The Stand-up Philosopher

This Is Why I Pay So Little Attention To The News

Here's an RT hitpiece on Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. I believe RT stands for "Russia Today". Apparently, RT interviewed Bill Ayers, a known former terrorist and close associate of our current President. O'Reilly attempted to "no-spin" the whole thing, which resulted in motion sickness for most of his viewers. Hannity also devoted 4 minutes of one of his programs to this "non-issue". 

I pay little attention to any of the mainstream media outlets. Considering how much time they spend on what amounts to hot air, I always wonder what they're not telling us. They seem to spend more time on celebrity affairs than they do on issues like the NAFTA Superhighway. 

As for Bill Ayers comments, I agreed with one thing. Get your news from places like The Daily Show and The Onion. During my teenage years, I went through a period of time when I got my news almost entirely from Mad Magazine. I was amazingly current with the issues. To this day, I still prefer to get my news from satire, which at least amuses me while I'm getting current.

Buying One Song...

Sometimes I wish I had musical talents. Or I wish I had a Mac and Garage Band. Or I wish somebody would come out with a Garage Band like product for the PC. Don't tell me Audacity. It's not the same.

I found out about this $3 of free music promotion by Amazon today. When I got home, I decided to get some songs. I had a song that I'd been wanting for a while, so I bought it. It was $1.29. Fine, it was free. Then I went looking for another song. For some reason, lately I've been wanting "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." I don't know why. My church never sings it. I'm curious if any of our song leaders have heard of it. In any case, a podcast I listen to occasionally leads in with it. I figured "how hard could it be to find a version of 'A Mighty Fortress" that I'd like?"

A lot harder than I thought. Amazon returned hundreds of songs under my search. I started sampling them. I quickly realized that I didn't want a version of the song with pipe organs or a congregation singing in a very-bad-for-sound auditorium/sanctuary/whatever they call it. I also quickly decided that I don't want an instrumental version. I just want one good singer with a good instrumental mix, that doesn't include pipe organs or a single guitar. Turns out, my want was impossible. I did find a couple of versions of the song that made me with Trans Siberian Orchestra would tackle it. 

I hate some Christian paradigms. "A Mighty Fortress" is a great song. It's a powerful anthem. Why can't anybody put together a good version of it? Just  because it's 500 years old doesn't mean it has to be sung with pipe organs and sound like a death march. I'm sure Luther never intended it that way.

T-Mobile MyTouch 3G: But What Does It DO?

Like I asked in my last post, based on the embedded commercial, what does the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G actually do? It's the first phone that becomes you, or something like that. Great. So what does it do? Does it have 3rd party apps? Can it manage multiple email accounts? Can it sync to Google Calendar (I'd hope so, since it's based on Google standards). Can I manage a task list? Can I use it for work?

Or, are the people who put that commercial together not really thinking of me as their target market? That's probably a smart choice. Woe unto the marketer who thinks I'm his or her target customer.

Albert Mohler: Seperation of Church and Sport?

Contemporary theologian and seminary president Albert Mohler is a man I enjoy reading. I follow his blog and listen to his podcast regularly. I like him because he is a thinker. Rather than regurgitate a “party line”, Dr. Mohler thinks through issues. His work has been a real benefit (blessing?) to me in my own intellectual journey.

Dr. Mohler posted an entry on his blog recently about a sports journalist’s call for “separation of church and sport”. The column deals with complaints about athletes who are Christian and the exclusivity of the Gospel.

I’m not opposed to my own version of separation of church and sports: specifically, let’s reduce the number of sports-themed sermons. Nothing makes me want to leave the church, sit in my car, and watch somebody else’s sermon on YouTube on my iPhone like a sermon that starts out with a baseball illustration.

But then again, I also realize that it’s not about me. I’m not sure what to tell the sports journalists. I sit through the sports-sermons. They may have to live with the Christian players.

Probably Bad News: What Happens When Journalists Don't Check Sources

A site I've been following lately is Probably Bad News. They had a post today about two newspapers in Bangladesh taking a story from The Onion, not realizing that The Onion is satirical.

Makes you wonder about the quality of fact checking in the news you read, doesn't it?

Microsoft Has No Clue About Digital Media

Apparently, Microsoft is now running commercials claiming that it would cost $30,000 to fill an iPod, but that a Zune Pass only costs $14.99 a month. If you’re not familiar with the Zune Pass, it’s a subscription model for music. Essentially, you pay for a subscription and can listen to any music that you want. That model is in ways better than the “buy a song, keep a song” model, which is better than the “buy a CD with 12 songs, 11 of which totally suck, in order to get one good song” model we followed previously. Of course, that model is bad in the way that once you stop your subscription, it all goes away. Supposedly you can keep 10 songs per month.

Microsoft created it's own competitor to the iPod, known as the Microsoft Zune. I think it came out in 2007. At one point, I briefly considered it but then I got an iPod Touch. From what I hear, the Zune does have better battery life than a video iPod. After the frustrations that led me to dump Windows Mobile for the iPhone, I'm not going to consider a mobile device with Microsoft's name on it any time soon. The Zune is made mostly in-house though. I'm sure the hardware is made with communist child slave labor like the iPod, but the software integration is done at Microsoft.

New Thoughts Media Community Site: Apple Thoughts

I first stumbled onto Pocket PC Thoughts 4 years ago this month. It was started by Jason Dunn 8 years ago and has become a media empire of sorts, with community sites dedicated to Smartphones, the Zune, Digital Media, and now Apple. Apple Thoughts just launched. If you happen to have a Thoughts Media account already, it is good on the new site.

Silencing the Christians Videos

I’ve ended up on all kinds of mailing lists over the years. I’ve canceled several. There are others that I find annoying but occasionally useful, such as the Libertarian Party and the American Family Association. The LP is always asking for money (but I’m sure the Republicrats and Demonicans do also but I’m not on their lists) and the AFA is always asking for money or to boycott something for some reason or other. I did participate in the Ford boycott, but to be honest that really didn’t cost me anything because I never buy new cars and I never buy Fords (OK, one exception and it will be the last. I’ve always said our 1995 Ford Windstar has run flawlessly since we spent $5500 in two visits to a Ford dealer to get Ford’s manufacturing defects worked out of it.) That’s like saying I’ll participate in a hip-hop music boycott. I never buy the stuff anyway, so why not let my otherwise inaction contribute to active support, however symbolic it may be? The AFA currently has a McDonald’s boycott going on. Guess where my lunch came from yesterday? I didn’t buy it, it was brought to me. It’s not that I don’t support the reasoning behind some of these boycotts, and the one against Ford was eventually effective, but I’m not sure this is a good long-term strategy.

