As any decent blog in the U.S. seems to require a posting on today’s Grokster decision by the Supreme Court, here are my $ 0.02 (for a very interesting discussion of the decision, see Randal Picker’s blog).
source: On the Grokster decision
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Thanks!
This post was written by George, source: Please update your files
From Let the Lady Speak:
Organized labor is falling apart, and the breakdown will be televised. In my humble opinion NOW is NOT the time to be having a good old fashioned family fight in the AFL-CIO. Right now, Republicans are sitting back and licking their chops, watching as one of the largest organizing forces working on behalf of their opposition squabble amongst themselves in the Beltway sandbox. Like it or not, labor has the money and the bodies. Yes, the progressive grassroots folks are building, but the simple truth is there would be no Democratic victories without labor’s support. There are serious issues in the American labor movement, and Lord knows there needs to be a change, but hashing it out publicly during the reign of the most ANTI-worker administration this country has ever seen is NOT going to solve these problems. Quite frankly, I do not think this new partnership is the answer either, because it too refuses to visit the root of the real problem plaguing the American labor movement.And the problem, in my humble opinion, is this: leadership. Period. The national leadership of organized labor reminds me of a troupe of old burlesque dancers doing the can-can up on a stage, and NOBODY can get them off to make way for something fresh…
The Lady is incredibly support of unions, but not their leadership. Sound familiar? If the unions leadership reflected their membership, how different would they be?
Comments?
This post was written by George, source: Union Tough Love lecture
Bush Prosperity
Lobbying has become a growth industry.
Business, causes, organizations
need to stop government
from messing with their plans or profits.They pay a monthly retainer
and the lobbyist keeps bad things from happening.
It’s called influence peddling now,
we used to call it the protection racket.
If you RSS, add Ken’s feed. Nothing like getting the news lyrically.
This post was written by George, source: Politry by Ken Duncan
From The Blog Herald, � Companies charged $100k per year to monitor blogs:
“We look at the blogosphere as a focus group with 15 million people going on 24/7 that you can tap into without going behind a one-way mirror,”.
This post was written by George, source: Time to up my fees
So since March I’ve been working from home and scoping out new projects. Working every day, slaving away with 30 tabs open in Firefox, pondering all the new stuff out on the net, who’s got it and who doesn’t, and what in the world I wanted to do next. Though always interesting, it’s been hard to always make sense of what’s going on, and that’s been a lot of what I’ve been writing about.
But now I have a job, and starting Monday, the hummingbirds, ciccadas and nasty blue jays will just be a if-I’m-lucky weekend diversion. I’ll be ok. I’m actually wickedly allergic to the jasmine that the hummingbirds love so and my herbs will just have to take care of themselves. I will however miss the ciccadas.
I’m just kidding really - it’s a great job, with a real team, and I’m terribly excited.
So that’s what’s been up the last couple weeks as I get everything settled for that. This week is “vacation geek-out week”, full of conferences. I have a bunch of stuff to write up about Supernova and then there’s Gnomedex tomorrow, which should be interesting. As long as I’m not locked in the back room reserved for the paraiah that procrastinated on registration. Ah, the rewards of social engineering.
This post was written by eleanor, source: Last day of ciccadas, hummingbirds, and fighting with blue jays
While at Supernova, my (disclosure) buddy JD Lasica and I did a video talking about JD’s book, Darknet, on the conflicts between remix culture, Hollywood and Washington. My first citizen journalism experience - what a dilletante.
I thought JD’s book was great, a really solid treatment of the subject. He used one of my favorite approaches to understand a space — a combination of a big picture survey with deep dives to profile specific instances. In this case, it was profiling people and how they were using technology (almost all of the illegal under the DMCA, poor folks) to do new things with media.
And that spurred me to finally do the Amazon review that JD asked me to do weeks ago (only after I said it was a good book!) - so I’ll post it here. Perhaps I should reread the T&C of the Amazon page to see what I signed away, but microcontent is microcontent (is microformats) and it’s all mine. And thus I will repost for you to remix.
In what is essentially a PR war of hysteria (on both sides), JD presents the middle ground, shifting the focus off the corporations and file-sharing teenagers. We learn about real people who, having become accustomed to technology in their lives, adopt it to create a richer media experience. These hobbyists have the tools and ambition to express themselves, except now the law has intervened. Before, fair use was an acceptable compromise because it was hard to make a perfect copy. Now with perfect duplicates, all fair use is suspect, since the tools used to digitally record a few seconds of a song or movie for a remix piece are the same that pirates would use to steal music or, worse, to profitably bootleg. Those tools illegally circumvent copy protection and the act is a crime no matter the intent.
