] Greetings fellow pirates! Arrrrr! I'm here today to talk
] to you about copyright, technology and DRM, I work for
] the Electronic Frontier Foundation on copyright stuff
] (mostly), and I live in London. I'm not a lawyer -- I'm a
] kind of mouthpiece/activist type, though occasionally
] they shave me and stuff me into my Bar Mitzvah suit and
] send me to a standards body or the UN to stir up trouble.
] I spend about three weeks a month on the road doing
] completely weird stuff like going to Microsoft to talk
] about DRM. I lead a double life: I'm also a science
] fiction writer. That means I've got a dog in this fight,
] because I've been dreaming of making my living from
] writing since I was 12 years old. Admittedly, my IP-based
] biz isn't as big as yours, but I guarantee you that it's
] every bit as important to me as yours is to you. Here's
] what I'm here to convince you of: 1. That DRM systems
] don't work 2. That DRM systems are bad for society 3.
] That DRM systems are bad for business 4. That DRM systems
] are bad for artists 5. That DRM is a bad business-move
] for MSFT It's a big brief, this talk. Microsoft has sunk
] a lot of capital into DRM systems, and spent a lot of
] time sending folks like Martha and Brian and Peter around
] to various smoke-filled rooms to make sure that Microsoft
] DRM finds a hospitable home in the future world.
] Companies like Microsoft steer like old Buicks, and this
] issue has a lot of forward momentum that will be hard to
] soak up without driving the engine block back into the
] driver's compartment. At best I think that Microsoft
] might convert some of that momentum on DRM into angular
] momentum, and in so doing, save all our asses.

This is a great talk Cory Doctorow gave at MSFT recently regarding all of the arguments we have made over the years regarding DRM. (via boingboing)

Why Microsoft should get out of DRM

] Like the Segway, Bombardier's Embrio concept--a prototype
] that may or may not make production--uses gyroscope
] technology to balance riders but adds a dash of flair
] absent in the Segway, which we as car nuts find slightly
] nerdy.

me want!

Canadian Segway

]What Happens When Technology Zooms
]Off The Chart?

A nice introduction to the concept.

Whole Earth Magazine's - Singularity Issue

] The music industry disclosed aggressive plans Wednesday
] for an unprecedented escalation in its fight against
] Internet piracy, threatening to sue hundreds of
] individual computer users who illegally share music files
] online.
]
] The Recording Industry Association of America, citing
] substantial sales declines, said it will begin Thursday
] to search Internet file-sharing networks to identify
] users who offer "substantial" collections of MP3-format
] music files for downloading. It expects to file at least
] several hundred lawsuits seeking financial damages within
] eight to 10 weeks.
]
] Executives for the RIAA, the Washington-based lobbying
] group that represents major labels, would not say how
] many songs on a user's computer will qualify for a
] lawsuit. The new campaign comes just weeks after U.S.
] appeals court rulings requiring Internet providers to
] identify subscribers suspected of illegally sharing music
] and movie files.
]
] The RIAA's president, Carey Sherman, said tens of
] millions of Internet users of popular file-sharing
] software after Thursday will expose themselves to "the
] real risk of having to face the music."
]
] "It's stealing. It's both wrong and illegal," Sherman
] said. Alluding to the court decisions, Sherman said
] Internet users who believe they can hide behind an alias
] online were mistaken. "You are not anonymous," Sherman
] said. "We're going to begin taking names."

SING
Send in the goons...
/SING

Music labels to sue hundreds of music sharers

Requires Java.

Visual Google Browser. Type in a URL, and it displays a visual representation of that URL and all the other URLs that are related to it (somewhat similar to visualthesaurus.com, if you've played with that).

Extremely cool to look at and play with.

TouchGraph GoogleBrowser V1.01

A fairly accurate timeline, er, from some points of view, of the progression that the internet has taken over time.

Enjoy!

The Lemon: History Of The Internet