In any case, several months ago the AFA was sending out emails about a series of videos about Silencing the Christians. To be honest, often when I hear of things like this, I assume it’s just the usual whining. "Whaw! the Liberal Media is ignoring Christian issues!” Right, and my three year old is lying to me that mommy said he could have ice cream and his little brother said he could have his share too. Where is the news in that statement? I’ve started to ignore the so called “conservative” news sources as much as I ignore the “liberal” or “mainstream” sources.

I’ve had a browser tab on my laptop open to the Silencing videos for several months. Maybe it’s time to watch them. If they actually contain something that I didn’t already know or write off as whining, maybe I’ll comment on it.

Interested in Christian Self-Publishing?

I got an interesting email today. I have no idea how I get on some of these lists. I guess when you have a broad range of interests and find yourself constantly chasing down something new, your email address pops up to a lot of marketers. Actually, I got two weird emails today. One had to do with a business school. Somehow I got on the mailing list of BioPharm. Why, I have no idea. My occupation and interests don’t really cross many lines with biology or pharmacology, but somehow BioPharm sends me magazines and sells my contact information to all of their “partners.” I unsubscribed from that marketing list immediately.

The second email was slightly more interesting and could actually be useful to me at some point, God willing. I’ve always for some twisted reason wanted to write a book. A book about what, I have no idea. At one point, I wanted to be a right wing political writer, until I realized I could fart out the window and be slightly more coherent and productive in the public discourse. It’s a long story, and no I haven’t switched to the other “wing.” That’s why you see little political content on my blog. I do occasionally put up something I feel like commenting on, but I try my hardest to either stick to the facts or find some way to make it humorous. Anyway, I’ve thought about other areas I could write a book in, until I realized that I have absolutely no knowledge of how to write a book, or what to write about, so I pretty much stick to posting on my blog as I work on my writing skill.

I read the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, Michael Hyatt's blog. I subscribe to his RSS feeds. He posts some interesting content. I could care less about his half marathons, but he write a lot of interesting posts about leadership and Christian publishing. One thing I have gathered from him is that if I ever did assemble a manuscript, I probably wouldn't have good odds of getting it through Thomas Nelson. I figure if I did write anything, I'd probably just post it online and ask for $5 from anyone who was blessed or informed or even mildly amused by my book, or just read it and enjoy it. I've come across a lot of good books that way, and it wouldn't bother me to do the same, especially for a first book, which probably won't be that great. I have no editor or professional assistance. I'm normally the guy people I know go to for help with writing, so where could I go for help?

The email I got was from Inspired Publishing, a Christian publisher that seems to specialize in print on demand, self-publishing. It sounded interesting. If you have a manuscript that you've considering publishing, give them a look. It will probably be a long time before a book from me is anything more than a dream.

iPods and Rental Cars

Because I travel a lot in my current job, I've come across a minor complication: I hate the radio. Ever since I got my first Pocket PC and discovered that I could copy MP3 audio files onto it to listen to, I've done all I can to avoid listening to the radio. I got a cassette adapter and somehow every car I've had has had a cassette player. But now that I'm renting cars, I'm finding that nobody makes a car with a cassette player anymore. All rental cars have CD player. That does me no good. As I said, I hate the radio.

Why do I hate the radio? Sure, there are some decent songs and talk programs, but for the most part, listening to the radio for me is painful. I may hear a good song, maybe I'll hear a helpful talk program, but in between are the horrible songs, the mindless DJ chatter, and the pointless at best and annoying at worst commercials. Thanks to Steve Jobs and Apple (and my Dad's generosity,) I'm on my second iPod, the 32 GB iPod Touch. I love it. I have hundreds of podcasts that I can listen to, anything from This Week in Tech to Theology Unplugged, from Chuck Missler to John C. Dvorak, I can listen to what I want just about whenever I want considering the mood I'm in. That is unless I'm in a rental car. In a rental car, I'm stuck with the radio. The radio is painful considering the podcasts I could be listening to.

When my family went with me on a week long trip to the Virginia Beach area, I stopped and bought an FM modulator, as I expect to have lots of rental cars in this job. I found that it didn't work very well. Even driving around the block I couldn't keep a decent signal on any given station. Then, leaving the area, leaves you constantly tuning the radio and the modulator. That's no good. I returned the modulator to Circuit City today.

On my last trip, since I rented a car and drove 5 hours rather than deal with another butter knife issue with Homeland Security (I'll write on that later), I solved the problem by bringing my own speakers. But that really only works if I'm driving from New Jersey to my business location. If I'm flying, the speakers might take up too much room in my luggage.

Why can't rental cars just include an iPod dock? I don't know about the rest of you, but it would make my life so much easier. Does anybody really listen to CDs in a rental car? I guess I have one case of circumstantial evidence. One car I rented for a business trip in 2005 had a Steven Curtis Chapman CD left in it.

Technorati Tags: CDs,Rental cars,business travel,radio

eBook Headaches

Brad Isaac wrote a blog post the other day about ebooks. His intent was to ask if the Amazon Kindle is worth it. He reads ebooks on his Pocket PC, something I've always wanted to do but I have discussed my other blog. I haven't reached the point of trusting ebooks enough to spend money on them. I'm starting to open up to Mobipocket, which at least offers a free reader and a free converter, but other than converting free books I've already downloaded to this format, I'm not yet ready to purchase content. I just discovered something interesting on the description of Mobipocket Reader:

Personal eDoc Publishing : Beyond eBooks
Tired of scrolling through this 250 page technical manual in PDF? We've got the answer. Drag and drop it into the Reader Desktop and read it on any mobile device. It also works for Microsoft Office files, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and RTF TXT files as well. You can compile your favorite lyrics into an eBook or your best cooking recipes.

I will have to try that when I get a chance. Up to this point, my attempt to read ebooks and other content on my Pocket PC has been to convert to Repligo format. Repligo is designed to mobilize office documents, but I've found it efficient for publishing public domain books into a mobile, mark-upable format. However, Repligo is abandoneware, as the company has abandoned all but the Blackberry platform. I can't even get the print client to run on Windows Vista, so I have to keep an XP machine or XP virtual machine around in order to maintain it as a platform. I invested in Repligo while I was working on my degree at the University of Phoenix so I could take my textbooks with me on the go while my wife dragged me around (or while I took my beautiful bride about the town on errands.)
I think I will experiment with dragging and dropping pdf documents into MobiPocket Reader to see how well and how quickly I can convert my content for syncing on my Pocket PC.

