Monday, April 25, 2005

100mb down and 20mb up for 26 euros (approx) in S. Korea. Yes. You heard that right. Yat Siu of Outblaze in China is comparing internet access in Asia compared to France (France averages 2mb up and down for 14 euros). We are so totally freaking lame in the US. That's half the price I pay (approx $35 dollars for 100mb down/20 mb up in Asia verses my DSL from SBC for $60 a month for 768k down/ 384 up in Berkeley). And of course, we, the US, aren't even on chart up on the conference wall. And why should we be. As far as broadband access goes, we're a third world country paying ghetto rates (you know the deal.. where the supermarket charges less than ghetto corner markets cause the folks in the ghetto can't afford to drive out to get reasonably priced food). [Napsterization] 9:44:26 PM    comment []

Finding Gannon. New documents reveal that Gannon/Guckert visited the White House more than 200 times in two years -- and that the Secret Service had a hard time keeping track of him. [Salon.com] 9:44:25 PM    comment []

Fabulous presentation on Beatallica & Ulrich v. Sony at Signal or Noise (Jason Schultz). David Dixon, the Webmaster of Pupperts for the parody band Beatallica at the Signal or Noise II: Creative Revolution? symposium gives a fabulous presentation (9MB MP3) on the band's legal run in with Sony over the composition rights to the Beatles songs they parodied and how Lars Ulrich redeemed himself from the dark days of fighting Napster by defending the band's fair use. Check it out. p.s. Includes a great shout out to Bittorrent and an afterward by my co-worker Wendy Seltzer. [Copyfight] 8:44:10 PM    comment []

Doing Pro Journalists' Work For Them. The Raw Story, going where professional journalists have utterly failed to tread, peers further into the increasingly weird "Jeff Gannon" story. Two Democratic members of Congress apparently had to file a Freedom of Information request with the Secret Service to get logs of Gannon's comings and goings at the White House, and the logs are curious. More here, including the documents themselves. See also Salon's coverage. [Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc.] 8:35:30 PM    comment []

Why ice cream trucks sound the way they do A brief look into why ice cream trucks have that uniquely tinny sound. 2) British vans traditionally use 'Grampian Horn' loudspeakers (which cost about £60), pointed down at the road to disperse the sound. 3) Modern chimes, like the Micro Miniatures Harmony 64, have dozens of melodies burnt onto a chip, and can play 3-note harmonies, and have a built-in 37.5 watt amplifier to drive the horn. It costs about £220. [bOing bOing] 8:35:14 PM    comment []

Four from BNA News: FRENCH JUDGE BLOCKS DVD COPY-PROTECTION A French court has blocked the use of DVD copy-protection in a suit launched by a consumer group. The court ruled that the protection ran counter to consumer private copying rights. French language coverage COURT DISMISSES RIAA DMCA SUBPOENAS AT NC UNIVERSITIES Two college students in North Carolina and their universities scored a legal victory against the recording industry last week, when a federal judge quashed subpoenas that would have required the institutions to reveal the students' identities. The RIAA had requested the subpoenas as a likely precursor to filing lawsuits accusing the students of swapping music online in violation of copyright law. OHIO FAMILY PLANS TO SUE KAZAA AFTER RIAA SETTLEMENT An Ohio family says it plans to sue Sharman Networks, the owner of Kazaa, after it settled a file sharing suit with the RIAA. The family plans to use the class action process to open the suit to others that have settled file sharing suits. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY'S DIGITAL DIVIDE My weekly Law Bytes column assesses the recent WIPO Development Agenda meeting, pointing to the need to bridge the divide between the United States and the Friends of Development coalition. It concludes that as the developing world strives to identify effective growth policies, the initiative has the potential to play an important role in altering the current intellectual property debate. For it to succeed, however, developed countries such as Canada must also become "friends of development". Freely available hyperlinked version Toronto Star reg. version CHINA ISSUES WHITE PAPER ON IP PROTECTION The Information Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, Thursday issued a white paper titled New Progress in China's Protection of Intellectual Property Rights. The white paper, the second of its kind since 1994, gives a "brief introduction" to and "explanation" of China's efforts and new progress in protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) over the past decade. Coverage (Edited to embed urls) 12:40:50 PM    comment []

Astronauts at the Mall, and Rocket Scientists at the Bar. NASA threw open the gates of the Johnson Space Center, offering a close-up look at the business of sending men and women into the cosmos. By RALPH BLUMENTHAL. [NYT > Science] 7:10:38 AM    comment []

Obliviousness ==> Oblivion?. Tim Porter was at Tuesday's panel before the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention, and in his report he noted this "telling moment" when the moderators put a slide up of Craig Newmark and asked how many people in the room of several hundred recognized him or his name. Only a smattering of hands rose. A few more hands went up at the mention of Craigslist and its free classifieds. In an admittedly imperfect analogy, allow me to wonder how many railroad executives in 1908 would have recognized a picture of Henry Ford. [Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc.] 7:08:47 AM    comment []

overload and memories. It's interesting, for somebody who doesn't even believe in information overload, Steven Cohen's Library Stuff has been providing some excellent coverage on this topic lately. I definitely agree with the conclusion that one of the answers to information overload is to trust that other people will read things which I won't, and that I'll find things through them or through the people who read them. I think it's also important to be open to the possibility that some things will  inevitably slip through the cracks from time to time. This would happen even if you spent every waking hour, as well as the hours when you should be sleeping, trying to not to miss anything.  This isn't a tragedy. I think it is an old-fashioned and almost arrogant mindset which causes people to think that they can stay on top of everything which happens in every important topic. The reassurance which these people crave will only guarantee further stress and anxiety. [explodedlibrary.info] 6:59:28 AM    comment []