He makes a great case for why DRM is bad for society, business, and artists, why it simply don't work, and why Microsoft (the audience for this talk) should not invest in it.
He's going to talk to Microsoft about this? He might as well go talk to a wall.
His article is impeccably, thorough, and articulate. The research and timeline used to explain his points were... well... I can't even fucking come close to writing like that which is obvious at the moment. Like the story submitter said, it was fantastic. He clearly points out the problem with great detail. However, he doesn't propose a solution.
When the World Wide Web was introduced, it seemed like a godsend; now books would be published electronically, libraries could be digitised, and anyone anywhere in the world would be able to search through them and read anything. Yet that isn't how things have panned out, even after years of its existence. The Internet has become an indispensable research tool, but it turned out to be something very different from a library. Information comes in bits and pieces, squeezed within a clutter of navigational panes and advertisements. Web pages have the flashy, disorienting visual effect of grocery shelves. It never turned out to be the coherent electronic medium for publishing that it was meant to.
The way corporations are implementing DRM does not address this issue by design. DRM is meant to secure profit for corporations, while constraining the potential of technology to fit in an antiquated business model. Yes, authors, musicians, film-makers, and everyone involved in creating forms of media must make a living. Yet the internet must also be allowed to reach its full potential in allowing people to access their works. There must be a way of allowing both to happen.
People keep bringing up the case of Jon Johansen, and Dmitri Skryalov. They neglect to mention that both of them were found totally innocent
Yes, after being harassed for years in Johansen's case, being dragged through the courts, accumulating legal expenses, jailtime in Skryalov's case, and basically getting the shit kicked out of them by a cartel practising "legal" extortion tactics through the use of inexhaustible funding. It doesn't matter that they were found innocent- the ordeal they each had to go through was a sentence in itself. Neither of these cases has changed those practises; people would still rather settle by pleading guilty and paying fines rather than legally challenging organisations like the RIAA. People shouldn't have to be forced into pleading guilty or enduring lengthy court battles just because of the prosecution's wealth. Johansen was a minor for Christ's sake.
Yeah, I figured that out after reading more of the comments further down. I use a Mac now, but had a PC before. I thought DRM media required you to have a key, and that DRM files had to be decrypted with it. I used RealJukebox before, and their DRM worked something like that. You could set it so music you ripped from CDs into RealAudio format were encoded with your key so only you could play them.
I didn't think that you could recieve a file that was protected unless it was encoded using your key specifically. I just presumed that these WMA files that came with these CDs were unprotected because of that. I migrated to the Mac before WMA picked up, so I'm not familiar with how their DRM works.
Yeah, I've seen those. The FastSCAN actually has one of those pen things, if you look closely at the picture. There were more details on its use on the web page before, but they revised their website fairly recently. I also recall one that looked like a pen attached to a robot arm, but I didn't include it because I didn't have a link.
It would be fun to see someone port one of those Apple ][ emulators to this thing, so you can actually boot a Mac into an Applesoft programming mode, just like in the old Apple ]['s. If it can handle a simple GUI like in the article, or if it could handle an implementation of System 1, I'm sure an Apple ][ emulation would be no problem.
From what I gather in the article, any of these Forth programs have to be loaded off of the hard drive in order to be executed. I didn't really understand if they could be stored in non-volatile memory, and if the computer could be configured to run them when it is turned on. I don't know how much space there is for non-volatile memory, but it would be interesting to be able to write a really basic OS that runs off of it without having to read from the hard drive at all.
I suppose it's possible since you can update the firmware, but does Apple keep information about how to program the firmware proprietary, or is it open for people to tinker with?
My mistake. I guess I just got that impression from a photo of it or an earlier version. How do you know this about the Arius3D system? Have you worked with one before and how did you know it could scan rooms? I can't find details like that on the net, even on the Arius3D site.
That may have been it, i'm not sure. I vaguely recall it may have been a plugin for IE or something, but the streaming did involve a process like the one you mentioned.
It was supposed to overcome the problem of having to wait for all the 3D data to be downloaded before it could be displayed. It would display crude 3D images at first that would gradually become more detailed, the way unchanging portions of streaming video gradually become more detailed.
Intel is supposed to have come up with a standard which is the "MP3 for 3D". Here is an excerpt from the article...
"Intel, Adobe, Microsoft and more than 30 other companies are to co-operate in conjuring up a standard for 3D graphics, called the Universal 3D (U3D) format.
The intention is to create a way of encoding 3D data as freely available as MP3 for audio and JPEG for still images. Intel and co.'s goal is to end the array of proprietary 3D graphics formats devised by CAD, 3D and other software developers and replace it with a single, standard format that all can use."