Technorati Tags: ebooks,Windows Mobile,Pocket PC,pdf,adobe,Repligo

Minor iPod Touch Issue

I genuinely love my iPod Touch (32 Gig model). In the words of Fake Steve Jobs, it "restores a childlike sense of wonder to my life." One minor problem I've found is that every once in a while, the battery starts eating itself and requires a reboot. I normally like to listen to podcasts during the day while I'm at work, but when the battery starts dropping like a rock, I have to stop. I can easily get a full day out of it just listening to audio then checking email and surfing when I get home. At first I thought the battery eating was Ziphone, but I didn't use the installer at all yesterday. I also disabled the wireless, which I should do when I get to work anyway.
At least this time my podcasts didn't go back and mark themselves as unread like the last few times. When I got home I had to figure out what I listened to. I should just bring the charging cable to work with me, but I rarely need it.

I Got An iPod Touch (32GB)

I called my dad Friday afternoon, and asked if he'd like to buy me an iPod Touch for my birthday. The Apple iPhone sounds really good, but I just talked him into buying an iPaq 6945 Windows Mobile phone last October as a graduation present. I'm slowly moving my old posts over from Blogger, so maybe I'll get to that one eventually.

After wasting an entire day at work, I needed something to make me feel better. Since my mom passed away, my dad and my brother live in what must amount to a bachelor's paradise. I figured that buying my own present (on my rewards Visa) and having him send the check was easiest all around. I checked Circuit City's website, and found that the 32 GB iPod Touches aren't carried by 2 of 3 local stores and are out of stock in the third. I have never been successful in getting my wife into an Apple store, so off we went to Marlton. I told my kids we were going to a store the sells Apples like my computers. I have an old iMac 333Mhz G3 and an iBook G3 600 Mhz, so they've grown up around outdated Apples (of course my 80 Gig video iPod is already obsolete.)

I am impressed by the Apple store. The store was crowded, but I was met right away by a "genius". I think that's what the Apple store calls them, but I know it's what bloggers call them. I actually wanted a minute to screw with the Macbook Air demo units, but when the employee met me I said "I'm looking for the 32 Gig iPod Touch." He led me right to the wall with the cases, which I had thought about anyway. I loved the case on my 80 GB video iPod, especially when working on the house and and yard, because I had an arm sleeve that I can put the iPod on. I picked out a case for the iPod Touch, then the genius went into the back to get the touch. He then took a handheld unit, swiped my credit card, and I signed off. Wow, that was fast. In the meantime, my wife was going out of her mind trying to keep Joshua and Caleb from crashing two iMacs on display, but both seemed to be running children's applications anyway. She was expecting a long wait, as there were a bunch of people in line. I told her I was already done. Then we went to Trader Joe's for her to do some shopping. Everybody won Friday night.

It took me a while to get all of my content synced. I need to watch some of the video that I've built up. It all fit on an 80 Gig video iPod, but not on a 32 Gig iPod Touch. I'll have to make an effort to watch some of the shows I've converted and some of the video podcasts I've built up.

Overall, I love the iPod Touch. It's phenomenal. It came preconfigured with gmail imap settings, so I just entered my email login and password and it was there. It picked up my home wireless network right away also. Seriously, this is amazing! I still have my iPaq 6945 Windows Mobile phone, and the iPod Touch is showing me some glaring limitations of Windows Mobile. Maybe not limitations, and the Touch has many of them as well, but a media player with wi-fi, email, and full featured web browsing is not something to complain about. It would take me several minutes while leaving the house to get my 6945 to connect to wireless, bring up Flexmail 2007 (as Pocket Outlook is too limited for my tastes), download messages, then close Flexmail and turn off wireless. I can whip out my iPod Touch and check email in seconds on my way out the door. Pocket Internet Explorer is about useless, but Safari on the Touch is pretty good for keeping up on my Google Reader feeds of looking things up online sitting on the couch.

I'm not sure if I'd want to jump straight to an iPhone, but the Touch will definitely make up for email and surfing limitations on my WM Phone.

Technorati Tags: iPod Touch,Windows Mobile,iPaq 6945

Medical Myths Even Doctors Believe

I came across this article about Medical Myths Even Doctors Believe. I thought it was interesting reading. That common belief in particular about "we only use 10% of our brains" always seemed like bovine fecal matter to me, and this article specifically mentions that belief. Just like my previous post on "Does Watching TV Really Cause Short Attention Spans?", I've always figured that statement about unused brain capacity has never really been put through the wringer of critical thinking. It's just been parroted throughout the years, even by doctors on PBS and Discovery Channel shows.

 

Technorati tags: Myths, Medical Myths

 

Labels: Health, Media, Socio/Political

Why Hasn't the Ebook Caught On Yet?

You may have heard about the Amazon Kindle. This device for $399, is supposed to be the newest ebook device on the market. The Kindle has received mixed reviews. Some people expect this device to launch a revolution, others are waiting to celebrate it's failure. I am neither enthusiastic nor pessimistic. I don't plan on buying a Kindle, but I applaud Amazon's efforts to produce an ebook device and overcome some of the hurdles to ebook use.

When I read articles and blog posts about ebooks, I keep hearing a common theme: people just like real books too much. I'm not sure I completely agree with that statement. Sure, some books are best in print. Holding the book is a nice experience, but to be honest, not all books are deserving of this treatment. Some books frankly aren't worth more than one read and could easily be read in electronic format.

I honestly do like the idea of ebooks, but I have avoided adopting the format. For the time being, I am sticking to print books with a few exceptions. Several years ago, when the "Left Behind" books were popular, I was interested in reading them. One day at Target, I found the Left Behind Library CD-ROM. This program would plug into an electronic Bible encyclopedia (can't remember the name right now) and included all ten of the Left Behind books written to that date in Microsoft Reader and Palm Reader format. I have no idea what has happened to Microsoft Reader, and I know that Palm Reader has been bought and rebranded into something else. In any case the CD-ROM was $25 for ten books, so I bought it. I had a Palm Zire at the time and Microsoft Reader installed on my desktop computer, so this worked out very well. I still have the CD-ROM around somewhere. I will spare you a discussion of the Left Behind series. I didn't read the final book, nor have I read the prequel to the series. The other exception is that I will take .pdf files of public domain books and publish them through Repligo to read on my Pocket PC. I am currently working through War and Peace. Sadly, there just isn't a good .pdf reader for the Pocket PC platform. You can download public domain books at Manybooks.net.

