December 30, 2006 at 10:23 pm
(Science/Technology)
A couple of stories about some legal challenges for Apple’s iPod.
The second lawsuit is a patent infringement case; I don’t know much about the iPod-Nike thing, so I won’t talk about it much.
The first lawsuit alleges that forcing iPod users to buy their music from the iTunes store (and users of iTunes to play the music on iPods and not other portable players) is monopolistic. This charge should have a difficult time getting wings. Users can still purchase music on CD’s, so even amongst iPod users, iTunes isn’t a monopoly. As I’ve said before, it’s too bad users can’t download music from other services (especially subscription services). But I think this is probably fairly well understood by users ahead of time. The second half is perhaps a little stronger; buy music from the iTunes store and you can only play it on an iPod. This may be more troubling.
Again, I think it would be super if these things were opened up. But on the other hand, even if you forget about the business model, can you blame Apple for wanting to stay away from Windows DRM?
Perhaps the easiest comparison is to Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. MS was told they could no longer do this, so perhaps that will wind up hurting Apple as well. Perhaps the best ammunition is that Apple has won the most users for some reason and even if the relative algorithm quality is debatable (is it?) this should count for something. After all, those users could have just as easily run out an bought another player. (and the Zune, for one, has the same restrictions placed on it.) After all, the music player you choose, unlike the operating system on your computer, can be made fairly independently of what those around you choose. Perhaps you choose some restrictions as a sacrifice for higher quality. This is, at least, still a choice you can make.
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December 28, 2006 at 7:27 pm
(Science/Technology)
I got a kick out of news that iTunes store faced unexpectedly high demand on Christmas, presumably due to a glut of new iPod owners. This after the release of that Microsoft player, what was it called again?
Look, I don’t think the world’s seen the last of the Zune or think that the competition is in the least bit bad. But it’s quite a phenomena. I saw more proof of iPod mania while trying to purchase iPod accessories earlier this week. Slim pickings. It really is something that everyone seems to want. Solely based on anecdotal evidence, the same can’t be said for anything else. It’s not just market share…that’s an awful lot of momentum the other guys are fighting.
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December 23, 2006 at 5:41 pm
(Social/Economic)
An article in the NY Times discusses the effect hard-core rap has on its listeners, especially its young black listeners.
Rather than respond specifically to any overreaching ideas the article puts forth, I think I’d prefer to take on the idea that music may have an effect on us.
One quote, from Ronald F. Ferguson, really grabbed me. It was that certain people “may unconsciously adopt the themes in this music as their lens for viewing the world.” In many ways, this is true across music types. I think about the lifestyles that are portrayed and ever certain political ideas. And it’s tough to separate the music from the message, to say, “I can like the song but disagree with the lyrics.” To make things worse, some of the lyrics may be expression of fears or angers that shouldn’t be taken literally. Most people surely can differentiate, but perhaps not everyone. Should the artist regulate his expression?
The second piece that caught my attention was the assertion by a high school student that hard-core rap was directed toward kids because it illustrated real life and that “socially conscious” rap (by which I assume he means work by artists like Blackalicious or Jurassic 5) was for somewhat older people. But take another look: are things really so bad, throughout the major cities, that people can relate to hard-core rap in such numbers that rap artists are frequently on the top of the charts? A lot of these kids are middle class kids, white and black. How do they relate to the themes of the music? When I was a high school kid, the music I heard and consequently bought was stuff that was so over my head, I still haven’t really “related to” some of it, and frankly I hope I don’t. That wasn’t always the point. Realistically, if recording labels put out music that always said life was chocolate and roses, it wouldn’t sell. The themes have to be maybe a little more glamorous, or at least gritty, some of the time. But, like it or not, some head somewhere is making the decision on how gritty the music is.
And since life imitates art, well, one imagines there might be consequences no matter what music type you might be talking about.
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December 22, 2006 at 10:00 am
(Culture)
If swearing in Congressman-elect Ellison on the Koran instead of the bible is seen as a threat to the “traditional American values” as Rep Goode or Virginia (among others) has suggested then I’m all for it.
Goode all but acknowledges that intolerance is an “American” or “Christian” value. Not in my America, buddy. Tell me how we’d be any different than Iran if that were true?
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December 15, 2006 at 9:12 pm
(Culture)
I caught this article link, with the text Presidential wives to be first women on U.S. coins, with a little surprise.
I thought to myself, “surely there must be more appropriate women to honor with coins.” And I began to think. And one name came to mind quickly: Susan B. Anthony. Perhaps that’s because she was on a U.S. coin, a dollar coin issued in 1979 and 1980. And that reminded me of the awful Sacajawea dollar coins that they released a few years ago.