This is the tension JD describes is his book - a world where an absolute law applies to a range of activities, many of which seem perfect resonable and socially beneficial.
JD presents no real answers because as a society we haven’t come up with them yet. Darknet triggers important questions: is fair-use an intrinsic “right”? should it be? what can people repurpose for their own use in a non-commerical setting? how can that be defined/controlled? where are the mechanisms to license use of this content?
JD points us to the root of the conflict: otherwise normal people become criminals in pursuit of creating their own art and entertainment - works as “trivial” as they are culturally important.
This post was written by eleanor, source: Finally, the Amazon Darknet review
From Brand Autopsy: The Evolution of the Starbucks Logo.
This post was written by George, source: The $tarbuck$ logo, then and now
Steve FitzGerald of LakewoodBuzz.com emails this Washington Post article and comments:
this is an amazing split decision that implicates every square inch of America. By a vote of 5 to 4 today, the U.S. Supreme Court majority ruled to allow cities to use eminent domain powers to take property from homeowners to convey to private developers, legally in the name of economic development and “public use.” Here are three good reads on this important and far-reaching decision: a Washington Post story not legalese, the official Supreme Court ruling, and a forum discussion in Lakewood which came very close to being the eminent domain case before the High Court…
Comments?
See this post @ WorldChanging.com as well.
This post was written by George, source: Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes
From the Wi-Fi Networking News Archives:
Pete Sessions, former SBC employee whose wife works at the company and who maintains direct ownership of large Bell stock and option holdings, introduced a brief and terribly broad bill that eliminates essentially all forms of municipal ownership and outsourcing of broadband…Senators McCain and Lautenberg’s alternative is the Community Broadband Act which will be incorporated into a telecom reform bill, and is backed by the National League of Cities and other groups.
While I have written consistently that municipal broadband isn’t a universal panacea as it is offered portrayed, I also believe strongly that local self-determination on critical development issues is as American (and conservative) as apple pie. Telcos try to paint local municipalities as competing in the same industry they regulate. But municipalities have little to no power over telcos, only state agencies and only in limited ways when telcos act as public utilities—which doesn’t include broadband in many states.
Something else to contact your senators about.
This post was written by George, source: The McCain-Lautenberg Community Broadband Act
by Stu Spivack.
Check out his Flickr for great shots of Cleveland.
This post was written by George, source: Street art captured
You know that frozen coffee drink you pay $4 for at $tarbuck$? INeedCoffee.com has the recipe here.
This post was written by George, source: Summertime and the coffee is extra smooth
So since March I’ve been working from home and scoping out new projects. Working every day, slaving away with 30 tabs open in Firefox, pondering all the new stuff out on the net, who’s got it and who doesn’t, and what in the world I wanted to do next. Though always interesting, it’s been hard to always make sense of what’s going on, and that’s been a lot of what I’ve been writing about.
But now I have a job, and starting Monday, the hummingbirds, ciccadas and nasty blue jays will just be a if-I’m-lucky weekend diversion. I’ll be ok. I’m actually wickedly allergic to the jasmine that the hummingbirds love so and my herbs will just have to take care of themselves. I will however miss the ciccadas.
I’m just kidding really - it’s a great job, with a real team, and I’m terribly excited.
So that’s what’s been up the last couple weeks as I get everything settled for that. This week is “vacation geek-out week”, full of conferences. I have a bunch of stuff to write up about Supernova and then there’s Gnomedex tomorrow, which should be interesting. As long as I’m not locked in the back room reserved for the paraiah that procrastinated on registration. Ah, the rewards of social engineering.
I haven’t gotten around to posting my recording of the community broadband discussion I went to last week. Jim Eastman has posted his here.
This post was written by George, source: Grassroots Broadband audio
While at Supernova, my (disclosure) buddy JD Lasica and I did a video talking about JD’s book, Darknet, on the conflicts between remix culture, Hollywood and Washington. My first citizen journalism experience - what a dilletante.
I thought JD’s book was great, a really solid treatment of the subject. He used one of my favorite approaches to understand a space — a combination of a big picture survey with deep dives to profile specific instances. In this case, it was profiling people and how they were using technology (almost all of the illegal under the DMCA, poor folks) to do new things with media.
And that spurred me to finally do the Amazon review that JD asked me to do weeks ago (only after I said it was a good book!) - so I’ll post it here. Perhaps I should reread the T&C of the Amazon page to see what I signed away, but microcontent is microcontent (is microformats) and it’s all mine. And thus I will repost for you to remix.
