Stephen Elop interview

I actually think that Windows Phone (WP) is a pretty interesting system. I have however, two very serious concerns about it.

The first one is the future of Windows Phone as Ballmer’s Microsoft chains it to the “big Windows” fate and needs. Windows Phone on its own i could buy into, with scarce concerns. Windows Phone joined at the hips with “big Windows” paints an all new picture. Where will it go from here? Will the interface somehow change? Will the “Windows 8” unique system bring security issues to my phone? Will the lean OS becomes more bloated and messy because of that “one OS for all” approach?

And the second one, is that if Windows Phone is so important to the Windows Division as an enhancer and appealer to the “big Windows”, then how can i be sure of the other OS support for Windows Phone? When i looked up Windows Phone i saw that it had a Mac app, support for contact sync, iTunes sync and albeit still limited then, it seemed that, along with Blackberry, I could count on Windows Phone to seamless interact with my Mac information (something that doesn’t happen with Android if you don’ use Google Accounts or have an expensive third party sync software). But if Windows Phone and ‘big Windows’ are so complementary and important to one another, how can i be sure that that other OS support won’t just disappear in the near future? (( Considering the track record of Microsoft owned Skype regarding Linux support and its utterly unusable Mac version, it’s something that can seriously and honestly raise concerns.))

Will the internet kill copyright? Here’s hoping…

“In the information age, electronic data or informational goods can be copied for free. Accordingly, this is what goods should be priced at: zero, instead of monopoly pricing.

Ironically, pirates are acting as conventional economists claim people should – that is, they are rational agents seeking to maximise their utility (happiness) by obtaining copies of informational goods at marginal cost.

Other costs include those associated with the court system and patents offices, which have effectively become a joke. People and firms are endlessly suing each other over potential and real copyright infringements, with these legal expenses essentially acting as a tax on innovation that is passed on to consumers.”

Philip Soos, Deakin University

And if not by the economic cost, then it will crumble by the political movement spurred by each draconian iteration of Copyright laws on the Internet. Does the name Pirate Party rings a bell? There are currently legal parties or movements to constitute one in over 62 countries. Big-Media and other Copyright business “actors” in their eternal blindness somehow fail to see that incoming freight train.

Censored YouTube Videos Cost Us Millions

““We want to see streaming services like Vevo and Spotify in the German market. [These platforms] must not be blocked by GEMA any longer,” he said earlier. “Artists and music companies are losing sales in the millions.”

So here we have the boss of one of the largest music labels blaming another group for their repressive copyright enforcement. It’s the world upside down, but a promising change from Sony’s side.”

Sony Music Boss, via TorrentFreak

A Sony executive with some basic understanding of reality!? Really!? Now that’s a shocker. Maybe someday they will stop handicapping their excellent hardware and maybe once winning a technology “war”. Maybe…

TV Is Broken & Moderation

“Why did you turn the movie off, Daddy?”, Beatrix worriedly asks, as if she has done something wrong and is being punished by having her entertainment interrupted. She thinks that’s what I was doing by rushing for the remote.

“I didn’t turn it off, honey. This is just a commercial. I was turning the volume down because it was so loud. Shreck will come back on in a few minutes” I say.

“Did it break?”, she asks. It does sometimes happen at home that Flash or Silverlight implode, interrupt her show, and I have to fix it.

“No. It’s just a commercial.”

“What’s a commercial?”, she asks.

”It is like little shows where they tell you about other shows and toys and snacks.”, I explain.

“Why?”

“Well the TV people think you might like to know about this stuff.”

“This is boring! I want to watch Shreck.”

Minimal Mac

Actually she is absolutely right. TV (or the idiot box as it is colloquially known) is dying, senile and on it’s way out. And not a moment too soon.

The interesting part is why it is dying, it’s why i have flashblock and adblock extensions on my browser: Adverting and Marketing lack of self-moderation, respect and the search for a quick buck on the short term. Instead of a single ad that i would actually pay attention to, they put 20. And if no one clicks then they need to be more colourful or more noisier or animated. And you end up with this.

moderation

There is a perennial lack of moderation on our times. Moderation, Respect, Restraint. All of what is needed to truly build a self-sustainable environment; and by environment i mean the whole encompassing “sphere” of our “activity”, and this includes the human life, human society, the web, the advertising business, the TV.

We somehow behave as stupid as the virus that infects and kills everyone as soon as it can. And obviously runs out of hosts in a remote village in Africa wiping itself in the process. Fill the websites with so much ads that everyone installs an adblocker. Extend commercial breaks to 20 minutes or make one in every 10 minutes and nobody will watch TV anymore. Consume junk products in massive quantities until there is no more space to store them or stuff that works or anything that is not made in China for absolut bottom-prices.

We really need a philosophical change regarding our future. One that exalts some sort of moderation and reflection before “action”. One that simply includes respect for the “Other”, for if nothing else so that we can continue to maintain a relationship. One that includes a more restrained satisfying life instead of this voracious consumption of nothing.

The son of an analogue and digital world

“Often I find myself longing for a simpler life, a life that might be harder – like those of my grandparents and parents – but a life that was simpler. People didn’t buy disposable, people bought quality when possible.

People bought quality when possible.”

Minimal

Piracy and the four currencies

” The problem with most piracy debates is that the only “cost” they discuss is money-dollars.  So, the problem is framed somewhat like this:

“Buying the game from us costs money-dollars.  Pirating it costs zero money-dollars.  Therefore, most people will pirate the game if they have the choice and we must do everything we can to physically stop them.”

The familiar Money-dollar ($M)  This is wrong because there are at least four currencies involved here, not just one (money-dollars).

I propose the following:

  • ($M) Money-dollars

  • ($T) Time-dollars

  • ($P) Pain-in-the-butt-dollars

  • ($I) Integrity-dollars”

Lars Doucet

Can we somehow get the linked essay delivered to all the games, music and movies Executives?

Growl’s response to Notification Center

“- Growl is not dead – Growl is alive and kicking – We are still actively working on shipping two future versions of Growl. Our understanding from press reports at this point is that Notification Center is only available to apps from the Mac App Store, which effectively locks out the entire class of applications that aren’t or can’t be in the store.”

Growl’s Blog

Seems reasonable. I hope they won’t go away but if the Notifications API ever goes “public” for all applications, AppStore or not, Growl will find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

My new personal motto

“I’m a big believer in open source, which is an ancient African phrase meaning “no, I will not fix your Windows computer for you.” “

Ivan Krstić

I think i’m going to start using it as my personal signature on the emails i send to friends and family…