So what exactly do they mean, first women on coins? Well, I think it’s a little misleading. They mean it’s the first series of 1/2 oz gold coins to feature women. In other words, who really cares?
But the article does mention something interesting: the mint is actually releasing a set of dollar coins with presidential figures, apparently similar to the state coins that are still being released. The prevailing thought seems to be that these dollar coins will catch on once they have an attractive design. Allow me a little skepticism. The coins will catch on when they can be used from something. I hate having coins in my pocket but I’ll allow a few quarters if I think I may want to stop at a pop machine, make a phone call or use a coin-op laundry machine. Ok, I never do any of these things any more. But when I did, a quarter was worth more to me than 5 nickels, and 4 quarters was worth way more than a single dollar bill, especially if the nearest bill changer was broken. Do you really think I’m going to want dollar coins jangling in my pocket, pretty face or no, when I can’t buy an Ale-8 with one? Of course not.
Worse, what am I going to do at the end of the day when I haven’t spent my worthless dollars? They’ll go into the coin jar. Which, I would imagine, will now tie up a lot more between trips to the bank to cash it in.
But perhaps this long-running dollar coin conspiracy is just a way to get Americans to save more…
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December 9, 2006 at 10:43 pm
(Culture)
Altenet has an excerpt from Stacy Miller’s book Big Box Swindle.
It gives some interesting background to the rise of the big store in the 30’s and 40’s and the initial opposition that they ran into. And of course, you get into the typical remedies for fighting them now.
In some regards I really hate the big box thing. But I’ve never been completely satisfied with the idea of buying locally. I don’t see a whole lot of oranges grown out here in Kentucky and I kinda like oranges. Some of my other misgivings are similar to the ones I talked about here.
If big box stores disappear, it’s more than likely going to be because of even bigger boxes: warehouses that ship directly to the customer. That is more efficient from a supply chain standpoint anyway. It doesn’t solve the (perceived) issue that money from one community goes to another. Maybe that’s not really as key to the distribution of wealth problem as most people believe. I’ll try to tackle that later.
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December 5, 2006 at 8:00 pm
(Kentucky)
The NY Times is featuring a set of articles (video, etc.) comparing Georgetown, KY and Livonia, MI. In the meantime, USA Today is running a story about the difficulty of finding skilled workers to work in the manufacturing industry.
As someone who works in a manufacturing facility not far from Georgetown I want to chime in. First on manufacturing. Ok, I’ll bite. Why would anybody want a manufacturing job? The (skilled) people I work with have their choice of three shifts. The lucky ones get to be on first shift, which for most of them starts at 5:00 AM. But new guys get stuck on second or third shift, neither of which is terribly conducive to a social life (ok, I worked 2nd for a few months right after college and rather liked it, but I wasn’t married then.) The good ones can get hired by the Toyota supplier next door and get to work 1st shift, so it’s tough to keep talent.
But in any case you’re working in a place with 1200 edgy people, people who bring guns to work because its hunting season or tear restrooms apart when they’re frustrated. For many of them, even in an age of culture change, accountability stops when they step away from their workstation. You’ll be expected to work long hours, weekends and even holidays. It’s cold and you’ll be working on machines and getting grease and dirt all over you. Imagine the worst fast food job, but in a place without windows and where the customers are people you have to face every day. I can see why people have this low view of manufacturing.
The conventional view is that we should eliminate all the repetitive jobs and hire skilled people to run the place–this makes sense on the face. But the fact is, there is no shortage of level 1 labor while skilled people are getting office jobs despite years of Dilbert. Automation, foolproofing, this is the only way. But leave me out of your life’s plans. I’m finding a nice office somewhere. On a coast.
Kentucky, see, really is nice. And there are no shortage of good auto industry jobs, especially near Georgetown (about 20 miles north of Lexington) but also in other towns nearby. Toyota recently ran a nice ad about Georgetown and the Hybrid Camrys that they are now building there. But there is something maddening about the culture. It’s too bucolic, too middle-america for me. People I work with, other engineers, go home to their farms for crying out loud. I thought I’d fit in better in a city, so we moved to Lexington, but our neighbors tool around on ATVs and watch TV in their garages. An old friend of mine, from Cincinnati as it happens, thought it was weird that in West Virginia it was acceptable to dispose of trash by rolling it down a hill. I thought that was strange, too, until I saw it in a city of 250,000. I’ll bet you don’t see much tobacco chewing in Manhattan. Hell, they’ve banned TFA’s.
I’m just saying.
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