February 4th, 2012
After being shot down in the U.S. (at least temporarily), it looks like the copyright cartel is going to try to get the same anti-user pro-business legislation passed in Canada. As if Bill C-11 isn’t bad enough, they want more restrictions on user’s rights.
The music industry claims to be a big supporter of Bill C-11, yet few groups have demanded more changes. In fact, when it appeared before the House of Commons committee reviewing the bill, one MPnoted that their demands were “substantial” and “anything but minor.” Their demands include:
- expansion of the enabler provision to include SOPA-style expanded liability
- create new injunction powers to block websites
- create new injunction powers to remove content from websites
- require ISPs to implement a policy on repeat infringers that could include Internet termination
- remove the non-commercial liability cap for statutory damages
- restrict the user-generated content provision
- create new limits on personal copying exception
- create new limits on time shifting exception
- create additional limits on backup copy provision
- limit the safe harbour for ISPs
- limit the safe harbour for caching activities
- limit the safe harbour for hosting content
- limit the search engine (ILT) exception
- eliminate the ephemeral recording amendment
The music industry is seeking a huge overhaul of Bill C-32 that makes any requests for adjusting the digital lock rules look minor by comparison. As it escalates the rhetoric by claiming critics stand with piracy, it is apparent that the lobby groups’ fight to blend a Canadian DMCA with a Canadian SOPA will only intensify in the weeks ahead.
Posted in Another thing to worry about, intellectual property | No Comments »
February 3rd, 2012
Locus, the news magazine of the SF field, has released its 2011 recommended reading list. The list covers science fiction and fantasy novels, first novels, and short fiction. Out of their SF novels, I’ve read three (Robert Charles Wilson’s Vortex, Charlie Stross’ Rule 34 and John Barnes’ Daybreak Zero) and I’m currently reading Vernor Vinge’s Children of the Sky.
It’s a good list and a good starting point if you’re looking for some SF to read.
Posted in SF, books | No Comments »
February 3rd, 2012
As if the proposed SOPA/PIPA legislation wasn’t bad enough, now the Trans-Pacific Partnership wants legislation that would require a license for all temporary copies of copyrighted works stored in computer buffers. As someone who is involved with the design of complex computer systems, I can’t even begin to express just how frakking insane this proposal is – it would essentially bring the use of computers in any sort of entertainment application to a screeching halt. Talk about killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Gone – online videos – no YouTube. Gone Hulu. Gone e-books. Gone iTunes. All gone. We’d be circulationg movies on VHS tapes in the mail again. Forget that – didn’t they want to ban VHS too?
Now, this is a secret treaty, so we don’t know most of what’s going on in the room, but one jaw-dropping leak is that that the treaty contemplates requiring licenses for ephemeral copies made in a computer’s buffer. That means that the buffers in your machine could need a separate, negotiated license for every playback of copyrighted works, and buffer designs that the entertainment industry doesn’t like — core technical architectures — would become legally fraught because they’d require millions of license negotiations or they’d put users in danger of lawsuits.
This isn’t the first time that buffer licensing was proposed. Way back in 1995, theLehman white paper, proposed by Clinton’s copyright czar to Al Gore’s National Information Infrastructure committee, made the same demand. It was roundly rejected then, because the process was transparent and the people who would be adversely affected by it (that is, everyone) could see and object to it.
This is about legislating chip designs and software architecture, and the only people allowed in the room are entertainment execs. The future of silicon itself hangs in the balance. Will Intel and other giants demand a fair, transparent, equitable negotiation process?
If you want an analogy of just how stupid this idea is, imagine if a publisher required a printer to pay a license for each printing plate used to produce a book, along with a license for the negatives used to produce the printing plate. And a license for the blue sheets used for galley proofs. Those are the physical equivalents of computer buffers.
