About this Author
Ernest Miller pursues research and writing on cyberlaw, intellectual property, and First Amendment issues. Mr. Miller attended the U.S. Naval Academy before attending Yale Law School, where he was president and co-founder of the Law and Technology Society, and founded the technology law and policy news site LawMeme. He is a fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School.
Ernest Miller's blog postings can also be found @
Copyfight
LawMeme
Listen to the weekly audio edition on IT Conversations:
The Importance Of ... Law and IT.
Feel free to contact me about articles, websites and etc. you think I may find of interest. I'm also available for consulting work and speaking engagements. Email: ernest.miller 8T gmail.com
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Category Archives
June 22, 2005
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Templeton on the Storage Box in the Closet
Brad Templeton calls for storage in the closet (Network Storage on the Cheap for the Home). So I want to call for the production of a cheap home external storage box. This box would have slots for 4 or 5 drives and cooling for them, ideally as big a fan as possible to keep the rpms and noise low in the desk model, and an even more powerful fan in the basement model. The desk model might have sound insulation though that’s hard to combine with good cooling. This isn't far removed from what I call the "server in the closet" ( Intel on the "Server in the Closet"). The only difference really, is making the thing a server to handle communications with the outside world as well. Perhaps my dream is coming closer to reality?
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Posted by Ernest Miller
BusinessWeek has an an interesting article about radio for your cellphone (Dial R for Radio on Your Cell). Chances are radio services will be a hit with the 2 billion wireless subscribers worldwide. "Mobile phones are always with you," explains Nancy Beaton, a general manager at telco Sprint (FON), which became the first carrier with a commercial cell-phone radio service in December. "Because customers are familiar with how the phone works, adding radio can be very intuitive," says Beaton.
And many users want that addition. According to surveys conducted by America Online, a unit of Time Warner (TWX), more than half the respondents say they would listen to the radio on their phones. AOL is in talks with wireless service providers to offer its online radio stations on mobile phones within months. Radio on phones is a good idea. I could see that it would be very useful. However, a couple of questions ... many related to my rant yesterday ( Die Cellphone. Die! Die! Die!).
First, why the heck does AOL (or any other cellphone radio service) need to be in talks with wireless service providers? Why couldn't they simply be in talks with, you know, customers? The closed networks of the cellphone providers are really limiting competition and innovation (not to mention increasing the price).
Second, despite Miss Beaton's claim about ease of use, why the heck do we have to get the radio via a cellphone? Why not get the radio via an MP3 player? Why not let the MP3 player have basic connectivity for this purpose? A cellphone is great in some circumstances, but not necessarily all. Radio service also could spark sales of other wireless content. "Since radio is how people discover new music, I'd look at radio as the trigger that would create follow-through sales of [popular content like] ringtones, ringbacks, and music downloads," says Lewis Ward, an analyst at IDC. If users hear a song they like on their cell-phone radio, they'll be able to immediately buy a related ringtone via their cell. That should accelerate the growth of the $500 million ringtone market, as well as sales of ringbacks and music downloads. Of course, one reason the cellphone service providers like their closed networks is so that they can make more money via associated services. I still can't believe that people pay as much for ringtones as they do. Open up the network, let people buy ringtones without paying the cellphone service provider tax. Most cell-phone radiocasters, though, plan to use existing wireless networks, but to varying extents. Motorola's iRadio, expected to cost $5 a month, will let customers download hours of radio programming via a PC. New radio-ready Motorola phones are expected to be unveiled this fall. Motorola plans to insert snippets of breaking news into these broadcasts as they're downloaded over its wireless network. Downloading hours of radio programming via your PC already has a name. It's called "podcasting". Still, perhaps Motorola will share some of their technology, or help work on an open standard, for mixing breaking news with less time-volatile content. Would be useful.
via Mobile Content News
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June 21, 2005
Posted by Ernest Miller
Paul Resnikoff of Digital Music News muses about the future of the iPod in a world where cellular phones have increasing music carrying capabilities (Resnikoff's Parting Shot: The Future of the iPod). He doesn't think the iPod has much to worry about it, yet.
This is a variation of a question that is always asked. Will mobile gaming devices be swamped by cellphone/game consoles? Will digital cameras be made irrelevant by cellphones/cameras? Will MP3 players be made irrelevant by cellphone/MP3 players? No. No. And No.
Why not ask instead, will the cellphone be able to survive domination by combination game console/phones? Will cameraphones be made irrelevant by cameras with phone capability? Will MP3 players that let you call out destroy the market for phones with MP3 capability?
Cellphones aren't going to go away, but they're only a tool for communication. There is nothing particularly special about them that makes them the only form factor for communication. At base, they're a commodity device. Why are cellphone manufacturers so darn busy creating things to do with a cellphone other than communicate? Because, otherwise, there isn't much to distinguish the darn things.
My life doesn't revolve around my cellphone. My life is about the other things I do. I want to have a digital camera that takes good pictures, a game console that is designed to play cool games, and an MP3 player designed to handle thousands of songs, playlists and podcasts. And, oh yeah, I want connectivity. I don't want a "cellphone."
