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I’ve probably watched 2.37 hours of TV in the past 6 months, however that might change soon (… survey says). In addition to Nintendo and Godzilla, the innovative Japanese are proud to present their latest creation: TV Brick. Anders thoughts on the device:

Primarily targetted towards Japanese families living in France (seeing that popular Japanese channels like Yomiuri TV and NHK Sogo are unavailable outside Japan), the idea is that is you plug one of these boxes to a TV antenna and a broadband connection in Japan, and the other to a broadband plug and a TV in France; instant “magic” happens and all the goodness of Japanese TV is in your livingroom.

Based on open source technologies (and the OpenBrick platform); obviously the crowds are going to go berserk creating open source TiVo like / file sharing applications etc….

Last week I discussed PVRs, but in a different light (in terms of skipping ads). This new device sounds great and if their colorful illustration is any indication as to how exciting users will be, then go ahead and put my neighbor down on the waiting list — I know he wants one. Also, I’d like to know how much bandwidth is required to stream shows from one client to another along with the ability to fight Mothra and Shredder in real-time. Oh and yes, based on the OpenBrick Wiki, some discussion on WiFi seems to be synergizing, that means they will undoubtedly succeed.

P2P meets Mr. Roboto?

I’ve found a legitimate way to link to iluminent, a fella by the name of ‘john’ posted “How you know you’re from Texas” — a compilation of mannerisms, sayings and just good ole fashioned tomfoolery. Having been born, raised and schooled on this fertile plain colloquially referred to as “not Yankeeland,” “not Mexico” and “bigger than Alaska,” I am certifiably able to endorse the following:

- Onced and Twiced are good words.
- Fire ants consider your flesh as a picnic.
- “Coldbeer” actually is one word.
- People really grow and eat okra.
- Green grass DOES burn.
- “Fixinto” is one word.
- Backards and forards means I know everything about you.
- “Je’eet”? is actually a phrase meaning “Did you eat?”
- You work until you’re done or it’s too dark to see.
- You measure distance in minutes.
- You’ve had to switch from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day.
- Stores don’t have bags; they have sacks.
- You know what “cow tipping” and “snipe hunting” is.
- You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer, Still summer, and Christmas.
- Going to Walmart is a favorite past-time known as “goin wal-martin” or off to “Wally World.”
- You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chili weather.
- A carbonated soft drink isn’t a soda, cola, or pop .. it’s a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor.

There are several more, but these words hit home more than the rest. A couple of notes: I’ll be glad to take any of you city slickers snipe hunting sometime… Coke is more ubiquitous than distilled water, but not as much as our fermented friends… dozens of time each year you literally have to switch from the heater to the A/C and vice-versa during the day — and above all else, it takes about 20 minutes to reach my house from point A.

Lastly, when I was about five years-old, I went on a field trip to Samuel’s Farm (any real resident of North Texas knows that place). I managed to set my rump down on one of the most feisty ant hills on this side of the Red River and had to literally unclothe myself in front of, among others, very attractive Belles. I was scarred for life.

Just say no to Fire Ants.

You may have heard friends and relatives comment on various events with “it’s become so hard to see a difference between parodies and reality.” Well, I ran across a site that just about fits that bill: OBJECTIVE - Creation Education.

You may have seen Landover Baptist and gotten a kick out of various shenanigans there, well this OBJECTIVE site wins first prize and a year’s subscription to the Scantily-Clad Furniture and Centerfold Drapery magazine.

My favorite section by far was the Creation Science Fair, with the following entries:

1st Place: “My Uncle Is A Man Named Steve (Not A Monkey)”

Cassidy Turnbull (grade 5) presented her uncle, Steve. She also showed photographs of monkeys and invited fairgoers to note the differences between her uncle and the monkeys. She tried to feed her uncle bananas, but he declined to eat them. Cassidy has conclusively shown that her uncle is no monkey.
[snip]

2nd Place: “Women Were Designed For Homemaking”

Jonathan Goode (grade 7) applied findings from many fields of science to support his conclusion that God designed women for homemaking: physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets; biology shows that women were designed to carry un-born babies in their wombs and to feed born babies milk, making them the natural choice for child rearing; social sciences shows that the wages for women workers are lower than for normal workers, meaning that they are unable to work as well and thus earn equal pay; and exegetics shows that God created Eve as a companion for Adam, not as a co-worker.
[snip]

