Slashback: GSM, Buffy, Wobble

Slashback tonight brings you updates on the future of Iraq's cellular infrastructure, the real reason Buffy is departing, Intuit and Macrovision, and more. Read on below for the details.

Macrovision, everyone's favorite killjoy. byteCoder writes "Apparently Macrovision marketing is trying to put a good spin on Intuit's plan to eliminate the use of Macrovision's DRM software for pre-paid copies of TurboTax (as discussed last week here). This reminds me of the classic Monty Python line: "I'm not dead yet!""

That's got to be some spin -- An anonymous reader points to Eric Hellweg's Tech Investor on CNN, which suggests that the backlash which triggered Intuit's copy-protection reversal may have cost the company $100 million.

Can I use my Go Phone there? An anonymous reader writes ""In a follow-up to the Slashdot article 'CDMA vs GSM in Post-war Iraq,' The Reg has a story about how MCI has won the contract to rebuild the mobile phone system with GSM. This is a good thing for the people of Iraq that GSM is being used, GSM is the world standard and several U.S. companies (AT&T for one) are switching to GSM."

Adding Money to Insult. Neophytus writes "Remember the 'Star Wars Kid' that waxy.org found a couple of weeks ago? Well after over a million downloads the guy has been found. His name is Ghyslain, a 15-year-old tenth grader living in Quebec. Jish contacted him and got a brief, but interesting, interview."

No unlimited copy privileges in jail. the-dude-man writes "As reported here A 19-year-old pleaded guilty to costing DirectTV for leaking information about the secrets of DirectTV's most advanced anti-piracy technology to hacker websites. As part of the plea deal, Serebryany admitted to copying and distributing 800 megabytes of scanned documents from DirecTV, costing the company $68,000 in investigatory costs. Both sides stipulated to sentencing factors that carry six months to a year in prison under federal guidelines -- assuming no prior convictions. The sentencing court can depart from the guidelines only if the judge finds that the proposed sentence doesn't adequately reflect the facts of the case. According to court records affidavit, Serebryany's adventures began when he found himself with access to some of DirecTV's most coveted technological secrets while working for his uncle at a document imaging company at the office of a Los Angeles law firm, Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue. The firm was representing the satellite TV company in a lawsuit against NDS, the makers of the smart cards DirecTV uses to control access to its signal."

For every 11 discontented customers, there's one of these happy oddballs! RedWingsSuck writes "A few weeks ago, I asked /. users what they thought about the wobble my 12" Power Book has developed. Last week Apple Care told me that I could send my laptop off for repairs. I decided to drive to the local Apple Store, about 15 minutes away, and drop it off. They had my laptop for less than 3 days. When I went in to pick it up, they told me that it was sent in and the BC (bottom cover) was repaired. It doesn't wobble anymore, so I am happy. I was really surprised with how fast it was fixed. I didn't mean to sound like I regretted my AiBook purchase in the last post, and now I even happier."

Relax, it's a television show. HardcoreGamer writes "Buffy creator Joss Whedon responds to questions from New York Times readers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer as it comes to the end of its 7 season run. He also discusses the now-canceled Firefly and concludes with one of the key reasons why the show is ending: 'I'm simply too tired.'"

Comments

I'm sure the fact

[Anonymous Coward]

That Sarah Michelle Gellar wants out, that the ratings are declining, and that no one wants Dawn the Vampire Slayer all contributed to Buffy leaving the air, too.

Re:I'm sure the fact

[Chasing Amy]

As for the ratings, I have to say that I'm in the happy minority who *LOVED* Season 6. I think it was great for Joss and co. to put Buffy through that very dark and disillusioning period that many early twentysomethings fall into for a while after school is over and real life sets in. I think so many long-time fans were just too dedicated to the more lighthearted highschoolish years to really approve of the direction of Season 6, so the show's ratings dipped too far for comfort.

However, Season 6 contains some of the best writing and dialogue, and while not everyone likes the plot arcs used (too dark for so many tastes) they actually touched on some really interesting stuff that's true to life. You could really see Joss and Marti's early-20's angst just pouring onto the screen, darker and more disturbing than *Buffy* had been before. The lighthearted edge that fans loved through the highschool and early college show really *couldn't* be there as much when Buffy herself was to disillusioned and depressed. The writing and dialogue was as good as ever, but with the harder edge and lack of as much softening lighthearted stuff too many longtime fans were put off.

But think of all the great things that happened in Season 6. The finale episodes, with the death of Tara and Willow's evilification, were some of the most riveting of the series--even if Tara's death *was* hard for a lot of fans, particularly in the lesbian community. The musical episode, obviously, stands on its own and is so highly acclaimed by critics and most fans that it's high on the list of Best Episodes Ever. Even if the Doublemeat Palace episode was mindnumbing on many levels, it accurately captured the awful experience of being an underling at the menial jobs so many people work. Buffy and Spike had one of the most intense and incredible love scenes in the whole series, and we got to watch their relationship decline into the degradation that really does happen in abusive or unhealthy relationships. There was so much great stuff there--great, but often too dark for most *Buffy* fans.

