Steves DRM Essay - A response

No not from me, every man and his dog (oops that's been used as well) have made a much better response than I ever could so why try! Instead, I'm going to point you to my favourite blog post which is really more a response to one particular response from an analyst. It's just so funny and made me laugh out loud! I give you the esteemed Mr Shipley from Delicious, a guy whos blog posts are as neat as his applications :-) Well recommended!

Seriously, why does the press keep calling analysts for quotes? It's pretty clear these chuckleheads don't know the first thing about computer science. Three major errors in two sentences... I feel like the AP could have made up facts and had a better chance at being correct. "The music industry feels that anyone buying an iPod should first give the RIAA some money, because it's pretty clear they are going to pirate music. I mean, just look at them... the way they are dressed... Also, the music industry feels all iPods should be made of candy, so that lime iPods actually taste like delicious limes, and we don't chip our teeth again." Next time, AP, call me, I'll give you a damn quote. Here, the first one is free: "It's about time record execs pull their heads out of their asses, and, after the giant 'schloORK' sound is done ringing in their ears, they start treating valued customers like they are valued and/or customers, instead of like a seething criminal class. Yes, there will always be people who steal music. So either offer the rest of us a compelling alternative to being one of them, or die the dinosaur's death that you so richly deserve".

Please, please read the full post using this link!

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Something Different - A Personal Appearance!

Now this might not appeal to everybody but if you'd like to learn all about podcasting and would like to attend a more traditional instructor led session by yours truly, your wishes have just come true :-) Yes, I'm bravely coming out from behind the security and comfort of my screencasting studio and delivering some actual podcasting training live in person! It just so happens that one of the regular ScreenCastsOnline viewers is a guy called Steve Molyneux who it turns out is one of the UKs top elearning experts (and also he's from Liverpool like me!). Along with many other roles, Steve is the Director of the "Learning Lab" based at Telford University here in the UK. To cut a long story short, Steve has asked me to present a number of "Podcasting Workshops" at the Learning Lab over the next few months starting on 20th February 2007. The sessions I'll be delivering are:

Podcasting For Beginners
"This one day workshop is aimed at educators needing to gain an understanding of podcasting technologies and podcast creation and will primarily focus on audio and enhanced podcasts. Using tools provided with the Apple Mac platform, the workshop will cover the basics of podcasting including an appreciation of the various podcasting technologies available, choosing podcasting equipment, planning and designing podcasts, podcast creation, podcast editing and publication. The workshop will include both demonstrations and hands on exercises for the delegates to experience just how easy podcasting can be and how podcasts can be utilised in the educational environment." Advanced Podcasting
This one day workshop follows on from the ‘Podcasting for Beginners’ workshop and is aimed at educators with some understanding of podcasting technologies who need to explore the topic in greater depth. The workshop also looks at creating video podcasts and screencasts. Using tools provided with the Apple Mac platform, the workshop will cover the more advanced aspects of audio and enhanced podcast recording and post production, creating and editing video podcasts and screencasts, RSS feed creation and publication. The workshop will include both demonstrations and hands on exercises for the delegates to practice some of the techniques examined during the workshop.

Update: I’m delighted to say that the courses are filling up fast and consequently, I’ve been asked to put on some additional courses! So here are the revised dates (new dates in italics)..

Podcasting For Beginners - 20th February 2007 - Sold Out
Podcasting For Beginners - 13th March 2007 - Sold Out
Advanced Podcasting - 22nd March 2007
Podcasting For Beginners - 17th April 2007
Advanced Podcasting - 1st May 2007
Podcasting For Beginners - 15th May 2007
Podcasting For Beginners - 5th June 2007
Advanced Podcasting - 19th June 2007

These one day workshops are limited to a maximum of 10 people and will be a mixture of theory and practical hands on stuff so should be good fun! And it's all based on Macs so you'll have a nice Macbook to play with. The cost is a very reasonable £120 per person and take place at the Learning Lab in Telford, Shropshire, UK. The workshops are open to everyone, not just Learning Lab members. So, if you'd like to see the face behind the voice and want in on some of my trade secrets, contact the Learning Labs direct and book a place - you can book on-line here. If you do decide to book a place and are a regular ScreenCastsOnline viewer, drop me a line at ScreenCastsOnline@gmail.com to let me know which session you're on!