1st Place: “Using Prayer To Microevolve Latent Antibiotic Resistance In Bacteria”

Eileen Hyde and Lynda Morgan (grades 10 & 11) did a project showing how the power of prayer can unlock the latent genes in bacteria, allowing them to microevolve antibiotic resistance. Escherichia coli bacteria cultured in agar filled petri dishes were subjected to the antibiotics tetracycline and chlorotetracycline. The bacteria cultures were divided into two groups, one group (A) received prayer while the other (B) didn’t. The prayer was as follows: “Dear Lord, please allow the bacteria in Group A to unlock the antibiotic-resistant genes that You saw fit to give them at the time of Creation. Amen.” The process was repeated for five generations, with the prayer being given at the start of each generation. In the end, Group A was significantly more resistant than Group B to both antibiotics.

The whole site is actually pretty subtle about being a lampoon and has the added advantage of looking as if muchos horas were spent on layout and design. If you want some extra kicks, be sure to visit their condemnation of ‘malls’, look for telling quotes like:

“Darth Maul”: Commercialized symbol of evil whose name sounds like “mall”. Coincidence?

Oh, and yea, there are others who thought this could be real.

I’ve been fairly busy with a few “real world” past times, however I managed to get in a couple hours of batting practice in the past two days. I mention this because I totally ripped up my hands yesterday afternoon. Apparently the tape I used on a bat didn’t like my calices (before blogging I was a super duper t-ball slugger…). In fact, the tape literally ripped up my hands every time I swung (it is akin to wrapping a bat with sand papper and pounding a hardball for an hour or so).

Anyways, I don’t have any pictures right now (I’m using my feet to type with), but I do have a site that probably has an accurate illustration as to what my tender palms look like. ShowMeYourWound is surprisingly run by my same amigo that runs Unclesharky – check out both, but be sure to look at the lovely captions that go along with the skin-titillating pictures.

And I know you all wanted to know this.

It’s continuing mission, to explore strange new ways to spend, spend and spend. To seek out new revenue streams and errect new agencies. To boldly tax no one has taxed before. [cue music]

Despite my belief that jingoism was passé and ancien, it appears to be rearing its head in the form of the time honored justification: “If we can make it to the moon, think of what we can do.”

No saber rattling is done in this 21st century example however, those have been replaced with astronomical budgets and gigantic combustion chambers.

I mentioned a column by former congressman Robert Walker a month ago. Slashdot linked to a couple of articles, one of which references his op-ed column regarding the need for jump starting the beleaguered space agency.

Rather than drown on about the enormous financial costs associated with such an endeavor, along with the reallocation of productive resources in the name of “prestige,” I will merely link to ‘The coming space race with China’ – a justification for yet another mischievous and inefficient Race to the Unknown™.

I didn’t want that part of my income anyways.

I’m not sure how many of you are keeping up with the various companies deploying WiFi commercially in quasi-public settings (like hotels, airports, pay-phones, etc.), but Starbucks is probably the best known example currently — utilizing a partnership with T-Mobile.

Joining them now is McDonalds, who is deploying equipment in three test cities: Chicago, New York and the Bay Area — would you like megabytes with that?

Wi-Fi Networking News has more details on that and I’ll let you know if I start offering access from my summer mansions.

I actually have no desire to look like a schmuck or act like a schmuck (being a wise-ass is A-OK), so for those of you that have linked to my blog in your blogroll (or given out my screen name to all the college chicas), I will attempt to link back to you sometime in the near future.

For now, here are a few that for some reason or other, felt compelled to link to me (I know it’s not for the free beer and wings):