Stop pretending to sell me cellphones. Honestly, the cellphone companies aren't really selling cellphones. That is just the sales pitch. The cellphone companies are essentially selling commodity connectivity and trying hard to hide that fact with fancy cellphone capabilities.
Data is data. Sell me connectivity and let me pick my own darn devices to take advantage of it.
That's right, I said "devices." I'm paying for the connectivity, so why should it matter how many devices I can use to take advantage of that connectivity? Sometimes I want to take my camera to the park. Sometimes I want to take my game console when I anticipate a wait at the doctor's. And I want to take my MP3 player for the workday commute.
Used to be that you could only get your landline phone from AT&T. They decided what equipment you could use on their network. We got rid of this foolish requirement and the internet was able to bloom.
Why do we continue to tolerate similar foolishness for cellular?
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June 16, 2005
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Murdoch to Buy and Give Away 20 Million DVRs
Slate reports that Rupert Murdoch will be ordering 20 million DVRs to give away to his DirecTV subscribers (Rupert Murdoch Strikes Back). His intention is to shake up the video rental market. I'm not sure how well that'll work, but that's an awful lot of DVRs. Unintended consequences? Unknown markets, perhaps?
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June 14, 2005
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The Next Big Thing is the Thing that Makes the Last Thing Usable
Change and progress is wonderful, but sometimes we need to assimilate it, as Firefox developer Blake Ross reminds us (The Next Big Thing is Not My Concern). Here’s what I mean: put a digital picture and an instant message window side by side and ask Mom to share the picture. Even though the windows are approximately five pixels apart, sharing them is about as intuitive as a W2 form. It’s actually easier to share a picture sitting on a server in China than it is to share your own stuff. And you want me to gush about podcasting? via Ant's Eye View
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I'm Sorry Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Do That.
I'm not one to post much about case mods, but I want one of these: Hal 9000 Case Mod.
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June 13, 2005
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WalMart to Put a Fork in Pre-Recorded VHS, 'It's Done'
Yahoo! News carries a Reuters wirestory that reports WalMart's alleged plans to stop carrying pre-recorded VHS early in 2006 (Wal-Mart Set to Erase VHS, Sources Say). At a subsequent reset in February, VHS most likely will be cut out, according to the source. After February, "it is unlikely there will be any VHS left in any Wal-Mart store," the source said. There are more than 3,600 Wal-Mart stores in the U.S. When will the last player and last blank cassette be sold? via Cinematica UPDATE 14 Jun 2005, 1000PT: WalMart denies this ( Wal-Mart: Hey, We're Still Selling VHS).
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Google Map Hacks Taking Off
CNN runs an AP wirestory on the increasing number of hacks for Google Maps (Google Tinkerers Make Data Come Alive). Geeks, tinkerers and innovators are crashing the Google party, having discovered how to tinker with the search engine's mapping service to graphically illustrate vital information that might otherwise be ignored, overlooked or not perceived as clearly.... All these sites are operating without Google's permission, clearly violating the company's user agreement. But none charges any fees, and Mountain View-based Google, which declined to comment through a spokesman, has made no effort to shut them down. It would be nice to have a more formalized policy (and standards and things) explicitly permitting these hacks, but the innovation is incredible. via Hit & Run UPDATE 1000PT: Seems like the good times are already over: Stitcher: The Google Maps team recently noticed your Google Maps tile "stitcher" wallpaper maker at http://gmerge.2ni.net/. Google is always happy to see developers interested in our products and we commend you on the service. That said, we would appreciate it if you voluntarily remove your service and stop using Google Maps on your web site. The service violates the Maps Terms of Service available at http://www.google.com/help/terms_local.html, and jeopardizes our ability to make Google Maps available to the public because it encourages non-personal use of Google Maps.
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June 12, 2005
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NYT: Hacking is Good
The New York Times comes out in favor of the "Freedom to Tinker" in an editorial that positively gushes over the new magazine Make (A New Magazine's Rebellious Credo: Void the Warranty!). Make is not just a clubhouse for guys with Skittle breath and abbreviated social skills. Beneath all the home-brewed gadgets and cool software tricks lies a sly and subversive agenda. Make, its makers will tell you, is part of a grass-roots rebellion against consumer technology that they say stifles ingenuity by discouraging end-user modification. To these restless minds, increasingly sophisticated consumer products have forced users into a kind of stupefied passivity, with nothing to do but replace batteries and update software, to point and click into a zone of blissed-out consumption. Marketers and programmers anticipate our every need with products that are essentially disposable, since there is no way to fix or adapt them when they break or become obsolete. In this world, to tinker - to open the case, to fiddle with wires and see what happens - is to rebel.
