Saturday, September 27, 2003

At Central Command, Death Gets an Online Demotion. The count of U.S. casualties in Iraq has grown less visible to those who visit the Web site operated by the United States Central Command. By Alex Berenson. [New York Times: Technology] 9:48:50 PM    comment []

Dave: I interviewed a reporter yesterday, a nice turn of events, and asked him what he thought of weblogs. He said they're mostly commenting on stories in newpapers like his own. I asked what he bases this on, did he do a study, how many weblogs did he look at. When I pressed him, he said that it was Instapundit that works this way. I told him that's not what I do on Scripting News. Not only do we dig into new stuff pretty regularly, but we also create new formats and protocols, far beyond anything done by the IT people at his newspaper, and we deploy them, and evangelize them, and then move on to the next thing. I don't think he was actually very impressed. 9:27:09 PM    comment []

Fanimatrix - The Matrix Re-done By Fans. On [NewsIsFree: Popular Items] 4:38:54 PM    comment []

Bootleg culture: Powerful computers and easy-to-use editing software are challenging our conceptions of authorship and creativity. As usual, the entertainment industry doesn't like this one bit. By Pete Rojas, in Salon. 10:40:46 AM    comment []

Jon Udell: "Folks who consume news by way of blogs are likelier to be exposed to primary sources than folks who rely on conventional news sources." [Scripting News] 10:22:16 AM    comment []

RFID ripples through software industry. Big name vendors including Sun, SAP, Oracle, and IBM have caught the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) buzz. Spurred in part by a WalMart edict that requires suppliers to tag all shipping cases and palettes with RFID by 2006, the vendors are rewriting their enterprise applications to integrate RFID data. [InfoWorld: Top News] 10:04:25 AM    comment []

Man Gets Probation for Unleashing 'Hulk' Online. A New Jersey man who released a bootleg version of the movie before it opened in theaters was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay fines and restitution. By Susan Saulny. [New York Times: Business] 9:13:36 AM    comment []

India to ban cover-versions of music. Universal Music Group is pressuring the Indian Parliament to revise Indian copyright to make cover versions (without permission) illegal: [...W]hen the soundtrack to a new film is released (by far the most popular genre of music in India), the demand for it is immense and the record labels have virtual carte blanche to sell it at any price they wish. However, starting in the 1970s and 80s, enterprising music distributors released cheap cover versions of popular songs (some of which were not covers but outright pirate versions) and significantly expanded the existing market by making music accessible to people who could never afford it before. In this lobbying campaign, the music industry has also not hesitated to make some rather far-out arguments which tend to appeal to the religious right (which dominates the multi-party ruling coalition in India). These are along the lines of how song remixes are evil and mixing "pure" Indian music with music from other cultures is distasteful and further evidence of how our culture is polluted by American music, etc.. (thanks, Cory!) 9:11:41 AM    comment []