Why haven't I adopted ebooks yet? I'm a computer geek and highly enthusiastic about technology, so why am I not "all over" ebooks? I have several reasons.

• Conflicting platforms: so far, no ebook format has become dominant or entirely reliable. How do I know if I decide to buy into a certain platform that support will continue, and how do I know if the current reader is any good?
• DRM: DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. I wish they would change the acronym to something more appropriate like CURM (Customer Use Restriction Management). To be fair, content producers do have a right to earn a living from their content, but DRM automatically assumes that PAYING CUSTOMERS are potential criminals. DRM also places what many consider to be unreasonable restrictions upon purchased content. When I buy a paper book, I can read it, mark it up, give it to my wife or a friend to read, and if I move into another house, the book can go with me. I've been through a total of five Pocket PCs and four Windows Mobile operating systems in the last four an a half years. What if I had invested in an ebook for my first Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 2002, then found out that the ebook was locked to that device, or the reader software is not compatible with Windows Mobile 2003 or WM5? I would not be able to "move" the ebook to another device, even though I had legally purchased both the ebook and the device.
• Price: honestly, I have no idea how much of the price of a book goes to the author, his or her agent, and the publisher and how much is manufacturing and distribution costs. All I know is if the paperback book costs $15, I'm not going to be too eager to pay $14 for a 200kb download.
• Content: if I buy into a certain platform, what are the odds that I will be able to acquire enough content for it? Will the next New York Times bestseller be available? If I discover a new author, can I get his or her books on this platform?

Perhaps I do need a new "business model". Perhaps it is unreasonable to expect to buy an ebook and have it last long enough for my grandchildren to read it (if it's a really good one). Until my concerns about DRM, platform stability, price, and content are addressed, I'll just stick to regular books (and public domain .pdf books).

Technorati tags: Amazon Kindle, ebooks, DRM, electronic content

 

Labels: DRM, Media, Windows Mobile

Does Watching TV Really Cause Short Attention Spans?

On the news, in the media, on commentary pages, and among friends, many of us hear the same mantras repeated. Call them conventional wisdom, call them common knowledge, call them what you will. But can you call them true? In November 2006, Steve Olson posted a blog entry titled "10 Things I wish I had Never Believed". In this post, he touched on such common beliefs as "money is the root of all evil" (the actual Bible verse says the love of money is the root of all evil; huge difference), "a job is the best way to earn money", and "school is the best place for kids to learn". That last one is particularly anchored into public belief. When my wife and I tell people that we plan on home schooling our children, even people who are highly educated often gasp in fear and shock.

In any case, the other night I was watching an episode of Cranky Geeks. John C. Dvorak had a panel on specifically to talk about video podcasting. While they talked about the appropriate length of a video podcast, the discussion inevitably came around to attention spans. Sure, most video podcasts or YouTube videos do best when under 10 minutes (Cranky Geeks runs about 30). The comment came up that television and computers have shortened our attention spans. I suddenly found myself wondering if this is really true. Although most people would automatically agree with the statement without any thought, I suddenly wondered how this conclusion was arrived at. Did a group of scientists take a group of latchkey children and a control group of Amish and observe them growing up in a controlled scientific study? Or is this statement merely conventional wisdom arrived at by societal observation with a little bit of wishful thinking because the blame for a perceived problem has to fall somewhere?

I've recently begun to study philosophy. Philosophy is a subject that I have always avoided primarily due to stereotypes. Seriously, how many of you, if I invited you to my church, would refuse because you have a stereotypical image of evangelical Christians? I had the same thing about philosophers. When I thought about philosophy, I always saw an aging hippy professor sitting in the lotus position going "It's like we're totally not really here, man. Am I a man dreaming I'm a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming I'm a man?" I also had the image of the 18 year old wasting daddy's money on philosophy classes rather than a more "practical" subject. I've found those stereotypes to be exactly what a stereotype is: mostly wrong. I'm finding philosophy to be a vibrant and fascinating study applicable to all areas of life. I'm also learning that a philosopher is a professional thinker. A philosopher asks questions, often with child-like wonder. We often lose our wonder as we grow up. Philosophers often don't have the answers, but their exploration of the questions can make for an interesting study. That's all I will say for now as I have a long way to go in reading about philosophy, not to mention reading some of the "great" philosophers.

With this interest in philosophy, I would like to ask the question: does watching TV really cause short attention spans? Obviously, I have not been successful in getting a grant, much less a group of latchkey children and another group of Amish children set aside from birth (by the way, I love the Amish and Lancaster County, PA is one of my favorite places on Earth). All I have to go on is my own observation. Before I continue, let me lay one last bit of foundation.

In October, Newsweek ran a story titled Why Money Doesn't Buy Happiness. One statement from that article which really stood out to me is about choice. The statement is below:

The trouble is, choice is not all it's cracked up to be. Studies show that people like selecting from among maybe half a dozen kinds of pasta at the grocery store but find 27 choices overwhelming, leaving them chronically on edge that they could have chosen a better one than they did. And wants, which are nice to be able to afford, have a bad habit of becoming needs (iPod, anyone?), of which an advertising- and media-saturated culture create endless numbers. Satisfying needs brings less emotional well-being than satisfying wants.

OK, from my own experience and observation will come the rest of this post/essay. I was born in 1974. I'm a product of the original MTV generation. I can remember watching about 5 or 6 hours of TV on a school night as early as the age of 11 or 12. We lived in Germany from 1980 to 1985 and had only one English channel, AFRTS, and one radio station, but people in "the states" would send us video tapes which my brother and I watched endlessly. In 1986 and 1987, I would come home from school to watch GI Joe and Transformers, followed by Star Trek and shows like the Facts of Life in syndication on the Fox affiliate (Fox was brand new at the time). Prime time brought programming like the A-Team and MacGuyver among others. By high school I often had better things to do than watch TV, but I still made sure to catch my favorite shows like Star Trek, The Next Generation. In the Navy, my television watching dropped off dramatically, but picked up after I got married in 2001. Currently, my family does watch a lot of TV. My wife keeps PBS and Nickelodian on for the kids all day. We'll often put on The Wiggles or Thomas the Tank Engine to keep the kids happy while we get things done. When I go to bed, I usually watch the History Channel, or Discovery Channel, or shows like Law and Order, or House. Lately, thanks to TV on DVD, and of course my WinTV and video iPod and programs like iPodifier, I can watch TV anytime and anywhere that I want. I'm just trying to establish that I have paid my dues in front of the television, and keep my membership active. I never really watched MTV though.