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June 08, 2005
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GPS Cellphone Nag-igation
Iconoculture brings word of a new, beta, GPS-enabled cellphone service that will allow you (and those you permit) to have your cellphone call you with a reminder when you get within 1/2 mile of a particular location (Nag-ivation). The examples used (reminder to return DVDs, wish good luck to a boyfriend arriving at work) seem mundane, but potentially quite useful. A number of other possibilities abound, as long as it is pull, not push. via Mobile Technology Weblog
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A Child's Phone That Actually Works
Telepocalypse has an interesting idea for a Fisher-Price style child's phone that actually works, thanks to Skype (Baby Babble). Up to five buttons, one for each person. When they’re online, the button glows green. When you’re talking to that person, it glows red. Press the button to connect and disconnect. Press multiple buttons for a conference call between all grandparents. Totally under the initiative of your kid, no parents needed. Incoming calls? Probably not, or at least a parent-selectable option (naturally, only from pre-approved buddies). Auto power-off after 5 mins of relative silence. There will be other limited-use phones developed as well. This seems a wide open area for innovation.
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How to Avoid the Upgrade into HD DRM Trap
C|Net News has an image of a display that "will soon be able to squeeze high-definition quality out of non-HD sources such as cable, DVD and VHS" (Photo: High-Definition Simulators). If true, I wonder how much this will decrease demand for DRM-encumbered true HD?
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Apple as Media Platform Company
Alan Wexelblat speculates about one strategic possibility for Apple's move to Intel chips (A Copyfighter's View of the Apple Move to Intel). Apple's switch in hardware platforms is about the transformation of Apple into a media company. It will probably still make hardware, and it will probably still dominate certain niche markets, but those markets will be ones that matter in Hollywood, like digital editing. Seems plausible, though I would say media platform company, and I'm not sure that it drove the switch to Intel. Still, interesting ideas. See also, It's Not About the DRM, Stupid.
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Posted by Ernest Miller
Holy cow! How could I have missed this? Yesterday, the consumer VCR celebrated its 30th birthday here in the USA, according to the Cedar Valley Courier (On Its 30th Birthday, the VCR Begins Its Goodbyes). Actually, I'm not sure where they got that date. There seem to be several different possibilities for dating the first consumer VCR in the US. The 1975 debut of the video cassette recorder forever changed American television viewing habits, but with the advent of new technology, the VCR may be entering its final decade. And, had a tremendous impact on copyright law, innovation, consumer expectations, Hollywood, you name it. Mark Johns, professor of communication studies at Luther College in Decorah, says the time-shift idea of watching shows at one's leisure is here to stay. And while technology will continue to improve the way we do that, the VCR lit the match that sparked the home entertainment fire. Yep, whatever the actual birthday is.
via PVR Wire
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Nearly Disposable Videocamera
USA Today reports on a one-time-use videocamera that records 20 mins worth of video ($29.95 One-Time-Use Video Cameras Ready). Another significant step on the way to electronic ubiquity. The possibilities for citizens journalism alone ... via too many to name
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June 07, 2005
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Slater on Mercora's New Web-Based Search
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June 04, 2005
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Put Any MP3 on the Net Into a Personal Podcast
Too lazy to download MP3s from the web and transfer them to your MP3 player? No problem, you can add any MP3 with a URL into a podcast! A VC explains how: This is Cool. The next time you synch your iPod, all the mp3s you tagged will be in your iPod. So start tagging and sharing mp3s with me and your friends. This is a great way to get into delicious an enjoy great music at the same time.
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June 01, 2005
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Review: Akimbo's Internet TV Stinks
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May 31, 2005
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Cellphone Hard Drives Taking Off
BusinessWeek reports that hard drive manufacturers are thrilled that more and more mobile phones will be incorporating hard drives (A Gold Rush in Little Hard Disks). However, I think that cellphone companies are being a bit optimistic: Cell phones with hard drives could help wireless service providers increase their customers' data usage. The carriers want consumers to download songs from their networks, thus using more wireless minutes each month. The problem is that consumers aren't accustomed to doing this. The new phones could act as training wheels by allowing people to upload songs from their PCs, the way they already do with MP3 players, says Nokia's Shallow. The expectation is that consumers eventually will start downloading songs wirelessly. By that time, hard-drive technology should improve, too. These companies must really think their consumers are dumb (but then again, who'd a thunk ridiculously expensive ringtones would be such a success). via MocoNews.net
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May 30, 2005
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PSP Phone?
MocoNews.net wonders whether Sony's PSP might ultimately be a threat to mobile phones (Sony’s PSP: A Competitive Threat?). Ultimately I think we are going to have convergence, but it won't be perfect. The PSP will probably ultimately have some phone capability, but it won't be great at it, but it would sure make an adequate backup or secondary phone, just as mobile phones make an adequate, but secondary portable game machine. Heck, I think that phone capability is going to be built into higherend cameras. Why not? It's cheap. It won't be a good phone, but it will be adequate in emergencies, just as cellphone cameras are adequate for quick snapshots.
