New Amazon Store

Amazon.com has gotten into the music download business, having already been in the CD selling business for some time now.
The store features 89c single tracks and albums from $5.99 to $9.99.

I won't go into the actual workings of the store as other sites are doing that. However I've been thinking about some things here. Is it possible that the Record companies are engaging in unfair competition against Apple?

From what Steve Jobs has said, the Apple Store uses DRM because they are under contractual obligation to record companies to do so. If that is the case why are the record companies allowing Amazon to sell the same tracks sans DRM? It would seem to me that is an unfair business practice. I would also point out the price difference but it is entirely possible that Amazon is taking a hit on their end rather than the record companies taking it on theirs.

Still though, it smells like collusion against a company to me. I mean it's not like the record companies are incurring extra cost to get product <i> to</i> Amazon. And it is pretty clear that Amazon doesn't currently have the retail moving power that iTunes has, so it's not like they are getting some kind of bulk discount. The only thing I can see is that record companies simply decided to give Amazon different terms for the same exact product in order to put pressure on one particular retailer. I thought such things were illegal. I'm probably wrong since lawsuits haven't flown but it still smells pretty bad to me.

Jilly is Released y'all

Getz ta downloadin'

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=264572714&s=143441

Firmware update may break hacked iPhones

So it appears that Apple will be upping the ante on the iPhone hacks:

"Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed,"

Lest we N800 users get too happy, we should note that every N800 update has resulted in a wipe of all installed apps. But still at least we are allowed to install apps on our devices.

Privacy What Privacy

The NY Times has a report on a company that will offer you free phone service, should you be willing to have your calls monitored.

The Web-based phone service is similar to Skype’s online service — consumers plug a headset and a microphone into their computers, dial any phone number and chat away. But unlike Internet phone services that charge by the length of the calls, Pudding Media offers calling without any toll charges.

The trade-off is that Pudding Media is eavesdropping on phone calls in order to display ads on the screen that are related to the conversation. Voice recognition software monitors the calls, selects ads based on what it hears and pushes the ads to the subscriber’s computer screen while he or she is still talking.

Absolutely frickin not.

Let's just say that once you've given up your expectation of privacy, the government is soon following behind.

[update]

Besides, Mr. Maislos said, he thought that young people, the group his company is focusing on with the call service, are less concerned with maintaining privacy than older people are.

“The trade-off of getting personalized content versus privacy is a concept that is accepted in the world,” he said.

Translation: Young people are too wrapped up in being cool to consider the long term implications of giving up their privacy. So we target them, like any other marketer and wait for older people with sense to die off.

Skype UI updates

If you have an N800 and have Skype installed, Check your application manager. Apparently there is a Skype UI update available.

Technorati Tags: N800

Check That E-Mail

A very good read for anyone who is suspicious of a "loved one."

Most of these stories do not end amicably. This year, a technology consultant from the Philadelphia area, who did not want his name used because he has a teenage son, strongly suspected his wife was having an affair. Instead of confronting her, the husband installed a $49 program called PC Pandora on her computer, a laptop he had purchased.

The program surreptitiously took snapshots of her screen every 15 seconds and e-mailed them to him. Soon he had a comprehensive overview of the sites she visited and the instant messages she was sending. Since the program captured her passwords, the husband was also able to get access to and print all the e-mail messages his wife had received and sent over the previous year.

What he discovered ended his marriage. For 11 months, he said, she had been seeing another man — the parent of one of their son’s classmates at a private school outside Philadelphia.

My partial story: Chick was acting strange. I got hold of the computer checked the cookies. She'd been using mapquest to go to Rutgers Campus in New Brunswick. Odd, we don't know anyone there and she's in school elsewhere. Checked the cell phone records. All numbers lined up except one. Did a US Search and got the name and addresss of the person. Person has the same last name as a person working at Rutgers.
Mapped out the time and days of calls with "known" activities. Turns out places she said she was going such as the hairdresser" was a front since you can't be calling the hair dresser from the hair dresser.

IMAP stored e-mail revealed a birthday meet up with "side piece" that was told to a girlfriend. I was asked, via e-mail for cash for "birthday hairdo" to occur same day.