- Media Dystopia (I blogged about his fantastic ‘Dano’ situation before)
- Mutated Monkey’s (no idea, maybe she saw my TV show)
- Funky Kenzo (from that bachelor party I didn’t throw)
- Mors Semper Tyrannis (I emailed him the X-rated version of the Constitution)
- The Worst Weblog Ever (this feline-o-phile is pretty funny, I stole his CSS too)
- Outwardly Normal 2 (I used to own massive amounts of shares in his blog, but sold it for a cheap import, he apparently is the co-creator of this handy dictionary)
- Know ProSE (he’s an uber geek that for some reason commented on my blog, I was honored [bows])
- Richard Giles (because I emailed him and called him at odd-hours each night)
- Mike Ewens (because I got him blogging, he owed me BIG TIME, like Mav and Ice)
- Matthew Davey (we worked on the BSJ, he’s a cool bloke)
- David Veksler - RationalMind (because we went to the same school and yelled at each other all day long)
- iluminent/weblog (I think I emailed him one time about RSS templates, probably in reference to that 10 he has on the banner)
- Gnome-Girl/Cheyene (she was the first “real” person to leave a comment here, I’d say some other things, but now isn’t a really good time)
- MediaTIC (because I fooled everyone into believing hablando espanol muy bien)
- Doing The Internet and Her Twin Sister (Andrew made his presence known with a bang… his wife wasn’t too thrilled though)
- ryochiji (this guy is a techno-bad ass too, he made Blog Matcher and is now heading to the University of Chicago for grad school, oh and he can walk on water)
- Holy Shmoly (this is Donncha’s blog, he’s the mofo that put together an excellent fork of Cafelog and is now part of the WordPress dev team)
- The Unnamed Blog (out of the blue, he probably saw my award winning stunt double moves in that Jackie Chan film, with that guy and girl and… well, I don’t want to ruin the plot)
- atom grid (sniff, he was the first LLC that committed a hostile take over of my blog, oh and he’s a riot too, if you’re into [deleted explicative])
- Karen de Coster (we actually didn’t care much for the others existence at one point, now we at least obey the restraining orders)
- Jason Ditz (he’s the smartest unemployed bachelor that also periodically updates his blog, hire him)
- The Serfdom Times (he’s the only other Dallasite I personally know that has a blog, besides Andrew — he’s a good cartoonist too, hire him)
- Mad Ancapper: Silas (because I destroyed the incriminating evidence from his bacchanal back at A&M)
- Human Conduct (because at least one person read my inside-joke parody)
- Wondrous Beauty (Sharleen and I met once at A&M, I did not get pregnant)

Thanks for whatever weird, sick and twisted reasons you put me on your rolls. I think there were a few others, but when they figured out that my blog is all about multi-level marketing scams, they hit the road. Anyways, that was my good deed for this quarter, I might do it again — depends on how much of an exodus results from my exposition of your secret identities.

Mike pointed out an interesting article, I thought this part was dy-no-mite:

Oh, and try copyrighting your Social Security number too. Then you can sue the IRS for using it – they are not permitted to use it by law, you know. You have to pay them, why shouldn’t they have to pay you?

I’d gladly be the test case (like Eldred) for such an idea. Though, I have my doubts that anyone would rule in my favor as they would be eliminating State revenue, a clandestine event that probably would never happen this side of the Apocalypse.

Poetic justice?

If you don’t already, I’d go ahead and shoot myself. Yes, you should know what I’m talking about: Strongbad Emails over at the Homestar Runner site. If you want some good old fashioned spit-and-rub humour, be sure to visit each and every Monday for something good and something awesome.

Oh and check out this Wired interview with the creator of Homestar Runner, it’s pretty entertaining in-and-of itself. I wonder who would play me in the Homestar Universe — Macaulay Culkin in Flash?

DALLAS, TX – Following the announcement that Collectrix LLC holds a patent on One-Click Blogging™, lawyers from the dotcom issued cease and desist letters to four companies all accused of infringing on the intellectual property of the Dallas-based start-up.

Userland executives, creators and developers of Manila and Radio, two automated weblogging systems had nothing to say when asked earlier in the day to comment on the lawsuit. Google, owners of Blogger, a popular automated weblogging system, told reporters that it is looking into the accusations. WordPress.org, creators of an open-sourced weblogging system, told reporters that they were in contact with lawyers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation but had no further comment. Six Apart, creators of Movable Type, a weblogging system, also refrained from commenting at this time.

Little is known currently, but Tim Swanson, spokesman for Collectrix LLC told reporters that, “this was the first in a series of potential suits to set up a licensing and royalty system for intellectual property that Collectrix LLC was recently issued a patent for. We are confident that this will hold up in court, the law is on our side.”

Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. This material may not be republished, retransmitted, printed, copied or distributed in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author. Collectrix and One-Click Blogging are trademarks property of Collectrix LLC.

DALLAS, TX– The Internet conglomerate and holding company, Collectrix LLC, was granted patent 5,960,411 this past week from the U.S. Patent Office.