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$100 Laptops for the Third World
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TiVo-like Devices for Radio Raise Violate Terms of Service
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May 29, 2005
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No Cable HDTV for Microsoft for Now
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Posted by Ernest Miller
Over on Darknet, JD Lasica interviews Andy Wolfe, formerly CTO of ReplayTV (Interview: Andy Wolfe, former CTO, ReplayTV). The interview is incredibly good. Highly recommended: Read the whole thing. A small sample: That’s why we were amazed there was such rigamarole around this. We sold 60,000 of these things. ATI sells a million cards a year that lets you record shows and attach it to your email. They still do. Sony sued us, but they let you record stuff on your Vaio and burn it to DVD and email it to anyone. AOL lets you attach a show to Instant Messaging. It’s amazingly hypocritical, with these companies and their software that are out there and can do all this stuff on the PC, they took it for granted, but when we came up with this device that ordinary people could use, they panicked. [emphasis in original] Alright, I can't resist, another sample: We did a marketing study and found that two things were in high demand: porn, and Bollywood, because Indian films are not widely distributed in the U.S.
That’s part of why this whole thing got a little threatening. We think that if there was a real service, that independent content would become an important part of that service. We didn’t think people would sign up for a service if it only had independent content. They’ll sign up for Harry Potter or Terminator 3. It’s the blockbusters that get people’s attention.
We got a call from churches who wanted to distribute their sermons on Sunday mornings by sending videos around. There are also surveillance applications. We found lots of people who were interested in building new things on top of this. We felt these other things would follow, but the entertainment had to drive it. [emphasis in original] For all you atheists and non-church-goers out there, if you're not familiar with how churches are using this technology, I suggest you go check it out. Many of them are really quite savvy.
Did I mention you should read the whole thing?
PS: The interview was conducted in June, 2003.
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May 28, 2005
Posted by Ernest Miller
The Guardian reports that Portsmouth is taking its public transportation to the next level with a sophisticated and public wireless network (Rush Hour Revolution) What Portsmouth desperately needed was to get more people out of cars and on to public transport. But the city's congested streets played havoc with bus timetables, and unreliable scheduling deterred people from taking the bus. To encourage more people to ditch their cars, the city invested in a wireless mesh network: a web of wireless antennae, situated at bus stops, which supply the city streets with a huge amount of air-bound internet bandwidth.
In practical terms, this means that passengers at any of the city's 37 real-time passenger information bus shelters are told exactly how long they will have to wait. This is not an estimate based on timetables, but accurate up-to-the-minute information beamed directly from the bus. Because bus operators have access to the exact location of their fleet, they can set schedules accordingly.
The city's 308 buses have been equipped with their own "ruggedised" PC, running a version of Windows. Each bus is able to monitor its precise position with a GPS (global positioning system) connection and upload information about its accurate arrival time using a mesh mobile radio data modem. Such systems could really do a lot to make public transportation more viable. Permitting the data to be used by others would allow for clever developers to create new applications based on using the public transportation network efficiently. Have you ever planned a route via one of the mapping websites? Well, why not be able to schedule a public transportation route and get real-time information on it?
via Smart Mobs
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Google Print Review
A brief review of Google Print from Insider Reports in which Google's latest is compared to Project Gutenberg (Google’s A Librarian? You Betcha! Google Print Goes Live). Once again, fixed term copyright would seem to be the only real solution to the problem of being able to distribute anything out of copyright but not written before 1923. via Teleread, which has this to say: Google Print is potentially an extremely useful service, especially if publishers understand this is a help, not a threat. Books in most cases will benefit if included. If a book is already in the database and metions a phrase of interest, you can find it lickety-split. The famous Google interface works great.
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May 25, 2005
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Resurgence in Usenet Filesharing
WIRED reports on the resurgence of Usenet for filesharing using new software tools that permit automatic gathering of scattered posts as well as searching (Want the Sith DVD? Go to Usenet). Usenet was once a target of Hollywood. It can become a target again. I'm not so certain that it doesn't remain vulnerable to many of the tactics that Hollywood has used against other filesharing programs.
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May 23, 2005
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Using the Appropriate Technology for a Particular Goal
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May 22, 2005
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Wax Cylinders Same as MP3s Says German Court
Well, not really. But ConstitutionalCode, who I am beginning to suspect speaks and reads German and may be located somewhere in Europe, reports that German courts have declared DVDs and Videotape to be the same for contractual copyright purposes (Germany: DVD = Video Cassette for Copyright Eploitation): The Bundesgerichthof affirmed a lower court ruling and noted that a mere technological novelty would not bring a new use (of commercial exploitation). The use must be an independent economic form of use, and since the DVD is to be seen as a replacement of the video cassette, this was not granted. I don't really have anything to say about the merits of this case, but I do think that "mere technological novelty" can be far more powerful than is normally realized. TiVo is often described as a digital VCR, but it is far more than that and leads to highly disruptive changes in viewing habits. Seemingly minor changes can spur development in radically different ways. DVDs are significantly different from videotapes. If we ever get rid of the DMCA, it is likely we will see all sorts of disruptive uses for them.
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May 16, 2005
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Free TiVo Market Research
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Sales of DVD Recorders Increasing
Yesterday, USA Today reported on increasing sales of DVD Recorders and DVRs (DVD Recorders Play it Again for More). The more these technologies become entrenched, the higher consumer expectations will become and the more difficult it will be for Hollywood to outlaw and control them.
