They release the news about the US breach on a Friday while everyone is focused on a hurricane. They release the news about a UK breach on a Friday when everyone is focused on a terrorist attack. Coincidence?
No levy on IPods
By ANGELA PACIENZA
TORONTO (CP) - The fight over a levy on IPods and other digital music devices ended Thursday when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear any further arguments on the matter.
That means there will be no levy applied to digital audio recorders such as Apple's popular IPod and IPod Shuffle as well as other MP3 players like IRiver.
"Obviously we're disappointed. We felt it was self-evident that those products are sold for the purpose of copying music," said David Basskin, of the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC), the non-profit agency which collects tariffs on behalf of musicians and record companies.
The group had wanted the high court to overturn last year's Federal Court of Appeal decision which quashed the levy on the popular gadgets.
The non-profit agency had been collecting the tariff - $2 for non-removable memory capacity of up to one GB, $15 for one to 10 GBs, $25 for more than 10 GB - since December 2003 through a tax built into the price of the devices.
It stopped in December 2004 when the Federal Court overturned the policy at the urging of retailers and manufacturers such as Future Shop, Apple Canada and Dell Computer Corporation of Canada.
The CPCC argued that since the new technology opened yet another avenue to make illegal copies of songs, a levy should be collected on behalf of music creators.
The group said Thursday that approximately $4 million was collected between December 2003 and December 2004.
The money is sitting in an account and will be returned to the importers and manufacturers of the products, said Basskin.
The CPCC is an non-profit agency which collects and distributes tariffs on behalf of performers, songwriters, music producers and record companies. It also collects a levy on blank audio such as CDs and mini-discs.
Is the Bush administration forgetting that almost all of the 9/11 participants were in the country legally? ie, they would have been able to get whatever ID the government creates. First step is to actually not let the terrorists in and give them a valid ID. Then you can worry about how easy it is to make fake IDs.
In my town there are two cell sites (although I still can't get service at my house, so for some reason Verizon Wireless doesn't seem to use these towers, but that's beside the point). One is hidden away in the town church's steeple, which is nice because it gets the church money that it needs and also provides cell service without an eyesore. The other is disguised as a giant (and I mean giant) flagpole next to the main highway. So both provide service (or so I'm told) without making the eyesore of a traditional tower.
That's why I said that the hypothetical car would be in the breakdown lane. And unless it has some equipment to seriously narrow down the location, I doubt the system would know what lane you're in. My automotive GPS with an external antenna and WAAS only gets as low as 7 ft. accuracy, and usually is around 12-13 feet. Additionally, most map data isn't detailed enough to give lat/long for specific lanes on a roadway.
But what if your car is stopped in the breakdown lane because of a flat tire or something? If you are the only wired car (from the relatively small pool) on that road at that time, will the system simply think that the road is at a standstill and tell everybody else to avoid that particular road?
The more annoying security they add to cards, the less likely I am to use my credit card for things like lunch at Wendy's. Right now I use my card for almost everything I can just because it's convenient and I get cash back.
I don't care if someone steals my card, since all I have to do is call the card company and it's cancelled, and all my cards have zero liability anyways. Safer than carrying cash around even without all these new security features.
on a flight from Sydney to Australia a couple of months ago
How long of a flight was that exactly? Is it longer than the flight from New York to the United States?
I doubt it'll be that big of a problem: the required satellite routing of cell calls will allow the airlines to charge high rates, and most people probably won't feel like paying them.
My local paper actually ran an article today about MA's year-old gift certificate law, and how many local businesses still print gift certificates with expiration dates far earlier than the required 7 years, simply to "try to get customers to use them sooner". But they still say they'll honor them for the seven years...
Have you ever used your credit card to buy something at Walmart? When you sign that slip, you're essentially signing a contract that you'll alow your bank to pay Walmart.
If you only have 2 PCs, I like my Linksys KVM - less than $60 at buy.com including cables, and I can have it buried behind my desk (double-tapping CTRL switches inputs). Only bummer is that it only has PS2 inputs, but I have no problem running my Logitech cordless kb and Intellimouse optical through USB>PS2 adapters.
Linksys KVM Kit
I agree - I'm a student at a private school, and I love my DiskOnKey. It gives me 32MB of storage, and is super-fast. I can fit an entire year's worth of work and essays onto one disc, which makes it useful for referring back to previous papers. It works well between the Macs at school and my PCs at home.
