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

First Mouse?

[webword]

I can't believe that the story about the mouse doesn't include pictures and a description of Engelbart's first mouse. Outrageous!

Be Trademark?

[RN]

What's going to happen to Be's trademarks and other IP?

I wonder if others can use names like OpenBe without fear of getting sued now.

Canadians should be smug!

[joebp]

Americans shouldn't be too smug about this stuff [...] proposed increase in levies on various recordable media in Canada

Canada: Proposed increase in levies on recordable media/assorted storage.
USA: SSSCA.

Given the either/or choice, I'd rather pay stupid fees on media.

So, as I say: Canadians should be smug!

Re:Canadians should be smug!

[wide_awake]

Canadians really *should* be smug. There are some pretty simple ways to get around this levy:

- If you buy any blank recording media outside Canada and use it yourself they will not be subject to the levy.

- If you are a manufacturer or importer, you can avoid the levy entirely on your products as long as you record some sound on the media before you sell it. The sound recorded on the media can even be erased. Clearly this is not an option for CD-Rs, but for devices that include a hard drive, simply recording a sound on the drive and then erasing it exempts the drive from the levy. This is because (as the legislation states) "blank audio recording medium means a recording medium, regardless of its material form, onto which a sound recording may be reproduced, that is of a kind ordinarily used by individual consumers for that purpose and on which no sounds have ever been fixed..."

Also, if you're Canadian you should check out this link and tell them that iPods and such are not recording devices. Alternatively, tell Apple and friends to record a lame greeting message to avoid the stupid levy.

The last cool thing is this: "It does not matter whether you own the original sound recording (on any medium), you can legally make a copy for your own private use."

Rock on, Canadians.

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?

MP3 players with HDs

[Portent]

Note that if the companies that make mp3 players with hard drives just have a sample or intro mp3 on them when they get shipped, the $21 per gig levy is gone. If they don't do this simple little thing, then a 5 gig mp3 player would have a $125 levy imposed on it.

Eddy

Oh the humanity!

[aztektum]

Torn between a microwave burito and pr0n

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: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.

Re:NOT 6 GB RAM

[rtaylor]

It's a kernel compile.

If it really uses any more than 1GB ram with file system cache, binary cache and compiler results I would be surprised. That said, it's been a very long time since I've compiled it. Anyway, 6gb, 60gb, or 600gb isn't any different for this operation (aside from increased addressing time, possible transfer delays, bank switching and other silly stuff).

802.11x is more important than satellite

[aminorex]

Actually, if there is a conflict, the satellite
people should give up the frequency, because it
is far more important to the public interest that
802.11x continue to grow and flourish than that
any given satellite band be proof from interference.

OTOH, perhaps that is the complainant's intent:
They really want a new frequency allocation, and
just aren't willing to say so outright, for some
obscure reason.