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May 15, 2005
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Volume Production of ePaper on the Way?
e-Ink is one of those technologies with potentially revolutionary impact, so it is good to keep an eye on it, such as this report from DigiTimes that volume production of e-Paper will start in fourth quarter 2005 (not that I'll be holding my breath) (PVI Acquires e-Paper Unit from Philips). via engadget
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May 13, 2005
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New Distribution System for Automobiles
The Auto Channel announces an interesting new business model. GM has partnered with a television company, videogame producer and car accessory company to provide content modules for high end cars (Nickelodeon and Video Games Publisher Capcom Partner with PhatNoise to Drive Family Entertainment Into General Motor's New Line of Crossover Sports Vehicles). GM's Mobile Digital Media Player, powered by PhatNoise, includes a 40GB hard drive, which will come pre-loaded with premium content packages from the company's new partners. ...Multiple packages of additional games or additional television content are stored securely on the system, so consumers can purchase, unlock and enjoy more programming at their convenience. Priced at $19.95 each, the additional, packages from each of the new partners are easily accessed using the included PhatNoise software. Interesting model. Eventually, of course it will be just another distribution system for open content. via PaidContent.org
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Posted by Ernest Miller
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April 06, 2005
Posted by Ernest Miller
Mark Cuban predicts the coming death of the CD (The countdown for the extinction of CDs is about to begin). Well, of course. The CD is ultimately doomed as a format. However, I don't see anything to replace it that is supported by the major labels. Until the labels provide a format that is not locked into a particular vendor, is future-proofed and provides the security of purchase of physical ownership, the CD will remain relatively strong. In any case, what Cuban gets wrong is not that the CD will eventually die, but that music kiosks will replace it in retail outlets.
Kiosks are dead before they've even really got started.
Why go to a physical location to download music? Does it really make sense to go to Walmart with your MP3 player to download music? Such services would be better off if you could download wherever there is wireless access. Wireless should be integrated with your MP3 player.
What this will enable is the ability to download music wherever and whenever you can be encouraged to buy, generally when you are actually listening to music. "Hey, I like that song. I want it." This is why concert sales of music make a lot of sense.
But, as for retailers ... Hear a song that you like in Starbucks (excuse me, an independent coffee house)? It should be on the wireless ether in the shop, ready to be captured in your MP3 player. You hear a song you like, you press a button on your MP3 player and the song is automatically downloaded for you. Hear and save.
Is this good for music retailers? Nope. However, it is good for other retailers and anywhere people listen to music. If Starbucks (I mean, a non-Starbucks coffee house) plays an artist's music and people capture it in the store, perhaps there should be some sort of commission for Starbucks (you know what I mean). The cost of providing this service would certainly be much less than having a innumerable physical kiosks around (all the effort is on the backend, all the shop needs is wireless), and it would make impulse music grabbing much more convenient.
Of course, all this would work much smoother if there were some sort of voluntary blanket licensing.
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April 05, 2005
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1TB 3.5" Hard Drives in 2007
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Comcast Chief: PSP is the new DVR
Marketwatch runs a short story with comments from Brian Roberts, Comcast Communications CEO, on the changes the PSP will make to television and proving that Roberts understands neither PSPs nor consumers (Roberts: PSP is the new DVR): "There's going to be a very huge proportion of viewers that isn't watching [TV programming] live, and the industry is going to have to work together to find ways to deal with that," said Roberts, speaking during a panel discussion at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association National Show Monday in San Francisco. Yeah, but it won't be on Sony's DRM-equipped PSP. After all, we know how successful Sony's proprietary music players have been. Guess that is why it isn't called "Sony-casting."
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March 31, 2005
Posted by Ernest Miller
Mutichannel News reports that Time Warner Cable will be introducing new cable technology that is as useful as hitching posts for those new-fangled auto-mobiles (Time Warner to ‘Start Over’ on DVR): [I]f a customer came home at 9:15 p.m. and wanted to watch a program that started at 9 p.m., he or she could hit the Start Over button on their remote and watch the program from the beginning.
Users of the feature would also have to watch all of the commercials during the program -- Start Over disables the fast-forward feature on the remote. That pleased broadcasters, which have fretted over customers speeding through commercials on their DVRs. This would have been pretty dosh garn neat sometime last century. Let me one of the first to predict the demise of this "unnovative" new technology.
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November 09, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
I remain enamored of a concept I think of as the "server in the closet." I believe that, eventually, every home will have a fairly sophisticated server as the locus of the many networked device in the home. Everything from the VoIP phone system, presence-enabled media (IM), multimedia (podcasts, broadcatch), etc., etc., etc. There will be fat and thin clients in the home, all of which can be (but not required to) coordinate through home's central server. More importantly, this "server in the closet" will be part of bi-directional communication with the rest of the world wide network, turning every home not only into a receiver, but a transmitter.
Anyway, that is my dream and every once in awhile I note devices and other things that tend towards this future. Today's edition is about a terabyte server priced for the consumer.
If you can read Japanese, check out the press release: Buffalo Terastation [Japanese]. Otherwise, you might want to try Gizmodo (Buffalo TeraStation 1TB Network Storage).
$1,000 bucks and you get 1TB of storage, nicely configured with four drives, RAID and highspeed connectivity. That is some serious storage for the price. And how much info is in the Library of Congress? I seem to recall an estimate of 17 Terabytes. The day when the LOC is available on the desktop is not too far off.
