Slashback: Grammy, Sirius, Levies

Slashback this evening with another round of clarifications and additional links regarding recent Slashdot stories. Steve Job's Grammy acceptance speech, details on the proposed higher levy on CD-Rs in Canada, more on the claimed clash between satellite radio and 802.11 devices, and more.

After the bowling ball, the mouse. jonny writes: "Most people here know the story of the Mac and the growth of the GUI. Most of you probably don't know the whole story though, namely you probably don't know the story of the mouse, important as it is... Interesting too."

Additional reading material for the math-inclined. Bruce Schneier dropped a note with some good reading material for anyone interested in the recent Slashdot posts on factoring and SNMP. "I've written essays on the Bernstein factoring paper and SNMP SNMP vulnerability."

Americans shouldn't be too smug about this stuff. An Anonymous Coward writes, in response to the proposed increase in levies on various recordable media in Canada: "An excellent FAQ including information on how manufacturers, importers, and consumers can avoid the levies on CDRs and CDRWs"

It's not all sweetness and light. Lord Omlette writes: "Ok, I know ya'll ran the story on Apple winning a grammy. But! The acceptance speech got cut for time reasons & stuff, so Dr. Dobb's Journal put a transcript of the speech online for posterity & stuff. I didn't see it in the previous Slashdot story or the Apple press release, so I thought you might be interested."

Uncle, uncle, make him give me his toy! Sabalon writes "NetStumbler is running an article about Intersil and Motorola's response to Sirius and XM's appeal to the FCC to restrict the 2.4Ghz band. Intersil points out some interesting points, such as why the frequencies directly surrounding those that Sirius uses is not an issue, and Motorola believes the source of the interference is not 2.4Ghz, but probably engine and ignition noise."

How to save some very expensive seconds. In case a 23-second kernel compile is too long to bear, perhaps you just need to upgrade a bit. An Anonymous Coward writes: "Linux Weekly News reports that a kernel was compiled in 7.5 seconds on a Power4 with 6 GB of RAM."

Finally, it has come to this. Another reader points out: "Be, Inc., the company that developed and marketed the loved Be operating system, has announced sale of the be.com domain.

This would be a great time for someone to sweep it up. ;) *cough*OpenBeOS*cough*"

Comments

6 gigs or 60 gigs?

[neo8750]

quoting the article

hardware: 32 way logical partition, 1.1GHz POWER4, 60G RAM

from poster:

"Linux Weekly News reports that a kernel was compiled in 7.5 seconds on a Power4 with 6 GB of RAM."

60 gigs is a lot different then 6 gigs.

Re:from the speech

[epiphani]

Not commenting on the speach, the issue of "arists" complaining about MP3's is accually quite amusing.

Most artists really dont care about MP3s. The fact is, it costs them virtually nothing. It is only the record companies that care about mp3s. As I understand it, the artist usually gets relatively minimal money from a record - generally a small percentage such as %5 - simply because the recording company says

"We put up the money for your $30,000 recording studio stint. We put up the money for your $10,000 music video. We put up the money for the distribution of your album. You're famous now, go make your money some other way."

Most "artists" make their money from touring, endorsements, and generally working their asses off. The ones that accually care about mp3s are being anal, because mp3s make arists more popular, and sells tickets to their show.

Tax Levy Google Cache

[Jardine]

Just in case the site gets slashdotted, here's the google cache of the the Tax Levy FAQ

2.4 GHz

[thesmos]

Microwave ovens also run in the 2.4 GHz range and they cause all kinds of 802.11 interference. At my house using the microwave kills my WLAN. Are they trying to get rid of my nuker too?

Re:2.4 GHz

[ChadN]

Ummm, what is the difference? RF and "microwaves" are the same (ultimately photons in a certain frequency range). I see what you are saying, I guess (that in beaming photons at the food, some photons sent out in directions that never even go to the shielded enclosure); but it could be misconstrued by some that RF and "microwave leakage" are two different types of radiation.

Regarding the Blank Media tariff

[Evangelion]

Okay, I'm glad that FAQ got linked to finally.

Why is everyone overlooking the reason that this levy got introduced in the first place -- it was introduced to compensate music artists and publishers for the fact that copying audio, for private use, is now legal.

What this means, is that you can stop by future shop, pick up 6 spindles of CDRs, come to my house, and copy all of my 300 or so CDs. Legally. As long as you don't use them for a public performace.

That's why the levy was introduced -- because by making this legal, the goverenment of Canada knowingly reduced the revenues of Canadian musicians and publishers.

Now, if you are of the opinion that a goverenment should be able to knowingly do that sort of thing to an industry in it's country without some form of compensation, then that's another matter -- but to complain about this levy being 'unfair' requires that you look at it from the perspective of the publishers who were affected by the copyright amendment in 1997.

Also, keep in mind that the new, proposed levies are just that -- proposed. It's unlikely that they'll pass with the current amounts.

Re:Regarding the Blank Media tariff

[Evangelion]

You're misusing the term pirate -- piracy is by definition a violation of copyright law.

Copying CDs off of a friend (as long as you are the one doing the copying) for your use isn't illegal, so it's not piracy.

So, yes, you are paying for the ability to copy music without buying it directly. That's the whole point of this levy, as a result of the private copying amendment.

Sorry. I know you were trying for hyperbole, but you didn't quite get there.

Re:Regarding the Blank Media tariff

[Ionizor]

There seems to be a point being missed here...

The Copyright Act allows you to make copies of your music for personal use. You can't (legally) go to somebody's house and copy all of their audio CDs. Making a tape to play in your car is okay. Letting your friend make a tape to play in his car is not.

Re:They keep talking about the mac

[Raunchola]

But I seem to recall having a mouse for my Apple IIe. Am I remembering wrong?

No you aren't. A mouse for the Apple IIe does exist.