Craig Reynolds' Technobriefs
Sony's invasive DRM: if you use the tools of virus and spyware authors, does that make you a bad guy? What if you are a major media company? Sony Ships Sneaky DRM Software: "Music giant uses spyware and virus writers' techniques to prevent unauthorized music copying." More coverage of the brouhaha: Removing Sony's CD 'rootkit' kills Windows, Sony CD protection sparks security concerns, Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far and DRM Crippled CD: A bizarre tale in 4 parts. Some solutions to this problem: don't buy these CDs, and don't use Windows. (see similar advice from Jerry Pournelle and the blog Big Picture)
Game land: you don't have to be a big music publisher to be accused of using spyware against your customers: Warcraft game maker in spying row. Future less rosy? Electronic Arts profit declines, shares rise.
Google, bodies, books: that heading reads more gruesome than I intended. Google will accelerate the development of the leading open source "office productivity suite" by contributing staff to work on the project: Google throws bodies at OpenOffice. Meanwhile, despite the "shooting themselves in the foot" lawsuit by the Writers Guild, Google Print is back on track: Google Will Return to Scanning Copyrighted Library Books and Google expands online book library.
Microsoft, black, books: sometimes being a MS detractor is too easy: Another Black Eye for Microsoft Patch Creation Process. But then just to keep us off guard, sometimes they do good things. Microsoft plans to join the Open Content Alliance: Microsoft to Offer Online Book-Content Searches. Prominent "Web 2.0" developers dish about why not to trust Microsoft's approach to the web.
Wi-fi awry: it seems that wi-fi wireless Internet is a powerful transforming technology. It is being proposed as the basis of connecting the third world to the web. It is seen as an urban utility that will enable the cities of tomorrow, if only we can progress beyond today's business models: What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate. Speaking of new business models: To Battle the Telephone Giants, Small Internet Providers Choose Wi-Fi as a Weapon.
MIT news: apparently this has been grinding through some formal process since the allegations first surfaced publicly a year ago, but finally: MIT fires professor for 'research misconduct'. This may be the worst such case since a Bell Labs researcher was fired in 2002. While on the the upbeat side of campus: in 212 BC, did Archimedes save the city of Syracuse by incinerating the Roman fleet with a death ray? Or is the story just so much historic hogwash? Evidence for the anti-hogwash side: Archimedes Death Ray: Idea Feasibility Testing. More along those lines: Solar Death Ray.
Technobits: access to tools: I want to... --- Broadcast flag bill writers run drafts up the pole --- this sounds misguided to me: Wikipedia may go to print --- NHK's next-generation broadcasting system, Super Hi-Vision has 7680 x 4320 pixels! --- adjust the focus after you take the picture Light Field Camera --- The BBC's programme catalogue (on Rails) --- Women valued for technology roles --- the good: low tech cancer prevention and the bad: Debate over vaccine for cervical cancer --- Are we descendants of clay? --- Using Copyrights To Fight Intelligent Design --- Why are tech gizmos so hard to figure out?.
