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Technobriefs

by Craig Reynolds

Pixar takes over Disney: OK, I know that technically Disney purchased Pixar, but the way Pixar's brain trust ends up in several key positions at Disney its easy to see it the other way: Disney-Pixar merger pact lays out conditions.  Steve Jobs goes to the Disney Board of Directors.  Ed Catmull (who I'm proud to say I've known since 1978) goes from president of Pixar to president of the combined Pixar and Disney Animation Studios. John Lasseter will be Disney's Chief Creative Officer. "Jobs said that most of the discussions with Disney focused on managing the cultural issues between Pixar and Disney.... 'We think we understand how to keep Pixar being Pixar.'"  Some have compared the current situation to when to some extent "NeXT took over Apple".  In a related development, plans for a non-Pixar Toy Story sequel are scraped: 'Toy Story 3' to Be Retooled at Pixar-Sources.

Google news: after the Feds contend "all your query are belong to us": Senator seeks information on subpoena of Google.  Now everyone is talking about how to be more anonymous in your searching: Keeping Secrets ("A simple prescription for keeping Google's records out of government hands"), Privacy for People Who Don't Show Their Navels and How to Foil Search Engine Snoops.  But their short-lived reputation for sticking up for the little guy against government abuses dissolved: Google censors itself for China (see for example this image search for "tiananmen" on google.com and google.cn). Their rationalization was "While removing search results is inconsistent with Google's mission, providing no information...is more inconsistent with our mission". Well, isn't that convenient?  At least they can still push around Baby Bells: Google to BellSouth: Go Tier Yourself a New One.  Google team with Lenovo Group and Sun: Tech Giants Take on Badware.  Google News is "out of beta." Finally How to add a Google Map to any web page in less than 10 minutes.

DRM: the Broadcast Flag did not fly as an FCC rule, now Hollywood's lackeys are trying to push this nosebleed concept through the legislature: New Senate Broadcast Flag Bill Would Freeze Fair Use.  What do you expect in the The Year of Living DRMishly?  J. Alex Halderman and Ed Felten have been reverse-engineering the Sony BMG malware and report at Freedom to Tinker: CD DRM: Attacks on Disc Recognition (via).

Technobits: a schism in Open Source? I won't convert Linux to GPL 3, says Torvalds --- UN body backs $100 laptop for world's kids --- Internet serves as 'social glue' --- Can video iPod lead to DMCA reform? --- Not All Web Recommendations Are Welcome: Like This? You'll Hate That --- can't do better than a DVD in my living room?!  What Business are theaters in? --- internal surgical robots --- Intel shows test chips made on future processes --- Court Will Hear BlackBerry Case Next Month --- Demystifying the eBay Selling Experience --- Freezing cold Earth-like planet is discovered --- Strange setup: Andromeda's satellite galaxies all lined up --- Again?!  With all of their innovation in software and hardware, surely Apple need not produce lame derivative commercials?: Indie band cries foul over Apple's new Intel ad

January 30, 2006 in Web/Tech |

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Paul's Reading

  • Laton McCartney: The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country

    Laton McCartney: The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country
    I am fortunate to know the author of this book; he used to be my boss at InformationWEEK. He has written numerous first-rate works, including a swell book about the discovery of the South Pass on the Oregon Trail and the inside story of Bechtel. Here, he takes an obscure but extremely important scandal in American history and makes it come alive. Teapot Dome is hard to grasp for several reasons: it was complicated, it unwound slowly (over almost a decade) because of the nefarious delays in the congressional investigation, and it became less urgent after the death of Harding, the man in the middle. Astoundingly, the GOP, corrupt to the core in the 1920s, escaped unscathed, winning in 1924 and 1928 as Teapot Dome unfolded. McCartney's trademark "you are there" recreations, founded in the carefully researched historical record, make the whole thing squalid affair quite vivid, and his Wyoming roots (half the scandalous land involved was in Wyoming) clearly motivated him to tell the story. (*****)

  • Max Barry: Jennifer Government

    Max Barry: Jennifer Government
    I am not really a sucker for every book I read, which is why this is a four star, not a five star. It begins slowly, and the first half is a confusing, hard slog. But eventually this dystopian vision of corporations rampant and a vestigial government picks up speed, excitement and interest. In Barry's world, your last name is the company you work for, thus, government agent Jennifer Government and her nemesis John Nike. Absurd, rollicking, action-packed and scary. (****)

