So I just got an Apple TV. Honestly, even after paying 30% less for a refurb and getting free shipping, I’m not that impressed. For $300 I’d expect a device to support more file formats and the tight link to iTunes to a single iTunes database is annoying in a multi-computer household like ours. Continue reading
The comic xkcd makes the point that when you “buy” DRM’d software, music or movies that you’re really at the mercy of the company who controls the DRM and they can effectively revoke your access for any reason just as Walmart threatened to do recently. Of course, once the company locks you out of the content you paid for you either have to pay for it again or break the law by bypassing the DRM. Hence, you’re probably better off pirating the software, music or movie in the first place- if you’re going to break the law there really isn’t any point paying for it in the first place since laws like the DMCA don’t care if you paid for it or not.
I’ve been sitting on these interesting articles and I figured I’d share:
Warren Buffet explains in the New York Times why now it is the time to buy stock in US companies.
Lawrence Lessig, a professor of law at Stanford Law School, and co-founder of Creative Commons writes in the Wall Street Journal, In Defence of Piracy.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports on the NSA Spying on Americans again, but this time it’s our service men & women calling home to their families and organizations like Doctors without Borders.
Update: Stephen Colbert has this to say on the subject:
A scathing article on the “security theater” going on in American airports and how it does nothing but stop the “stupid terrorists”.
And how the TSA’s no-fly-list is preventing US Air Marshals from protecting commercial flights in the US.
Respected investigative reporter Seymour M. Hersh reports on the Bush administrations’ subversion of the law to attack Iran.
And finally, on a happier note, I give you South Park’s Imagination Land.
I found this really amusing. McCain’s campaign wrote a letter to YouTube requesting that they give special preference to political videos when receiving DMCA takedown notices. Basically some people are claiming the McCain campaign is violating their copyright by including music, video, etc in their YouTube videos and are demanding the videos be removed. Continue reading
Just a quick FYI, the server has moved to it’s new home. DNS is still propagating, but should complete in the next few hours… Anyways a big thanks to Martony, Gabe and Jason who helped out.
Since staying with Speakeasy DSL isn’t going to work out and I’ll be moving to Comcast, my server needs to find a new home. As luck would have it, I’ve found a new home for my box, so I’ll be moving the server over later this week- probably in the morning hours since the site is so close to work. More details to follow…
I figured I’d write a quick situation report on the three open source projects I’m involved with:
The other option is working on the UI. There are still a lot of things which need work (especially adding bottles and searching) which I don’t think would need a complete rewrite. I still need to decide what Cabernet should become- a OSS application for end users or a hosted solution (which seems to be the norm for the wine drinking community).
As an ex-speech & debater in high school, I got a real kick out of this flow chart passed on to me by a co-worker:
So things are coming along pretty well, albeit a bit slower then I’d like. After nearly 3 weeks of working with Speakeasy/Covad/AT&T on my DSL, it turns out that I’m too far away from the CO to get a decent connection so I’m moving over to Comcast. The Comcast service is indeed *VERY* fast (I saw ~30Mbps down and 3Mbps up last night!) and about 40% cheaper then Speakeasy, but not having a static IP and being able to run a full range of services on my server is a big negative. I’m in luck though- I’ve found a place I can host my server for free, so it’s all going to work out.
We’ve also learned why it’s good to have an insurance policy on all the appliances when you buy a home. Both the oven and dishwasher are having problems, but the parts & labor is only going to cost us $45.
Comcast came out last week to install a new drop for our TV in the living room. I guess I was hoping for too much for a “professional install” when they’re only charging $14. But after some creative thinking and getting lucky on how the old wires were run, we came up with a solution which doesn’t suck.
Now it’s mostly just a matter of getting our old townhouse on the market and hoping it sells quickly… Now that Congress has passed the bailout bill maybe that has a chance of happening.