I could have sworn that someone came up with a format for streaming 3D on the web ages ago. No, not VRML, something else. I just tried to do a Google search for it, but came up with too many results. It was supposed to allow 3D content on the web to take off as well.
VRML was supposed to do that, for that matter, and has been around since around 1996. I think 3D has never really taken off on the web because of the way you have to navigate through 3D worlds. I recall navigating through VRML was a real pain with a mouse. If they found some way of automating walkthroughs with just one click when they first introduced it, then maybe it would have been more popular. I haven't followed VRML it since its introduction, so I don't know if it now has automated walkthroughs.
instead the(y) are digitized using one of many scanning techniques
What are the different scanning methods you are aware of? I've come across a few and I'm interested in knowing about others. I came across a method used by the National Research Council of Canada, and I think it has spun off into a commercial entity called Arius 3D. It captures surface 3D and colour data of objects on some kind of turntable, scanned by an RGB laser device. There's also the FastScan input device that uses motion-capture technology in combination with a monochrome surface laser scanner, so you move the scanner around, not the object. It was used for Lord of the Rings. I also came across the iModeller software package that apparently lets you use a standard digital camera to capture 3D images somehow. And I also recall seeing a documentary on television before where a RGB laser scanner, like the Canadian one mentioned earlier, was used to scan in ancient cave wall paintings. It scanned the 3D contours as well as the colour information of the cave wall surface, except the scanner laser moved around like a CRT scan line, so neither the scanned object nor the scanner needed to be moved. I couldn't find any information about that one on the web. I'd like to know of other methods and information about them on the web. Oh, and if anybody knows about that cave wall painting scanner device, I'd like to know more about that as well.
Unless it's anal sex, you're not likely to catch AIDS with anonymous casual sex.
Tell that to all the victims of AIDS all over the world, numbering over 40 million, most of whom didn't get it through anal sex. That is the most irresponsible message to give to people. You are likely to catch HIV with anonymous casual sex regardless of whether vaginal or anal, unless you use protection. You make it sound like people should stop worrying about wearing condoms now unless you're going to have anal sex or if you're with a woman who is on the pill.
It is exactly through vaginal anonymous casual sex that AIDS has become such an epidemic in Africa!
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He makes a great case for why DRM is bad for society, business, and artists, why it simply don't work, and why Microsoft (the audience for this talk) should not invest in it.
He's going to talk to Microsoft about this? He might as well go talk to a wall.
His article is impeccably, thorough, and articulate. The research and timeline used to explain his points were... well... I can't even fucking come close to writing like that which is obvious at the moment. Like the story submitter said, it was fantastic. He clearly points out the problem with great detail. However, he doesn't propose a solution.
When the World Wide Web was introduced, it seemed like a godsend; now books would be published electronically, libraries could be digitised, and anyone anywhere in the world would be able to search through them and read anything. Yet that isn't how things have panned out, even after years of its existence. The Internet has become an indispensable research tool, but it turned out to be something very different from a library. Information comes in bits and pieces, squeezed within a clutter of navigational panes and advertisements. Web pages have the flashy, disorienting visual effect of grocery shelves. It never turned out to be the coherent electronic medium for publishing that it was meant to.
The way corporations are implementing DRM does not address this issue by design. DRM is meant to secure profit for corporations, while constraining the potential of technology to fit in an antiquated business model. Yes, authors, musicians, film-makers, and everyone involved in creating forms of media must make a living. Yet the internet must also be allowed to reach its full potential in allowing people to access their works. There must be a way of allowing both to happen.
People keep bringing up the case of Jon Johansen, and Dmitri Skryalov. They neglect to mention that both of them were found totally innocent
Yes, after being harassed for years in Johansen's case, being dragged through the courts, accumulating legal expenses, jailtime in Skryalov's case, and basically getting the shit kicked out of them by a cartel practising "legal" extortion tactics through the use of inexhaustible funding. It doesn't matter that they were found innocent- the ordeal they each had to go through was a sentence in itself. Neither of these cases has changed those practises; people would still rather settle by pleading guilty and paying fines rather than legally challenging organisations like the RIAA. People shouldn't have to be forced into pleading guilty or enduring lengthy court battles just because of the prosecution's wealth. Johansen was a minor for Christ's sake.
Polarized lenses would be perfect but cannot be used (so far) without special expensive displays.
This (.pdf) doesn't look like it would be too expensive.
Yeah, I figured that out after reading more of the comments further down. I use a Mac now, but had a PC before. I thought DRM media required you to have a key, and that DRM files had to be decrypted with it. I used RealJukebox before, and their DRM worked something like that. You could set it so music you ripped from CDs into RealAudio format were encoded with your key so only you could play them.
