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The /bin/true Command and Copyright

Posted on January 30th, 2012 at 23:16 by John Sinteur in category: Intellectual Property

[Quote]:

It might also be noted that, since I am “publishing” the entire contents of an AT&T program I am in blatant violation of AT&T’s copyright claim. I’ve pointed this out publicly on numerous occations, in various technical forums, since the early 1980′s. So far I haven’t heard a word from any AT&T lawyers. Anyone have any idea why they are ignoring such a violation?


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Comments:

  1. Mark on January 31st, 2012 at 15:04:

    This just confirms my long held suspicion that you folks that write code are an odd and frightening lot.

Children’s A.D.D. Drugs Don’t Work Long-Term

Posted on January 30th, 2012 at 20:59 by John Sinteur in category: News

[Quote]:

TO date, no study has found any long-term benefit of attention-deficit medication on academic performance, peer relationships or behavior problems, the very things we would most want to improve. Until recently, most studies of these drugs had not been properly randomized, and some of them had other methodological flaws.


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Brit pair deported from US for ‘destroy America’ tweet

Posted on January 30th, 2012 at 17:23 by John Sinteur in category: News

[Quote]:

A couple of Brits were unceremoniously ejected from the US last week after one of them ill-advisedly tweeted he was off to “destroy America”.

Leigh Van Bryan, 26, and pal Emily Bunting, 24, jetted into Los Angeles last Monday ahead of what they hoped would be a lively Stateside holiday. Their shorter-than-expected trip certainly delivered, although the pair weren’t expecting to be arrested, internally probed and thrown in a cell for 12 hours with hungry Mexican narcos.

The Department of Homeland Security had already earmarked Van Bryan and Bunting for a warm welcome before they even touched down at LAX. The agency had picked up on a couple of Van Bryan’s tweets, which suggested they intended to wipe out the US and disinter Marilyn Monroe.


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Comments:

  1. Jan-Mark on January 30th, 2012 at 18:16:

    Well, at the risk of being denied access to the USA, let me say this. Clearly if a terrorist is planning a huge action like destroying the USA with their bare hands and digging up Marilyn, again with their bare hands, they are going to be so cunning as to inform the world beforehand using reverse psychology of telling exactly what their plans are. Pity they did not get to spend all that tourist money…

  2. Paul Jay on January 30th, 2012 at 18:24:

    Indeed. Just like a Street Photographer with a DLSR camera who obviously is a possible terror threat because his camera is too big.

  3. Andre on January 30th, 2012 at 21:51:

    I’m pretty sure “destroy…” is just English slang for party real hard.

  4. Kash on January 31st, 2012 at 13:11:

    They were quoting Family Guy. Which ofcourse signals ill will.

  5. Gene on January 31st, 2012 at 14:56:

    I feel so safe now being protected by flaming idiots! Note: I hope the DHS doesn’t flag “flaming”!

  6. itspast on January 31st, 2012 at 18:22:

    So if I tweet “destroy, destroy, destroy”, they’ll send me to prison to party.

  7. Sue W on February 1st, 2012 at 4:52:

    Was it Noel Coward who filled in a immigration form with “Subversion” in response to the question, “What is the purpose of your visit?”

Hollywood Still Hates You

Posted on January 30th, 2012 at 14:23 by Paul Jay in category: News

[Quote]:

These people do not get it:

Under a new deal between the two companies, Netflix users won’t just have to wait 56 days to rent Warner Bros. movies on DVD. They’ll have to wait 28 days to add the movies to their queues.

Also under this new deal, pirated movies remain free of charge, free of non-skippable ads, free of five-minute load times, and are now nearly three months ahead of the competition.

iTunes changed the music industry because it was more convenient than stealing. Most people made the value judgment that ten bucks for a clean, legal digital album was worth the alternative of fishing around for files that may or may not be damaged or infected.

Hollywood continues to completely ignore that lesson. It continues to punish the people who play by the rules with an insufferable customer experience. This is the sole reason piracy is up and profits are down: because doing it right totally sucks. And that’s apparently how the studios want it.


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Comments:

  1. Desiato on January 30th, 2012 at 15:10:

    A delay before you can add the movie to your queue? Ahahahahahahaha.

    The fact that Netflix went along with that sucky compromise in user experience suggests that Netflix is not feeling very confident.

  2. SjG on January 30th, 2012 at 23:42:

    Netflix really has no choice. They either cave to labels’ demands, or they lose access to the material.

    (I also don’t buy that iTunes is more convenient than pirating. iTunes store is a blasted mess. Even as an Apple shareholder, I find buying music from Amazon much easier.)

  3. Kash on January 31st, 2012 at 13:14:

    iTunes really IS more convenient than stealing, if you have an iPhone.

  4. SjG on February 1st, 2012 at 2:57:

    I have an iPhone. That doesn’t make the iTunes store any more convenient if I can’t get what I want. My tastes run towards the obscure (nerd, not hipster), and iTunes just doesn’t have the music.

    I do have to admit, however, that before pushing the “submit comment” button, I checked, and the iTunes store app is definitely much improved over last time I tried it. The search does a much, much better job, and the catalog has definitely grown. I couldn’t find everything I looked for, but it’s gone from being 80% unavailable to maybe 20% unavailable. So, in short, I concede the point.