What's supposed to be new? Sure, the dismantling. And it's supposed to be made palatable to voters. With lies, lobbying, and distortion of reality. Organized nonsense, plain and simple.
I found the original article at Der Rollberg.
Yeah, those Dülmen folks have always seemed suspicious to me
Their most popular lie: The software industry suffers billions in damages from software piracy. - No, that's wrong. There is no damage in the billions. They lose potential profits, but it's absolutely not proven that these would actually have been earned in a different scenario. And even the profits that actually didn't materialize are not damage - after all, there's no right to profits and no guarantee of profits. They can fail to materialize for all sorts of reasons. Software is simply not a thing, nothing that you produce and then steal. Software pirate is anyway a silly word: none of those people stand in front of the software crate with a gun or knife and demand it to copy itself...
I find this arrogant attitude of the BSA and thus also of the companies it represents (yes, that also includes IBM and Apple, who otherwise come across rather positively to me) almost as infuriating as the behavior of the music industry. This silly attitude that you have a God-given right to profits in the billions (because that's what they're talking about with their claim!) and the evil copiers are directly stealing them is nothing but silly window dressing.
Sure, a company that develops something and then explicitly can't market that product anymore because of illegal copies is in a tough spot - and then really does have reason to speak of damage. That has happened in the area of computer games (LucasArts never properly marketed two games because copies were already out there before they even hit the market).
But none of the companies organized in the BSA have such a position. On the contrary, the biggest rip-off artists are in there, squeezing every penny out of customers and not always delivering the quality that customers actually want - software updates that conveniently skip a major release because then you can charge money for the update. Buggy software that eats data, where the manufacturer then refuses all liability for these software errors (just like product liability in the software sector is a foreign concept for many companies in general).
Of course, companies have a right to enforce their contracts - software license agreements included. After all, no one is forced to buy this software. But this general criminalization of your own customers, this constant suspicion that they would always cheat anyway and this ongoing victim mentality especially of the software giants pisses me off.
At heise online news there's the original article.
Orks. Fuji and Bronica exiting the medium format market. Fuji in particular had some really cool cameras on offer - they will leave gaps behind. Where else is there such a compact rangefinder camera for 6x9 format? Or something comparable to the highly flexible 6x8 (ok, the Mamiya 67 comes close - but only 6x7, not 6x8). Too bad.
At PhotographyBLOG there's the original article.
Power-obsessed muscleman versus religious nut. As actors, I liked them better ...
At NETZEITUNG.DE Wissenschaft I found the original article.
Why an admin can no longer work on Wikipedia. And what extortion methods are being used to delete topics, just because some industrial interests are behind them - no matter how absurd and ridiculous the accusations are. Simply flex financial muscles and the matter is settled for these bullies. Completely regardless of how citizens' rights are trampled underfoot.
I found the netbib weblog and the original article.
And more griping from rights administrators and customer extortionists. Yeah right, private radio recordings are responsible for the fact that this concentrated incompetence in the management offices of music conglomerates can't afford the latest Mercedes every year anymore. Lack of competence and company activities completely out of touch with the market are of course never to blame for their decline. Nor the fact that they were simply so stupid and ignored the Internet as a platform for so long - even today the actual music corporations contribute nothing or very little of their own, but manage at best to latch onto others (and even then they still complain).
These clowns will probably only be satisfied when someone wipes their ass for them and they get paid for it. And even then you probably have to bring your own toilet paper...
At netbib weblog you can find the original article.
In this country, you simply grab a couple of 1-euro workers and put them in spare uniforms
At Telepolis News (29.10.2004) you can find the original article.
Label that distributes music by Nickie Jaine and Black Tape for a Blue Girl, among others. I find Nickie Jaine's voice absolutely impressive. There you can also find a whole range of songs as MP3s for download and many audio samples. And it's not one of the major labels with their copy paranoia.
And no, this is not my usual music. Every now and then you have to listen to something new.
Crazy. 2 GB for 200 dollars. Under 200 euros. Back in the day you were happy if you had a hard drive that worked — today you've got tiny plastic postage stamps with that kind of capacity. Even crazier: today's megapixel monsters actually make these cards necessary ...