I do not believe, from my own experience and observation, that watching television decreases my attention span, nor the attention span of my children, whatever an acceptable attention span for two and three year old boys should be.

Apparently there is an attention span problem in our country, but if that attention span problem is not caused by TV, then what could be causing it? I'm obviously not a scientist or sociologist or psychologist, but I do have a blog, so that alone qualifies me to put forth a few observations on this subject. Here are some of the reasons that I suspect cause a short attention span:

• Expectations set too high- seriously, to say that the attention span today is short we must have some kind of quantifiable data from times past. Did school children in ancient Babylon sit for eight hours on end (boys especially) through such exciting subjects as poetry and pottery? Honestly, I think a lot of complaints about attention spans are because we have our expectations set too high for ourselves and our nation's school children. We're trying to expect and force ourselves and our children to sit for long periods of time doing tasks that frankly aren't all that interesting or exciting, or in many cases, meaningful. I used to think that I had a short attention span until I realized that like many other computer geeks, I had the ability to hyper-focus on some tedious tasks like playing video games or straightening out file system issues. I can't tell you how many blog posts I was able to crank out while I was supposed to be working on a paper for one of my University of Phoenix classes.
• One word: sugar. We can't deny that the American diet consists of way too much sugar. I notice when I'm not eating very well that I can't focus for anything. When I'm eating better, I have an easier time at work because my blood sugar levels aren't crashing.
• Another word: choices. There is a reason why web videos are short: because when we're sitting at our computers, there are a lot of other things we could be doing so we're not going to sit still for one thing. I listen to a lot of podcasts on my iPod. In fact, right now as I'm typing this I'm listening to Cyberspeak. I wouldn't be willing to stop what I'm doing for an hour while I finish this podcast. Frankly, it's not all that exciting, so I pick up a little bit here and there while I'm doing something else. I notice when I'm laying in bed late at night and I have no other choices I can sit through an hour long TV show. When I transcode that show to my iPod and I'm trying to watch it sitting at my computer, I tend to want to do other things. I have email to sort through and Google Reader feeds to read. When I have too many choices, I often can't settle on just one or two and I float because no matter what I'm doing, I'm constantly afraid that I could be doing something "better". When I have fewer choices, I am able to sit still and focus better. This goes back to the blockquote earlier from Newsweek about how happiness doesn't necessarily come from having too many choices.

I could probably keep going, but these are only observations. Critical thinking involves never taking anything you read or hear for granted. I'm sure I could turn on CNN or FoxNews and hear commentators say at least 10 times today that TV causes shorter attention spans. Rather than accepting that I'm asking questions, because my own experience doesn't seem to match up to conventional wisdom. What about you, reader? Does TV shorten your attention span? If you believe it does, are you willing to cut down or cut out TV in order to regain an attention span?

Technorati tags: TV, attention spans

 

Labels: Family, Health, Internet, Media, Socio/Political

The Biggest Problem With The Microsoft Zune...

...is that nobody seems to carry it, at least here in south Jersey. Nobody. Those who actually do carry it only carry the 4 or 8 Gig model but know nothing about it. The models aren't even turned on, so an interested buyer has no idea how the interface might work.

I have been considering a Zune lately, ever since the news that podcast support is now included. I settled last on the 80 Gig video iPod because podcast support was very important to me. At the time I was downloading several video podcasts and converting them to a format to watch on my Pocket PC was cumbersome.

Now my needs have changed. I record TV shows through my WinTV from Hauppage. These record into MPEG format, and converting MPEG into an iPod compatible format is very cumbersome. Now that the Zune supports Apple formats, my video podcasts are no longer an issue but my recorded TV is. Also, the screen on the video iPod is very tiny while the screen on the Zune is much larger.

We'll see what happens. I wish I could get a review unit. Anybody know how to do that? If anyone from Microsoft's Zune team reads this and wants to send me an 80 Gig model, I'll be happy to post a review for you.

Technorati tags: Microsoft Zune, Video iPod, digital Media

 

Labels: Media, Podcast, Shopping

Hollywood's Attempt To Enter Online Video

I haven't done any more research on this than reading a post on John C. Dvorak's blog, but I think this is interesting. YouTube and Google Video have been highly successful, and I have spent entirely too much time on both. I'm not sure if the traditional television or cable network is in any serious danger of going away, but online video does offer a lot of conveniences that traditional media doesn't. Cable companies have tried to offer services like Comcast's On Demand, but even these can be limited and restricted. I look forward to a service that will allow me to watch what I want, when I want to watch it, and even WHERE I want to watch it.

That being said, I'm not very excited about this service for a few reasons, again all of them based on Dvorak's cynical write-up:

First of all the site is loaded with too much gimmicky animations. The videos do not work without yet another download from Macromedia (why??). And the embed code is good but look (above) at the lame video promoting the channel. When all is said and done this is too slick to work. There is a nagging public sentiment that when content is too gussied up it means the content itself isn’t any good. This site may bear that out.

All that being said, I hope the producers go ahead with this project. Whether it succeeds or fails, somebody with talent and knowledge will find a way to make another site like this work. I'll admit, for all the time I spend on YouTube, it's not for clips of videos of toddlers doing silly things (I have my own collection anyway). I don't care for the amateur stuff (although Chad Vader is cool). I typically go to YouTube and Google Video for professional type material. If somebody can produce an online video network with professionally produced content I very well might want to watch it. I have some caveats thought:

• Obviously, I wouldn't expect somebody to put up a site like this at a financial loss, but the profit margin should remain beneath an abstraction layer to me. I don't want to spend all of my time on the site being reminded that you're not doing it for my enjoyment for for your own financial gain. If you look at just about everything the RIAA and most of what the MPAA do, it is apparent that their motivation is to get EVERY LAST PENNY from their content. The Recording Industry is becoming the personification of greed in America (actually, it long since has but I'm trying not to sound pessimistic).
• Don't make me follow a complicated registration process just to watch a video. There is no need to do this unless you're already violating my first caveat: keep your greed to yourself!
• Don't make me install a "special" plug-in or use some strange codec. YouTube is good because all videos are in flash, a highly common file format that is available on just about every platform.
• Allow portability. Let me transfer some videos to my iPod or Pocket PC or even carry on my laptop for, say, a flight.

I don't think any of those are unreasonable, and I would certainly take them into account if I were putting together a video service. Perhaps it's because I'm part of the tail-end of Generation X, or because I've spent so much time on the Internet, but I like my web content to be "free". I am a firm believer that people should be paid for their work, of course, but I am not going to access their work just so they can make money, I'm going to access it because it provides me with value. I suspect most other people would as well.

