Check Point Software Technologies and Zone Labs Inc. announced Monday that they had signed a definitive merger agreement under which Check Point would acquire privately held Zone Labs for $205 million.

...

A lot of consolidation in the security industry lately. Netscreen just bought Neoteris. Check Point was in the hunt there. I guess they decided to broaden their client security offerings/client base since they lost on the Neoteris bid. So we've got Netscreen acquiring an SSL VPN company and Check Point acquiring a personal firewall software company. Is this a tacit acknowledgement that Check Point's existing personal firewall client is lacking?

I say Netscreen is the one to watch. If they get good enterprise management for their devices and they integrate the SSL VPN functionality they just bought under that umbrella, look out.

Overall, this proves two things to me. Security companies are doing very well. And if you have a hot idea that people need, pursue it to be bought by bigger players who for reasons of shareholder accountability cannot be as flexible as you are.

Anyone want to go in and develop the premiere layer 2 firewall with me? :)

Check Point to acquire Zone Labs for $205M

Even among those who think the public might support a draft, few believe Bush would dare to propose it before the November 2004 election. "It would highlight the cost of an imperial foreign policy, add an incendiary issue to the already emotional protests, and further split the limited-government conservatives." But despite the Pentagon's denials, planners there are almost certainly weighing the numbers just as independent military experts are. And that could explain the willingness to tune up the draft machinery.

...

Not unless his victory has already been decided.

Oiling up the draft machine?

Decius wrote:
] ] RIAA agents, backed up by police, have started to raid
] ] Midwestern record stores that carry DJ mixes. On
] ] September 23, Berry's Music in Indianapolis, Indiana, was
] ] raided; according to proprietor Alan Berry, police
] ] confiscated $10,000 worth of mix discs by the likes of DJ
] ] World and DJ Paul Bunyan. "The record labels want the
] ] independent record stores out of the business," Berry
] ] says.

This is why you should buy your music from labels not affiliated with the RIAA cartel. There are plenty of great labels out there.

Sorry, but if a mix CD is sold and has unlicensed usage of an RIAA cartel copyrighted song, it's fair game for them to bust the store. There are rules related to sample clearance, licensing, etc. Selling mix CDs is not covered by fair use. Even if you get the mix CD from the artist, if the artist has inked the deal with the RIAA, they are almost always forfeiting their hold on the copyright. This article is not very clear on whether the $10000 worth of mix discs were actually licensed or not. If they weren't, that $10000 was probably inflated out of nowhere for dramatic effect, sort of like the bogus figures you hear from the RIAA about lost sales. I'm imagining they just tallied up what the asking price was for them, rather than the cost of physical media and packaging.

This article also seems to be missing another big point. Downloading copyrighted songs without permission from the copyright holder is illegal. It really is THAT simple. Want to avoid getting sued by the RIAA? Don't illegally download music, forget the first two bullet points.

I don't understand the whole derision towards actually purchasing recorded music. Check out this quote from the article:

"Alternately, you can be a good little consumer and pay for everything you listen to."

When did buying music become a bad thing? Personally, I believe music can still be a commodity in this day and age. There is plenty of free music out there as well though. But if you want RIAA music but you don't want to pay for it? Boo hoo. Yes, the RIAA sucks and they are fighting change rather than adapting. Yes, the DMCA sucks and should be repealed. It will take time to undo these bad things. But getting into a pissing match with them is only making their case stronger.

With regard to the economics of "independent" record stores not being able to get the bulk discounts like the big chains do, sorry, them's the breaks. If the RIAA people are satan incarnate, don't deal with them. If your store can't keep the lights on by selling independent music, it's the symptom of a changing world. I've seen really great indie stores come and go in Nashville. With the internet, I can order direct with so many labels now that I don't need to visit a physical store. And when you are in direct contact with the label or it's authorized distributor, they are usually MUCH cooler about giving you bigger samples of the music to hear before you buy. The writing is on the wall for independent music stores. Time to evolve or die.