At Engadget you can find the original article.
SLIME: The Superior Lisp Interaction Mode for Emacs - Embed Common Lisp systems in Emacs
The discrepancy between theoretical and actual separation of powers. Not only in the USA, but here in Germany too, the executive is once again trying to seize all power and push the judiciary and legislature to the margins. A development that should alarm anyone who believes in democratic systems. This makes the small victories for democracy all the more important — such as, for example, Parliament's rejection of the European Commission. Unfortunately, in situations like those we're currently being presented with by governments (I can barely stand to hear the drivel about "we are at war with terrorists" anymore — that's complete nonsense; people who say such things have no idea what war really is or have repressed it if they once knew), the other branches of power are often harnessed to the government's cause. An independent Bundestag that also contradicts the government, even when the government belongs to the leading faction, is just as important as constitutional courts that keep politicians in check. Otherwise we'll get 1984, albeit with a delay, but still just as Orwell once imagined it ...
You can find the original article at Schneier on Security here.
United Banana-States of America
At tagesschau.de - Die Nachrichten der ARD you can find the original article.
iDrum - The Drum Machine for Mac OS X - Drum kit for GarageBand (and also standalone)
Doesn't it get a bit tight when so many people crawl up to the GM managers? I find it disgusting how there's haggling going on and countries are played off against each other. But that's how it works today - first you do nothing when industry gets bought away, then you do even less when everything gets stripped down, and afterwards people try to play everything against each other just to squeeze out the last drop. The blessing of this so-called great globalization.
I found this at tagesschau.de - Die Nachrichten der ARD and the original article.
Cool. You enter a melody and the program delivers the song. Problem: I might be able to hum a song, but a) it won't sound anything like the original and b) I still can't input the notes of the melody into a keyboard from that. I could also whistle the melody, but then Jutta always complains ... Here's the original article.
Because it's annoying for shippers when customers exercise their rights, these are simply being cut back.
You can find the original article on heise online news.
Now it's even forbidden to report on the existence of devices, if it's up to the lawyers of a mysterious design patent holder.
At heise online news there's the original article.
Actually, he could send half the team home. But it will probably just be a minor cosmetic adjustment.
At WDR.de you can find the original article.
iDive 1.1 - Video clip management similar to iView Media Pro, but specifically for video
OpenPsion - Linux for Psion Computers - Linux on Psion Series 5 and Netbook
A new version of OpenZaurus - the alternative to the Sharp ROM - is out. And now available in three variants. Without GUI (interesting for those who use the Zaurus as a small mobile control computer and don't need a GUI), an Opie version (the familiar environment that also comes with the Sharp ROM in an older version) and a GPE version. The latter is particularly cool because it's based on an X server and can therefore run normal X programs.
PhpWiki - Open Zaurus Collie Install Guide - Installation of OpenZaurus on SL5500
S5: A Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System - Implement presentations in dynamic HTML
Nice what Franz built into Allegro Common Lisp. However, the exorbitant price for Allegro CL is still rather off-putting for hobbyists. Yes, I know about the free version, but it's not really usable on all platforms - because, for example, on OS X the GUI part has always been missing so far.
At Planet Lisp you can find the original article.
Based on my indirect experiences with Hamburg's authorities, I can well imagine that they would come up with nonsense like the claim that the far-right threat is being massively exaggerated. These are very strange people in the Immigration Office in Hamburg. And to Mr. Schily: Germany's reputation abroad is the last thing I'm concerned about when I see the increasingly strong activities of right-wing extremists.
At Telepolis News (26.10.2004) there's the original article.
You should stop me. You should arrest me. You should prevent me from stealing people's time. Those poor people! Helpless victims of an intrusive, mind-straining blogger! If I keep blogging, everyone will lose their minds. Do something! Shut down the Internet! Rain brains from the sky! Duplicate cat pictures! This can't go on. - okay, so I think we bloggers owe help to that poor man. I'm in favor of launching an action "Stop Roell." Who will design an appropriate logo for it?
