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May 31, 2007
iTunes, iPhone, Return of the Living Dead
Okay, lets start by saying... I am not easily attracted by Apple.
But the repositioning of the DRM capability on the Apple iTunes website has given pause to like them more.
Additionally, I have discovered a friend working on the iPhone who has shared with me that the phone will be more open then I originally thought.
So I am seeing apple live up to the image of being able to do anything with them including not follow their restrictive interfaces.
Lets see where this leads.
As for the DRM side of the equation, it cost 30 cents more to gain access to an open copy. I think that price can be thought of as insurance / risk mitigation.
My expectation is that it will be adopted by 75% of the users.
As for the rest of us...I will look to do a webinar podcast on DRM in the near future.
Posted by carl at 07:37 AM | Comments (1)
May 21, 2007
IPR Issues Who GNU?
I am advising a friend about some software development he is working on.
The first issue, his developers left a company about six months ago and they claim to have most of what he wants already. I have warned him he could end up containment and face infringement from these developers former employer. Mind you I am not sure of the health of the former employing company, so who knows whether the IPR will be considered dead or bought by a larger more empowered company.
So I send them off to the Open Source world and now I need a lawyer to tell me which open source is valid for the task. If all they want to do is prototype everything works. If they want to monitize only a few do, but worse. If on the way from prototype to rewrite the code is not totally rewritten and encumberance has been created.
I have a few friend who have privately told me they are verifying their source through third parties.
This is becoming a huge business all to itself. But in the end should we all just find a license that moves us past this problem?
Posted by carl at 08:06 AM | Comments (0)
May 14, 2007
Video Luddites talk amongst ourselves
Okay, Lets get it straight.
I am not a vidiot. I don't like TV, barely watch American Idol. In short when it comes to Video I am a Luddite. However, I do appreciate good writing and Aaron Sorkin is great. So when NBC pulled my favorite show Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip I was miffed. But I waited to see what they would do with it. What they have done is put everything but the kitchen sink on. Okay so I was hoping they would move it to Bravo or somewhere else.
Now for the third time I saw the primeire episode of "Thank G-d You're here!" and I am questioning the intelligence of program directors.
So now here comes Softbank buying up the broadcasers (see the WSJ and CBS committing to a web strategy and I get it. To the point. But the real issue is this is still a screwed up broadcast industry with no ability to make the change a dialogue.
Its just a waste of time. The real story is here with the DOD. The amount of traffic that is keeping the soldiers connected to home.
Its the communication that makes the content valuable out of context its just visual noise.
Posted by carl at 11:46 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2007
Nicole's Graduation
Kristin, O'Reilly and Nicole Laskau graduated today from Ramapo College of New Jersey. It was the first time I had been at Ramapo in about 20 years and I was shocked at the amount of building that was going on.
When I went to the school we had to fight to keep it alive.
What a change.
Speaking of Change, here are some thoughts on GPS. I you cant convince a family to use GPS at a graduation ceremony, I don't you ever can. I dropped my wife and her parents off near the ceremony and then I proceeded to part the car.
When I got to the ceremony, My wife who I can pick out of a crowd pretty easily was part of the ocean of people.
Out comes the cellphone...
[Husband]
Where are you....
[Wife]
I am midway in the crowd
Where are you....
[Husband]
I am up on the grassy noll
Okay I am looking midway
[Wife]
I see you look to your left...
No thats your right
Now Look up... See me
I am waving the program at you...
see me...
good
Minutes later, the phones start up between my wife and Nicole
For this part I am only listening to one half.
[Wife]
Where are you in the line?
See if you can walk on the left side of the procession so I can get your picture.
Where are you now?
And then as the students parade in as they get to seats, the phones come out again.. Here I am only speculating.
[Student]
Mom do you see me I am the fifth seat in the tenth row behind the guy with red hair.
And this does count the conversations afterwards.
http://www.loopt.com would do well.
Posted by carl at 10:34 PM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2007
A reaction to Bob Frankston
I cant reveal the Cook Report message thread but the context is a discussion about Joost being great quality and Bob complaining about the cable operators being a monopoly
Whadya Talk Whadya Talk
Bob now you have gone too far… SP/P? Because of content? My recollection is that Cable paid to have HBO built, because they wanted content that added value to them. You do not begrudge them that; do you? If you do? Then certainly Google is on the wrong side of the equation as well.
For those who don’t know me, Let me tell you I am not a Vidiot. Not big on any of this stuff. Find it’s the diversion of the masses trying to invade my life. My wife is sending me you tube stuff and its all rehashed commercial TV. No interest. Now cable because they have a hungry beast for channels at least gives me something more diverse then broadcast.
My hope is that the Video on the Net stuff as Jeff calls it will give me further diversification. To the point where I get the SPEBSQSA Barbershop Singing channel. At that point, I will have something I want to watch. I also know that on this email thread, I will probably be the only one interested. That’s okay. Given the Internet, give me a portal and I will find the Community of Interest.
As for quality. I remind you of the final scenes in the Music Man when the kids play their instruments. IMHO. If its something I care about my need is for tolerable quality.
But you got to know the territory.
Posted by carl at 04:32 AM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2007
Struggling for Voice
Without naming names, I have been ghosting alot of materials this week. I seem to have a strange and wonderful gift of processing lots of information and putting it to work.
The sad thing is when I do this I have a singularity of focus.
Blogging strikes me as a job for someone other than me.
I look to interview, not blog. Or I write but its for a specific purpose.
So here is the question. If I have an audience Focus me. What should I write on today?
Posted by carl at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)