[Updated]

Oh, and if you want to check out what exactly is in question:

http://www.djregency.freeservers.com/photo4.html

These do not look like legitimately licensed compilations to me. And they are charging $14.00 for them. They must have inflated that $10000 claim. I don't feel sorry for these people at all.

RE: RIAA raiding small music stores for selling DJ mix CDs

From the Truth-Is-Stranger-Than-Fiction-Department:

...

A German man is to appear in court charged with teaching his dog to give the Hitler salute.

The black sheepdog-mix, named Adolf, has been taught to lift his right front paw up straight in the salute on command.

Police were called to the scene in Berlin when Roland T, 54, shouted at passers-by last year.

When a patrol arrived, he allegedly showed them the trick he had taught his dog, gave the salute along with Adolf, and shouted: "Sieg Heil."

German man charged with teaching dog Hitler salute

crankymessiah wrote:
] This is whack. Anti-American propaganda from North Korea.
] Worse then junior high schooler's rap. Entertaining
] regardless...

I like the morph of GW into the chimp face. Reminds me of http://www.bushorchimp.com I so thought of morphing those first though. Commie bastards beat me to it!

RE: Fucking USA

Showcase of Nashville electronic music at The End Oct. 11th 9PM. Link goes to this week's Nashville Scene write-up about the local electronic musicians.

...

In short, Area 615 is a fine survey of what gets called electronic music these days. Contributors like Satellite City and Callisto (both side projects featuring members of local band Venus Hum) bring an appreciation for recent trends and ideas--e.g., the "glitch" style of clicking and popping noises promulgated by the German label Mille Plateaux. Notably different, but hardly out of place here, is Mr. Natural, who uses contact microphones, guitar pickups and the surfaces of objects to create what could appropriately be called sound explorations. His approach shares a kinship with a totally different group of musicians, among them San Francisco's Loren Chasse and the UK's Jonathan Coleclough, who electronically process field recordings to create pieces that can be at once gentle and disorienting.

New compilation CD and upcoming live show survey Nashville's electronic musical underground

Nanochick wrote:
] logickal wrote:
] ] ] Buzz & Click. Nashville Robots, unite to get
] ] ] your groove on. Celebrate Nashville's burgeoning
] ] ] electronic scene and the release of Area615 with
] ] ] us at The End in Elliston Place on October 11, 2003.
] ]
] ] Okay, I'm meme'ing this so that no one that I may have
] ] forgotten to email can use the "you didn't tell me" excuse.
]
] ] Consider this your invitation, and don't think that just
] ] because Phreaknic is coming up that's any excuse not to
] come.
] ] (grin)
]
] If I wasn't living in Atlanta, I would totally be there:)
]
] -Nano

Okay, so that's almost an excuse I'll accept. (g)

Does it help that it's on a saturday night?

:)

RE: Area615 Compilation & Buzz & Click Night

This is the stuff I've been dreaming about doing. Frames of video are stacked on top of each other like playing cards. You can then cut into that object any way you want. Patterns in the video then become apparent.

The videos show how this works more effectively than words can. I'd like to see this work on a realtime stream, I'm sure that's coming though.

Volumetric Video from Dox Para Research

Video clips of strange commercials from Japan

...

Japander:n.,& v.t. 1. a western star who uses his or her fame to make large sums of money in a short time by advertising products in Japan that they would probably never use. ~er (see synecure, prostitute)

Japander.com

Read on for the interesting conclusion :)

...

Scientists have discovered a one-celled protozoan parasite called Toxoplasma gondii that frequently lives in the brains of wild brown rats. It is a normally harmless parasite commonly found in most mammals, including man.

But T. gondii can only reproduce in the guts of cats.

Researchers at the University of Oxford in the past couple of years have been studying the parasite and now have found it appears to be influencing the behavior of rats.

Scientists say it makes infected rats unafraid of cats, their natural enemy.

But the Oxford researchers found that when infected, normally super-cautious rats not only are significantly less fearful of cats, but they also are actually drawn to them.

No one knows how it happens, but they do know why.

The parasites need to be eaten by cats in order to get into their digestive system and reproduce. Somehow, they are changing the behavior of rats to make that more likely to happen.

Of Cats and Rats