Skip to content

Index

  • 1 min read

TiVo whining?

I've come across a flurry of commentary on the fact that apparently TiVo has added content protection allowing a broadcaster to protect any program as it is broadcast. The result of this is:

"[A program] recorded with a red-flag next to it (an icon I've never seen before). When I selected the episode, I got a message to the effect that "the copyright holder prohibited saving the episode past date mm/dd". (from PVRBlog)

Read the whole post to see a good explanation and rundown of what apparently is going on. I'm a TiVo fanatic and truly hope that they survive. It's a wonderful product which unfortunately is under pressure and from where I sit is at risk. One other thing. Down lower in the post I see the following self-righteous comment which seems always to be the first refuge of people getting upset about any kind of copy protection:

"It treats all TiVo customers like they are criminals with big scary warnings about what you can and can't do. "

Boo-hoo. The louder people complain about being treated as criminals. the biggest offenders I suspect they really are. I mean I grant that copy protection or DRM is a pain in the butt, but let's admit that it's totally within the right of the publisher. iTunes, Windows XP, and now TiVo. Boo-hoo. Technorati Tags: tivo

  • 1 min read

[QUASI-GEEK]A trip to the market

Do you follow Ben Hyde's blog? I recommend it - he has always fascinating intellectual tours-de-force. I guess it was a slow day in the Hyde office when there were no world-changing problems to be addressed, so check out this analysis of what it costs you to use your car. Interesting, relevant in today's $3.00+ per gallon world, and (intentionally?) funny too! (And someday I will be able to parse the sentence "Ascription is Anathema to any Enthusiasm 🙂 Technorati Tags: funny, gasoline

  • 1 min read

Mystery Ball

Yesterday, this appeared on my Mac desktop: Picture 2-5 Here's a little movie showing you what it does. http://s3.media.squarespace.com/production/1075723/12829350/weblogs/weblog/images/mysteryball.mov.mov Pretty weird. It's like a UFO. I don't know where it came from or what it does. Is it a virus? Spyware? Some undiscoverable bit of Mac UI? If you know, please, people want to know!

Update: Intrepid reader Duncan Wilcox identified this as the "Floating Expose Blob"! Huh? I don't know what I did to turn this thing on, and indeed, it is yet another undiscoverable bit of Mac UI. Now I like the Mac as much as the next guy, but what's up with all these hidden features? Technorati Tags: mac, UI

  • 1 min read

Really good article about the music business

Robin Good points to: "The Myth of The Rock Star and of the Need To Sing-up For a Major Recording Label":

"Music" does not equal "compact disc". Music is data. It doesn't matter whether you burn it to a CD or rip it to an iPod or a Memory Stick or store it on your hard drive. It's still music. Take a minute to internalize this concept. Once you get past the notion that music has to come in the form of a shiny little Frisbee that retails for $16.99 at your local MegaSuperMusicPavilion, certain other truths that once seemed self-evident begin to unravel -- such as the idea that the only way to become a successful musician is by signing a recording contract with a giant corporation." (from "Burn Down the House")

Read the whole thing. It's enlightening. Technorati Tags: music

  • 1 min read

Cellphone GPS: How does it work?

My new cellphone supposedly has GPS capabilities. It has to do, apparently with the new E-911 standard, which requires a cell phone to be able to tell emergency responders where a cell call is coming from. I'm a pretty big GPS aficionado and I thought GPSs had to have these big ugly antennas, complex expensive circuitry, and lots of software. I don't understand how all that stuff can be crammed into a tiny little phone. So I got to thinking that they were just using the term 'GPS' loosely , and that instead what was going on is a much more simplistic triangulation between cell towers which, I suppose could produce a rough location reading. Apparently I was wrong! Now, here come Sprint and Garmin, with a turn-by-turn navigation application that runs on my new phone. It looks pretty cool! What a rip-off : $9.99 per month! I can 't wait to try it 🙂 Technorati Tags: cool, cooltool, gps

  • 1 min read

New Orleans

I've been away for several days, while following the catastrophe in the gulf unfolding, via TV and radio. I (yes oddly) didn't have internet access but thought to myself that there would be lots of very interesting blog posts covering the events from a unique angle. And indeed, now that I came across these two perspectives:

Technorati Tags: katrina

  • 1 min read

Who will buy Skype, and why…

Robert Cringely has a relatively little known quasi blog , for some reason on www.pbs.org. The stuff is generally very good, and little noted. Given Microsoft's recent acquisition of Teleo, this recent post about Skype is interesting and timely:

Expect Skype to be sold, another viral marketing success sucked up by big business. Expect it to go to either a major broadband provider or, more likely, to a big mobile carrier with no fixed telephone assets. And whoever buys Skype, expect them to throw money into making the company into even more of a multinational telecom headache than it currently is. (from Skyed on I, Cringely - read the whole thing!)

There even is a very well hidden RSS feed. (Yes, remember the Cringley column in PC Week? Same guy!) Technorati Tags: microsoft, voip