Thursday, March 7, 2002
Virtual PC 5.0.2 Improves Performance
Chief among the improvements are a wide variety of performance enhancements aimed at addressing complaints about glacial performance under Mac OS X.
You Listen, You Pay: Post-Napster Music Services
Now there are legal online music services that resemble the singles-buying experience. If you are used to the free-range, download-and-burn capabilities of Napster and the rest, you will find that these services do have their limitations, but also some distinct benefits.
Review of post-Napster alternatives Rhapsody, Pressplay, and MusicNet.
Electronic trail goes cold
Paper may seem fragile and ephemeral as a means of preserving information, but its virtues are all too apparent when compared to data stored digitally. Vast amounts of information are created, stored and accessed electronically, bringing with it enormous advantages.
Republicans Should Back Recording Artists, Consumers
Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., is at it again. Although he represents South Carolina, Hollings is sometimes known as theSenator from Disneybecause of his eagerness to support the interests of the motion picture and record industries and their lobbying arms, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Record Industry Association of America.
Discussion at Slashdot.
'Up-Titling' Keeps Workers Poor but Happy
Examples of the phenomenon dubbedup-titlinginclude a receptionist rebranded asHead of Verbal Telecommunicationsand a window cleaner given the impressive designation ofOptical Illuminator Enhancer.
Here's a story my wife sent me...
Rotten Links
My original source for the George Will editorial on steel tariffs was this article in today's Boston Globe. Unfortunately, I have determined that the Globe expires its links after a short time. I didn't bother trying to find out exactly how long these stories last, but while reviewing some of my earlier posts, I found that links to stories in the Globe didn't work. This greatly decreases the value of those posts, so I won't be linking to the Globe very much any more.
Bending For Steel
Proving himself less principled than Bill Clinton regarding the free-trade principles that are indispensable to world prosperity and comity, President Bush has done what Clinton refused to do. In the name of providingbreathing spacefor the U.S. steel industry, which has been on the respirator of protection for decades, Bush has cooked up an unpalatable confection of tariffs and import quotas that mock his free-trade rhetoric.
Movie Industry Cries All the Way to the Bank
Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, has reported that the year 2001 was thegreatest box office year in film history, with movie admissions reaching their highest level since 1959. Isn't this the same industry that is complaining that piracy is putting them out of business?
The Mouse That Ate The Public Domain
Clear thinking about the scope of Congress' Copyright Clause power requires careful separation of ends from means. The end - the enumerated power itself - is the promotion of progress. [ ... ] In contrast, the copyright grant is not itself the enumerated power; it is merely the instrument through which progress may be realized.
Discussion at Slashdot.
This Is a Real Quest for Maps
Kendra Mayfield
David Rumsey's online map collection has introduced a revolutionary, accessible way for people to experience old maps by comparing them to modern geospatial data.
House Rep's Rap: Unshackle the CD
Declan McCullagh
Anyone who's ever bought a CD only to discover it only plays on certain machines knows the problem with anti-copying technology. A Congressman wants to put an end to the practice.
Discussion at Slashdot.
