This page contains all entries posted to Manufactured Environments in March 2004.

Listening to this tonight

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File sharing lawsuits hit Europa

As if there weren’t enough lawsuits flying against file traders, recording industry associations in Italy, Germany and Denmark have filed lawsuits against individuals in a bid to take back the Internet from those meddling teenagers. 247 people stand accused in the first wave of lawsuits to hit outside the US. The NyTimes has an article here. (Reg. req’d.)

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Space Trucking Mogul

Sunday night we headed over to the Performing Arts Center and caught a bassoon quartet—one of those curiosities of the world. For one piece they even added a fifth bassoonist playing a contra-bassoon, which plays a full octave lower than a regular bassoon. A bassoon quintet, who knew?

Speaking of bassoons, Clark writes to say that he, after all these years, has his own domain name: SpaceTruckingMogul.com. We wish him well. And while you’re at it, check out some MP3 downloads from his latest venture, Socks and Sandals. Now if only he’d start a blog….

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Sue ‘em all!

There it goes again. The RIAA has sued 532 individuals, which includes 82 lawsuits against people who specifically used university or college networks to transmit copyrighted materials. Let’s call it the “Spring Break Surprise.” Here’s a news brief from Edupage, an electronic publication of Educause:

NEW LAWSUITS FROM THE RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed another 532 “John Doe” lawsuits against individuals suspected of illegally trading copyrighted files, including 82 suits against individuals said to have used college or university networks for illegal file trading. Institutions where the alleged copyright violations took place will be asked to provide the RIAA with the names of the defendants. Saying that music piracy continues to be “rampant on college campuses,” RIAA President Cary Sherman commented that no group of computer users should believe they are “immune from the consequences” of illegal file trading. Sherman said his group’s lawsuits are one part of a larger strategy to protect copyright holders and to educate users, encouraging them to take advantage of the growing number of legal online music services. The RIAA has filed about 1,500 lawsuits in the first three months of 2004.
Internet News, 23 March 2004

In other news, the RIAA website has been downed again. This time by the MyDoom.F virus. Looks like it is back up now.

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Fenech Adami officially resigns

It’s the end of an era in Malta. Prime Minister Fenech Adami has resigned from office.

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami bid farewell to the House of Representatives yesterday in an emotionally charged statement that ended just over 35 years of a public career as MP, leader of the opposition, and prime minister.

Article here.

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Windows XP SP2 RC1

The other day Microsoft sent me a CD via Airborne Express of the beta of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. The version they sent is Release Candidate 1. Scoble wanted feedback. Here you go.

My overall impression is that it accomplishes what they set out to achieve—namely, to provide enhanced and centralized security features to Windows XP. Something new that Microsoft has added is the Security Center. This is a place where you can check to make sure that the improved Windows Firewall is operating and that you’re set to automatically download updates. It also provides links to the various places in Windows where security settings come into play. This is a great thing, and with the better firewall, well worth the cost of upgrading (it’s free). According to a Google search, SP2 will hit wide release in Q3 of 2004.

MSFT also made some improvements to Internet Explorer. They added a pop-up blocker to IE. If you’re like me you’ve obtained pop-up blockers a long time ago, but it’s nice to see it integrated into the browser instead of having to rely on third-party software such as the Google Toolbar. Also they added an interesting little feature called Add-On Manager. It gives you a list of all the software that’s been plugged-in into Internet Explorer by the user. I was expecting to see Google Toolbar and not much else. I was surprised to see 14 individual entries here. But it was more granular than expected. For example, 4 entries were related to Norton Internet Security 2004, which I run on this computer. All in all, I could account for all of the add-ons except one, which had a name only a machine could love. The Add-On Manager is a great feature for people who accidentally hosed their copy of IE by installing some nasty toolbars or software off the Internet. I work at a large university, and I’ve seen all manner of strange plug-ins to IE on public workstations. At least in the future, we’ll have a way to disable some of this cruft.

So all in all, it’s a great update to a great operating system. I tell my Mac friends that XP is the most Mac-like operating system yet, which to me means that it’s the easiest version of Windows to use by far. And the most visually appealing. I went to a party at SXSW Interactive over at frog design’s offices in Austin, and they had a big poster up of interfaces they designed in Windows XP. I didn’t know that frog had designed the Start menu in XP. That was fascinating to learn, and perhaps is a hint at why it’s so good and useful. In the 80’s, I knew frog as the place that had designed the Apple //c, and it’s wonderful to see that they’re working with Microsoft.

Now for the critique: first, the install of SP2 is an intense endeavor. It felt like I was installing a new operating system. The whole install, which first backs up files and then install files, took over a half hour. When the system rebooted, the intensity continued and my hard drive ran solid for a good ten minutes. Finally it announced that Windows had recovered from a “serious error.” I of course sent the error report to MSFT. I’m positive that it was Norton Internet Security that had failed—I’ve seen this happen before to NIS when the hard drive is being monopolized by another process at startup. I rebooted again, and all was fine.