“This is the first in a series of key pieces designed to boost our start-up dotcom into prominence,” Tim Swanson, spokesman for Collectrix LLC told press at a news meeting earlier today.

The patent is for the method and system of placing a weblog post via a content-management system onto the World Wide Web.

Abstract

The weblog is placed by an author at a client system and received by a server system. The server system receives author information including identification of the author, weblog information, and date-time information from the client system. The server system then assigns a client identifier to the client system and associates the assigned client identifier with the received author information. The server system sends to the client system the assigned client identifier and an HTML document identifying the item and including a publish button. The client system receives and stores the assigned client identifier and receives and displays the HTML document. In response to the selection of the publish button, the client system sends to the server system a request to post the identified item. The server system receives the request and combines the author information associated with the client identifier of the client system to generate a weblog to post the item in accordance with the billing and storage information whereby the author effects the posting of the weblog by selection of the posting button.

“The future of our company is now rooted in a firm foundation with this and other intellectual property and we look forward in doing business with the community as a whole,” Swanson said.

Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. This material may not be republished, retransmitted, printed, copied or distributed in any manner, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author. Collectrix and One-Click Blogging are trademarks property of Collectrix LLC.

Playboy Models’ Curves May Be Sign of the Times:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - “Boom or bust” may take on new meaning as researchers theorize a link between U.S. economic conditions and subtle changes in Playboy centerfold physiques.

According to researchers, a comparison of the faces and figures of Playmates of the Year from 1960 to 2000 suggests men may prefer stronger-looking women in hard times, and softer, more vulnerable types when bull markets resume.

“In short, we want someone to have fun with when times are good, and we want someone to take care of us — and themselves — when times are bad,” said psychology researcher Dr. Terry F. Pettijohn II, of Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The study, co-authored by undergraduate student Brian Jungeberg, was presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, in Atlanta.

Previous research has suggested that ideals of beauty and sexual attractiveness change between cultures and over time. A handful of studies have discerned a slight trend toward thinner bodies among both Playmates and Miss America (news - web sites) contestants over the past few decades.

However, according to Pettijohn, his study is the first to consider “how social and economic conditions may have influenced these changes.”

In their research, Pettijohn and Jungeberg created an annual “hard times measure” by tracking changes in U.S. statistics on unemployment, marriage, homicide and other factors for the years 1960 through 2000.

Then, using clear, front-on photographs of Playboy Playmates of the Year for each of those 40 years, the two researchers made precise measurements of key face and body dimensions.

Comparing models over the years, the researchers discovered that, in hard times, Playmates tended to be slightly older, heavier and taller, with larger waists and bigger waist-to-hip ratios. Smaller eyes — a feature linked to “stronger” faces — were also predominant.

As an example, Anna Nicole Smith (news - web sites), the fullest-figured Playmate of the Year ever — graced Playboy’s pages in 1993, which Pettijohn called one of the “worst” years on record in terms of economic and social factors.

On the other hand, during more affluent periods the average Playboy subscriber’s fancy appeared to turn to softer, more girlish types. Playmates of the Year during “good times” tended to be younger, shorter, thinner models, with smaller waists and bigger eyes.

The boom years of the early 1960s, for example, produced both the youngest-ever Playmate of the Year (18-year-old Donna Michelle, 1964) and the lightest (102-pound June Cochran, 1963), according to Pettijohn.

These trends came as no surprise to Pettijohn, who said the findings are in line with psychology’s “environmental security hypothesis,” which posits that people look to potential mates for support in tough times and more carefree fun when the living is easy.

“People who we are attracted to is a product of how secure we feel in our current environment,” he told Reuters Health.

But since Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner has always chosen the Playmate of the Year, might trends in Playmate measurements simply reflect changes in ‘Hef’s personal tastes?

Pettijohn is doubtful.

“Playboy regularly asks for reader input on the issue, including submitting letters, mailing voting cards, calling a hotline, or voting online,” he said. “We assume that Mr. Hefner takes public opinion into consideration.”

I really don’t know, looking at all the pinups covering my walls, I’d have to say that I’m an equal opportunity pinner-upper, regardless as to the prevailing economic conditions. Though, since I rotate wives every year, I have observed that the waist and eye size apparently are taken into consideration subconsciously, as have bank account and pension fund sizes.

