Monday, June 09, 2003

Trying out FM Radio "Notes from the Metaverse" is produced today with the help of FM Radio, a Radio Userland plug-in that I'm trying out. So far, it's pretty cool, simplifying what was already pretty simple. Best thing about it is you don't have to open a separate browser to pull up links. Also, for those of us trying to get Internet Explorer out of our lives, the post editor has all the easy link-creation buttons that I could never get to work in Netscape/Mozilla. And if I want to start using categories, they look to be real simple. Now if only I could get both Radio and FM running under Linux, life would be sweet. I know some folks have got Radio working in Wine, but I have some tinkering to do to get it working on my system. 10:42:32 PM

comment [] [Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "trackbackLink" hasn't been defined.]

Was the FCC trying to "save broadcast TV"? The first time I ever heard Michael Powell try to defend last week's FCC rules changes was on the same day they were adopted. In a sound-bite on NPR, Powell said that without these new rules, free broadcast TV would soon be history. I didn't really hear any further justification, but heck, Powell had been dodging the press for so long, I had to make sure it was really him to listen too closely. So today, my hometown paper (the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, for those who haven't been with us from Day One) runs a slightly shorter version of this piece from the LA Times, (registration required) which asks the question "Is Free TV Worth Saving?" Certainly an interesting spin on this story, with quotes from former TV executives and right-wing think tanks who propose to completely dump local television and auction off the spectrum to the highest bidder. Yeah, that'll solve the problem of vanishing local news. Make it official! The history of the FCC and its predecessor, the Federal Radio Commission, outlined in this story is, unfortunately, wrong. What happened with the Communications Act of 1934 was not Congress declaring that commercial broadcasting should be limited, it was Congress declaring for the first time that commercial broadcasting should be permitted! For those interested in pursuing this, read Robert McChesney's fine history of the period, "Telecommunications, Mass Media and Democracy: The Battle for Control of US Broadcasting 1928-1935." (Click the link to order from your local independent bookseller.) While local TV news is not exactly the place where intelligent discussion of issues facing our communities occurs, to think that we would toss it out completely is just absurd. Perhaps no more so than to think that this is what Mike Powell and his cohorts on the Commission were trying to prevent. 10:32:19 PM

comment [] [Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "trackbackLink" hasn't been defined.]

More good news for Desktop Linux SuSE widens scope for desktop Linux. The software maker introduces a version of Linux aimed at enterprise customers, hoping to move the open-source software beyond servers and low-cost PCs. [CNET News.com] This is probably going to be the system that will power the City of Munich's 14,000 PCs. It is excellent news that SuSE (the distro I run, FWIW) is getting ready to try again with a desktop version. Some may remember the SuSE Linux Office Suite of 1999. This was the product that pushed me into trying Linux. This was a repackaging/rebranding of the Applixware office suite for SuSE Linux 5.3. Unfortunately, I never got it installed--there was at that time no driver for the built-in Intel video chip, so I couldn't run XWindows. So I had to wait for Corel Linux. But enough of my whining. Now that SuSE has come out with a desktop product, can Red Hat sit forever on the sidelines? I hope not. 9:56:08 PM

comment [] [Macro error: Can't evaluate the expression because the name "trackbackLink" hasn't been defined.]

© Copyright 2004 Mike McCallister.

Support the Public Domain!