In what is essentially a PR war of hysteria (on both sides), JD presents the middle ground, shifting the focus off the corporations and file-sharing teenagers. We learn about real people who, having become accustomed to technology in their lives, adopt it to create a richer media experience. These hobbyists have the tools and ambition to express themselves, except now the law has intervened. Before, fair use was an acceptable compromise because it was hard to make a perfect copy. Now with perfect duplicates, all fair use is suspect, since the tools used to digitally record a few seconds of a song or movie for a remix piece are the same that pirates would use to steal music or, worse, to profitably bootleg. Those tools illegally circumvent copy protection and the act is a crime no matter the intent.
This is the tension JD describes is his book - a world where an absolute law applies to a range of activities, many of which seem perfect resonable and socially beneficial.
JD presents no real answers because as a society we haven’t come up with them yet. Darknet triggers important questions: is fair-use an intrinsic “right”? should it be? what can people repurpose for their own use in a non-commerical setting? how can that be defined/controlled? where are the mechanisms to license use of this content?
JD points us to the root of the conflict: otherwise normal people become criminals in pursuit of creating their own art and entertainment - works as “trivial” as they are culturally important.
Brian points out that M$ Word knows how to spell words from Star Wars, comics, and Tolkein novels, but marks words from Star Trek incorrect. Brian says:
Ouch. Sorry, Trekkies. Even Microsoft says you can’t eat lunch with us.You’re going to have to sit at the Dungeons and Dragons Club table.
This post was written by George, source: M$ programmers must not be trekkies
Scott Kovatch thinks creatively about WiFi opportunites while mowing the lawn.
So Cleveland.
This post was written by George, source: The next Tech Czar?
Interesting post by Tim Russo:
After getting thrown out of Jane Campbell’s gala opening at the Galleria yesterday for wearing my blue Walmart smock, I was standing outside with my other smock wearers, when out walked John Kilbane, Business Manager for Building Trades Local 310. Kilbane walked across the street to where we were standing and gave us his strategy for fighting Walmart.“You know how you fight Walmart? You wait until they open, wait until they build the thing, and then you go after them. I don’t approve of your tactics now, but after the thing is built, we’ll be right with you.”
Tim also pointed out that it was convienent for Campbell to put her campaign office inside a building like the mall, when most other candidates have their office where the public can access them. An apt metaphor for the siege mentality that’s set in.
What’s our democracy becoming?
“I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” - James A. Baldwin
I feel the same way about Cleveland. How do you feel?
This post was written by George, source: Unions and the politics of development
From eWeek.com:
Next month, in a move designed to reduce the time involved in issuing building permits and inspections from days to minutes, building inspectors in Cleveland will begin filing inspection reports wirelessly from the field…Because municipal Wi-Fi access is not ubiquitous and because inspectors are often in places such as elevator shafts and basements where signals are not available, agencies will be setting up “watering holes,” or hot spots, where inspectors can get connectivity. Cleveland’s infrastructure already offers free hot spots downtown and around Case Western Reserve University…
Accela Wireless uses a store-and-forward technology in which the home server periodically polls the client for new information. This allows municipalities that do not have ubiquitous wireless coverage to use a hot-spot model in which the data is forwarded when the client device enters a coverage area or logs in through a private hot-spot provider.
The application includes an offline mode that uses a store-and-forward approach, allowing inspectors to record information that is automatically updated when they enter the range of a wireless node. The software is designed to make the process of applying and issuing permits, scheduling and enforcing inspections, and signing off on projects more efficient.
Does anyone else see a problem with this, like maybe the cost of using private hotspot providers? Or maybe lack of coverage by any hotspot provider? It’s not very practical if the inspector have to drive back to the office to file.
The other thing that bothers me about this story is, where’s the administration? Don’t we have a Tech Czar here in Cleveland? Why isn’t he speaking to the press about this? Oh, that’s right, he’s busy.
This post was written by George, source: Wireless in July?
Andy Timithy writes:
I took a day off from work monday, cranked up the De Peche Mode, took off my shirt and hooked up the airport extreme base station that has been sitting on my bedroom floor for the past month. Enjoy! Wait. It’s password protected because I’m a paranoid bastard. I don’t want Al Qaeda in a van doing bizarre shit on my dime.
I’m going to have to load some DM onto my iPod for those moments of tech support. I’m still not convinced about the shirtless thing though…
