My little page about P2P software [here] has started receiving tons of hits from Google. Currently, that page ranks fourth on a Google search for "waste p2p". An interesting thing to note, however, is that it only ranks 14th on a English Google search. Aggregating weblog posts dedicated to a single topic on one page seems to make the page more "authoritative" according to the Google algorithm. That only makes sense, but it still took me be surprise. 5:09:18 PM    comment []  

According to the Ximian Desktop 2 FAQ, XD2 does not yet support Debian [XD2 FAQ], it only supports RedHat and SuSE. While I'm on the topic, the screenshots on the Ximian site are very nice. It makes me want to install RedHat just so I can start using XD2 [XD2 Screenshots]. 4:23:18 PM    comment []  

Mozilla Firebird is making huge strides and claims have even been made that "it has finally caught up with Internet Explorer" [Jon's Radio].

I have an old Pentium laptop hooked up to my stereo that I use to play my MP3 collection. It is running Linux, but has very little RAM and, as a result, tends to use swap a lot when running Mozilla. However, I switched it to the Firebird version of Mozilla this week and was very pleased to see that swap usage was nearly eliminated. Not only is the Firebird memory footprint significantly smaller than Mozilla, but it is pretty polished considering it carries the version number 0.6. 10:55:26 AM    comment []  

In a move that will be immediately met by a lot of criticism and speculation, Sharman Networks is going to start paying Kazaa users to distribute authorized content. Companies will pay to have content hosted through the Kazaa software. The content will show up in normal searches made through the software.

News.com is reporting that Kazaa and Altnet are unrolling a setup where users are paid to distribute 'authorized content.' The article also mentions something about getting rid of unauthorized files, but is unclear on when and how. I'll be paying close attention to whether this P2P business model pans out; Sharman _has_ shown some shrewd business sense in the past [Slashdot].

This is an interesting direction to go, but I think, in the end, a more open standard is going to supplant the commercial P2P applications. It isn't a P2P application that we need, afterall, but a P2P platform and API that can be easily integrated into other tools. An API that allows tools to pool computing resources "Grid style" is the way to go. 10:50:48 AM    comment []  

Microsoft's Palladium is seen by the media industry as a way to protect their content from illegal copying and distribution. However, multiple sources have pointed out that Palladium could result in exactly the opposite; protection of the media pirates.

I think the TCPA would make a great platform on which to build a closed, members only, completely encrypted peer-to-peer media sharing network. As long as you can use the TCPA's tools to reliably verify the identity of every node on the network, then you wouldn't have to worry about the feds, the BSA, the RIAA, the MPAA, Lars Ulrich, or anyone else monitoring your file-sharing group. You and your peers could swap whatever you like in total, TCPA-enabled, 2048-bit-encrypted privacy [ArsTechnica].

Now how's that for irony. The same technology that the media industry intends to use to subjugate the media consumer will be used against them. It just goes to show that technology is not the best tool for controlling behavior. 10:32:01 AM    comment []  

Digital media convergence moves one step closer with the AV300 by Archos [ArsTechnica]. The device could be described as the video iPod. It has a built in 3.8" LCD screen and a 20 or 40GB harddrive. We are very close to a revolution in video sharing that will be on par with the MP3 sharing frenzy of the past couple of years. Higher bandwidth and larger harddrives and portable devices like the AV300 will make it happen. 10:27:28 AM    comment []