High Court Upholds Law Extending Copyrights by 20 Years. In a victory for big entertainment companies, the Supreme Court upheld a 1998 law today that added 20 years to all existing copyrights. By David Stout. [New York Times: NYT HomePage] Some good analysis in this one.
Archive | January, 2003
Post dated 2003-01-15 19:16:02
Forbes: “Somewhere in Burbank a mouse called Mickey is smiling.”
Post dated 2003-01-15 19:08:38
Supreme Court Endorses Copyright Theft. That’s one way to look at the abysmal decision, announced this morning, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that… [Dan Gillmor’s eJournal]. Outrageous! So, the movie owners get to sit on rotting reels of movie film. Copyright is the right to make money from one’s work for a limited time. I’m no Constitutional scholar, but I can follow that. This is a travesty. If you haven’t signed up already, take a moment to visit the EFF or Digital Consumer web site and find out how you can be heard.
Post dated 2003-01-14 13:58:42
Cool. I got my first link, and from no less than Doc Searls . Peter Thomas argues that perhaps AOL could be serve as a bad example to us all. Doc hopes they melt like Greenland. Another possibility may be that AOL drifts rudderless for a bit, soaking in their $22.95 a month per household, and somehow manages to redefine itself. It could happen. Look at IBM. The IBM of the 21st century looks to be in pretty good shape.
But the AOL-TimeWarner things (“you have pixels – we do pixels!”) was a dumb deal from day one, imho.
Post dated 2003-01-13 21:28:07
Cut Off The Head And The Body Dies says Doc Searls, talking about Steve Case stepping down from AOL. I’m not so sure. AOL is great for those who don’t like computers, don’t want to know about computers, and just want their email to work. I think he overestimates the saavy (or the technical desire) of many users. Despite AOL’s missteps, I think the momentum of having however many bazillion subscribers can carry AOL fumbling into the future. Sure would nice to see them become an Internet leader, rather than an embarassment, though…
Post dated 2003-01-13 21:20:49
Graffiti’s Dead and it may just take the Palm with it. Faced with the marketing prowess of the Pocket PC market, perceived slow-to-market color LCDs, new CPUs and new OS versions, the loss to Xerox of a key patent dispute on their handwriting software could be the last nail in the coffin. The Slashdot reaction: Palm Kills Off Graffiti [Slashdot]. And I still laugh at this:
Q: How many Newtons does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Faux! There to eat lemons, axe gravy soup!
Post dated 2003-01-13 20:58:38
Apple objects to Microsoft settlement. The Microsoft competitor says an antitrust settlement between California and the software giant is more beneficial than punitive. [CNET News.com] Looks like Microsoft’s $40 billion in the bank may be just enough…
Post dated 2003-01-13 11:37:41
The home (cable) and SOHO (DSL) network are being divorced over the next few months, separating the recreation and movie trailer downloads from the serious work (web sites and development) bandwidths. The home office is going to get some hand-me-down hardware, so I’m shopping for new router/AP hardware for the home. The 802-11g hardware, even though it’s based on a draft standard, looks promising. LinkSys claims to already have a model on the streets. As the home network is already 100% black-and-blue LinkSys, this looks like the way to go.
Post dated 2003-01-13 09:01:32
We have had a special couple visiting us this year. A cardinal pair have been hanging around the yard. Invisble but for their high “Cheep-Cheep” in the months full of foliage, they bring a welcome spash of color to the winter months, when all the other birds have dull black, grey and white coats on.
1994 will be the most exciting year of your life
“1994 will be the most exciting year of your life” said the brochure, in large bold block letters, and a chill ran from the base of my spine.
The most exciting year of my life? Was exciting a good thing, or could it mean disaster? What did this mean for the rest of my life? Was I consigned to 40 years of misery, mediocrity and disappointment? Was this the sign I had been waiting for, that burnout had finally arrived, that my hopes and dreams were just that, dreams, and my lifelong plans would never come to fruition?
It was an advertisement for a CD-based encyclopedia, a rather good one, but mundane after the threatening envelope. The product came, the product went, and not too much was made of it, but that horrible prophesy stayed with me the entire year, and several of the following years. Was 1994 the most exciting year of my life? Had I hit the peak? Was it all downhill from here?
Naah. Life has continued its up-and-down, good-and-bad cycle as it always does. 1994, it turns out, was an exciting year, but just one of many.
But it will be a long time before I forgive that advertising hack for trying to curse my life.