As for "Dawn the Vampire Slayer"--God, I was so hoping that the big "show you the world" speech Buffy gave Dawn at the end of Season 6's finale would turn into more screentime with the maturing Dawn, but it really didn't go very far. The Potentials ended up with the instruction that Dawn was seemingly going to get, based on Buffy's remarks at the end of the past season. Mmmm, little Dawnie really butters my toast! Hey, Michelle Trachtenberg *does* turn 18 and legal this year. ;-) Yummy. I was tempted to go to BuffyAuction.com and bid on the outfit she wore when she was seducing that jock in Season 7, but that would just be too creepy--plus my girlfriend wouldn't quite fit into it anyway. :-o

GSM/GPRS

[yet another coward]

How much sooner than the United States will Iraq get a GSM/GPRS network? AT&T, T-Mobile and Cingular are taking their time. Maybe the Iraqi people will get affordable data plans, too.

The sad thing about the geek kid

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that so many other geeks find him pitiful. If his self-esteem wasn't low already...

A good thing for GSM?

[z4ce]

No,
It's not a good thing for Iraq for GSM to be implemented. GSM is really aging. The only way to get even moderately high-speeds is using the piggy-back GPRS. Reconstructing GSM to be 3G is very difficult transition path. If it weren't for Quallcom's patents on CDMA, nobody would be using GSM which is based on TDMA.

I really like some of the stuff GSM has done with respect to the phones themselves, such as the use SIMM card for storing the phones information. But CDMA is by far the technically superior solution, however patent incumbered. Building an infrastructure from the ground up on TDMA technology is just brain-dead politics.

GSM vs CDMA

[jbf]

Yes, GSM is more widely supported than CDMA, but note that the GSM folks are having a heck of a time providing 3G support, whereas the two big CDMA providers in the states (Verizon and Sprint) have both rolled out huge 3G networks. The reason for this is that 1xRTT is a better standard for data. By contrast, DoCoMo is losing money hand over fist deploying WCDMA.

GSM is everywhere largely because of European licensing agencies requiring GSM, and those same restrictions are built into the licenses for 3G spectrum (with UMTS). NOT because GSM is a better technology. CDMA gets better efficiency (more users per channel per cell) than GSM, especially in lightly loaded areas.

I don't see why GSM-everywhere is so desirable. The conveinences everyone claims that GSM has (eg SIM cards) are already being standardized in cdma2000, and will be here soon. GSM is a beast from the past, pushed only by government regulations. For those who say AT&T's switch shows that GSM is the future, remember that AT&T is switching from a TDMA network that's technologically equivalent to GSM (and hence inferior to CDMA), and that AT&T is having all sorts of network problems as a result, since they have to hard-block their frequencies, effectively creating a huge fragmentation problem.

Re:GSM vs CDMA

[rasteri]

You're forgetting one thing (and it's possibly the most important)... implementing CDMA in Iraq would effectively kill roaming between it and nearby countries. I think that's a significant enough reason to warrant a GSM mobile network. Besides, the so called "advantages" of CDMA are useless to Iraqis (High data rates? Most people in Iraq don't even have a computer, let alone a portable one). GSM offers some unique features (such as SIM cards) which almost certainly would be useful. Just because a technology is technically better in the US doesn't neccesarily mean it's well suited for a completely different country.

I think I'll release...

[MoThugz]

a video of myself doing some Neo-esque bullet-dodging kunf-fu moves... maybe I'll get an iPod too.

All joking aside, from the interview, Ghyslain (the starwars kid) acted quite mature for someone his age... aware that his not-meant-for-public-viewing is now world famous he chose not to be bitter or overly proud of this. He seems to just let it pass as a page in his life story.

Anyway, he did make me laugh, and what a way to start what is anticipated to be a loooong busy day.

Thanks Ghyslain!

Re:I think I'll release...

[tbmaddux]

He seems to just let it pass as a page in his life story.

Exactly. He's got much more embarassing/humiliating things to go through when he gets shoved into a cubicle. For now, his reaction was much the same as Ellen Feiss: "Oh, whatever, I think it's kind of funny. These people don't have lives..." They're kids. The fact that they get this flash-in-the-pan fame says more about us than them.

Completely detached....

[tcc]

Am I the only one who was completely detached of that last buffy episode? well actually from the last 2 seasons? She could have died and I don't think it would have cared less... I was almost worried that she would die and Faith replace her for another stagnating 5 seasons....

I'm sure I am not the only one who was continuing to watch it because he "invested time into watching the 5 previous seasons that were really cool and I need to know how it will all end"... the ending of season 5 when she closes the portal by jumping into it was like...at least 10x better than yesterday's serie ending.... Its a good thing that this show finally ends eventho I was a big fan the 5 first seasons. When I see shows like family guy, B5 crusade and firefly being cancelled and see crap like this season's of buffy still on, it makes me wonder.

Now I just hope the Angel show doesn't go the same way.

One show that I really enjoyed this year was John Doe, is there a second season of this? this is probably one of the good findings this year, new actors good story, just enough "fiction" to keep it "real", I like the balance and the general concept.