At PhotographyBLOG you can find the original article.
Cool. Ok, Phil Askey doesn't quite like it, but he's not always the measure of all things. I don't always agree with him on cameras either.
For me, Apple's description sounds pretty cool. Automatic syncing of downscaled images to the iPod, display via simple cable directly on the TV. You can take your digital photos with you and torture relatives with the obligatory vacation slideshows without having to bring a computer along.
Ok, an integrated card reader would certainly have been awesome, but then Apple would have had to commit to a format and that would have been a bit much. However, they could have implemented USB synchronization with the camera, that certainly would have been possible. But maybe an update will come next year. Anyway, it sounds appealing enough to me that I'm already thinking about whether I should talk my current 30GB iPod off to Jutta to get myself the new Photo part. At Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com) there's the original article.
Heron gathering in the natural section of the Münster Aa in the Aasee meadows. Probably a guest from the zoo - sometimes you can see storks there too. The image is a cropped enlargement, therefore fewer pixels than usual.
Things are getting exciting!
At tagesschau.de - Die Nachrichten der ARD you can find the original article.
At least the fact that they want to wall off Düsseldorf and Cologne I consider an exceedingly sensible measure. Actually, you could fence in the entire Rhineland. As far as I'm concerned, they could even charge admission during carnival season.
The original article is available at WDR.de.
Sounds quite interesting. Sure, you can do all of it by hand if you know how. But not everyone feels like figuring it all out themselves - a plugin like that is pretty handy. And Fred produces quite decent plugins - his Stair Interpolation is still one of the best upsizing tools.
You can find the original article at PhotographyBLOG.
A project that wants to build an operating system on Python. Launch the Python environment directly from the bootloader and from there on program everything in Python. Funny idea. And why not - Lisp machines were also practical devices, Java machines exist by now, Native Oberon has been around for a long time - a native Python would be exactly the right thing.
I'm certainly in favor of corporal punishment for politicians: but it should only be administered by voters. Otherwise, I've always been of the opinion that Southern Italy begins below Frankfurt and therefore Italian conditions in state parliaments down there are completely normal.
At tagesschau.de - The ARD News you can find the original article.
Nice idea. Instead of making a stupid frenetic video, she simply had herself filmed and donated the money that would have gone into production. And now incorporated into the non-video, showing where all the money is going and putting it in relation to what individual production costs would have been.
And as a nice side benefit, her music is also quite pleasant to listen to.
I can now count myself among them. Really. I just spent 45 minutes searching for an import problem with iMovie - my clips played with sound on the camera, played a sound during import (on the camera as well as - when display off - on PC speakers) and showed normally loud sound in the timeline too (after I set the recording to 16bit - I got that tip from the iMovie FAQ). Well, only when playing back did no sound come out at all.
Eventually I noticed the small icon in the menu bar where the sound waves were stolen from the speaker symbol. After I turned the sound back on, there was also noise coming from the speaker during playback.
Oh man. But at least the MVX 150i from Canon is a really cute little camera with enough features for me. Now I just need to try it out tomorrow in daylight to see what it's like - in the dark it of course has heavy noise in the image.
Not that I needed a camera, but I've always been tempted to make something with my iMovie. And as the guy from the Shockwave always says so nicely: Boys need Toys. You should really start to get scared when I extend my Python Desktop Server with rendering features for video formats.
ETOS Compiler - Erlang-to-Scheme compiler specifically designed for Gambit 4.0
The biting reflexes of so-called democratically and Christian-oriented politicians in Europe and supposedly free America ...
At tagesschau.de - Die Nachrichten der ARD there is the original article.
Very nice. Gambit Scheme was one of my favorite playthings many years ago - among other things, I tinkered with it long enough back then until I had a DOS version. One that was even reasonably usable. And the features of 4.0 sound very interesting. Especially the comprehensive Unicode support and the threading system sound very good.
At Rainer Joswig's Lisp News you can find the original article.
Gambit Scheme System - efficient Scheme that generates native code via C compiler
iMovie FAQ - Home - FAQ about iMovie - not much, but at least something
