Every other post.
Well I decided with the upcomming release of the EYNTO Show that it was time to update this site as well. I do plan on getting the show Slashdotted, as others have done, as an ultra-cheap technique to get some extra audience, so I figured I better make this place look better too. :p That and of course rid myself of the many bugs that plagued the previous blogging PHP tool that I was using.
Anywho, hope you enjoy the new look!
A few updates today:
RESUME: Updated my CV.
EYNTO: Went out today to film the rest of the away-from-home footage for the show. However, as it was extremely cold at at least -20C, opted to film the rest another day. Tomorrow is the first Friday of the month, which means a 2600 Hacker Meeting (or script-kiddie… we’ll see how the crowd is). I’ll go and see if I can get a few people to tip our viewers on general safety practices.
Some leading music labels are in talks with online retailers to raise wholesale prices for digital music downloads, in an attempt to capitalize on burgeoning demand for legal online music.
The moves, which suggest that the labels want a bigger slice in the fledgling market’s spoils, has angered Steve Jobs, the Apple Computer chief executive who is behind the popular iTunes online music store.
But music executives expressed caution about their ability to push through unilateral price increases. Among the biggest groups, Universal Music and Sony BMG are known to be particularly reluctant to disrupt the market for downloads. One top label said it would not raise wholesale prices now because the market was not yet mature enough for a price increase.
Because raising the cost to $30CDN for low-quality restricted music files that only play on select computers will motivate people. Riiight. The labels that make up the RIAA should really get it into their heads that paying $30 for a CD is bloody expensive as is, and that paying $30 for what essentially broils down to something much worse than a CD will not make people wish to purchase it. Rather, they’ll opt for an alternative. Any alternative: be it piracy or otherwise.
I swear: the music industry could be better managed by brain-dead monkeys.
*UPDATE* *UPDATE* *UPDATE* *UPDATE*
The East Carolinian newspaper has an article on the RIAA’s fight for justice in its war against piracy. I replied the following to the article:
Well, I do believe that the piracy situation is only as a consequence of the RIAA’s own actions.
People don’t want to spend $20 on a CD that they may or may not enjoy. But how are they to taste test this music? The radio? Most radio networks play over the same 5 songs repeatedly over a 24 hour period. Television (ie. MTV)? They only stick to mainstream. That’s fine if I enjoy Brittany Spears, less so if I wish to hear a newcomer Jazz artist. So how am I to try the music? Via friends and their personal collections? They may have some CDs of interest, but I like different music than they do. And I am not going to spend a day’s pay on a shiny new disc that could potentially be crap.
So what do I do? I download it. I listen to it. If I like it, I buy it. That’s how I’ve come to buy all the CDs and concert DVDs currently in my possession.
But beyond that, the RIAA is continually shooting themselves in the foot. The Internet. Its a new business platform. And what do they do? They charge incredibly high royalties on legal P2P alternatives! This is for music files that are low-quality, DRMed (ie. plays only on certain computers under the right conditions… will not work in a few years), and a pain to deal with. And yet the labels the RIAA represents want to hike the price? Oy vey! Charging $18 for a downloaded album, which costs $0 to replicate and distribute, and that is limited in both quality and flexibility of use. Talk about a good dynamic.
I have little respect for the RIAA, as you can see. Don’t get me wrong: I love the artists. But I hate being ripped off. If I want to steal music, I’ll rob a bank first and then go buy the CDs at the store… After all, the RIAA lobbyed itself so well within the justice system that the penalties for me robbing a bank are less worse than me downloading one music file.
Way to go RIAA!
Julien McArdle
Well, I’ve done three transactions on eBay, two of which left very poor tastes in my mouth. The first of these two was a PDA keyboard I had ordered; it came in DoA (Dead on Arrival). Though three of the keys on the wireless keyboard worked, none of the others did. Replacing the battery was to no avail. I finally confirmed that the unit was disfunctional with an infrared sensor which registered that the broken keys did not send any signal out at all. Fortunately, I was able to get an identical [functioning] replacement through alternate sources.
The second case has to do with someone I was pretty sure was attempting to defraud me. The setup: I just sold my old PDA to this individual over eBay. Here are the strings of emails and events:
February 2nd
The Clie PEG-T415 PDA goes for sale on eBay.
February 7th
The PDA is sold to someone who I shall only refer to as Herschel P.
I set up the transaction via Paypal, and he pays up. I then send him the following email:
From: Julien
To: Herschel P.Hey mate,
Thanks for purchasing the Sony Clie, and for the rapid payment.
I’ll be shipping it to you first thing tomorrow morning, and will email
you the tracking # and more details.
Thank you so very much again, feel free to email me if you have any
questions.-Julien
February 8th
I go to the post office and ship the item. I then follow up with this email.
From: Julien
To: Herschel P.Hey mate,
I sent the package this morning. The post office informed me it should take 9 days.
To track it, go to the following website:
https://obc.canadapost.ca/emo/basicPin.do?language=en
If that link doesn’t work, go to www.canadapost.ca, choose “English”, and then click “Track a Package”.Once on that page, enter “CX [removed] CA” as the Item Number (the first field of the three that are there), and click the submit button. It may take a day for the Item to be registered by the system. If the number still does not work, try removing the CX and/or the CA (ie. Item Number: [removed]).
