| 
 
 
 
 |  | 
| Current Topic: Technology |  
 
 
| 
|  | Why Microsoft should get out of DRM |  |  | 
|---|
 
| Topic: Technology | 8:22 am EDT, Jun 18, 2004 |  | ] Greetings fellow pirates! Arrrrr! I'm here today to talk] to you about copyright, technology and DRM, I work for
 ] the Electronic Frontier Foundation on copyright stuff
 ] (mostly), and I live in London. I'm not a lawyer -- I'm a
 ] kind of mouthpiece/activist type, though occasionally
 ] they shave me and stuff me into my Bar Mitzvah suit and
 ] send me to a standards body or the UN to stir up trouble.
 ] I spend about three weeks a month on the road doing
 ] completely weird stuff like going to Microsoft to talk
 ] about DRM. I lead a double life: I'm also a science
 ] fiction writer. That means I've got a dog in this fight,
 ] because I've been dreaming of making my living from
 ] writing since I was 12 years old. Admittedly, my IP-based
 ] biz isn't as big as yours, but I guarantee you that it's
 ] every bit as important to me as yours is to you. Here's
 ] what I'm here to convince you of: 1. That DRM systems
 ] don't work 2. That DRM systems are bad for society 3.
 ] That DRM systems are bad for business 4. That DRM systems
 ] are bad for artists 5. That DRM is a bad business-move
 ] for MSFT It's a big brief, this talk. Microsoft has sunk
 ] a lot of capital into DRM systems, and spent a lot of
 ] time sending folks like Martha and Brian and Peter around
 ] to various smoke-filled rooms to make sure that Microsoft
 ] DRM finds a hospitable home in the future world.
 ] Companies like Microsoft steer like old Buicks, and this
 ] issue has a lot of forward momentum that will be hard to
 ] soak up without driving the engine block back into the
 ] driver's compartment. At best I think that Microsoft
 ] might convert some of that momentum on DRM into angular
 ] momentum, and in so doing, save all our asses.
 This is a great talk Cory Doctorow gave at MSFT recently regarding all of the arguments we have made over the years regarding DRM.  (via boingboing) Why Microsoft should get out of DRM |  
 
 
| 
|  | Cingular Taps Lucent for WCDMA/HSDPA Trial Network (Phone Scoop) 14.4 MBPS WIRELESS IN ATLANTA |  |  | 
|---|
 
| Topic: Technology | 5:16 pm EDT, May 26, 2004 |  | ] Cingular today announced that it has selected Lucent to] deploy a WCDMA/UMTS and HSDPA trial network in Atlanta.
 ] The 3G network will use 1900 MHz PCS spectrum to test
 ] WCDMA/UMTS technology, supporting data rates up to 384
 ] Kbps. Cingular will also test the network with Lucent's
 ] High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSPDA)software
 ] upgrade. HSDPA boosts WCDMA data rates to as high as 14.4
 ] Mbps.
 Cingular Taps Lucent for WCDMA/HSDPA Trial Network (Phone Scoop) 14.4 MBPS WIRELESS IN ATLANTA |  
 
 
| 
|  | RFID Journal - Automotive RFID Gets Rolling |  |  | 
|---|
 
| Topic: Technology | 1:33 pm EDT, Apr 14, 2004 |  | ] With government funding and access to a large swath of] radio spectrum, four RFID developers are starting work on
 ] a new generation of RFID products aimed at bringing
 ] greater safety and new wireless applications to U.S.
 ] roads.
 [ Domino motherfuckers!  I've been predicting this one for a while now...  lots of potential, both good and ill, with this kinda tech.  We're truly not too far from car-to-car comms, automated crash avoidance, network blackbox reporting, emergency services overrides/lockdowns, etc.  Gonna be very interesting to watch how this evolves.  -k] RFID Journal - Automotive RFID Gets Rolling |  
 
