...more recent posts
This is of little consequence (unlike the rest of the oh so important posts on this page) but I can't be the only one to have noticed that the New York Times has a reporter on the high tech beat whose byline is Jennifer 8. Lee. She's written lots of columns over the past 6 months or so. Check the front page of today's Circuits section. My question, of course, is what's with the middle initial?
First of all, I didn't think your could have a number for a name (I remember reading about somebody unsucessfully trying to change their name to a number, but maybe that was an urban myth.) But beyond that, why the period? Is her middle name really 8675309 or something? Because if it's just 8 then there shouldn't be a period. And if it's a longer number that starts with 8 - well, I don't know - shouldn't it be Jennifer 8... Lee? Or is that only if it repeats?
Or maybe it's a pseudnym for an otherwise last named Jennifer who had to perform some oval office type acts on...
Oh forget it.
Now don't get me started about the umlauts in The New Yorker.
We can always argue about motives, but the campaign against the general purpose computer is alive and well and going forward. Several major announcements occured while I was away including some insights into the grand plans of Microsoft in this area - now called Palladium (see Bob Cringely's I Told You So critique.)
(Etymological side note: Palladium - "From the Middle English Palladion, a statue of Pallas Athena believed to protect Troy..."
Well, if it was good enough to protect Troy then it - oh, no wait....)
Kuro5hin has a great overview of TCPA and Palladium. Cryptome has the full text of Microsoft's Digital rights management operating system patent. (They mean the digital rights of IP owners, not customers, although they do their best to conflate these two groups.) This is a shocking, but not surprising, end game gambit being played by the forces of control and dominance.
But my own personal view point on all this has gone from outraged to apathetic. Who cares what happens with this stuff? What's the worse case scenario? I can't watch a hollywood movie, or listen to Britney Spears unless I buy one of their "trusted" computers? Actually, I was looking for a way to ensure I didn't digest any more of their worthless crap. Or maybe it will be illegal for me to own a computer running linux? That will just give me the thrill of being a freedom fighter bravely putting myself in danger for my beliefs (things were getting a little dull around here anyway, plus, chicks dig an ethical outlaw.) Maybe they'll shut down the internet? That would probably be the only event that can get the ad hoc mesh WLAN alternative I'd like to see off the ground.
The forces for creativity and sharing have always already won. Sometimes there's just a little more to do than other times. But the busy times are often more fun. So bring it on mega-corp. Take your best shot. The force of your strike will just be redirected against you (because there is no us to strike - aren't you reading up on all this assymetrical warfare stuff?) Hopefully you'll knock yourself clean out.
Interesting analog dj turntable gone solid state digital hackery. (via /.)