Slashdot Mirror
They release the news about the US breach on a Friday while everyone is focused on a hurricane. They release the news about a UK breach on a Friday when everyone is focused on a terrorist attack. Coincidence?
No levy on IPods By ANGELA PACIENZA TORONTO (CP) - The fight over a levy on IPods and other digital music devices ended Thursday when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear any further arguments on the matter. That means there will be no levy applied to digital audio recorders such as Apple's popular IPod and IPod Shuffle as well as other MP3 players like IRiver. "Obviously we're disappointed. We felt it was self-evident that those products are sold for the purpose of copying music," said David Basskin, of the Canadian Private Copying Collective (CPCC), the non-profit agency which collects tariffs on behalf of musicians and record companies. The group had wanted the high court to overturn last year's Federal Court of Appeal decision which quashed the levy on the popular gadgets. The non-profit agency had been collecting the tariff - $2 for non-removable memory capacity of up to one GB, $15 for one to 10 GBs, $25 for more than 10 GB - since December 2003 through a tax built into the price of the devices. It stopped in December 2004 when the Federal Court overturned the policy at the urging of retailers and manufacturers such as Future Shop, Apple Canada and Dell Computer Corporation of Canada. The CPCC argued that since the new technology opened yet another avenue to make illegal copies of songs, a levy should be collected on behalf of music creators. The group said Thursday that approximately $4 million was collected between December 2003 and December 2004. The money is sitting in an account and will be returned to the importers and manufacturers of the products, said Basskin. The CPCC is an non-profit agency which collects and distributes tariffs on behalf of performers, songwriters, music producers and record companies. It also collects a levy on blank audio such as CDs and mini-discs.
Is the Bush administration forgetting that almost all of the 9/11 participants were in the country legally? ie, they would have been able to get whatever ID the government creates. First step is to actually not let the terrorists in and give them a valid ID. Then you can worry about how easy it is to make fake IDs.
In my town there are two cell sites (although I still can't get service at my house, so for some reason Verizon Wireless doesn't seem to use these towers, but that's beside the point). One is hidden away in the town church's steeple, which is nice because it gets the church money that it needs and also provides cell service without an eyesore. The other is disguised as a giant (and I mean giant) flagpole next to the main highway. So both provide service (or so I'm told) without making the eyesore of a traditional tower.
That's why I said that the hypothetical car would be in the breakdown lane. And unless it has some equipment to seriously narrow down the location, I doubt the system would know what lane you're in. My automotive GPS with an external antenna and WAAS only gets as low as 7 ft. accuracy, and usually is around 12-13 feet. Additionally, most map data isn't detailed enough to give lat/long for specific lanes on a roadway.
But what if your car is stopped in the breakdown lane because of a flat tire or something? If you are the only wired car (from the relatively small pool) on that road at that time, will the system simply think that the road is at a standstill and tell everybody else to avoid that particular road?
The more annoying security they add to cards, the less likely I am to use my credit card for things like lunch at Wendy's. Right now I use my card for almost everything I can just because it's convenient and I get cash back. I don't care if someone steals my card, since all I have to do is call the card company and it's cancelled, and all my cards have zero liability anyways. Safer than carrying cash around even without all these new security features.
How long of a flight was that exactly? Is it longer than the flight from New York to the United States? I doubt it'll be that big of a problem: the required satellite routing of cell calls will allow the airlines to charge high rates, and most people probably won't feel like paying them.
You could ...gasp... leave it plugged in if you're just sitting at a table.
My local paper actually ran an article today about MA's year-old gift certificate law, and how many local businesses still print gift certificates with expiration dates far earlier than the required 7 years, simply to "try to get customers to use them sooner". But they still say they'll honor them for the seven years...
Have you ever used your credit card to buy something at Walmart? When you sign that slip, you're essentially signing a contract that you'll alow your bank to pay Walmart.
I don't play Quake, but I do play UT and other games, and it isn't a problem since I use the mouse to fire, instead of CTRL
If you only have 2 PCs, I like my Linksys KVM - less than $60 at buy.com including cables, and I can have it buried behind my desk (double-tapping CTRL switches inputs). Only bummer is that it only has PS2 inputs, but I have no problem running my Logitech cordless kb and Intellimouse optical through USB>PS2 adapters. Linksys KVM Kit
I agree - I'm a student at a private school, and I love my DiskOnKey. It gives me 32MB of storage, and is super-fast. I can fit an entire year's worth of work and essays onto one disc, which makes it useful for referring back to previous papers. It works well between the Macs at school and my PCs at home.