Back in July, BMG caused an uproar over the bugs in its copy-protect scheme which rendered many CDs unplayable. Even given Universal's generous promise of unquestioned returns, this latest attempt to copy-protect seems likely to generate a lot of resentment.
It would be interesting to know what kind of copy-protect they're devising that results in such profoundly "unplayable" CDs. Some of the major players attempting to win the early lead in the copy-protection tech field include TTR Technologies and Midbar Tech.
CD Media World discusses how to create a copy-protected CD. Personally I wouldn't want to, but I think it's interesting to see the business maneuverings and keep abreast of the technological tricks they're trying out on us.
Professor Tolkien made a brilliant early reputation as a scholar of Early and Middle English. Many English courses assign his Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Pearl. His most significant critical essays are collected in the volume: The Monsters and the Critics, including his discussion of Beowulf.
For those of you who consider academic texts painful to read, give Tolkien's scholarly work a go. You'll be surprised by how readable they really are!
Wired news has also run this story with some more details about some of the services (and restrictions):
RealOne Music consumers will be prevented from moving their music from a PC to a portable MP3 player because of digital rights management technology attached to the files.
There is a limit of 100 downloads and 100 streams per month from the Warner Music, EMI, and BMG catalogs as well.
"Certainly this won't happen if you are in a telecommuting position"
After three years of telecommuting as IT support for a dotcom, I dispute this. Thanks to email and instant messaging, you can form tight bonds with coworkers online, chatting around a virtual watercooler. It's nice to back that up with some F2F (Face to Face) meetings, but hardly necessary. Many coworkers have come and gone (as have I) but the friendships remain strong.
Telecommuting also helps preserve office friendships. You don't hear and see the annoying realities of your coworkers or vice versa.
Anti-unionism feeds into corporate agenda
on
Morals and Layoffs
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· Score: 1
Unions, already on the wane, have never gained much hold in the Tech Nation, populated by educated, mobile, skilled and independent-minded workers.
This anti-unionism fed right into the hands of employers. They buttered workers up with promises of get-rich-quick options packages, funky office toys and a sympathetic environment. Who could begrudge those eighty hour work weeks when your dotcom needed you?
Those dotcom feel-good moments were already waning when tech stocks went into freefall and layoffs loomed. Unions wouldn't save everyone from layoffs. I'll be the first to admit they have their problems. But the blatant abuse of tech employees (many often not even granted that status in the contract-labour world) should be a wake-up call. Internet Week reported on a dotcom unionization trend back in January. Maybe it is worth a second look!
Playing a game as your job sounds ideal, but these are young kids we're talking about. What begins as fun for them (powerleveling characters, finding "phat lewt") won't stay that way for long.
Traders call the shot about where they can play and what they do with their time. The kids probably only see a small fraction of the enormous profits being generated from their virtual loot. And the online communities in which they play usually hold them in contempt, no matter how high their level or sweet their loot, because they are known as loot farmers. Doesn't sound like their life is quite so hot when I think about it this way.
Frankly, I'd run like heck from any online community that expected me to run videophones or other video-streaming technology from my home as a key to participating in community.
I prefer to be judged simply on my words and actions. If I have to go back and explain away an inadvertantly offensive comment, I learn to be more careful in the future.
In addition, I don't sit down in a soundproofed cubicle to post to my favorite message boards or log into IRC; I do these while in the midst of cooking dinner, spelling new words for my five year old and listening to music. Life sends me AFK for a few more often than I'd like, but it does the same for my buddies. Want to sit staring at a bunch of empty chairs or cut video connections? Not me! Timeshifting, multitasking and conforming to the other needs of members' lives are things that virtual communities can and should continue to do. Otherwise we might as well all go down to the local pub.
So let's not run to hastily into the streaming video era. F2F is fine for some things in life but hardly critical to build a sense of community. Successful online communities have and can build compelling member images in other ways(avatars, sig files, profiles, websites).