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August 31, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
Well, it is official. According to C|Net News, XM Radio has withdrawn their PC hardware version from the market as a response to the software known as NeroSoft TimeTrax, which permitted people to record from XM Radio to MP3 (XM Radio pulls PC hardware amid piracy concerns). TimeTrax has previously been featured here on Hatch's Hit List (Hatch's Hit List #30 - XM Radio to MP3).
Interestingly, according to the article, pulling the hardware off the market was not done at the behest of the RIAA: "We are very concerned about a variety of technologies that essentially transform performances into music libraries," RIAA spokesman Steve Marks said. "We have communicated our concerns to XM and other broadcasters and Webcasters, (and told them) that we'd like to work together with them to address technologies that hijack these performances."
Marks said the RIAA wasn't behind the discontinuation of the PCR.
"We've raised the concern generally," he said. "They've obviously decided to take this action on their own. We've identified for them the potential problems." Sounds like Stockholm Syndrome to me: The Stockholm syndrome is a psychological state in which the victims of a kidnapping, or persons detained against their free will - prisoners - develop a relationship with their captor(s). This solidarity can sometimes become a real complicity, with prisoners actually helping the captors to achieve their goals or to escape police. UPDATE 1955 PT
Educated Guesswork (Death to XM TiVo): OK, I can totally understand the objection that people will use this to build a local library of songs--not that I think that should be illegal, but I understand it--but this last paragraph is, as far as I can tell, total nonsense. The gating factor in song availability over KaZaA is unlikely to be the ability to get a ripped version of the song. It's not like there's any shortage of consumers with Britney Spears CDs and CD-ROM drives. In fact, I would expect the availability if this sort of technology to decrease the amount of file sharing by making it easier to collect a library of known-to-be-correct songs. Indeed, and even if your rip the songs, won't you still be paying subscription fees?
Techdirt (Is XM Bending Over Backwards To Make Satellite Radio Less Useful?): It's quite a world when it's considered a problem that someone has made your service more useful. The note at Broadband Reports also claims that XM is considering removing USB ports from future equipment for the same reason. Both of these seem unconfirmed at the moment, so it would be nice if there were some real confirmation on either rumor. However, the satellite radio business is in a tough position. For all the success they've been claiming in signing up customers, they're nowhere near profitability. Their capital costs are incredibly high, and the thing they need, more than anything else, is more subscribers. Shutting down tools that make their offering more compelling just means they're making their job that much more difficult.
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August 30, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
Slashdot points to an extremely interesting Google Gmail hack - the Gmail File System (GmailFS - The Google File System): GmailFS provides a mountable Linux filesystem which uses your Gmail account as its storage medium. ... GmailFS supports most file operations such as read, write, open, close, stat, symlink, link, unlink, truncate and rename. Most of the comments on Slashdot deal with the fact that this hack probably violates Google's terms of service and may result in users having their accounts abruptly terminated. However, there are some insightful ones ( Re: GoogleOS).
More importantly, this does point towards another piece of the internet operating system puzzle (or, more specifically, Google Operating System).
Gee, I wonder if the advent of a Google Operating System will have any impact on copyright law, telecom regulation, etc., etc., etc...
UPDATE 2200 PT
On a somewhat related note Discourse.net (GoogleWatch Says 'Google Is Dying').
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May 28, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
There is an interesting article in the Java Developer's Journal on what the killer app for JXTA might be ("Make Every PC a Server" - Is That JXTA's Killer App?). I'm not interested in the specific technology so much (JXTA is pretty cool, though) as I am interested in the proposed killer app - every PC a server. One of the problems with the current architecture of the internet, I believe, is that it relies too much on the client/server distinction. In our collaborative, creative future, we are interested in both publishing and consuming. It only makes sense that our home PCs will not only fetch content and resources but serve the same, some of which might not even be ours, but will be authorized for distribution. The server in the closet is not simply about sharing resources within the home network, but outside of it as well.
What this means simply is that, unlike client/server, JXTA is client/server and server/client or even server-to-server or client-to-client. The information, storage, processing, and communications can start at either end. In the world of applications this also means that I don't have to work in a world of centralized resources where there are multiple issues. The worst problem of course is just the impedance mismatch between the world of application and the world of Web applications.
Unfortunately, our current telecommunications regulatory structure, among other things, makes the possibility of true bi-directional communications from the home difficult to take full advantage of.
via Unmediated
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May 26, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
According to a Reuters wirestory that was widely published, including on C|Net News, Sony will be incorporating its new "Cell" processor in both the next generation PlayStation and what they call a "network television" (Sony says 'Cell'-based TV ready by 2006).
The article lacks any detail about what, exactly, a "network television" is, but the image the words invoke is fascinating. I would imagine that one could rather easily broadcatch with a network television, for one.
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April 27, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
A number of gadget websites have noted what sounds like nifty new technology, an external hard drive especially designed for Digital Video Recorders (DVRs). The device, from hard drive manufacturer Maxtor, connects to an existing DVR to provide up to an additional 160 hours of recording capability. Read the press release: Maxtor Expands QuickView Outside the Box.
