Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Grokster v. MGM (a.k.a., Godzilla v. Tokyo)

By Gene J. Koprowski
Published 3/30/2005 12:07 PM
CHICAGO, March 30 (UPI) -- Hollywood during the 1980s worried that videocassette recorders would savage the movie business, furnishing fans with free access to films copied from rental tapes from video stores. The industry was so worried, in fact, that it took the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, in Sony vs. Betamax, hoping to protect its intellectual property rights. Two decades later, the entertainment industry is back in court, arguing this time that Internet file sharing of music and movies is illegally gnawing away at its profits -- like Godzilla gobbled up Tokyo. Last time, the justices ruled for the VCRs, but experts told UPI's The Web they are unsure who will win the battle over file sharing.

UPI

Technology Tattler. . .

How Newt Was Rolled? Tony Rudy, a former chief of staff to Rep. Tom DeLay, comments in a new book, "The Clinton White House figured out how to play Newt [Gingrich]. They would put the Time cover with Newt as Man of the Year on the coffee table in front of where they would have Newt sit. Newt would come back into leadership meetings from the White House and tell us how the White House understood his significance." See, http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110006488

I seem to recall that when Newt became Speaker of the House, he kept touting technolgy futurist Alvin Toffler as his policy guru. But Newt's hubris over 'old media' coverage may have ruined the revolution, which at that time eliminated just one government agency that I can recall, The Office of Technology Assessment, See:.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/ota/


Stinky Security: We hear that a leading industry analyst is developing a report on "Worst Practices in Developing Secure Software" With all the security problems on the 'Net, that should be a promising read.

Macs for Nerds: Macintosh computers have always had this image of being for artists, writers, educators. Now they are for nerds too. The Numerical Algorithms Group says that Macs are now "moving into the realm of scientific research and technical computing," according to a reliable source.

Rehnquist Recovery? Has Chief Justice of the SCOTUS William Rehnquist recovered from his cancer? One good sign -- he swore in 20 new members of the Supreme Court bar yesterday before hearing arguments in the MGM v Grokster case, we hear from an eyewitness there in the court.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Technology Tattler . . .

Taxman Tortured: We hear that the wireless carriers, who have sued the governments of Baltimore and Montgomery County, Md., are proceeding, "but slowly" in tax court, according to a well-placed source. The wireless phone companies want to have local wireless taxes, illegally imposed by those government bodies, refunded to consumers.

Blogger Buzz: The Web hosting provider Hostway is, we hear from a reliable source, during the first week of April coming out with a new survey that examines whether some blogs are more credible than newspaper articles. (Of course, this blog is, but you already knew that!) The survey also examines whether bloggers should receive the same rights as traditional journalists.

Online Only EP: We hear from a well-placed music indusry source that the Platinum selling rock band Sister Hazel is going to release its next EP as an online only project. The project is entitled, Lift -- Acoustic Renditions.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Wireless World: Veepers for mobile phones

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050325-082236-7428r.htm

By Gene J. Koprowski
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Chicago, IL, Mar. 25 (UPI) -- Someday soon, when you retrieve a voice-mail message from your mobile phone, you will be able to hear the the voice of the caller, and see his or her image, too.

Mobile-messaging services -- MMS in industry argot -- are emerging quickly for mobile-phone applications, and technology companies are working with carriers to incorporate photo-realistic, as well as illustrated, video into the standard monthly wireless-subscription package, experts told UPI's Wireless World."MMS promises for mobile phones a world that looks a lot like the world we see on our PCs," said Brian Lipschultz, chief executive officer of Pulse Entertainment Inc. in San Francisco, a developer of wireless applications. "The media of sound and visuals are being mixed together in pleasing ways that are nothing short of entertaining and dazzling."


Technology Tattler. . .


There's nothing like good PR. We hear that a source we quoted in a recent column was cyber-stalked, all day, by an adamant reader. The alleged cyber-stalker, a famous business book author, reportedly called the source, a woman executive, to tell her he was "not a mean man." He repeated this twice.

We hear the Federal Election Commission is extending campaign finance rules for political activity on the Internet. FEC is asking for public input on "limited regulations" for 'Net. This seems to us to be a response to the aggressive line crossing between legality and illegality that Moveon.org appeared to engage in during the last presidential election.


Good source for the latest on ID theft prevention -- http://idtheftsecurity.blogspot.com/

Other News

The latest histrionic sales pitch from technology vendors -- the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are bursting at the seams, posing a threat to the delivery of toys next Christmas to children throughout North America, and to western civilization itself, unless radio frequency identification technology (RFID) is used to end the 'logjam'. . .An organization calling itself Democracy for America has begun an ad campaign that should at least be merited for honesty in the cause of spin. The ads depict how Social Security affects the lives of real people, but the producers admit that the ads are based on interviews with activists. If you care to be spun, go to http://www.democracyforamerica.com/30_second_ad,
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/60_second_ad . . .MyMD recently launched a new partnership with Apple Computers, and is now offering house calls, by computer, for patients.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

The Web: The battle of the bloggers

There may be more liberal blogs than conservative ones on the Internet, but the conservatives appear to be much more adept at employing the technology of the medium to market their message and influence public opinion.

See:

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20050322-100604-1950r

A quote from Ted Demopoulos, the analyst from Demopoulos Associates, did not make the final cut. But what he says is of note, and so I am reporting it here:

"Due to their dynamic content, regular readers, and search engine popularity, blogs attract traffic."

New 'apps' driving wireless growth

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050318-091927-8274r.htm

New wireless applications -- voice and data -- are driving growth in the mobile phone industry, contrary to conventional wisdom.