I didn't think that you could recieve a file that was protected unless it was encoded using your key specifically. I just presumed that these WMA files that came with these CDs were unprotected because of that. I migrated to the Mac before WMA picked up, so I'm not familiar with how their DRM works.
The PC version of iTunes can convert WMA to other formats, so you can play them on an iPod.
Yeah, I've seen those. The FastSCAN actually has one of those pen things, if you look closely at the picture. There were more details on its use on the web page before, but they revised their website fairly recently. I also recall one that looked like a pen attached to a robot arm, but I didn't include it because I didn't have a link.
Here is a spatial 3D display that isn't a flat screen.
It would be fun to see someone port one of those Apple ][ emulators to this thing, so you can actually boot a Mac into an Applesoft programming mode, just like in the old Apple ]['s. If it can handle a simple GUI like in the article, or if it could handle an implementation of System 1, I'm sure an Apple ][ emulation would be no problem.
From what I gather in the article, any of these Forth programs have to be loaded off of the hard drive in order to be executed. I didn't really understand if they could be stored in non-volatile memory, and if the computer could be configured to run them when it is turned on. I don't know how much space there is for non-volatile memory, but it would be interesting to be able to write a really basic OS that runs off of it without having to read from the hard drive at all.
I suppose it's possible since you can update the firmware, but does Apple keep information about how to program the firmware proprietary, or is it open for people to tinker with?
My mistake. I guess I just got that impression from a photo of it or an earlier version. How do you know this about the Arius3D system? Have you worked with one before and how did you know it could scan rooms? I can't find details like that on the net, even on the Arius3D site.
That may have been it, i'm not sure. I vaguely recall it may have been a plugin for IE or something, but the streaming did involve a process like the one you mentioned.
It was supposed to overcome the problem of having to wait for all the 3D data to be downloaded before it could be displayed. It would display crude 3D images at first that would gradually become more detailed, the way unchanging portions of streaming video gradually become more detailed.
Too bad I can't bloody understand any of it!
"This is the single most idiotic comment I've heard this year."
You didn't hear it. You read it.
Intel is supposed to have come up with a standard which is the "MP3 for 3D". Here is an excerpt from the article...
I could have sworn that someone came up with a format for streaming 3D on the web ages ago. No, not VRML, something else. I just tried to do a Google search for it, but came up with too many results. It was supposed to allow 3D content on the web to take off as well.
VRML was supposed to do that, for that matter, and has been around since around 1996. I think 3D has never really taken off on the web because of the way you have to navigate through 3D worlds. I recall navigating through VRML was a real pain with a mouse. If they found some way of automating walkthroughs with just one click when they first introduced it, then maybe it would have been more popular. I haven't followed VRML it since its introduction, so I don't know if it now has automated walkthroughs.
instead the(y) are digitized using one of many scanning techniques
What are the different scanning methods you are aware of? I've come across a few and I'm interested in knowing about others. I came across a method used by the National Research Council of Canada, and I think it has spun off into a commercial entity called Arius 3D. It captures surface 3D and colour data of objects on some kind of turntable, scanned by an RGB laser device. There's also the FastScan input device that uses motion-capture technology in combination with a monochrome surface laser scanner, so you move the scanner around, not the object. It was used for Lord of the Rings. I also came across the iModeller software package that apparently lets you use a standard digital camera to capture 3D images somehow. And I also recall seeing a documentary on television before where a RGB laser scanner, like the Canadian one mentioned earlier, was used to scan in ancient cave wall paintings. It scanned the 3D contours as well as the colour information of the cave wall surface, except the scanner laser moved around like a CRT scan line, so neither the scanned object nor the scanner needed to be moved. I couldn't find any information about that one on the web. I'd like to know of other methods and information about them on the web. Oh, and if anybody knows about that cave wall painting scanner device, I'd like to know more about that as well.
NASA has decided that astronaut food rations will now include a large supply of beans.
For some reason, I get the impressioin it would involve a zipper.
... and they protect against sexually transmitted diseases without reducing sensitivity.
If you order from the menu, do they deliver it to you in a space shuttle?
Actually the government does...
correction: woman who isn't on the pill.
... and you're completely off-topic, I might add.
Unless it's anal sex, you're not likely to catch AIDS with anonymous casual sex.
Tell that to all the victims of AIDS all over the world, numbering over 40 million, most of whom didn't get it through anal sex. That is the most irresponsible message to give to people. You are likely to catch HIV with anonymous casual sex regardless of whether vaginal or anal, unless you use protection. You make it sound like people should stop worrying about wearing condoms now unless you're going to have anal sex or if you're with a woman who is on the pill.
It is exactly through vaginal anonymous casual sex that AIDS has become such an epidemic in Africa!