Google working on desktop linux?

It looks like Google is working on a Linux desktop distribution based on Ubuntu. It'll be interesting to see whether it is actually true and if true, what Google's plans are. If they end up releasing a distro, I doubt I'll switch to it - I think the various distributors are doing a quite good job already :)

Update: Looks like The Register story was yet another Google rumour - Google have no plans to distribute their own Linux distribution. They do use Ubuntu at the "GooglePlex" though.

Second update: The story of course hit Slashdot where Chris Dibona quickly explained. Among other things, it would take ressources away from their moon teleporter project :)

History of the Basic language

I like this funny writeup about the history of the BASIC family of languages.

1977 – Hobbyists have figured out how to put slightly more memory on the Altair, so new versions of BASIC are needed to suck up the memory. One of them is the first product from a new company called Microsoft, which begins its tradition of copying ideas from other products and then selling a version that requires more memory.

Great article about new a insane law proposal

This is an article about a hearing in the US senate about a new law proposal that would put severe restrictions on everyones digital rights. Fortunately the hearing didn't go quite as well as the MPAA an RIAA had hoped :)

Beer: Brøckhouse Esrum Kloster

I just had one of these. I've tasted it before from tap, but this time it was a bottle. I quite like this beer and it fully deserves at least the rating (64 as of this writing) it's got. I do remember it to be better from tap though.

The MPAA caught as movie pirates

One of the organisations that sues grannies and 13 year old children for copyright infringement, have now been caught doing exactly that:

This Film Is Not Yet Rated looks at the motion picture ratings system created and run by the MPAA. Director Kirby Dick submitted the film for rating in November. After receiving the movie, the MPAA subsequently made copies without Dick's permission. Dick had specifically requested in an e-mail that the MPAA not make copies of the movie. The MPAA responded by saying that "the confidentiality of your film is our first priority."

Dick later learned that the MPAA made copies of the film to distribute them to its employees, despite the MPAA's stance on unauthorized copying. Ah, there's nothing like the smell of hypocrisy in the morning-apparently the prohibition against copying films without the copyright owner's consent doesn't apply to the MPAA. A layer for the MPAA justified the organization's apparent hypocrisy by saying that Dick had invaded the privacy of some MPAA staffers, which justified the MPAA's actions.

How many millions will they demand when they sue themselves for copyright infringement? I bet they'll make an out of court settlement :p

Another day, another worm: Kama Sutra

A friend asked me to mention this new and pretty evil worm.

The read/write internet

Lawrence Lessig has written an article about how copyright laws prevent creativity in the digital age. Another issue few people are aware of.

Attention!

I spend quite a bit of time reading about the importance and problems of things like DRM, software patents, open standards. These are issues that will effect a lot of people and the future of IT, which is why I consider it important to stay informed about them. I actively look for information about them by reading blogs, websites and so on that deal with this stuff. Sadly, I believe I'm one of the relatively few that do this. By far most people live in happy ignorance. Many can be excused because they are "just" plain users and these issues can be very difficult to understand if you don't have at least some understanding of IT other than basic use of a computer. However, many IT professionals ignore these issues in the same way or at least, that is my experience. There are many causes for this, people in general live a busy life with work, family and such which leaves little time for issues which they probably aren't even aware of exists. I could imagine that many consider these issues to be boring as well.

One of the big issues today is DRM and how it will make us slaves of the big media companies. People won't notice this problem before it is too late, unless they are somehow made aware of it and that's the main problem. How do you get the attention of the general public? Even the recent scandal with the Sony rootkit, which was widely reported and showed some of the problems with DRM has only reached relatively few people. In the end, people will not care the slightest about DRM before it hits them right in the face when they want to copy their music to the new expensive portable player they just bought, just to find out that it isn't compatible with their nice music library.

David Berlind has recently written about this and are currently trying to find a better term for DRM that might be able to better grab the attention of the general public. His current favorite is "CRAP" (Content Restriction, Annulment, and Protection). I quite like that term, but I don't think it will change much, sadly.

UPDATE: Here a few after posting this I read this blog post.

Gtalk enables server to server communcation!

As can be read here, Google has now (as promised) implemented and enabled s2s (server to server) communication or federation. That is great news. Welcome to the public Jabber network Google! Next step is more clients that supports Jingle and world domination will be close :p

UPDATE: Announcement from Gtalk developer can be seen here.

Beer: La Biére du Boucanier Red

Tasted this beer last night. It tastes okay, but it isn't spectaculary. In other words, one was enough, this is certainly not a beer I would be drinking several of in a row. Still, I don't regret buying :)

Ed Felten's 2006 predictions

Each January, I have offered predictions for the upcoming year. This year, Alex and I put our heads together to come up with a single list of predictions. Having doubled the number of bloggers making predictions, we seem to have doubled the number of predictions, too. Each prediction is supported by at least one of us, except the predictions that turn out to be wrong, which must have slipped in by mistake.

Link.

Did you say fair use rights?

...Oh, yeah, now I remember! Wasn't that something about people being allowed all kinds of stuff without paying a dime? We are loosing our rights rapidly without most people being aware of it. Here is a scary read about this issue:

Intel's Viiv is the proverbial icing on the cake, a home entertainment concept adding the needed hardware support to supplement the features as found in Windows Vista. And unlike the concept platform Intel has shown us in the past, Viiv Fork will start shipping in the first quarter of 2006, quite in time for the release of Windows Vista. The combination of the two will mean that you, the end-user, will be royally screwed in every way, shape and form. That's right, once Viiv Fork and Vista ship you can forget about exercising your fair-use rights, no more converting songs to MP3, no more music downloads to and from friends and family, no more DivX movies, and the list goes on. But more disturbing is the fact that new content will only be able to playback on the new platform, there, for example, will be no (legal) Linux support or support in other operating systems. Simply because any such media player, able to playback this content, will circumvent the protection scheme that is DRM, which is illegal. Basically fair use and your rights as a consumer are out of the window when Viiv Fork and Vista arrive.

Amazing story about a deaf person

This story about a deaf guy and his quest to be able to listen to music again is quite fascinating.

$1 million donation!

Creative Commons made a Fundraising Campaign recently for various important reasons. It has been huge succes with a surprise $1 million donation! Congrats to Creative Commons - it is great to see that they got enough money to continue their important work.

Bullying RIAA laywers

You have to wonder how the RIAA laywers are being paid after reading this story where witnesses has been bullied into perjury:

This is a 15-year-old girl, telling the story of how lawyers of a major industry group told her she had to commit perjury, just so they could win their case. Some might call that racketeering, and it's most certainly a highly illegal way to win a court case. The deposition strongly suggests that the RIAA knew they didn't have a leg to stand on, and that they were perfectly happy to do anything in their power to win anyway. Funny how rather than open their own wallets to settle, they prefer breaking the law themselves.

If I was an artist I would be mad! You also have to wonder what makes people do such a horrible thing to a kid? I don't know US law at all, but I sure hope the judge kicks their butt in whatever way possible.