  • Dick Meyer: Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium

    Dick Meyer: Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium
    Vicki and I heard Dick Meyer on an NPR Podcast (from their excellent series on authors speaking at bookstores), describing this book, which explains why Americans are so angry about their culture and what can be done about it. A former CBS producer, he now works for NPR. He has noticed downward spiral of--well, nearly everything, but he does not believe it is inevitable or unstoppable. It is a refreshing book, full of pointed observations, with an abbreviated but still thoughtful "prescription" section at the end. Both the problem and the solution start with you. (*****)

  • David Sedaris: When You Are Engulfed in Flames

    David Sedaris: When You Are Engulfed in Flames
    David Sedaris is an acquired taste, like smoking. He is a New Yorker essayist and "memoirist," whose life is recounted in essay form in a "heightened," and so more humorous, reality. I find his work laugh out loud funny, and can't recommend his new book too highly. He does not achieve his effects, like Perlman and Allen, with vocabulary, but with simple words and a nasty self-deprecation that never fails to amuse me. (*****)

  • Paul Auster: The Book of Illusions: A Novel

    Paul Auster: The Book of Illusions: A Novel
    For anyone who likes every page of their novel soaked in the feeling of being a Hollywood insider, this piece of literary fiction should be like catnip. Auster has written the tale of a woebegone academic who stumbles across a silent film comedian. The comic made movies for a year and a half, then disappeared 60 years earlier. The academic writes the first and only book about the actor, and is then told his subject is still alive! The interweaving of the two narratives, the richly imagined life of the actor and the sadly lived life of the professor, is skillful in a way that makes me jealous as a writer. It's a great read. Sep. 08 (*****)

  • Christopher Buckley: Supreme Courtship

    Christopher Buckley: Supreme Courtship
    Consistently funny, Buckley walks a fine line between parody, satire and slapstick, and does so in a consistently amusing and entertaining way. Supreme Courtship is the story of a television judge elevated to the Supreme Court by a frustrated president. Buckley deftly skewers modern presidential campaigns and modern internal Supreme Court bickering at the same time, as well as taking a few well-aimed swipes at reality television. There are several characters who are recognizable burlesque version of real people (including Sen. Joe Biden), but unlike, say, Black and White and Dead All Over, such thinly disguised portraits are incidental, rather than central. Rollicking fun. Be sure to read it. Sep. 08 (*****)

  • John Darnton: Black and White and Dead All Over

    John Darnton: Black and White and Dead All Over
    You finish this book feeling as though you are covered with printer's ink. You'll have no trouble spotting Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., R.W. "Johnny" Apple, former executive editors Howell Raines and A.M. "Abe" Rosenthal. The novel features a detailed tour of the important parts of the building (including the hole where the presses used to be and the neglected morgue), as well as a seemingly accurate and well-sketched look at actual daily newspaper operations. Fantastic, engaging and well written. Aug. 08 (*****)

  • Christopher Buckley: Boomsday

    Christopher Buckley: Boomsday
    Once again, Buckley shares his comedic genius with us. This time, he takes the fact that the simultaneous retirement of all the boomers is going to bankrupt the country, mixes it with presidential politics and a little polite sex, and creates gales of hysterical laughter. Smart, witty and clever, this book once again marks Buckley as a worthy successor to the greats of American narrative humor, and makes him one of my favorite living authors. Aug 08 (*****)

  • Keith Colquhoun: Beyond Reason

    Keith Colquhoun: Beyond Reason
    Well-written, fast-paced, entertaining, and, like his other works, endearingly eccentric. If you are interested in a good novel that doesn't read just like every other novel, and some thoughtful chatter about the state of religion, wrapped into an entertaining package, you'll like Beyond Reason. Jun 08 (****)

  • Sven Birkerts: The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age

    Sven Birkerts: The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age
    This collection of essays alternates between hopeful and depressing as it soberly considers the future propspects of the act of reading dead-tree media. In this re-issue, the author admits to succumbing to electronic creation, but clings to reading on paper. A reasonable compromise? I think so. Thoughtful and engaging. 1/07. (*****)

Paul's Permanent Content

Favorite Movies

  • My all-time favorite movie:
    Groundhog Day. I have created a fan site that is universally acknowledged to be the best on the Internet dedicated to this work of art.

    All the rest of my favorite movies (Deadline USA, The Paper, CitizenKane) are Journalism movies.

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