 
| 
|  | ÷öä - MARGIN - Ami Ben-Bassat's Blog |  |  | 
|---|
 
| Topic: Technology | 12:35 pm EST, Mar 23, 2004 |  | ] On Friday, March 12, 2004, a group of several dozen] Internet addicts from Israel and abroad, gathered in the
 ] large grass yard of the Ohalo Center near the Sea of
 ] Galilee.  The purpose of the gathering was to view a live
 ] experiment sending 3 homing pigeons, each carrying tiny
 ] memory cards containing, in total, 4 GB of data.
 ]
 ] According to the planners of the experiment, the idea was
 ] to improve on a similar experiment carried out several
 ] years ago in Bergen, Norway and to show that, unlike
 ] previous experiments, usage of pigeons enable to transfer
 ] data faster than ADSL. The upcoming of April Fools' Day
 ] seems to be a proper timing to take the challenge.
 !!! ÷öä - MARGIN - Ami Ben-Bassat's Blog |  
 
 
|  | 
|---|
 
| Topic: Technology | 3:50 pm EST, Mar 19, 2004 |  | ] When ATMs go bad by Carla Geisser CMU students managed to crash an ATM on campus to the XP desktop.  Fantastic. photo sharing system |  
 
 
| 
|  | New Scientist -- Robot Builder could 'print' houses |  |  | 
|---|
 
| Topic: Technology | 9:09 am EST, Mar 11, 2004 |  | ] A robot for "printing" houses is to be trialled by the] construction industry. It takes instructions directly
 ] from an architect's computerised drawings and then
 ] squirts successive layers of concrete on top of one other
 ] to build up vertical walls and domed roofs.
 That is damn cool-- New Scientist -- Robot Builder could 'print' houses |  
 
 
|  | 
|---|
 
| Topic: Technology | 6:54 pm EST, Mar  9, 2004 |  | ] # Up to 800MHz PowerPC processor with 256KB of L2 Cache] # True stand-alone computer. No need for Host Bus or Host
 ] CPU
 ] # Ultra small footprint, 72mmX48mmX10mm. Smaller than a
 ] business card!
 ] # Up to 256MB DDR SDRAM
 ] # 16MB of Boot/user Flash and 32KB of user Flash
 ] # Two Gigabit Ethernet ports (502 Only)
 ] # Two 10/100 Base-TX Ethernet ports (501 Only)
 ] # Two Serial ports with handshake capabilities
 ] # 64MB Disk-On-Chip (Optional)
 ] # RTC with field-replaceable battery
 ] # Board temperature monitoring for safe operation
 ] # Ultra-Low power requirements; 3.3VDC @ 300ma and
 ] 5-12VDC @ 0.5A
 ] # Optional interface module for 100% Stand-Alone
 ] operation with:
 ]      -   DC/DC converter for a single 12VDC operation
 ]      -   One SD Memory for Mass Storage up to 1GB
 ]      -   15 user-programmable I/O Lines, 3 with high
 ] current output
 ]      -   Two RJ45 for direct connect to 10/100/1000
 ] Base-TX Ethernet
 ]      -   One RJ-11 for direct connect to RS-232
 ]      -   Micro DB-25 for user I/O, I 2 C and RS485 Serial
 ] port
 ]      -   User and POST diagnostics LEDs
 ]      -   External 2 mm power Jack. (Uses 15W Brick)
 ] # Support for VxWorks®-Tornado II® and Linux® Operating
 ] Systems
 Super dope.  There is your mini cluster my friends. General Micro Systems |  
 
 
|  | 
|---|
 
| Topic: Technology | 2:19 pm EST, Jan 22, 2004 |  | ] It seems that it's 4GB MicroDrive isn't soldered to the] rest of the device, so with a little work, you can remove
 ] it, replace it with a 1GB MicroDrive and use the 4GB
 ] drive in your digital camera or PDA. Why would you
 ] bother? Because the $299 MuVo2 costs considerably less
 ] than a standalone 4GB MicroDrive (which on its own goes
 ] for about $499).
 Hacking the MuVo2 |  
 
 
| 
|  | iTunes Music Store RSS Generator |  |  | 
|---|
 
| Topic: Technology | 12:14 pm EST, Jan 22, 2004 |  | The iTunes RSS Feed Generator lets your get hourly updates to top artists, songs, featured content and more via RSS. iTunes Music Store RSS Generator |  
 
 |