IT notes

Monday, February 05, 2007

Saftey first!

For those of use who occasionally do programming contract work, here are some very relevant tips on protecting yourself, a must read especially if you’ve never done contract work before…

The tone can be a bit defensive, but I think most of us have been there before. Often a good customer is one you can work flexibly with, but until that’s a known possibility it’s perhaps best to be just a little bit cautious…

Posted by Admin on 02/05 at 09:01 AM
Posted in: IT notes  
Permalink

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Ushi Lang, call home! Insane 5th Ave Apple Store opening..

image
Insane crowds for the opening of a store. Admittedly, it’s an Apple Store, and it’s in a cool part of New York City (uptown, 5th Ave, in the “Holly Go Lightly” district), and…damn! The crowds were insane! Apple posted a time-lapse of the first 24-hours of the mayhem…but did you see the secret message?

Go to http://www.apple.com/retail/fifthavenue/gallery/timelapse.html (UPDATED) to see the video overview. Watch closely - you’ll see a guy flash by.

Go to the 05:00 time mark and play it from there?

Posted by Admin on 05/23 at 06:37 AM
Posted in: IT notes  
Permalink

Thursday, June 30, 2005

iTunes & Podcasting - is it driving YOU nuts too?

I don’t mind the Podcasts embedded in the iTunes store.
Or that they’re set-up already for commercial content.

But…

The workflow sucks.

1) Click on the iTunes Store

2) Click on Podcasting section, or better - search for, say “BBC”

3) Okay - 6 items. Lovely. Let’s take them all.

4) Click on the first item - SUBSCRIBE.  (Jumps to Podcast subscription list)  Now, let’s add another…

..oh, wait. Where’s the back arrow? 

5) Go to step 1

Duh. This gets old fast. You could also avoid the interface and use the BROWSE button on top, but alas you still cannot select more than one item at a time.

Okay - I have a blog - here’s what *I* would do:

1) Click on Podcast directory - this should go to the split-panel browsing interface.

2) Drag the items I want to my Podcasts list. Assume that if I drag it there, I want it.

3) Oh wait - there’s no step 3!

If I want to unsubscribe, I can still do so as it works now. If it’s not free content, the UNSUBSCRIBE button should become a AUTHORIZE or PURCHASE button, which takes you to the Store since, duh, you’re THEN buying something.

Perhaps version 6.9.1…

Posted by Admin on 06/30 at 05:32 AM
Posted in: IT notes  
(0) Trackbacks • Permalink

iTunes, Grokster and Podcasting - joys and dangers abound—UPDATED

I’m very happy to see Podcasting embraced by Apple (albiet I’d prefer it if they didn’t embrace it too tightly and allowed it a little more freedom of movement, bit that’s another post). The big question to me is: Does the iTunes store, as a transport and delivery medium, need to watch out for copyright infractions of it’s users?

How does Apple track if the broadcast fairly uses copyrighted material, whether it be audio, music or photos?

I’m not a lawyer so I don’t have a real idea on how the recent Supreme Court decision applies to systems outside the P2P sphere.

It may be that the analogy doesn’t really fit - iTunes uses a centralized server offers files for downloading and isn’t exactly a P2P since individual users can’t download without violating the iTunes Terms of Service. I’m sure the Apple “TOS” on iTunes is tight, on the user and creator ends, might cover this - they’ve got the best designers and some of the best lawyers in the biz (as long as a the CEO doesn’t give anything away ).

Still, we’re talking about the RIAA and the MPAA - I’d watch my back.

# UPDATE # - On this week’s “Click Online”, the BBC makes the point that a company is not in trouble if it merely learns that it’s software has been used to facilitate theft. I still see a problem if, after the company learns this, it does not act or acts insufficiently to defend itself against charges of continuing theft.

Posted by Admin on 06/30 at 05:13 AM
Posted in: IT notes  
(0) Trackbacks • Permalink

Cory Doctorow is a big fat liar—UPDATED

Of course that’s wrong - if anything, I believe Doctorow and Boing Boing are anti-DRM-at-all-costs. But read on and you’ll see the point I’m trying to make.

As usual, BB and Cory Doctorow thought they had another whipping boy for their continual “no DRM anywhere” drone.

Apple pops out the Podcasting version of iTunes (version 4.9) and Cory is immediately on their ass:

-> Boing Boing: Apple adds DRM to Podcasting—UPDATED

Happily they corrected the body of the article - and posted a correction: Apple uses the MPEG-4 AAC format, which offers higher-quality recording vs. MP3. That they’ve added the “—UPDATED” blip to the old article title, which is a good move forward.

But…

The body title and, importantly, the HTML page title claiming DRM deception remains. Why should it matter? This way, almost all search engines will pop up the page maintaing the factually incorrect position ad infinitum, and collecting ad revenues for every inquisitive clicker that gets faked-out looking for the true facts.

They can smear Apple at will, fire it into the stream of consciousness we call RSS and later revise history to cover their asses. And we have to pay (via advertising) to find the real facts.

THIS is why blogging isn’t immediately journalism.

Want to be really fair? Change the title to “Apple does NOT use DRM on Podcasts - UPDATED” **and** post a new article pointing back to the updated article.

PS: There’s still no way to comment directly on a Boing Boing article - only permalinks and self-promotional linkbacks. The stone-wall remains up.

Posted by Admin on 06/30 at 03:48 AM
Posted in: IT notes  
Permalink
Page 4 of 5 pages « First  <  2 3 4 5 >