And is anyone else reminded of that episode of The Simpsons where the teachers go on strike and residents of the neighborhood become the replacement teachers? Remember Jasper (the old fellow) who gets his beard stuck in the pencil sharpener? Despite the fact that his beard is not getting untangled, he continues unabated, drawing his beard closer with each crank. The actions of the Federal Reserve over the past two and a half years remind me of the same process – only, they’ve turned the sharpener knob 13 times and still have not gotten a clue.

If only they had as many centerfolds as I do, here’s hoping for that epiphany.

On Monday, Mark Pilgrim mentioned that a new syndication format was in the works, designed primarily to be vendor-neutral (kind of like IEEE 802.11).

Today, Mark informed everyone that not only has the seed been planted, but it has sprouted roots as well (yea, that was the only good analogy I could come up with at 4:02 am, sue me).

Well, like I tell all of my live-in girlfriends and wives, a new relationship calls for a new trendy nomenclature and something to represent it. In this case, a button. Not only do I fully support whatever esperanto-based standard(s) rises from this fusion of far-reaching talent, but I volunteer my Photoshop services to laboriously render a 80×15 image of the finalized name (don’t choose ‘Be,’ ‘Chia’ or ‘Firebird’ por favor).

On that note, I’d like to suggest the following two acronyms for consideration: XYZPDQ and DOOM. ‘Examine Your Zipper Pretty Darn Quick’ and ‘Don’t Oogle Over Me’ - both of those are sure to hit close to home with Joe Blogger and will certainly be readily accepted by his significant other.

Que lastima:

LONDON (Reuters) - The Daily Mirror says U.S. troops have arrested Iraq’s information minister under Saddam Hussein, MohammedSaeed al-Sahaf, at a roadblocks in a Baghdad suburb.

There was no immediate reaction from Washington on Wednesday.

The ex-minister, dubbed “Comical Ali” for proclaiming the defeat of U.S. forces even as they moved into Baghdad, had been hiding out at arelative’s house watching satellite TV, but was caught on Monday night, the paper said in a report from Baghdad.

“He has some serious talking to do…this time,” a “senior coalition source” was quoted as saying. There was no independent confirmation ofthe story and no other sourcing.

Endless entertainment — he was the best case Lionel Hutz had since the Neverending Story was produced. My only question is, when will Stand-Up Sontag be “captured?”

The distribution that will not lead you into temptation

What is Jesux?

Jesux (pronounced Hay-sooks) is a new Linux distribution for Christian hackers, schools, families, and churches. There is already a core distribution being prepared, based on RedHat’s distribution.

Jesux will aim to be an environment that is pleasant for Christians to work in, with all the amenities a Christian might expect, and when possible, free from worldly influences.

What is different about Jesux?

Below is a short list. As we get more information, we will put it here. Send more suggestions to jesux@pobox.com. Send your suggestions for content in the bookmark, fortune, and .newsrc files, too, and we will start posting some of this stuff.

-default fortune file contains quotes from the scriptures, Augustine, C.S. Lewis, Chuck Swindoll, etc.

-Christian Enlightenment themes featuring Jesus, the cross, and other Christian icons

-Login screen has full text to Lord’s Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, with Christian and American symbols
   -Provide alternate screens for non-Americans, perhaps

- Pregenerated Netscape bookmarks and .newsrc files pointing to prescreened Christian web sites and newsgroups

-cal(1) includes Christian holidays

-Special hack of emacs “M-x doctor” mode, “M-x pastor”

-Optional technical support and basic counseling services provided by Christian hackers
   -The current plan is to double up the tech support line as a crisis line, where people in need can be redirected to people who can really help them

-Online Bible in King James Version
   -no other versions will be provided by default; we feel the KJV is the only English version that can be fully trusted

-Addition of /usr/dict/kjv.words (exhaustive)

-Removal of some of the RedHat games
   -we don’t play them much, but several of you have noted that some of them are clearly inappropriate

-Squid proxy server (plus squidGuard) bundled and configured for blocking illicit web sites (including a regularly updated list of illicit sites and URL patterns to install on your own; we will be looking for mature and diligent volunteers to help maintain it)

-Optionally disable logins on Sunday, the day of rest

-bash(1) is default
   -the “Bourne-Again” shell is already the default; but we like the shell, and we love the name :)

-chmod(1) accepts hexadecimal modes, such as 0×01B6

-qmail replaces sendmail as the standard MTA (sendmail was written by a prominent homosexual)
   -we are considering postfix too, due to popular request

-Hierarchical user structure, so parents and teachers can easily access children’s files without needing to become root

-No encryption provided; Christians have nothing to hide
   -We have had concerns about the “no encryption” item … but no worries, crypt(3) will still be there. Sorry for the confusion, we do not generally consider it as encryption, though, of course, technically it is. But since it is generally unsuitable for anything other than password authentication, we don’t see any problem with it.

