Wednesday, August 14, 2002

Chick With A Shopping Cart Okay, I'm thrifty. I love a great deal on things I regularly use and this one's worth sharing. I suspect it would be best to go instore to buy these, or order them for home/office delivery. CD-R's 50 for $1.99!  Officemax has a deal on 50 Imation 700MB/80 Minute CD-R's.  The deal goes like this. One per customer. $19.99 in store price - $8 instant instore rebate and a $10 mail in rebate. End cost $1.99! Officemax has HP Office Paper by the box: Buy one 10 ream box, get one oox free!  A box is 5000 sheets So you get 2 boxes for $29.99! 7:41:34 PM

Digital Copyright Laws Affect YOU In Dan Gillmor's recent article online "We Must Engage in Copyright Debate" hits the mark squarely between the eyes. Dan? Mind if I adopt you as an older sister?  We sure think alike. The reality check from inside the industry: For years the entertainment industry has treated the you like a brainless money machine. They only thing these over paid entertainment execs want you to do is eat their crappy movies, music and events which is controlled by the rules they bought and paid for, and crap out more cash to keep repeating the process until you die. Hollywood does not now, nor have they ever wanted the public to have any control over the process or say in how the customer can enjoy their products. Think of all the garbage and lies thrown at Congress about regulating devices like Tivo, MD Players, Betamax, VCRs and countless other that allows you to control your consumption. RIAA and MPAA want to force (by buying them or feeding them and the Justice Department loads of utter BS,) the lawmakers to inact laws that will make the very process of recording and viewing or enjoying a production at your choice and time a crime. It is time for you and your friends to get off your tailfeathers and write your congressmen, or get involved with groups like GeekPAC.  Otherwise-- you are going to lose your freedom to choose. Editorial Note 8/14/2002: CNet.  Congress and the RIAA are pressuring the Justice department to apply the NET Act against P2P users.  That would make sharing over $1000 in copyrighted material a felony punishable by one year in jail.  This would effectively make 40 m Americans felons.   Of course, this gets worse when you consider that felons can't vote. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] 3:51:13 AM

The Next Hit List? Doc points to a list of Journalist Blogs online via cyberjournalist.net. Considering how a quickly a writer can garner the ire of their publisher these days for voicing an opinion-- the question is: How soon will blogs like these become hit lists? 3:18:17 AM

Will They Listen? It appears Andy Grove had something to say to lawmakers at The New Democrat Network's West Coast Retreat this week. Grove ask the lawmakers to hold off on legislation that would require digital rights management technology in new products and to think hard before passing legislation that would regulate 802.11 wireless technology. He asked them to develop a comprehensive policy on China--which he said was eclipsing Japan as Intel's second-largest market behind the United States. He also called the Telecommunications Act of 1996 a "big failure" and described a new Hollywood-backed anti-piracy bill as a "horrendous" piece of legislation. From where I sit, Andy Grove is one of the only people in the industry who is actually speaking up for technology and innovation. I suspect that at times it does not completely sit well with the rest of Intel's Corporate agenda of developing digital copywrite protection at a hardware level.  The question du jour is: Where does Intel really stand? 2:57:12 AM

© Copyright 2002 Mary Wehmeier. Last update: 9/3/02; 2:02:36 AM. Comments by: YACCS