October 2008
18 posts
“In the end, Muxtape’s legality was moot. I didn’t have any money to defend...”
– History of Muxtape - This quote is from a long post by the founder of Muxtape. I think it does a nice job of encapsulating the problem of interests/incentives between fans, artists, and record labels. If you’re interested in the larger piracy debate, the history of Muxtape is a must-read.
Free the Airwaves
I just signed a petition to open up the radio airwaves that sit between broadcast TV stations. The purpose of opening it up would be to enable more innovation such as Bluetooth and WiFi. Without open, unlicensed spectrum, neither of these technologies would exist. Both of these technologies are built on top of junk spectrum that can’t travel well. If we open up unused spectrum between TV...
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Learn to Program from Stanford
Though I had briefly dabbled in programming before arriving at Stanford, I didn’t feel like I could write meaningful code until I took three courses: CS106A, CS106B, and CS107. Any potential employer will want their programmers to have a more rigorous background than these three courses, but, to be honest, the work done in an average programming gig is rarely ever more difficult than CS107...
“At the debate Wednesday, John McCain kept bringing up the “fact”...”
– Poor Joe (err… I mean Sam). I wonder if he will still be voting Republican after McCain created a media circus around him?
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Dumb Users VS Busy Users
I read a number of articles yesterday and today about Microsoft Windows 7. The one buzzword I kept seeing over and over again is: “simple”.
Microsoft probably did a bunch of market studies which found that people prefer OS X over Vista because OS X is simpler. But, if Microsoft is really going to strive for simplicity, they have to avoid a very common design pitfall. When software...
Andrew Parker - Google Search →
It’s a good day for my ego search. Not only did my old blog get un-blacklisted again (back at #1 spot), but 8 of the 10 first page results are either about me or link to me. Gotta start pushing this tumblelog up the page.
Let Them Wear Diesel Jeans →
caro:
“In the last great meltdown, there were soup lines. Now they’re lining up for premium denim. A New York Diary.”
What a great observation!
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(Not) Ripping a DVD in iTunes
Why can’t I rip a DVD in iTunes? It should be a simple, one-click option, like ripping a CD. Instead, consumers turn to a suite of open source ripping tools; it’s a messy and frustrating user experience.
If I’m Apple, what is my motivation for making it difficult to rip DVDs?
1. They want to drive consumers to the iTunes Store instead of to a ripping solution.
My...
5 tags
Outlook Hell (and a solution)
Image by Ross Mayfield via Flickr
I spent about 10-12 hours this past week trying to get Microsoft Outlook to run, but it kept on falling down (much like this poor guy).
I eventually found a solution that I am posting here, which I think many people could benefit from. If you’re Outlook is running like molasses, try the following steps below.
My OUTCMD.DAT file used to be 1.2 GB. ...
McCain: "I Would Make eBay's Meg Whitman Treasury... →
The title says it all.
“Pitchfork: It’s something that comes with age— as you get older,...”
– Pitchfork interviewing Gregg Gillis (Girl Talk)
This is snippet of an interview with Gregg Gillis (aka Girl Talk). It reflects where my cultural tastes have been going over the last few years. When I first started buying music (or other cultural artifacts), it was a risk to admit you liked...
Netflix "Watch Instant" DRM Failure
I tried hooking up an LCD HDTV via DVI to my computer this weekend to watch Netflix “Instant Watch” content on my TV. I was greeted with an Microsoft DRM error page with spare information. Only useful piece of information was error code: WMPError (C00D11B1).
If that internet has taught me anything it’s that I am not a unique and special flower ;). Every problem I have has...
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Semi-live Blogging on VP Debate: Same Sex Couples
I really hope the issue of same sex marriages comes up again in future debates. I know that it’s an unpopular issue and could be potentially harmful to Democrats at the polls (like to 2000 and 2004), but I don’t think Obama and McCain agree on the legal treatment of same sex couples; yet the series of questions on this issue in the debate tonight gave the impression that the two...
Apple Drops the App Store NDA →
Apple has decided to drop the NDA for iPhone app store developers. Hooray! What’s the over/under on time from today until the first iPhone development book hits bookshelves? And, which publisher will be first to market? I bet that O’Reilly’s classic black-and-white picture on the cover will be a school of minnows. ;)
In all seriousness, check out this Amazon search. Looks like...