Technorati tags: Video, Multi-media, YouTube, Television

Labels: Media

VLC Media Player 0.8.6c Update

I upgraded my laptop to Windows Vista Home Premium two weeks ago, and as with any operating system and application upgrade I have run into a few snags along with way. One of those snags involves one of my favorite applications, VLC Media Player. I've written before about my Hauppage WinTV PVR-USB2 recorder that allows me to record TV shows. Watching those TV shows became a challenge, however. I'm rarely sitting at my desktop computer, although I do use the computer often thanks to the good people at Log Me In, a wonderful service that I highly recommend. My wife got me the WinTV a couple of years ago and I've had a few snags along the way that kept me from using it but for the time being, when there is a show worth taping, I can record it. Watching the show has proven to be a huge challenge. As I said, I often don't have time to sit at my desktop computer and watch my recorded TV. We don't have an Apple TV or Slingbox either, although I am trying to make a case to my wife why we need an Apple TV. The options I'm left with for viewing my shows are to stream them, or transfer them to either my laptop, iPod, or Pocket PC to watch on the go.

The first option I tried was streaming with Orb. I ran into a snag with Orb that plagues me across all of my options, but the snag is most painful with Orb. Probably because my recorder works on USB, every now and again the recording will have a "glitch" for about a frame. This will cause most media players, such as Windows Media Player, to skip several seconds. On Orb, that was disastrous, because every time I tried to back up the video the stream had to re-buffer. This made watching an hour long TV show take several hours, especially when the stream was cut off. I experienced the same problem on Real Player, and I didn't have that many options to catch a stream from Orb.

I next tried to take the video with me on my laptop, but again, Windows Media Player and Real Player would skip several seconds on every glitch causing me to either miss part of a show or spend hours trying to get that part to play. About this time I was working with my Apple iBook running Jaguar (OS X 10.2), and I couldn't find a way to play mpeg video on a Mac. That was when I came across VLC Media Player. VLC plays just about any format imaginable and works on almost every platform. I've used VLC Media Player on Mac, Linux, and Windows and I have never been disappointed. One of my favorite features of VLC besides the multi-codecs and cross-platform capability is that VLC will play right through the frame glitches with no skipping whatsoever.

That brings me to the point of this update. After I upgraded to Windows Vista, I went to watch an episode of Hell's Kitchen that I taped. I brought up my old trusty VLC Media Player and found that there was a minor incompatibility: the audio would play but not the video. I was running VLC 0.8.6b. I checked the VideoLAN home page, and found that sure enough, VLC had been updated. The new version works flawlessly on Windows Vista. If you're looking for a free media player, check out VLC.

Technorati tags: VLC, Windows Media Player, Digital Media, Orb

Labels: Linux, Mac OSX, Media

The Lock Switch: Every Consumer Device Should Have This Piece of Engineering

My last cell phone was a Sony Ericsson z500a. I must have liked that phone, because when I was able to upgrade, I took a newer model, the z525a. The z500a, for all it's usefulness, had a very annoying feature: a dedicated camera button on the side of the phone that could be pressed by other objects in my pocket. I can't tell you how many times I took my phone out of my pocket to make a call only to discover that the camera was on and the battery was very low. I've also shot many pictures of the inside of my pocket.

My Pocket PC has a similar nagging problem. The hardware buttons get pressed while moving around in my pocket and strange things happen, appointments get created, I get audio recordings of my pocket, but above all else my battery drains.

My video iPod, by contrast, does not have this problem. Why? Because Apple, which above all else is great at design, included a lock switch that prevents accidental turn on and operation while being carried around in a man's overcrowded pockets. This lock switch is at the top of the device opposite the headphone jack and is firm enough that it isn't likely to toggle when brought into contact with a Swiss Army Knife or change or other pocket sized consumer electronic device.

What I wouldn't give for a simple lock switch on my phone and Pocket PC...

Technorati tags: Video iPod, consumer electronics, design

Labels: Apple, Hardware, Media

Do Mac Apps Really Suck on Windows?

Some of you may have heard that Apple Inc. (Formerly Apple Computer, Inc.) released the Apple Safari web browser for Windows last week. Many of you may not care. I'm not sure exactly where I fit in. CNET's Rafe Needleman wrote a blog entry titled "Mac Apps On Windows Suck. Here's Why". I'm not sure that I agree with all of his conclusions.

With the Apple iPhone due for release soon, the announcement of Safari for Windows shocked a lot of people. Many developers and gadget geeks salivating over the iPhone had been hoping for an SDK (Software Development Kit) in order to produce applications for the iPhone. If you've ever used a Pocket PC, you know that third party applications are practically salvation. Pocket Outlook is minimally useful, but Pocket Informant is a wonderful excursion into the world of mobile productivity. WebIS Flexmail 2007 is also a wonderful replacement for Pocket Outlook's email functionality. I don't know many Apple people, but I do know that like Windows, sooner or later you'll need a third party application to get things done. As the iPhone runs Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, I'm sure it will need more applications. However, Steve Jobs (and I'm sure others, but Steve is the public figure) have decided to make the iPhone a closed platform. As I understand things, there will be ways to write applets through Safari, but that is the extent of development capability on this platform.

And so, millions of geeks are upset. I was sort of apathetic to this announcement. I don't intend to buy an iPhone right now. The announcement of Safari for Windows excited me about as much as, say, Outlook Express for the Mac. Oh, wait, my Macs do have Outlook Express. At least, my iMac does. I downloaded Safari on my work computer just to test it out, but for the most part I'm sticking with Firefox for the time being because the available extensions allow a great deal of customizability. Opera is nice, but Firefox meets my needs so I see little reason to use Opera, and IE7 needs a session manager for me to take it more seriously. I am spoiled with Firefox because when my system crashes, I can pick up exactly where I left off. If I have 50 tabs open and half of them are partway through a long article, I won't miss a beat. If IE7 crashes with two tabs open, I'm hosed.

However, I don't see the platforms through eyes of zeal. I have settled on Windows XP as my main OS for the time being because of all the tools available, Windows XP does what I need it to do the best. The programs that I use run best on Windows XP, I don't have to buy any new hardware, and of course it is well supported and established.