I noticed a new icon for the Security Center in the systray. When I boot up, the Security Center loads first or just about, and then Norton Internet Security, which includes Norton AntiVirus 2004, loads. The problem is that every time I boot up I get a little window from Security Center saying that it couldn’t determine the status of my antivirus software. When I open Security Center, it says “Check Status” for Virus Protection. It adds that “Norton AntiVirus reports that it is installed, but its status is unknown.” Norton appears to be working fine, but the Security Center has so far been unable to determine its status. If you click the Recommendations button, it tells you to check that antivirus is installed and up to date (it is), and suggests purchasing and installing a different antivirus program. This is not helpful information.

This is an interface issue, but the Security Center user interface looks unfinished to me. Maybe this is because it is still beta, but it appears to my eye that the window wasn’t finished—too much “white space” along the left-hand side perhaps and maybe because of the lack of a menu bar.

Another bug I noticed is that there’s a new Security Center icon under Start/All Programs/Accessories/System Tools. When I click the icon, Windows doesn’t know what to do with it and displays an “Open With” dialog asking me what program I want to use to open up the file wscui.cpl. This is a little disconcerting to see in a Release Candidate.

But like I said, overall it’s a great update. I haven’t run into any problems running apps, and the new features in the firewall, which can block outgoing as well as incoming traffic now, are much desired. The firewall isn’t as robust a product as the personal firewall in Norton Internet Security, but it’s much improved. And the firewall is turned ON by default. This is big. My brother bought a new Dell recently, and I walked him through how to turn on the Windows firewall because it was turned off when the machine arrived at his house. Changing this default behavior will go a long way toward protecting people who either don’t know or don’t care about the firewall.

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Fotos of Austin

I rested up yesterday from the trip, but I did get at least one useful thing done. I’ve posted a few photos from Austin on the website. You can look at them over on the fotos page. It mostly encapsulates walking up to the state capitol and also walking to the University of Texas campus. The weather was cloudy more often than not during the trip, but the temperature was wonderful. I came back Wednesday to a snow-covered landscape. We’re supposed to be in the 50’s today, but that’s nothing to the comfortable 70’s we had in Austin.

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Back from Austin

My flight got in about 3:30 this afternoon. I’m back from Austin, Texas where I was attending the SXSW Interactive conference. I had a great time — met lots of interesting people and heard lots of interesting things. I’m too exhausted tonight to write more, but maybe tomorrow I’ll get around to writing up a wrap-up of my time down South.

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SXSW Interactive (cont.)

It’s foggy here in Austin this morning. The panels get going at 10am. Joe Trippi, the former campaign manager for Howard Dean, is going to be speaking today. Looks to be some good sessions today. So far the panels I’ve been at have been well done — good speakers and interesting topics. I’ll be hitting “Blogucation 101: A Primer for Teaching with Blogs” later this afternoon. This evening are the Web Awards over at the Hilton. Should be a good time. Last night we went to the frog design party at 804 Congress among other things. A good time was had by all.

Joi Ito and Cory Doctorow are complaining about the no photos/no charging policies at the conference (you can charge devices in the Wireless Lounge starting today). Do you think this should be changed?

Update: The conference organizers heard the call and this morning at the 10am session announced that people could now plug-in their devices to the conference center’s outlets. Also photos are now OK as long as they’re for personal use.

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SXSW Interactive

I’m here in Austin, Texas for SXSW Interactive. My flight on American arrived at 11am yesterday. Sounds like some people who were traveling on United ran into delays. I had a few hours to kill yesterday so I walked up to the State Capitol and around the downtown area. I came from negative degree wind chills to the relative balmy Texas weather. It was dribbling rain yesterday, but Monday and Tuesday are going to be in the 70’s and sunny.

I went to a talk last night, and the conference officially begins today. I’ll be posting notes when I get a chance.

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$30,000? We’re broke, man.

Here’s the latest RIAA news from Edupage, a publication of Educause:

SETBACK FOR RIAA LAWSUITS
A federal judge has ruled that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) may not file single “John Doe” lawsuits that cover more than one defendant but must file all suits individually. A court ruling from last year prohibits the RIAA from obtaining the identities of alleged copyright infringers without filing a lawsuit, each of which costs about $150 to file. In response, the RIAA began filing single “John Doe” lawsuits against groups of users who are all customers of the same ISP. The new ruling means that the RIAA would be required to file separate lawsuits against each of the roughly 200 defendants named in the suit at issue, costing the group about $30,000 in filing fees. The RIAA said it would consider its options but did not say what it planned to do.
Wired News, 8 March 2004

Who else thinks this is an onerous burden for the RIAA? I mean, isn’t it their God-given inalienable right to sue every single man, woman, and child in the entire United States? Isn’t it? Heck, the government should be paying the RIAA to sue people.