Hope he was worth it.

Enough With The Pop Ups

First I follow this link and get a huge advert.

FIne. I've gotten used to that from the NYT and Salon. FIne.

But next I got this slide out/ pop-up flash advertisement that was activated by mousing over a "sky scraper" page ad. What was most infuriating about this roll over advert was that it was on the right hand side of the screen meaning that if you wanted to use your mouse to scroll (because perhaps you don't have a scrolling mouse) up or down with the scroll bar you roll over the ad and activate the flash animation which, of course, obscures the text you were attempting to read.

How stupid!

That's worse to me, than those obnoxious drop down adverts that have no close box. And webmasters wonder why people had advert blocking software installed on their browsers.

The New BMW X6: Infinity Want's It's Design back

So here we have pics of the new BMW FX, I mean BMW X6

Did I mention that Infinity want's it's design back? Not that I think this is a bad design but the shape really isn't new to the market. The FX is shaped the same way overall. The real difference is in how low the tail goes on the BMW.

Chevron Techron

This is an endorsement from a TOTALLY satisfied customer.

I have a 20 year old BMW 325iC that just went to Miami Florida and back. For the past 3 years I have had to play the "waiver" game with the NYSDMV because I have been unable to pass emissions inspection. At first my car blew 2.3 on the NOx. Then it blew a 3.1. I changed the catalytic converter. I changed plugs, I changed the distributor. None of these efforts helped. I changed the thermostat. No change. Now the thermostat was actually the first clue as to what was really wrong. My engine had been running hot for a long time. it is known that engines that run hot tend to produce higher levels of NOx.

So I tried one of those "lucas" products. That's when I blew the 3.1. So I had almost resolved to either having to pay out $400/year in order to keep the car on the road. No that I like that, but since I don't have a car note, it's not the worst economic choice. Then I read on a site about a way to get your NOx down.

Get your fuel level down to 1/4 tank. put in 2 bottles of Techron. Drive until your fuel light comes on. Fill up. Go take a test. When I did this, my emissions went from the 3.1 to 2.11. I already qualified for a waiver so I went about my business. I had been adding Techron to my engine on a regular basis up until this last inspection in which my engine blew a nice 1.83. That is a pass. All due to Techron.

I completely recommend this product if your engine is otherwise working but you are still failing an emissions test.

*disclaimer: if you take this advice and mess up your engine it's your fault not mine. The text here is provided for informational purposes only. Again if you follow this advice and mess up your car, I'm not to blame.

Don't ask Don't care

I need to lift the following from Big Black and Cocky:

Don't ask, don't care.
Do not encourage her to tell you her problems. Typically, anyone a woman tells her problems to is someone she will not sleep with. Besides, if you’re the guy she’s pouring her heart out to about her relationship problems, chances are that the guy she's sleeping with doesn’t give a crap what she thinks-- and that may be part of the reason why she’s sleeping with him. If she wanted a man that listens to her problems, why is she still fucking him?

Yep. Just about says it all. Unfortunately I have recently been hit by this particular issue. Makes no sense at all.

Mobile Safari the Best Mobile browser?

John Gruber over at Daring Fireball states:

And, worse, it’s rather conspicuous that Nocera neglects to mention the iPhone’s web browser, which kicks any other mobile device’s ass.\

Really?

I've seen the demos and I'm not sure if that really is true. If we're talking mobile phones, then I could suppose that statement to be true, but seriously the web browser on my N800 is nice. I have flash. I have AJAX. I got Google traffic, Google Docs.. I've got 800X420. I can zoom in and out of a page. I can reflow a page to fit the window. So exactly how is mobile Safari kicking the N800 browser's ass?

Tangerine!

Tangerine is a nice application that will analyze your iTunes music library and set the BPM and "Beat Intensity" of all your tracks. When I previously tried to use the application it was limited to non DRM'd music (MP3. AAC) so I didn;t have much use for it since a growing proportion of my music is from the Apple iTunes Store. The latest version will analyze your DRM'd tracks. So I decided to try it out.