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Superbowl 2007?

Update: Ah well, you win some you lose some! Guess I should have known from the lack of buzz leading up to the game that this should have stayed within the realm of rumour! Well at the risk of repeating myself, we should know soon if Apple did pay megabucks for a earth shattering Superbowl ad to rival the impact of the "1984" ad. We should know in less that 48 hours! Me, I'm still sticking with a Vista bashing announcement of Leopard and some of its eye candy and even some of it's super secret features. Time will tell. What's your prediction?

Technorati Tags: Apple, osx, Leopard, Super Bowl

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Bill Gates Loses it! Totally!

Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day.

Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine. So, yes, it took us longer, and they had what we were doing, user interface-wise. Let’s be realistic, who came up with [the] file, edit, view, help [menu bar]? Do you want to go back to the original Mac and think about where those interface concepts came from?

So it’s totally according to plan, and that’s why we have the whole Windows Update thing. We made it way harder for guys to do exploits. The number [of violations] will be way less because we’ve done some dramatic things [to improve security] in the code base. Apple hasn’t done any of those things.

Well, certainly we've done a better job letting you upgrade on the hardware than our competitors have done. You can choose to buy a new machine, or you can choose to do an upgrade. And I don't know why [Apple is] acting like it’s superior. I don't even get it. What are they trying to say? Does honesty matter in these things, or if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it? There's not even the slightest shred of truth to it

If you just want to say, "Steve Jobs invented the world, and then the rest of us came along," that's fine. If you’re interested, [Vista development chief] Jim Allchin will be glad to educate you feature by feature what the truth is.

Original Article

Ah well, he's probably hyperventilating being caught up in the Vista launch this week. I thought it was Steve Jobs who had a "Reality Distortion Field"!

Technorati Tags: Apple, Microsoft, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs

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A "Call to Arms" for UK Mac and Linux Users

The BBC Trust is carrying out its first Public Value Test (PVT) – a new procedure that must be applied when the Trust considers applications from BBC management for the approval of new BBC services.

The first PVT concerns the BBC’s proposed on-demand services.

Here you can find out how to take part in the public consultation on the BBC Trust’s provisional conclusions.

Questionaire

I took part in the pilot of the BBCs on demand service quite a while ago now. I had to use a PC as the BBC had created a Windows only media player and relied heavily on Microsofts DRM to protect the shows. It was pretty bad. In fact I had so much trouble with the DRM I eventually stopped using it. The BBC are now moving forward and have started a public consultation on certain aspects of the service. There is a question in the consultation that needs to be answered by every Mac and Linux user in the UK, and that's question 5:

Question 5
How important is it that the proposed seven-day catch-up service over the internet is available to consumers who are not using Microsoft software?

How important? Very important!!!! Please treat this blog post as a "call to arms" and complete the Questionaire now! It finishes on the 28th March 2007 but fill it in now and let the BBC realise that they can't exclude both Mac users and Linux users by locking into Microsoft technology. The questionaire is quite unusual as there are no multiple choices or yes/no answers as each question has a text box for you to state your opinions. Very neat but I'd hate to be the one analysing the responses! You can of course just enter "yes" or "no" as a response to some of the questions. Please do it and do it now! PS Don't forget to circulate this link to your friends and colleagues who may also want to voice their opinion. Just send them the permalink to this post or the link to the Questionaire. PPS You might want to request HD content plus some premium content via the iTunes music store as well in the last question! Kudos to Cult of Mac for original link

Technorati Tags: Apple, mac, osx, Apple TV, BBC, On Demand TV, Broadcasting, TV, IPTV

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