The weekly newsletter for Fed2
by ibgames

EARTHDATE: December 18, 2011

Official News page 12


WINDING DOWN

An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net and technology news
by Alan Lenton

As those of you capable of adding decimal numbers together (there are 10 types of people in the world - those who understand binary, and those who don't!) will have spotted, 18 + 7 = 25; ergo, there will be no Winding Down on Christmas day. Or the weekend after, if it comes to that... There may be one the following week, but that depends on work - sales and suchlike make life at Green Man Gaming pretty hectic in the period just after the New Year.

Therefore, it behooves me to wish all my readers a happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Like everyone else, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the world economy will be kinder to everyone in the coming months.

Since it is Christmas, I decided to only give you good news in this issue, which probably explains why it isn't a bumper issue! But at least there were some nice things to tell you about - so here goes...


Shorts:

Good news this week on the music/video/YouTube front. It all started a week or two ago when the file sharing site MegaUpload released a promotional video onto YouTube. The main music companies and the RIAA ranted about what they considered to be MegaUpload's role in music 'piracy', and the Universal Music Group abused their access to YouTube's automated content management system to force a take down of the video.

Since the video only contained some of the biggest names in the music industry singing the praises of MegaUpload, this was way out of line. So MegaUpload went to court over the abuse of the DMCA take down practice. When the judge gave Universal 24 hours to come up with an explanation, they stated that it was nothing to do with the DMCA, but that they had the right to take it down under "other contractual arrangements" with Google/YouTube!

This elicited a swift riposte from Google, who said, "Our partners do not have the right to take down videos from YT unless they own the rights to them or they are live performances controlled through exclusive agreements with their artists, which is why we reinstated it."

So, the video is back on YouTube, and the media business has yet again proved that it cannot even be trusted to obey laws which are written to be heavily in its favor!
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114753028665775786510/posts/KsjWS53KbC6
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/judge-gives-umg-24-hours-to-explain-takedown-spree.ars
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/umg-we-have-the-right-to-block-or-remove-youtube-videos.ars
http://www.webpronews.com/exclusive-youtube-responds-to-umg-vs-megaupload-2011-12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9caPFPQUNs
http://www.megaupload.com/

And while we are on the topic of downloading, I note that the Swiss government has ruled that the downloading of 'pirated' music, movies and video games from the internet for personal use is legal. A report published by the Swiss Federal Council explains that copyright holders won't suffer because those involved spend the money saved on other entertainment products.

This is interesting, very interesting, but it should be noted that it remains illegal to -upload- copyrighted material. The whole thing reminds me a bit of the rules for the use of modems many years ago, when the UK telephone system was run by the Post Office. It wasn't illegal to own, or even sell a modem that wasn't Post Office certified (and certification cost a whole pile of cash, which was reflected in the price of certified modems). But it was illegal to connect uncertified modems to the telephone system! You can guess the results of that.

It will be interesting to see whether the sales of 'legit' music, movies and games go up or down as a result of this policy. If we don't hear anything more, it will undoubtedly be because sales have gone up!
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/swiss-government-rules-downloading-to-remain-legal-48351

A soupcon of good news on the spam front for the end of the year. It seems that spam is down to its lowest point since 2008. Certainly I've noticed that I get hundreds of e-mails now, instead of thousands. It could be because several major botnets have been taken down in the latter part of this year, but I'm not so sure it's just that. I think it's also because less people are using e-mail as a means of communication these days. That and the increasing sophistication of spam filters is possibly making spamming less profitable. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues into next year.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=spam-hits-lowest-point-since-2008&WT.mc_id=SA_CAT_SP_20111213


Homework:

You think you've got lots of snow? Then take a look at these two 'then and now' pictures. The first is a picture of Roald Amundsen at the South Pole in 1911, and the second is the US South Pole Station. The snow is pretty much the same, but the facilities offered are a world apart, and it's difficult for us now to appreciate the difficulties faced, and overcome by Amundsen's team to become the first to reach the South Pole.

Here is what Amundsen said about it in his journal, "At three in the afternoon a simultaneous “Halt!” rang out from the drivers. They had carefully examined their sledge-meters, and they all showed the full distance—our Pole by reckoning. The goal was reached, the journey ended..."

"...After we had halted we collected and congratulated each other. We had good grounds for mutual respect in what had been achieved, and I think that was just the feeling that was expressed in the firm and powerful grasps of the fist that were exchanged..."
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76659&src=eoa-iotd


Geek Topics:

And now... The ultimate drum T-Shirt! The Electric Drum Machine T-Shirt from Think Geek sports no less that nine different machines (or rhythms if you want to be pedantic), including rock, techno-punk and jazz, and comes with a volume adjustable amp box that you can attach to your belt. And it's a snip at US$29.99. Just take a look at the video on the Gizmag page to see what's it's possible to do with a t-shirt! Oh, and incidentally, for those of you who fancy themselves as the band's axeman, Think Geek also have a guitar t-shirt...
http://www.gizmag.com/electronic-drum-machine-shirt/20814/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/ebb1/#tabs
http://www.gizmag.com/thinkgeek-interactive-rock-t-shirts-for-kids/15465/

I don't normally cover Apple iStuff, but seeing as it's Christmas, I thought I'd make an exception, so here are a couple of possible iThingies for all you Apple fans to take a look at.

The first is an iBangle concept from designer Gopinath Prasana. It's not really an Apple thing, but I have to concede that it does really look like an Apple concept, and has that indefinable sense of Apple style - not to mention providing a physical feeling of being locked into iTunes. The second is definitely my all time favorite iPad accessory - an iPad case designed to make it look like an Etch-A-Sketch! And just to make it even more realistic, the case is made by the same people who made the original Etch-A-Sketch... Cool stuff!
http://www.gizmag.com/ibangle-wearable-design-concept/10263/
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/e6e2/#tabs
http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Etch%20A%20Sketch

Oh and one further Apple thing - Steve Jobs is to get a bronze statue in Budapest! Hungarians have a thing about statues, and a very warped sense of humor. When the Soviet Union collapsed, while others were pulling down these monuments to socialist realism art, the Hungarians were collecting up their statues and using them to establish a theme park! I've been there, it's just outside Budapest, full of these huge statues with loads of people being photographed next to statues of red army soldiers, cavalry, heroic stakhanovite workers, and Lenin exhorting the masses. I wonder if the Steve Jobs statue will end up there in 50 years time?
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-steve-jobs-statue-hungary.html
http://www.szoborpark.hu/?Lang=en
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakhanovite_movement


Scanner:

LEDs offer a brighter future, says report
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16199552

Virtual Justice by Greg Lastowka (interesting discussion of who owns multi-player game items)
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6560/virtual_justice.php

Jason Ku's Origami Page (amazing Nazgul origami)
http://scripts.mit.edu/~jasonku/index.php?id=2011&model=nazgul3

'The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction' makes internet debut
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/12/11/%E2%80%98the-encyclopedia-of-science-fiction%E2%80%99-makes-internet-debut/
http://sf-encyclopedia.com/

 


Acknowledgements

Thanks to readers Andrew, Barb, Fi, and to Slashdot's daily newsletter for drawing my attention to material for Winding Down.

Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Spamato spam filter...

Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
18 December, 2011

Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist, the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan.

Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.


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