Thursday, March 10, 2005

TiVo to DVD via Mac OSX. Matt Kingston is a TiVo hacker from way back (I use his scripts to show what's on my TiVo) and recently wrote in: Not finding any recent info on the web, I put together a guide on how to transfer video from a Series 1 TiVo to the Mac and edit/burn it to DVD (or VCD/SVCD). http://www.hitormiss.org/2005/03/07/tivo-to-dvd-via-mac-osx/ There aren't many tools or guides for working with TiVo files on a mac, and Matt's tracked down all the tools that work on OS X and you can even use iMovie and iDVD at the end to edit and burn. Via PVRblog [unmediated] 8:40:11 PM    comment []

Following up on this morning's report, it's Scott: Microsoft snaps up Groove. Microsoft to Acquire Groove Networks: And it's making Ray Ozzie, Groove's founder, chief technical officer. [Link via Dave Winer.] This strikes me as a pretty big deal -- here's why. Ozzie, the creator of Lotus Notes, started Groove as an effort, once and for all, to solve the still incredibly thorny set of problems surrounding collaborative software. This is an area that's been legendarily difficult for technology companies to crack (Netscape, for example, foundered after it took a turn in this direction by acquiring a company called Collabra). Ozzie and Groove haven't figured everything out, but they've come a lot closer than many of their predecessors. Most recently, Groove has found a big client in the U.S. government, which has adopted its technology for extensive military use (causing a certain amount of controversy). By scooping up Ozzie and Groove, Microsoft is doing what it has always done: extending its reach by embracing (or consuming) smaller companies that have made technical breakthroughs Microsoft's big research labs and development teams haven't been able to match. It's a smart move for Bill Gates and company -- an indication that they remain absolutely determined not to fall behind the competition, and a sign that Microsoft intends to push the boundaries of collaborative software's capabilities. It will be interesting to see where they take Groove: Let's face it, Windows and Office are both pretty creaky for users who want to share and coordinate work nimbly and quickly. Gee, maybe information technology does still matter, sometimes. [Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment] Dave also asks, Question: Does anyone know anyone who uses Groove? I know I gave it up as a resource hog early on. And now that I'm a Mac guy, the question doesn't arise. 2:22:40 PM    comment []

Some answers on public domain. The convoluted world of copyright law [Salon.com] 2:11:17 PM    comment []

Microsoft to buy Groove Networks, by Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com. Microsoft on Thursday said it will acquire Groove Networks and make Groove's founder, Ray Ozzie, chief technology officer at the software giant. Microsoft said it will incorporate Groove's "virtual office" collaboration software into its Office line of desktop productivity applications. Ozzie, the inventor of Lotus Notes and a collaboration guru, will report to Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect. There's that famous freedom to innovate again! 9:54:29 AM    comment []

A chapter closes as season ends. During the denial stage of the greiving process we refuse to believe what has happened. In our minds we tell ourselves that life is as it was before our loss. We can even make believe to an extent by re-enacting rituals that we used to go through. In the days after my team's bitter loss . . . . [The Journal] You did a great job this season, Rachel. All of you. And even when the game went south last week, you guys kept playing hard and fought for everything you could get. I'm proud of the team's performance that game and for the season. Congratluations. 7:26:46 AM    comment []

"No Child Left Behind" and Censorware Blacklists. "No Child Left Behind" is a particularly controversial Federal education law. It's also the program which was connected to a scandal of conservative commentator Armstrong Williams being paid to promote it. An opposition site to the law - http://nochildleft.com/ - finds itself on a censorware blacklist, as "Political/Advocacy Groups", and so it's not readable in certain schools: Big Brother Comes to School: Telling Teachers What to Read and What to Believe (via LISnews.com). It's a tale of a typical "censorware shuffle". The administrators have no idea what blacklists are in place and what's blacklisted (they probably think censorware "filters pornography"). The service reseller (SonicWall), as a hardware manufacturer, just repackages the censorware blacklists (here, "Cerberian"). The censorware company will say the site fits their category, so it's the school policy maker's fault. Everyone's fingers point to someone else. And the eventual effect of it all is that the government has a free hand to propagandize. While critics - who remember, are sometimes told by net-bubble-blowers that The Uncensorable Internet gives them an equal opportunity to be heard, because you can put up a website - are marginalized from important audiences. [Infothought] 7:23:23 AM    comment []

Three from Wired News: Sperm Protein Seals the Deal. Researchers identify a protein critical for achieving pregnancy. As the first such discovery, the finding could lead to non-hormonal contraception or male infertility treatments. By Kristen Philipkoski. Shark Skin Inspires Ship Coating. A non-toxic substance that replicates the roughly textured skin of sharks may prevent barnacles, algae and other organisms from attaching to ship's hulls. By Stephen Leahy. Hackers Nab U.S. Citizens' Data. Intruders infiltrate a database owned by LexisNexis and obtain the personal information -- including names, addresses and Social Security numbers -- of 32,000 people. 7:16:27 AM    comment []

Terrorism and Democracy in Madrid. I re-emerge. Sorry for the hiatus. I will do my best in following posts to recount the sound and fury in my part of Meatspace that has led to my recent silence in Cyberspace. For now, here I am, in real time. I'm in Madrid at a meeting convened by the Club of Madrid, a group of former heads of state, led by former Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso and, including everyone from Bill Clinton to Mikhail Gorbachev to Vaclav Havel, to John Major, all seeking to expiate their sins of office with subsequent good works.  . . .  I spent all damned day yesterday in session with many of the stars of Cyberspace, folks like Joichi Ito, John Gage, Dan Gillmor, David Weinberger, Ethan Zuckerman, Marc Rotenberg, Andrew Mclaughlin, Rebecca MacKinnon, etc. etc. Laboring long and loud, we collectively produced the following statement: The Infrastructure of Democracy Strengthening the Open Internet for a Safer World March 11, 2005 . . . . [BarlowFriendz] See also Dan's Madrid: Terrorism, the Internet and Democracy. 7:16:26 AM    comment []