-No cracking utilities provided; SAINT can be acquired from us later, after the user has proven his worth

Yes yes, for those that read Slashdot, this is a pretty old story. It’s a spoof, so don’t repeat it unless you have a blog that is equally as tangental as mine is. I thought it was funny enough to repeat though, because I’ve actually met a couple of people that not only thought this distribution existed, but wanted to help develop it. It even made it into a ZDNet news release and the E-Commerce Times (these are the Goliaths of the e-zine industry…).

Additionally, I thought this email exchange was humorous. It’s between ‘Roblimo‘ (who is the managing editor at Slashdot… I’m not quite sure how the structure works there) and the lampooner himself.

Heh, you know the drill. This is the part where I create my own Linux distribution called Bloggix: Push-Button Computing For The People. And then I describe how it includes RSS feeds instead of a journaling system and TrackBack pings for each time one kernel thread references another thread. And then you call me a stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking, nerf-herder.

Oh where does all the predictability go nowadays?

Another Spike chimes in on TNN case

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for television network TNN filed court papers Monday by Spike Jones Jr., son of the legendary music satirist, saying it is “frightening” that filmmaker Spike Lee is trying to claim exclusive ownership of the name “Spike.”

Lee won a court injunction June 13 that stopped Viacom, the nation’s third-biggest media company, from changing TNN’s name to Spike TV on June 16 as planned. Lee, who directed “Malcolm X” and “Do the Right Thing,” claimed the rebranding was an attempt to hijack his name and reputation.

Viacom said it wanted to change the cable network’s name to Spike TV to try to attract more men to an audience that is already about two-thirds male. The company said Lee, whose given name is Shelton Jackson Lee, could not prove that its use of the name “Spike” referred to him.

Jones said in court papers that he and his family own the rights to the name, likeness, recorded performances and television shows that belonged to his father, the 1940s and ’50s bandleader.

The family has sold an option for film and television rights to Good Medicine Films for a biographical movie about his father, Jones said in court papers. He said the tentative title of the movie is “Spike,” and that he was concerned that the injunction against Viacom would hinder production.

“I do not believe that Spike Lee ‘owns’ or has any individual right to the use of the name ‘Spike’ or as an individual to prevent its use by others any more than I do,” Jones said.

An attorney for Lee did not immediately return a telephone message left at his office Monday evening.

Jones’ father had hits with the songs “Yes, We have No Bananas,” “Der Fuehrer’s Face” and “Don’t Hit Your Grandma With a Shovel.” “Weird Al” Yankovic might be considered his musical descendant.

No trial date has been set.

Scott pointed out in my post regarding the Spike Lee incident, that Spike Jones had a claim on that name as well (as do my dog and my pet goldfish, both affectionately named Spike). Oh, and I’d like to continue the moratorium with regards to the name ‘Timothy’ and all of its derivatives, but would like to amend it so that no body part (including the aforementioned ‘left boobie’) are named in honor or disgust of the euphonic Greco name.

(Note, I’m not discussing ‘copyright’ infringement in this post).

For those of you that follow the spat with the MPAA and various other entertainment studios on one side and others like ReplayTV and TiVo on the other, I have a question. The studios contend PVR (personal video recorder) devices like TiVo should be “outlawed” or “regulated” because of their ability to fast-forward or ‘ignore’ advertisements, I was wondering about the parallel between pop-up blockers for web browsers and the boob tube.

Various browsers like Mozilla and Opera have built-in technologies that can manipulate pages so that banners, pop-ups and virtually all extraneous ads can be hidden entirely. I have not seen any clamoring or brow-beating with this small, yet growing market of tools that allow users to “skip over” advertisements, however are these not the same sort of features that various PVRs offer?

The ad-based arguments studios and networks use in their lawsuits against PVR makers basically amounts to:

Networks derive the majority of their revenue through advertisements. We need an audience for advertisers, otherwise no one will advertise and we will be unable to pay the bills.