As far as tools go, I differ in my opinion of iTunes from Rafe Needleman. I actually think that iTunes is a fairly decent media manager. Actually, my favorite feature is the podcatcher. I really don't care for Microsoft's digital media implementation. I believe that their target market is the gyrating silhouettes from the iPod commercials a few years ago. Windows Media Player 11 is decent, but has no podcasting capability. I download several podcasts, and iTunes does a wonderful job of managing them. Ever since I got my video iPod, I've come to appreciate iTunes even more and I've digitized the better songs from my CD collection to sync with the iPod to listen to when my wife is in the car with me. Now, if a better iPod sync/media utility comes along, I'll happily try it out. For now, I'm content with iTunes.

Linux is a fine platform, but I have written it off for the time being. The software that I use and have come to depend on runs on Windows, and finding replacements or figuring out a new workflow just takes too much time on the two other platforms. Actually, I would love to play with Mac OS X more, but the hard drive on my iBook apparently crashed, and I don't have the time to take the thing apart again, swap the hard drive into a PC laptop, and use a Windows XP disk to check the hard drive. Mac OS X Tiger doesn't ship with much in the way of hard drive utilities.

In any case, if you're into Safari, check it out for Windows. If you're not, don't sweat it. Firefox will probably remain the undisputed champ of Windows browsers (and Mac and Linux) for a while.

 

Technorati tags: Firefox, Safari, Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Apple, iTunes, iPod, Browser

Labels: Apple, Linux, Mac OSX, Media, Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile

CNET's Top 5 Crapware

I haven't written about computers or technology for a while, but CNET gave me the perfect opportunity for a quick entry. Recently, CNET TV had a 2 + minute show about the Top 5 Crapware products. Over the years, many terms have sprung up to differentiate between the categories of software. Freeware is self-explanatory, being software that is free. Wares or warez are pirated or cracked full versions of programs such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop. A lot of software DRM (Digital Rights Management) has been produced to stop warez. Shareware is a type of software that typically allows a trial period before requiring purchase, but encourages you to share or pass along to your friends. Many aspiring programmers get started out with shareware, in fact, Steve Pavlina says that he got his start as a shareware games developer.

Malware is software designed for malicious purposes such as computer viruses, worms, and trojans, named after the Trojan Horse of ancient Greek history or legend. Spyware is designed to spy on you and send back information about your habits or even worse, keystrokes such as login and password information.

Crapware is a category all to itself. I'm sure that somebody has cooked up a wonderful and eloquent definition for crapware, but put simply, crapware is software that is utter crap and chances are you never asked for it in the first place. This includes unwanted browser toolbars and media players that just seem to show up. Some programs try to install trials of partner's products. Have you ever installed Intuit's Quicken and found shortcuts all over your desktop for things like Quicken Brokerage, Mastercard, and America Offline? Crapware is not limited to unwanted partner software. Some full version applications by supposedly reputable vendors can fall into this category. I actually consider Symantec's Norton Internet Security to be complete and total crapware. It bogs down my system, loses my email, blocks programs that I want to access the internet from accessing the internet, can't do the simplest process like update itself without constantly flashing a window on my taskbar to tell me what file it's updating, and it starts reminding you that you have to pay for a renewal way too early. I can't stand it. I also place McAfee's Internet Security in the crapware category after my last experience with their product. To be fair, it was the version that Comcast provides for free to subscribers, but it was an utter nightmare. It shut down my ability to share files across my home network, my Macs wouldn't even show up on it's network map because they didn't have McAfee installed (and no version was available to install), and I finally uninstalled the darn thing and decided I'd rather run unprotected than completely hindered in my normal activities. I spent 2 days searching for help. McAfee's website was actually more useless than Microsoft's (if that's possible) for finding answers, and even though I had every setting set properly I still could not connect from one computer to the other across my home network or Hamachi.

CNET's brief video deals with the crapware that computer vendors install on brand new computers. Except for laptops, I've always built my own systems, which cuts down on this dramatically. My sister in law lived with some stupid jukebox program that Dell installed on her laptop asking her to buy a music subscription every time she tried to play one of her own songs, until she finally shared that detail with me and I set iTunes to her default player and uninstalled the crappy jukebox software.

If you've ever bought a new computer that made you feel like you were living in a commercial after you booted it up, then kick back with a cold drink and watch this video. If you're thinking about building your own computer, let this inspire you while you wait for me to produce a series of blog posts on building your own computer. It'll be a while though; I'm still putting most of my time into famiy, church, and and finishing my IT degree.

CNET TV's Top 5 Crapware

 

Technorati tags: Crapware, software, computer vendors, Dell, HP, Compaq

Labels: Apple, DRM, Media, Microsoft Windows, Security, Software

Music and Gadgets

Recently, Joel Spolski wrote a scathing review of the LG Fusic phone that Sprint is distributing. Sprint apparently had been giving these phones to prominent bloggers in the hopes that the bloggers would use the phones and in gratitude post great reviews of them. (By the way, Sprint, where is my phone? I'm sure at least 1 person reads this blog.) Joel was not easily impressed by the offer, but I'm sure he appreciated the chance to play with the phone for a while.

My in-laws recently upgraded their phones. They got base models for themselves, but bought a more expensive phone for my sister-in-law. When I saw the phone, it turned out to be the LG Fusic. I spent a good chunk of a Saturday night helping her set up the phone, get the Bluetooth headset working, and dealing with issues related to DRM (Digital Rights Management) and her songs.

DRM is a touchy subject. I can't say I'm very happy with the whole concept, and it's caused me to largely stay away from music for the last few years. When I was younger music meant a lot more to me, and I went out of my way to build somewhat of a collection of tapes and CDs. As I got older, music meant less and I reached the point of being fine with what I can get over the radio. I got sick of paying up to $20 for a CD with only 1 song on it that is any good, and decided I can live without paying the record companies to keep this business model going.

The problem with Digital rights is that a balance needs to be struck between the rights of the artist and the rights of the user. If I'm going to go to the trouble to create content, then shouldn't my work be rewarded? The problem here is, if you're going to go to the trouble to pay for my work, shouldn't you have rights as well?

As our media choices go digital, so goes the rush to deliver in digital format. The presents changes in the paradigm. If I go out and buy a book that I think is good, I can give it to my wife or a friend and let them read it. I can pass the book along to a few other people if I think they would benefit from it. On one discussion forum that I frequent, one person had a book that several of us were interested in, so she mailed it to me, I read it and mailed it to the next guy who read it and mailed it along... We probably paid for the book several times over in postal fees, but at the time it made sense for some reason. However, let's say I buy this same book for my Pocket PC. I purchase it with my credit card and a key is generated based on my credit card number and some unique hardware identifier on my Pocket PC. Now, if I think my wife should read it, I have to give up my Pocket PC because I can't just hand her the book. Another solution is to pay for the book a second time so that she can read it on her laptop, a highly unlikely scenario anyway.

