iTunes usage methods: An excellent (meaning helpful) discussion on what kinds of dynamic playlists people are using, and what kind of scripts and applications people are using to create new (and new kinds of) playlists. (File into: Project Mixmatcher)
USPS Sues Internet Users: The United States Postal Service surprised citizens and lawmakers today by filing thousands of lawsuits against netizens with active e-mail addresses. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the use of e-mail violates the government-approved monopoly the USPS currently enjoys.
Ian Matthews, a specialist in law pertaining to gadgetry, explained that the USPS is now cracking down on what it calls ‘postal pirates’. “This is an organization which has seen a 28 percent decrease in revenue since the rise of the Internet. They used to get royalties of 34 or 37 cents for every letter sent, but now letters can be sent for free, through what we call ‘peer 2 peer’ mail-sending.”
Beyond linking: the challenge and opportunity of citation: The web came from scholars and is all about sharing knowledge. Citation is the conversational medium in which we do that. Links are powerful tools that we’re still learning to use, but citation is about more than just linking. Jon Udell is getting interested in how we might publish fragments that are easy to cite and that, when cited, carry rich context with them.
Bubb Rubb Info Center: I can’t believe I missed out on the Bubb Rubb meme! Where was I? Holy shit is that good stuff. The news clip is absolutely hilarious, including the part near the end of the clip, where apparently “showing off the whistle tips” means “almost hitting a parked car on the wrong side of the street, then blowing a stop sign and almost hitting two other cars.” At least the Bubb Rubb sound board still works…
Album Cover Challenge: The challenge is this: there are sixty album covers (some better known than others, but none willfully obscure) from which the artist and title information has been removed. Can you identify all the albums and provide the missing information?
HyperDictionary.com: Ever since thesaurus.com scaled back its content, I’ve been looking for a robust replacement, and HyperDictionary.com is it (and then some!) Look up a word and you’ll see the difference. There’s actually a decent amount of content, and every single word is hyperlinked!
Bling Kong: A rock band with three drummers, a cheerleading squad, and some video ninjas? Sounds alright to me.
Music downloaders: Industry bark worse than bite: The RIAA Radar gets a mention in this article from the San Luis Obispo Tribune (which also means it’s on every newspaper’s site in the Knight Ridder network.) The only way it would be better is if they got the URL right, actually linked the URL, and explained the purpose of the site correctly… otherwise it’s fine.
On a related note, you can now get to the site at riaaradar.com, which is both self-explanatory and alot easier on the eyes. No more fumbling for that crazy forward-slash key!
Rappers in disharmony on P2P: Chuck D’s quotes are amazing and spot-on.
“Technology giveth and it taketh away, and the industry knows this. The horseshoe makers probably got upset at the train manufacturers because (the new industry) took away their transport dominance, just as the train manufacturers probably got mad at the airline industry.”
“As an artist representing an 80-year period of black musicianship, I never felt that my copyrights were protected anyway. I’ve been spending most of my career ducking lawyers, accountants and business executives who have basically been more blasphemous than file sharers and P2P. I trust the consumer more than I trust the people who have been at the helm of these companies.”
“The record industry is hypocritical and the domination has to be shared. P2P to me means ‘power to the people’. And let’s get this to a balance, and that’s what we’re talking about.”
Sachs Report: A deliberate selection of news and analysis focusing on the study of science and technology, trends in fashion, and observations on industrial design.