Obama’s FCC

Good times coming for the ‘net, courtesy of whoever Obama puts on the FCC, says Ars Technica:
The favored will include Internet portals and application providers (“Google, Yahoo! etc—big winners,” Lipman declared). The reason is pretty obvious. Obama is a net neutrality supporter, and observers should expect plenty of proactivity in this area from Obama and [...]

Crackberry Withdrawal

Obama probably will have to give up his Blackberry and e-mail, says the NYT. Given the technology’s addictive tendencies, this will not be well-received by the new president. Question: Couldn’t he just use PGP?

Apple Users for Microsoft

Just remember, guys, the cover-up is always worse than the crime:
Metadata found on Microsoft’s creative copy used in its ‘I’m a PC’ ad reveals that the graphics were actually produced using Macs running Adobe Creative Suite 3. After the details were published on the Flickr photo sharing site, Microsoft scrambled to polish off the embarrassing [...]

The New iPods

Saw them today at the Apple Store, wasn’t impressed. I find the new Nano’s much-touted screen to be too small for video. It’s OK as a portable photo album. The new Classic doesn’t seem as solidly well-made as its predecessors. The action nowadays looks to be all on the iPhone/iPod Touch side of the operation.

Will Play for Food

Rhodri Marsden isn’t seeing a business model that works for the music industry, and doesn’t necessarily consider that a bad thing:
Slight poverty is what drives music forward. It only works if you’re in the red. You’ve never felt so alive as when you’ve just maxed out your credit card to get your band on a [...]

FAA IT Systems: Snafu

In the dog-bites-man department, the computer system the Federal Aviation Administration relies on to track flight plans is tottering:
Stratfor, along with many other industry watchers, is very concerned about the flight-plan system and evidence that the system is wearing out.
“Regardless of what caused the Aug. 26 [National Airspace Data Interchange Network] crash, [there] is a monumental challenge the [...]

Michigan Cracks Down on RIAA Snoopers

Amid all the complaining about the RIAA’s unlicensed snooping into file-sharing, Michigan’s legislature has passed a law that, yes, says firms engaging in “computer forensics” must obtain a private-investigations license.

Hold On To Your Lunch

Opinions varied, especially among the passengers, but the approach to Hong Kong’s old Kai Tak airport had to be the coolest anywhere because it featured a low-altitude turn to final that occurred just above the homes and businesses of Kowloon. I was lucky enough to take that ride once, in a UAL 747, and it [...]

But Does It Sell Software?

Back in my college days, I sat in on a presentation from a Miller Brewing marketing person who was explaining the thinking behind company’s then-popular “less filling, tastes great” ad campaign. The ads were noteworthy for their light touch (the George Steinbrenner/Billy Martin spot remains a classic) but the Miller rep’s takeaway point was that [...]

Backbone Growth

Also from the New York Times, an interesting piece about how other countries are trying to build Internet backbone infrastructure to bypass the US. Even amongst our allies, there’s worry about how a US-dominated net would expose information:
“Since passage of the Patriot Act, many companies based outside of the United States have been reluctant to store [...]