The DRM issue really raised it's ugly head with the LG Fusic phone. My sister in law can transfer to her phone songs that she ripped from CD's in iTunes, but the songs that she bought from the iTunes Music Service (ITMS) cannot be transferred. They have to be registered to a device, and although Apple Computer does allow purchased music to be registered on up to 5 devices, there is no way to register this cell phone without an iPod service. I doubt I could purchase music through iTunes and transfer it to my Pocket PC either. An iPod yes, a Pocket PC, no.

However, I will say that Apple Computer actually "gets it" when it comes to music and such. Windows Media Player (even the 11 beta) is great for watching movie files, but for managing my own media collection it makes little sense. I can't quite figure out the playlists. When I try to sync media content to my Pocket PC, it takes at least 5 times as long as when I simply transfer the files through Windows Explorer. It sets up a very complicated file structure on my device, breaking folders down into some weird hierarchy based on category, artist, album, etc. The playlist feature is incredibly non-intuitive and trying to set the system up to automatically sync leaves me wanting. By contrast, iTunes in incredibly simple and intuitive. One other thing I appreciate about iTunes is the podcasting feature. Microsoft's media seems stuck in the same mold as the rest in assuming that the only people who use MP3s are those darn pagan gyrating silhouettes in the original iPod commercials. Not everybody actually uses the service for music, and iTunes 5 and higher include a podcasting feature. At one point I was trying to use iPodder, but I found the program to be a little complicated and rather than prove I'm smart enough to master it, I just used iTunes for my podcast subscriptions because it works for the most part.

The LG Fusic phone raises another issue as to how you acquire content. Sprint obviously wants you to purchase music from their service. The price is $5 for 3 songs. Songs are 99 cents at iTunes and 88 cents at Wal-mart's download store. This seems to be yet another case of a service being tailored to the needs and interests of the service provider. This is another area in which Apple actually seems to understand that the customer has interests too, and by taking those needs into consideration, everybody profits. Steve Jobs, for all of his personality issues in the past, has done a wonderful job of getting the music industry to cooperate with him in the iTunes service. As the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) every single day finds new ways to show their customers that in the eyes of RIAA, the customer is a criminal just waiting to be busted, Apple actually tries to treat us in a respectable manner by offering a service that people want at a price that most are willing to pay.

Labels: Apple, DRM, Media

The Corruptibles- Entertainment Industry Supervillians

I came across this link in the Microsuck forums: http://www.eff.org/corrupt/

I found it very entertaining. On another level, it's sort of scary. The old guard entertainment industry and the new media of the internet are a sharp contrast in paradigms. Under the old paradigm, information could be produced and controlled. In the 1950s, for instance, movies were made and shown in theaters. The studios had complete control over who saw the movies and how much they paid. The average home user did not have the equipment to copy the old vinyl records, so those could be controlled as well.

Today with the internet, information is thought of as something to be shared. Thanks to the Open Source movement, even software is thought of as something that people can share amongst each other. I almost balk at the price of Microsoft Office considering that Open Office does not have a cost up front. Linux is free, which makes me wonder what the point is to paying for Windows Vista when it comes out next year. Actually, when you buy software, what you're mostly paying for is support. If you buy a copy of Red Hat Linux, you are paying for the privilege of making a phone call when something goes wrong. Of course you're also paying for the man hours to develop and maintain the software in most cases, but this is a discussion for another entry.

A problem seems to have arisen now that the two paradigms have clashed. We often think of information as something to be shared, and they think of it as something to be controlled. Most blogs these days have a Creative Commons license stating what way the information contained on that blog can be shared legally but may have limited restrictions. Many people create their own music and videos and humor and software and have no problem with sharing them under certain limits. The Old Guard does not like that. They have been very slow to adopt the new ways and when they do it is often under draconian measures such as DRM (dark arts if I have ever heard of any).

DRM adds a dimension of asininity (is that a word?) to the purchase of information. In the old days, I could buy a book and read it, then give it to my wife. I could give it to you and tell you that you should read it. With DRM, I may buy an ebook and the only way I can read it is on my laptop or Pocket PC. I can't share it with my wife. Music is working the same way. You can't buy a song and share it with your friends.

I've heard some very silly things about the "legal" music sharing networks. Some colleges will pay for them so that students can use them for free, yet the students choose not to use them. The songs that they download are only good until they graduate. What is the point of that? Music hasn't been that big a part of my life in several years, and the greedier the RIAA and MPAA get, the less I care for their products. Why should I go out of my way to buy a movie or CD if it's going to install a rootkit on my laptop, or if I can use it on my laptop but not on my desktop computer? What if I can't download a song to my Pocket PC? I'm sorry, but I can't think of a single artist who is worth all of that hassle.

So where do we go from here? Well, there are plenty of public domain and independent sites. If you like the classics, manybooks is a good place. There are some good independent song artists out there, and some bands are starting to embrace the new paradigm.

Now, I'm a free market kind of guy. Don't think I am disparaging ANYBODY from making a profit from their labor. I am not. However, if you can't play to the market, then you obviously don't deserve to make that profit, do you? Markets change, and you have to stay on top of them. I really don't buy movies anymore, except for some of my favorites, thanks to my wife's Netflix subscription. I don't even deal with Blockbuster anymore. If I want a movie, I put it in the que, when it comes I watch it, then stick the movie back in the mailbox. The hardest part of this process is finding time to watch the movie. If I really have to listen to music, there are plenty of internet radio sites. I don't understand paying for these things. I haven't even tried to figure out what they mean with how many downloads per month you get.

As for ebooks, I actually haven't embraced this yet. I don't mind book length material off the web. I've read several of these. I don't read many ebooks because they often require Adobe Craprobat, I mean, Acrobat, which I don't like to use any more than I have to. There are some decent free .pdf viewers out there, but some features work best in Adobe. Sometimes they require a proprietary reader, and I am not very fond of proprietary software. Sometimes it is required, but often it's more painful than it's worth. I have no idea what happened to Microsoft Reader. I thought it used to come pre-installed with Windows, but it doesn't seem to anymore. Now it must be downloaded and it keeps reminding you to activate, and it's been years since I've seen content for it anyway.

We'll have to sit back and see if this new paradigm will be market driven, or shoved down our throats by the "old guard". I do hope that the free exchange of information is honored.

Labels: DRM, Media