The main reason for trying it out was because I'm not quite happy with the "shuffle" or "Party Shuffle" feature on iTunes. basically it plays whatever it determines without much of a point to it. If you have a wide taste in music and much of it "highly rated" then your playlists tend to all look and sound the same, especially if they are made when you're in a particular mood or have totally forgotten about tracks you've had for ever.

Tangerine fixes this problem for me. Once the tracks are analyzed you can have tangerine create playlists that have tracks that contain music that lies within both a selected BPM range but also a set beat intensity range. In addition, and this is the part I like, you can set a general pattern. I have taken a liking to the "twin peaks" setting, In effect it will create a playlist that increases in beat intensity and BPM and then slows the music down and then brings it back up again, kind of like old school R&B radio stations.

The last list it generated for me had an Oscar Peterson Piano solo that was followed by the instrumental version of Billie Jean. Completelt unexpected, something I would never create in a playlist, but for some odd reason worked for me. The software will show you the playlist it creates in a lower pane which indicated the "pace" of the music by increasing or decreasing the size of the album art associated with the tracks. So far I've generated about 6 playlists that I like out of 10 tries. I generally don't keep the playlists around unless it is really outstanding though.

Tangerine gets a thumbs up from me. There is a demo available. Try it out.

20GB iPod Meet iPod Touch

So we have a new iPod touch at 16GB.


So my 20GB is now EOL.

If the iPhone goes 16GB then I'll do that instead.

Sony Rootkit...again.

Electronics giant Sony has confirmed a recently discovered security flaw in some of its products that could leave PCs vulnerable to attack by hackers.

The firm said that the fault, which affected software packaged with memory sticks, was developed by a third-party.

The flaw was in software that came bundled with the USB devices. The program used virus-like techniques to create a hidden directory on a computer's hard drive.

Researchers at F-secure said that a hacker could then infect a computer as any files stored on the hidden directory would be invisible to the user and also from some virus scanners and security software.


Sony confirms security problem

Getting Paid

From DV.com:

Ambush

London, 1982. I’m running Molinare, the biggest video facility in Soho. Alan Stewart, our wonderful builder, needs to be paid. Unlike 30-day trade accounts, builders want their money fast. Alan’s accounts are simple. He pays for his building materials cash on pick up. He pays his workers cash each Friday. I pay him every week. What’s left over is profit. Who needs accountants?

But our cash flow is low. We’ve been chasing our debtors like crazy, but it’s not coming in fast enough.

I show Alan our accounts receivable.

“I’ll sort out your bad payers,” he says. “Pay me as I bring it in.”

“Let me see—look, this guy Adrian R. is on Wardour St. He owes us £12,500, most of it over 90 days. Go get him.”

Alan and five builders, all carrying tools of trade, head for Adrian R. on Wardour St., about five minutes’ walk away.

Fifteen minutes later Alan returns, £12,500 check in hand.

“Alan, what did you do?”

“Nothing—I just said that I couldn’t pay my men because he hadn’t paid Molinare’s bills. My lads were wandering around the office straightening the paintings. He pulled out his checkbook there and then.”

A few weeks later, Adrian R. is in my office. He’s promising prompt payment in future and hoping he’s welcome back as a client.

How NOT to release a CD

From The Music Man article in the NY Times:

By the time Barnett first approached Rubin about coming to Columbia, Rubin had already decided that he would have nothing more to do with Columbia Records. This was because of the company's handling of the Rubin-produced Neil Diamond record "12 Songs" in 2005. Diamond was a hero of Rubin's, and he spent two years working on the album, persuading Diamond to record acoustically, something he hadn't done since the '60s.

"The CD debuted at No. 4," Rubin told me at Hugo's, still sounding upset. "It was the highest debut of Neil's career, off to a great start. But Columbia — it was some kind of corporate thing — had put spyware on the CD. That kept people from copying it, but it also somehow recorded information about whoever bought the record. The spyware became public knowledge, and people freaked out. There were some lawsuits filed, and the CD was recalled by Columbia. Literally pulled from stores. We came out on a Tuesday, by the following week the CD was not available. Columbia released it again in a month, but we never recovered. Neil was furious, and I vowed never to make another album with Columbia."