Yeah, right.

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12 Reasons Same-Sex Marriage will…

12 Reasons Same-Sex Marriage will Ruin Society

1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control are not natural.
2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people cannot get legally married because the world needs more children.
3. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children because straight parents only raise straight children.
4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful, since Britney Spears’s 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.
5. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and it hasn’t changed at all: women are property, Blacks can’t marry Whites, and divorce is illegal.
6. Gay marriage should be decided by the people, not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of minorities.
7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are always imposed on the entire country. That’s why we only have one religion in America.
8. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people makes you tall.
9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage license.
10. Children can never succeed without both male and female role models at home. That’s why single parents are forbidden to raise children.
11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven’t adapted to cars or longer lifespans.
12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a “separate but equal” institution is always constitutional. Separate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as separate marriages will for gays & lesbians.

[via Gator Gay-Straight Alliance]

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Internet iTunes Registry

Are you an iTunes user? If so, then I’m sure you’re aware that iTunes keeps track of some metadata concerning the music you listen to. There’s the number of times you’ve played a track, and also the last time you’ve listened to it. If you want, you can also add your own ratings to the songs. But have you ever wondered if there’s anything you can do with this stuff? Here’s your answer: the Internet iTunes Registry.

It works fairly simply. You create an account for yourself, and then you upload the file called “iTunes Music Library.xml,” which should be in your iTunes ~/Music directory. Once done, the iTunes Registry has some nice tools to chunk through the data and gleen some insights into your listening habits.

Here’s what it had to say about my music:

Your favorite artist is This Mortal Coil which is weird since you’ve spent more time listening to U2 yet you have more Frederic Chopin than anything else.

Interesting.

The Registry says that I have 6,467 tracks by 761 artists (all legal, by the way). My diversity rating is 3.5647. What did the iTunes Registry say about your music collection?

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Windows XP - The Beauty of the Clean Install

I’ve been using Windows XP for a couple of years now. Overall, it’s been a stable and usable OS. And when an app does crash, I can send a data report to Microsoft automatically, which developers have access to. This is good. One thing I’ve noticed over the years though is that the default installs of Windows XP (and previous versions of Windows) that you find on consumer level PC’s basically stinks.

For the most part, these installs come preloaded (I should say overloaded) with software and to be blunt spyware that I don’t want and will never use. My sense is that most people do not use these half-baked “free” applications on their hard drive. Those apps are just there taking up space. But even worse than that, these preloaded installs tend to be more unstable. More unstable, that is, than the clean OS install.

My current SOP is to replace the inherently flawed install of Windows XP Home—one that doesn’t tend to accept my installed apps and devices willingly—with a clean install of Windows XP Professional.

To put it simply, I’ve had great experiences with XP Pro—my clean installs, that is. These preinstalls not only have loads of unnecessary apps, but they also contain manufacturer customizations. In my experience, these destabilize Windows.

I’ve been using HP and Dell laptops and desktops, and invariably I resort to a clean install of the operating system. When I get my hands on a new computer, I don’t even wait—that’s the first thing I do. So I do my clean install, and everything’s okay. I may lose the customized “Help and Support” that HP or Dell offers, but I’d rather have a system that runs as expected. I don’t need to consult Help and Support, and that’s all for the better.

So like I said, Windows XP is a great operating system. But the computer manufacturers have it all wrong. Windows XP works best with a clean install. That’s been my experience with it, and overall it’s a doable thing. So the thing to check when you’re buying a new computer: Does it come with a OS system disc? Get rid of all the junk that they add, and go with the pure bliss of a clean install.

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typography in motion

Here’s a set of six typographic animations set to music. Pretty cool.

[via typographica]

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Le Goût des autres

The other night we watched Le Goût des autres, which was released in the US under the title The Taste of Others. It’s a dialogue driven film, which are the kind I like, centering on a small cast of interrelated characters. There’s Castella the businessman, and his bodyguard and his driver on the male side. And for the females there are Castella’s wife, and the actress and the waitress. The plot is captivating, and the dialogue really moves the story along. This is one of the best French films I’ve seen in a while—and I would add that it’s one of the best damn films to cross my eyes in quite some time. So go rent The Taste of Others.

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Paradox of Choice

Andrea points to an article by Christopher Caldwell in the latest New Yorker concerning the book The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz. I read this book last month and found it topical. Schwartz’s thesis is that the overwhelming number of consumer choices available leads to a “tyranny of choice” such that choice becomes harmful and paralyzing rather than beneficial. Caldwell quotes Hegel thusly: “The ordinary man believes he is free when he is permitted to act arbitrarily, but in this very arbitrariness lies the fact that he is unfree.”

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