Slashdot Mirror
Back in July, BMG caused an uproar over the bugs in its copy-protect scheme which rendered many CDs unplayable. Even given Universal's generous promise of unquestioned returns, this latest attempt to copy-protect seems likely to generate a lot of resentment.
It would be interesting to know what kind of copy-protect they're devising that results in such profoundly "unplayable" CDs. Some of the major players attempting to win the early lead in the copy-protection tech field include TTR Technologies and Midbar Tech.
CD Media World discusses how to create a copy-protected CD. Personally I wouldn't want to, but I think it's interesting to see the business maneuverings and keep abreast of the technological tricks they're trying out on us.
Professor Tolkien made a brilliant early reputation as a scholar of Early and Middle English. Many English courses assign his Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Pearl. His most significant critical essays are collected in the volume: The Monsters and the Critics, including his discussion of Beowulf.
For those of you who consider academic texts painful to read, give Tolkien's scholarly work a go. You'll be surprised by how readable they really are!
Wired news has also run this story with some more details about some of the services (and restrictions):
RealOne Music consumers will be prevented from moving their music from a PC to a portable MP3 player because of digital rights management technology attached to the files.
There is a limit of 100 downloads and 100 streams per month from the Warner Music, EMI, and BMG catalogs as well.
"Certainly this won't happen if you are in a telecommuting position"
After three years of telecommuting as IT support for a dotcom, I dispute this. Thanks to email and instant messaging, you can form tight bonds with coworkers online, chatting around a virtual watercooler. It's nice to back that up with some F2F (Face to Face) meetings, but hardly necessary. Many coworkers have come and gone (as have I) but the friendships remain strong.
Telecommuting also helps preserve office friendships. You don't hear and see the annoying realities of your coworkers or vice versa.
Unions, already on the wane, have never gained much hold in the Tech Nation, populated by educated, mobile, skilled and independent-minded workers.
This anti-unionism fed right into the hands of employers. They buttered workers up with promises of get-rich-quick options packages, funky office toys and a sympathetic environment. Who could begrudge those eighty hour work weeks when your dotcom needed you?
Those dotcom feel-good moments were already waning when tech stocks went into freefall and layoffs loomed. Unions wouldn't save everyone from layoffs. I'll be the first to admit they have their problems. But the blatant abuse of tech employees (many often not even granted that status in the contract-labour world) should be a wake-up call. Internet Week reported on a dotcom unionization trend back in January. Maybe it is worth a second look!
Playing a game as your job sounds ideal, but these are young kids we're talking about. What begins as fun for them (powerleveling characters, finding "phat lewt") won't stay that way for long.
Traders call the shot about where they can play and what they do with their time. The kids probably only see a small fraction of the enormous profits being generated from their virtual loot. And the online communities in which they play usually hold them in contempt, no matter how high their level or sweet their loot, because they are known as loot farmers. Doesn't sound like their life is quite so hot when I think about it this way.
Frankly, I'd run like heck from any online community that expected me to run videophones or other video-streaming technology from my home as a key to participating in community. I prefer to be judged simply on my words and actions. If I have to go back and explain away an inadvertantly offensive comment, I learn to be more careful in the future.
In addition, I don't sit down in a soundproofed cubicle to post to my favorite message boards or log into IRC; I do these while in the midst of cooking dinner, spelling new words for my five year old and listening to music. Life sends me AFK for a few more often than I'd like, but it does the same for my buddies. Want to sit staring at a bunch of empty chairs or cut video connections? Not me! Timeshifting, multitasking and conforming to the other needs of members' lives are things that virtual communities can and should continue to do. Otherwise we might as well all go down to the local pub.
So let's not run to hastily into the streaming video era. F2F is fine for some things in life but hardly critical to build a sense of community. Successful online communities have and can build compelling member images in other ways(avatars, sig files, profiles, websites).