PVRs allow users to skip over ads and thereby by-pass the primary revenue generators for the networks. Rather than trying out new business models (like subscription based television, where you pay a dollar for each episode – just one of many possibilities), the networks (like the RIAA and music studios) are suing companies like SonicBlue to cease and desist.

Of course they could always just outlaw behaviors such as flipping the channel when an ad comes on (no more channel surfing). Or Hatch-it, every third violation results in your remote control exploding.

I suppose my question is probably rhetorical is really a moot point, as several large sites now have “subscription” methods to deal with revenue. It’s the same nonsensical debate though, hopefully the PVR makers can use that to their advantage.

Now where did I put my EFF membership card…

Well, largely because of peer-pressure, and the need to feel both warm and special, I filled out all of the forms necessary to display this pleasing-to-the-eye picture. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do:

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.

Get this pic of Aimee Deep when you
Sign the Petition to Reclaim Our Public Domain!.
My Signer Number is 14932

A few weeks ago I discussed 3G cellular technology and how it is finally coming to the market. A recent article at News.com mentions an interview with Nobuharu Ono, the CEO at NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s top mobile phone service provider. In it he describes the slow roll out of the 3G platform in various markets and the future of cellular technologies. If you keep up with wireless news, his observations reinforce the notion that the current business model for mobile phone providers could be a dead end in the long-run.

The fact that 4G will not be fully deployed until the 2010 time frame could be the nail in its own coffin (in addition to costly spectrum purchases). Before I discuss the WiFi standards that could uproot this established player, I’d like to point out another interview posted at News.com several months ago – with Martin Cooper, inventor of the portable cell phone.

Here Mr. Cooper discusses his likes and dislikes within the competitive cellular market place and essentially bashes the hype surrounding various features promoted by 3G providers. Among other things, he is disappointed with how service providers cannot complete and reliably hold a conversation 100% of the time, yet at the same time they are pushing devices that integrate more and more features (none of which can work consistently because of persistent service problems). While not directly opposed to WiFi, he does think it will become obsolete through the manifestation of ‘smart antennas’ (at this point I should point out that he founded a company that develops adaptive/’smart’ antennas).

Now this is where Voice-over-IP and new WiFi standards can work their way into the scheme of things. While these methods may never displace (at least in the short-run) cellular technology, they could offer a competitive thorn in the side of mobile carriers, to spur them into continually creating innovative solutions to problems Mr. Cooper spelled out.

Which leads me to next-generation WiFi standards currently being drafted. Andrew pointed out this post which outlines several of these upcoming standards. One that I think that could add some firepower to a WiFi cellular solution is 802.11e, which (among other things) adds multimedia support including that for voice, video and audio. Once this is finalized I would initially expect similar offerings to what Cirrus and Broadcam currently deploy. In addition to the QoS-based specification, one that is needed is something like 802.16, for greater signal range – and one of the current failings for WiFi that Mr. Cooper pointed out.

Another promising standard is 802.11n, which increase the theoretical bandwidth constraints, from 54 Mbps to anywhere between 108 and 320 Mbps. Not only is this head and shoulders above 3.5G (and most probably 4G), but it is also a good baby step towards gigabit wireless (imagine of being able to run a Serial ATA hard disk remotely and wirelessly at high speeds).

So I guess the only question remains is how many of you are going to hold your breath and wait for all of this to come into fruition. I’d buy a couple of spare oxygen tanks if I were you (though David Beberman is out snorkeling already).

I mentioned that Google has now released a new service called AdSense but didn’t discuss what kind of real-world examples there were for its use.

Well thanks to Aaron Swartz, we can see exactly what a Google will generate for a particular site. Here are the ads that would run on my blog if I used it. For those of you too chicken to click that link, the results were: American Red Cross, Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity and Donate to Charity. If you refresh the page, several others are added: National PTA and American Cancer Society.

Now while I get out a box of organic granola bars and slip on some open-toed sandals, I’ll think about the results dished up by this service.

Alright, I’m officially perplexed. Does anyone see a reason for why any of those ads are generated for my site? Now, I have nothing against the ACS, but when was the last time I spoke about cancer? What about donating blood or building a house? What happened to all my talk about WiFi or blogging in general?

And yes, they do have paying customers for those two categories, just type in blogging or WiFi and look at the sponsored links.

So the question is, who do I have to sleep with to generate more accurate results?