What the press release doesn't tell you:
The first devices will be available in the summer of 2004 and have an eSATA interface. Maxtor is exploring USB 2.0 and FireWire/1394 connections. Good enough.
However, the product will not be available in retail initially, but rather via your cable/satellite provider. In other words, you won't own it. Actually, ownership is probably not a good idea because the device will not be portable and will be designed to connect to a single DVR. Moving or switching providers will be fun.
Furthermore, according to Maxtor's press contact:
Due to content protection/privacy, the Expander will not communicate/share files with the PC.
Content privacy? Not sure what that is. Regardless, why are so many new consumer devices being designed deliberately crippled? Why is the United States sacrificing so much potential innovation? Perhaps, Mary Hodder is right and it is time for "Silicon Valley Lamented".
via Designtechnica
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April 09, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
Not all technological advancements that increase the ability of the average person to produce professional-quality video come in the form of software or silicon. Sometimes they come in the form of $14 worth of galvanized pipe, washers, nuts and a barbell weight.
Multimedia artist Johnny Chung Lee has developed the poor man's steadicam. What is a steadicam? According to the Steadicam FAQ, it "is a camera stabilization device that, in the hands of a skilled operator, combines the image steadiness of a dolly with the freedom of movement of a hand-held shot." Normally, the cheapest 3rd-party steadicams go for $500 and up. Lee's version costs about $14 in parts ($14 Steadicam). It might not have all the bells and whistles, but seems to do a pretty darn good job, considering the price.
Sometimes it is nice to note that not all cool hacks are digital.
via mehack
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March 15, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
USA Today reports on a rather bizarre market niche: companies that are charging people to display artwork on their HDTV sets (Start-ups turn flat-panel TVs into works of art):
An expensive new digital television is big, beautiful, flat and can hang on the wall. Some might even consider the set a piece of art.
So why not display Picasso, Renoir, Monet and other masters on the screen itself?
Three companies have recently formed to help consumers do just that.
The article notes that HDTV sets are rather expensive, from $500 for the smallest models to over $17,000 for nerdvana sets. On top of this initial expense, the three companies discussed in the article expect consumers to pay a nice additional chunk of change to display licensed artwork on the sets.
Techdirt wonders if people can't come up with simpler, cheaper (presumably free) solutions (That Flat Screen TV Needs A Screensaver).
I wonder if there isn't a solution where companies pay me to have an HDTV. Why couldn't advertisers pay people to play commercials on their HDTV sets and subsidize the cost of the plasma set in return? Instead of a Matisse, why not a McDonald's?
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Posted by Ernest Miller
Educated Guesswork recounts some of the problems with the iTrip FM transmitter for the iPod, which allows you to listen to your iPod through your car radio (iPod and iTrip annoyances). I have frequently had similar problems with MP3 players when trying to use them in a car.
What I would like is a nice cradle I can put my MP3 player when I'm in the car. The cradle would, of course, connect directly to my car stereo. Is that too much to ask for?
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March 10, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
APEX Digital, makers of famously inexpensive DVD players, is launching its first networked DVD player (APEX AD-8000N Connected DVD Player). The new device will not only play DVDs, but will be able to play files stored on a local computer, such as those movies you downloaded (legitimately, of course). APEX devices have also been famously hackable (Apex/Hiteker DVD Hacking Pages). How hard will it be and how long will it take for hackers to figure out a way to backup your DVDs on computer through the new APEX AD-8000N?
via engadget
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March 09, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
Well, just after I posted the last article on "Technology Advances for 'Server in the Closet'," I came across a recent speech by an Intel honcho on the subject. Louis Burns is Vice President, General Manager, Desktop Platforms Group for Intel and he goes into some depth about where Intel thinks these things are going (Intel Developer Forum, Spring 2004 - Louis Burns Keynote).
Surprisingly, the speech is really quite good at describing the potential for such devices and Burns seems to almost get it. I highly recommend reading the full article.
The basic concept is straightforward: "It's simply giving users what they want, any content on any device, anywhere in their home. Simple to say, difficult to do, but exactly what they're asking us for." Unfortunately, implementation is not straightforward, especially when you try to accomplish two opposed things at the same time, such as implementing DRM and making things easy and transparent to connect to each other. For example, Intel is sucking up to the MPAA:
We talked earlier, it really has to deliver on what we call premium movie content. Doing your own personal pictures or videos is cool, but we need premium movie content.
So with that in mind, we've been working very closely with Movielink. Movielink is one of the first movers, the fast movers on delivering premium movie content through the IP network.
Yeah, integrated DRM, that is what consumers want. That will make it easy to get content on any device, anywhere.
The other problem is that Burns shorts the potential for content creation and sharing outside the home. Near the end of the speech he devotes two whole paragraphs to the idea of consumers creating content. The example he uses, organizing and manipulating your digital photos, is pretty lame given the incredible possibilities. There is also little talk about how one would then share their creations in an effective, efficient way.
