This video from the World Science Festival is amazing. You can see the entire talk here, and this demonstration is even more amazing in context.
Daily links: 7th August 2009
Round up of short links from the last day.
Quick one: guess the subject in the Mail
See if you can guess what activity is being referred to in this Daily Mail article about an addition to the curriculum.
…part of a controversial drive…
…lessons that should be taught in the home or in the community…
…controversial plans…
…I do not really want my youngster to be indoctrinated with these things…
Answer after the break.
DRM music brought online shouldn’t be expected to last forever
The RIAA’s lawyer responding to the suggestion that users should be allowed to strip DRM from tracks if the server has been taken down.
“We reject the view,” he writes in a letter to the top legal advisor at the Copyright Office, “that copyright owners and their licensees are required to provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works. No other product or service providers are held to such lofty standards. No one expects computers or other electronics devices to work properly in perpetuity, and there is no reason that any particular mode of distributing copyrighted works should be required to do so.”
So yes, if you buy a DRM protected track online, the music industry believes that you should not expect to be able to listen to that track in perpetuity. Buy a CD or an LP, and you will expect that to last until you damage it. Buy a DRM protected MP3, and you can expect it to last until the provider decides that it is no longer in its best interests to continue to provide the service.
Does anyone see any incentive to temporarily license DRM protected music?
From Ars Technica.
iPhone owners – watch your text messages today…
(image from nathanborror on Flickr)
Writing about the iPhone is becoming a worrying habit on here, but what can I say? I like technology, and the way some things have been done with the iPhone keep catching my attention. This latest one’s a wee bit more serious than most of the stuff though.
Black Hat is this week. Black Hat is a nice big conference where a lot of people who fall on either side of the fence when it comes to IT security get together. The people who help stop people getting into systems, and the the people who like to get into systems.
Given that, what do you think a company should do if someone gives them a month’s notice that they’re going to reveal an exploit that allows remote control of their product?
The answer from Apple seems to be ‘not patch it beforehand’. The end of that month’s notice, and Charlie Miller’s talk at Black Hat are today. Might be worth turning your phone off for a bit until people know what the score is. This spreads by seemingly blank text.
Dear god… Bill O’Reilly does not understand maths…
This is one of the most influential men in the media in America. Worried yet?
10 times as many people, 10 times as many accidents, 10 times as large a tax base.
The Onion can still hit right in the centre…
Logic Problem tour: Brighton
Last gig. Might tidy these blog posts up at some point with some more description at some point, got delusions of doing a zine about the entire tour though. Going to go get some sleep now though.
Logic Problem tour: Tadley
Last day, two shows. Garage in Tadley, Cowley in Brighton. Google is scaring me by showing me stuff I posted 10 minutes ago in the search results when I try to check things. I need sleep.
Logic Problem tour: Big Takeover in London
Nottingham, crashed at Steve’s odd but cool ex-homeless shelter place. Record shopping, shaves, etc in town. I’m getting tired now and can’t be bothered with detail. Then drive down to London for Bryony’s Big Takeover event at Arch 897 in London with loads of good bands and a good vibe. Bar idiocy with cymbal stands.