Thanks again,
-Julien
I also leave him the following feedback:
+ Fast Payment. Smooth Transaction. A+ Seller [removed] ( 2 ) 08-Feb-05 11:39
February 15th
The post office registers him receiving the package according to the tracking site:
February 17th
He gives me positive feedback on eBay for the item he received.
+ Item as described great ebayer Buyer [removed] ( 54Feedback score is 50 to 99) 17-Feb-05 06:34
Well when someone says “Item as Described” it pretty much solidifies the fact that he received it. That and the fact that the package was confirmed as delivered to his address as per his eBay identity by the postal office.
February 24th
I get an email via eBay which goes as follows. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find the original text itself, eBay doesn’t seem to store mail sent/received via its internal messaging system. Therefore the following is an approximation of what he said:
From: Herschel P.
To: JulienI can’t seem to get the backlight to work [on the PDA]. Can you tell me how to get it to work?
Okay, so he had gotten the unit, but he couldn’t figure out the backlight. I can’t blame him: it took me three months to figure out the PDA even had a backlight. So I sent him back another email, again through the same wonky eBay messaging system, informing him that you have to press down the power button for 5 seconds while the unit is in operation to turn on the backlight. I also told him that he could turn it on via reconfiguring the buttons in the PalmOS Preference menu.
Then, it all gets weird.
February 26th
From: Herschel P.
To: JulienI have not received the tracking number or the item. Please let me know if you
sent it out.
Thanks
Herschel
What? He hadn’t received the tracking number, nor the item? Being defrauded once on eBay and sensing another such con coming on, I decided to tread carefully. I suspect that had I lost the tracking number, he would of tried to convince me that he had never received the unit, and therefore force me to refund him the money. For eBay/Paypal it would be another case of someone selling an item, but not delivering on it once the seller received the payments. The “backlight” message proving that he had indeed received the PDA could not be retrieved, thanks to eBay’s horrid messaging system. The only proof of my innocence left would be the feedback he had left on me stating that the item was “as described.” But feedbacks can always be removed as well.
I decided to refresh his memory:
From: Julien
To: Herschel P.Below is a copy of the message I had sent with respect to the package number.
-JulienPS. With regards to the backlight (as per your last email), did you figure it out?
———————————————————————————-
[Contents of original email containing tracking number…]
With the records from the post office that he received the item, there was nothing for him to do. Nothing to do, that is, but retract his statements.
February 27th
From: Herschel P.
To: JulienI got the item, thanks great transaction and item.
Thanks
Herschel
In truth, it could be that he just got me confused with someone else with which he was dealing with. But to be honest, being already conned once, and given the likelihood of him mistaking an email adress that begins with “j”, I suspect it was an attempt at fraud. With 2 of my 3 transactions being as such, I now have a much different take on eBay. My advice: track all your shipments to eBay-ers. Even if the tracking is worth more than the cost of the item.
There was an article on one of the man at the forefront of digital media rights, Mr. Lawrence Lessig. He’s the one responsible for the creation of the creative commons liscence, which promotes a sensible application of copyrights in this new age of computer-based creativity. More interesting than the article though, were the responses from the slashdot readers.
Out of intrest , are the makers of guns liable.
if not then why not and then why should p2p companys, With a gun you can break far greater laws than with emule.
Oh, you’re not paying attention…
The violation of commercial property rights is the worst possible crime imaginable. Taking a human life merely decreases the surplus population.
Corporations are eternal. People come and go.
It sounds just like: Every kitchen tools producers need to be sued because some of their customers use those tools in 55% of murder cases.
…it’s a shame it’s necessary. Why is it that if I’m writing my blog, I can take any paragraph of text in the world, quote it, then tear it a part, but if I’m making a song and I sample 1 second’s worth of The Beatles, my ass will be in court before the third chord progression?
It’s definitely a step in the right direction that Lessig has codified the Creative Commons license, allowing us to make things like Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] and one or two music sites, but really the CCL doesn’t give us any rights that we shouldn’t already have under Fair Use anyway. I mean, Walt Disney has been dead for 30 years. Why the hell can’t I draw Mickey Mouse smoking a joint if I want to? Why is Magnavox [wikipedia.org] still able to get license fees from people making video game consoles? Why does Nintendo still own the D-pad and A+B buttons? And what’s up with Apple paying Amazon for one click shopping in iTunes? It’s all just so ridiculous.
I recognize the need for some limited monopoly to spur innovation, but it’s clear that at this point IP has spun out of control. Thank goodness for people like Lessig, Groklaw, and the EFF!
Eventually, things will become so draconian that companies and independant (often open source) developers are afraid to develop software in America, from fears of breaking things like the DMCA or being charged with “Software Patent Infringency” that they’ll have to create new silicon valleys elsewhere in places that don’t care.
Europe would be a nice setting, depending on how that turns out, but who knows? Bright young programmers could be fleeing persecution for their works in the USA to set up shop in Bangalore, where they’d probably be able to live like kings. Either way, the way things are going, only monolithic corporations will still be putting out software.
If the US government decides to ban the sale of what everyone else in the world is using, then they’ll only fall behind in technology overall…