Posted in Another thing to worry about, computing, intellectual property | No Comments »
February 2nd, 2012
Here’s an article that explains how engineers at NASA solved a $100,000,000 problem with about $5 of electronics and some smart thinking. The problem was pogo – vibration, in other words – in the Ares 1 rocket. I think term was coined because the forward and back vibration is reminiscent of a pogo stick, but it’s not as much fun. It can shake astronauts so badly that they can’t read displays in their capsule – in extreme cases it could cause the rocket to break apart.
However, in the case of the Ares 1, the vibration didn’t affect the safety of the vehicle, but would make it impossible for astronauts to view their displays. Engineers didn’t solve the pogo problem, but they did find a clever workaround that has applications in other situations – helicopter cockpits, for example. And it was cheap -really cheap.
To evaluate the extent of the problem, NASA called in its Human Factors Division. They’re the ones who study human perception and performance, from very basic research to very applied research. In fact, they were the ones who had done the most recent round of vibration tests: 50 years ago, for the Gemini project, back when displays were analog, steam-actuated dials and gauges instead of the computer screens of today. Cockpits, like everything else, have changed a lot since those days. It was time for some new tests.
Step one was to set up a chair so it would vibrate purely in an up-down motion (or in-out, if you’re lying on your back like an astronaut would be), which is how the launch vehicle was predicted to shake. The vibrational frequency of the rocket would be 12 hertz (on average, but it would fluctuate between 10Hz and 13Hz) so they needed something that could hit that range exactly. Luckily, that technology already existed; the same mechanism that causes your chair to shake in simulation rides at amusement park made for a perfect prototype.
The engineers also knew that as Ares I gained speed the shake would increase. They calculated that toward the final stage, when astronauts would be already subjected to 4 G’s of acceleration, they would be getting an additional 0.7 G’s of vibration. As NASA slowly ramped up testing in the chair, they discovered that at 0.7 G’s even the largest numbers on the digitized display were almost entirely illegible.
Posted in space | No Comments »
February 2nd, 2012
My friend and former co-worker, Scott Nesbitt, spent a month last year working exclusively with an Acer Chromebook and summarizes his experience in this article.
For the first few days of the experiment, I found it hard to break the habit of firing up my main laptop. I’ve been using it for so long that turning to it to do work is second nature to me.
But I quickly adapted to turning to the Chromebook. The first thing that strikes me, even now, is how quickly it starts up. I just lift the lid and by the time I’ve plugged the dongle for my wireless mouse into it, the login screen appears. Shortly after typing my password I’m online and ready to work.
I doubt that I could emulate Scott’s experience, simply because I’d have a real problem working on a computer with that small a screen. However, using mostly web applications probably wouldn’t be an issue for much of what I do on the computer. Things have certainly changed in the last decade. When I set up a computer now, most of the applications are freeware or open source, and many of those are now available as web applications or have web equivalents. All we lack now is universal, stable, (and cheap) Internet connectivity.
Posted in computing | No Comments »
February 1st, 2012
As a technical writer, it’s easy to get caught up in the minutia of writing and production and ignore the marketing and promotion side of the job. In my case, I worry about marketing my services, but I have no control over how the manuals and specifications I write are distributed. But that’s not the case if you’re self-publishing. You do need to worry about how your book is going to be sold, and if you want it to be sold at all, you’re probably going to have to promote it.
Daniel Markham has just published an e-book. ScrumMaster, about how to set up an agile team. Along the way he’s learned quite a few things about publishing e-books. If you’re thinking about doing that, read this post.
I found there were all kinds of details to keep track of — whether or not you use a magic application or not. Here’s a brain dump of just some of the things in no particular order.
- Market research: initial. Determine the size of the potential market, what the buying indicators are, and where the competition is.
- Landing page for your book (that you own). That’s domain registration, formatting, JavaScript, email hookups — the whole shebang.
- Actually writing the book.
- Converting the book into EPUB or another format. Bonus points if you write the book in a text editor and make your own BASH script to pack it all up.
Posted in eBooks | No Comments »