Still, this is an important vision statement from Intel.
via PVR Blog
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Posted by Ernest Miller
I've always thought that one of the forms that convergence will ultimately take is the "server in the closet," a device that stores media for access/display throughout the home as well as handling some, but not all computing tasks (Longhorn and the Server in the Closet). Although such technology is available today, simple consumer-oriented versions are several years off, at least. Still, I like to keep an eye on this stuff. C|Net News has a couple of articles about enterprise technology advances in this area. Though the technology is aimed for the enterprise, I imagine it running my own home network.
In "Faster Fujitsu drive plays catch-up" we see still yet more advances for serious storage/performance hard drives:
The 300GB hard-disk drive will let customers build storage systems with "significant enterprise storage capacity with a focus on cost-effective performance," Joel Hagberg, vice president for marketing at Fujitsu Computer Products of America, said in a statement.
I think, mom and dad can watch stored versions of Law and Order, while the kids stream South Park and the latest music.
There are also a couple of interesting articles on blade servers (Blade PC company links up with IBM and HP to put blade servers on a diet). The first article discusses blade PC technology, where the display, keyboard and network connection are the only thing the user needs ... the PC is stored in the closet. The second article talks about storing more blade servers in less space. For many consumers, space is certainly a consideration.
This stuff is in no way ready for the consumer. But I can dream, can't I?
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Posted by Ernest Miller
MIT's Technology Review (reg. req.) reports on a new e-book reader that uses digital ink from E Ink (Dazzling Display):
E-book readers—handhelds that display the contents of book files downloaded from the Internet—just got a whole lot more readable. Philips Electronics and Cambridge, MA-based E Ink have developed a prototype electronic display that looks like paper and ink, not a dim, fuzzy screen. The device uses E Ink’s tiny fluid-filled balls containing oppositely charged black and white particles, which are layered in a thin film on a sheet of plastic or glass. Connecting this film to electronics allows the reader to display text and graphics by controlling the voltage across each ball, determining whether it appears black or white. The result: higher contrast than newspapers and better resolution than laptop screens. The 15-centimeter-diagonal display is about half the weight and thickness of comparable liquid-crystal readers. It has been in the works for a few years, but this is the first version that is ready for commercial production. Look for the new readers to hit shelves later this year.
E Ink has been one of those promising technologies that has been just around the corner for the past decade or so. Its display quality is superior to LCDs, it is lighter, can be applied to a variety of surfaces, its power requirements are lower and it can retain an image even with no power supplied. As Teleread says, E Ink is "tantalizingly close to paper."
I'll wait until I play with one myself, but this does seem to be a major step forward. If E Ink acheives its potential it would likely lead to a major change in how humans relate to text. Not to mention all the interesting e-book filesharing discussions that will inevitably follow.
via engadget
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March 04, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
Ed Felten writes about the Freedom to Tinker, "the right of technologists and citizens to tinker with technological devices." Anyone who has ever pulled something apart and tried, successfully or not, to put it back together understands the freedom Felten is talking about. While Felten focuses mainly on the legal and policy issues, there is now a blog (not associated with Felten) dedicated to practical examples of the "Freedom to Tinker," though Felten might not like the name too much.
mehack describes itself thus:
extend, personalise, break, poke, peek, learn. hacking hacking hacking. ever had that desire to pop open your tivo, your xbox, cell phone, or your car? ever wanted to know what the hardware and software hackers are up to? this is what mehack is all about.
we all know the frustration in discovering that there isn't something out there that does exactly what you want it to do. we've all fantasized about doing it ourselves, or taking something off the shelf and modding it. we're going to be tracking people, projects that are doing both -- we're interested in those that take the "hell with it, i'll just build it" attitude, and we're interested in those that buy those things off the shelf and pop them open to coerce them into doing what they want. and we're interested in the tools they use too.
our agenda is simple -- we want to learn from others. we're not interested in doing anything destructive. and we're not interested in piracy. we just want things that we can hack on. and most of all, we want to make it simple for people like you to start building.
There are already some good posts on the hecklebot, audiotron api, and playing with linksys access points upping the firmware.
Add it to your RSS feed when adding the new gadget blog, engadget.
via PVR Blog
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February 27, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
A couple of weeks ago, I posted on an innovative new RSS format for Personal Media Recorders, such as the TiVo (RSS for TV, Music). Imagine an RSS feed that would program your TiVo. Now, Andrew Grumet, the developer of this great idea, has implemented a web-based version: Program My TiVo!.
This is great. I would love to have an easy means by which my friends and family could set up something to be recorded for me. My brother and I are always telling each other to record certain programs via TiVo. This would save all the forgetting and stuff.
via PVRBlog
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February 11, 2004
Posted by Ernest Miller
Andrew Grumet is developing a very interesting TiVo hack (RSSTV: Syndication for your PVR). Basically the idea is to share PVR program recording information via RSS. So, when you subscribed to an RSSTV feed, your PVR would record the shows in the feed. Friends and bloggers could easily suggest shows to each other and even create their own virtual networks. Channels would no longer manner; we would watch Mary TV, or the Felten tech channel, based off these RSSTV feeds. Goodbye NBC, |
