4

MAY 31, 2010 -- JUNE 6, 2010

WHAT IS THE INTERNET DOING TO OUR MINDS?

It’s not the internet that’s the problem. It’s individuals that want to be butterflies instead of bees. They think it’s the superficial, rather than the profound, that is important.

It’s perfectly possible for any sensible person to use the internet in a productive way. What is really the problem is television. It has taught many young people that if what you are watching doesn’t titillate you within ten seconds change the channel.

Twitter follows in this path. If you can say it in one sentence its not important. Twitter may use the internet, but it ignores what is really important about the internet, the depth of information that can be accessed if you’re not perverted by the TV generation.

Many of us pre-TV old timers don’t have a problem doing this. Turn off the TV and get off Twitter. Don’t be a Facebook or email junkie. Then you will be able to take advantage of what the internet really has to offer. Blaming the internet is a classic case of blaming the messenger.

Read the article REUTERS/Book asks: Is the Internet ruining our minds?

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Having worked on computers ever since 8 a.m. on 2 Feb 1982 (the day I started my apprenticeship), my observation on the internet is that it has destroyed value. It has destroyed the value of information and destroyed the value and the value chain of goods and services to a greater than lesser degree (yes there are possibly a greater number of hobby sized businesses, but they are making comparative pennies).

They probably had something like the internet in Babylon in the Tower of Babel.

Read the article REUTERS/Book asks: Is the Internet ruining our minds?

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If you think that the internet is taking away some mental skills then you are probably one the people who will be left behind and have yet to evolve which would make sense for someone who seems so lost.

With all the information that is “overwhelming,” it can be said that as we get better at dissecting and consuming we can leave the rest to game theory what will happen next, best practices will be adopted and erroneous information will be filtered out.

I mean if you look at what we do in our daily lives there are a few things that get past us and answers that are rarely left unanswered, collaboration is happening on grander scales and to connect to someone personally is no longer needed, we can connect with the world without a physical connection.

Today you meet a group a people that barely understand you, tomorrow you meet a world of people that think just like you.

Read the article REUTERS/Book asks: Is the Internet ruining our minds?

MS. ROSENBERG SUES GOOGLE MAPS FOR BAD WALKING DIRECTIONS

This is a frivolous lawsuit. That being said, I was horrified when I invited several people from the South Bay to my place in the Outer Richmond, and learned that Google maps had told them to turn left from Crossover onto Fulton. There are many clearly marked "no left turn" signs at that intersection, but that explains the many people I see there every weekend determined to turn left.

I like to check Mapquest or Google maps against good old-fashioned maps, because I've been burned one too many times.

Read the article SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE /Lawyer of suing woman: Google maps "created a trap"

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Google and similar map websites have a disclaimer that the directions they provide are only "guidelines" and the user needs to check other sources.

I'm no Luddite, but people rely too much on technology. Just push buttons on your calculator instead of using your brain to add up two numbers. Just listen to that GPS voice even though you're going under an overpass and the satellite can't read your location properly. Just plug in two points on a map and take your 18 wheeler through a narrow country village lane. It's all the same.

Read the article SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE /Lawyer of suing woman: Google maps "created a trap"

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Basically, what this is telling me is that if she asked for walking directions to Hawaii and Google told her to walk across the Pacific Ocean, she'd drown.

Read the article SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE /Lawyer of suing woman: Google maps "created a trap"

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An Obituary printed in the London Times

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

Read the article CNET/Woman hit by car sues Google for faulty directions

RIDING THE WAVE AT MACH 5 WITH X51 SCRAMJET

BOEING X51 - WIKIPEDIA

Scramjet tech is pretty cool, but so far I'm not seeing the practical applications. The engines only work at high supersonic speeds, so developing an aircraft that can take off from a runway, accelerate to hypersonic speeds, fly for an extended period at those speeds, then slow down and land is a long, long way off.

The comparison of the leap into scramjet engines as being just like the change from piston driven propellers to turbojets post WWII is a bit off. It didn't take much to adapt common airframe shapes and materials to jet propulsion. With hypersonic scramjets we're on the bleeding edge of materials science and aeronautical science.

I worry about these aircraft being left to splash into the ocean and not be recovered. Who wants to take the bet that the Chinese were watching this test and sent in a boat to pick up the pieces for study and reverse engineering?

Read the article SPACE.COM/Air Force's X51 scramjet sets record for longest hypersonic flight

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I can't see turbojet -> scramjet being a particularly pleasant (or survivable) experience for a squidgy human. Then there's the whole issue of materials science - throw away experiments (as impressive as this one is) are one thing, having a boat that can fly mach 5+, be refuelled and turn around for another sortie without bits (like engines, wings etc) falling off is another.

The friction on that thing must be crazy. I know it's not quite in the region of atmospheric re-entry, but it ain't *that* far off.

I don't imagine ejection would be that healthy an option either!

Hope they (as in America) don't think that using it as a cruise/Exocet type missile is a good idea tho. You can imagine the news story already - "an American missile today destroyed a terrorist training camp killing 80 combatants. On its path to its target its shockwave destroyed 14 schools and 3 market towns killing 1500 civilians. Officials said they were 'looking into the matter'".

Read the article THE REGISTER/X51 hypersonic scramjet test: Flameout at Mach 5?

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