...more recent posts
Sweet looking Samsung Ultra Smart F700 mobile addresses all the complaints against the iPhone. Namely, it has a full qwerty keyboard, a 5 megapixel camera, HSDPA high speed data, SD memory slot, and removable battery. On the downside, this was announced in Korea (where else?) with no specific availability date (so it will hit US shores approximately never) and I assume it will be running Windows Mobile (or if not, there's little chance Samsung will get the software right.) Still, it's nice to dream. I can't wait for the iPhone, but really I can't wait for something like revision 3 of the iPhone.
Steve Jobs comes out against DRM on digital media. I'm only commenting because this was all over the news yesterday. Obviously I'm a big fan of Jobs. But this needs a little clarification. I mean, I believe him, but...
First, keep in mind that Apple is under legal attack in several European countries about the iTunes music store. So, in some ways this is probably a maneuver to shift focus off of the iTMS (and Apple's FairPlay DRM) and onto the record labels. And this seems fair, since it definitely is the record labels who forced Apple to sell music encumbered with DRM.
On the other hand, a little pinch of salt is needed here since Jobs seems to indicate that he would rather sell non-DRM'd music online (just as he points out the labels sell non-DRM'd music on CD,) but the fact is that many bands are interested in selling their music this way (and have asked Apple) yet Apple says it's not possible. Clearly it is technically possible to have both DRM and DRM free tracks for sale at the same time on iTMS.
I'm not really trying to criticize him here, it's a very complex issue, and Apple has to walk a number of very fine lines. I think they have done a very good job given the backwardsness of the record industry. Still, in a perfect world, Apple could be doing more. And these comments of Jobs shouldn't be taken as an indication that they are about to start selling mp3s without digital rights management.
Interesting, very technical paper on the Bitfrost security platform for Nicholas Negroponte's OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project.
I've always been skeptical about the OLPC, although, sure, it's a great idea (I just didn't/don't think they can deliver what they promised.) But this paper has value in terms of security thinking far beyond that project.
Wired magazine editor and "The Long Tail" author Chris Anderson says this is "[t]he most inspiring thing I saw all day. This is why I do what I do...." He's talking about this 4.5 minute YouTube video that attempts to explain whatever it is we are trying to do in building online interconnected databases that is variously described as "the web," "the semantic web," "web 2.0," "XML," etc....
Pretty nicely done. A good, if a little slick, high level overview of the situation. Worth a look.