Mike Pelley's Musings

With the reset of the items in the news – the Auditor General wanting to look in the MP expense accounts, the Afghan detainee reports, the G8/G20 expenses ($1.1B+ really), etc – the issue on Canadian copyright protection seems to be sneaking under the radar.

The National Post in the article Conservatives to unveil national securities watchdog: sources states:

All signals suggest Heritage Minister James Moore has triumphed over the objections of Industry Minister Tony Clement, setting up Canada to march in excessively protected lockstep with a United States that boasts the toughest laws against pirated music or movies on the planet.

It may well be a legal constraint that’s impossible to enforce, but the rumble out of the PMO suggests the new law will ignore the extensive public consultations that advocated a go-easy take on copying of CDs and DVDs in favour of robust anti-consumer limits on transferring or sharing content.

Of course, it is starting to seem as if I shouldn’t be surprised. It appears to me and other that the Prime Minister is molding his position into President of Canada and the Prime Minister’s Office (the PMO noted above) into his cabinet – a/k/a the way the US Government is structured. Now, if we could only get rid of the Governor General and elect our Senate (with two seats per province) we’d be all set. But I digress…

This issue is sneaking under the radar. In fact, it almost seems that we are setting up to repeal the video tape copying decisions made over 25 years ago. I’ve heard it said by some knowledgeable people that this may make time-shift recording illegal (maybe it would have to be re-fought in the courts – the broadcasters don’t like it so they would like to have this battle re-fought).

And, of course, you wouldn’t be able to download that song to your PC and then transfer it to your iPod or USB memory fob or to a DVD/CD for the car. It would be locked to the device that you licensed the right to use the song, etc on. To use it elsewhere you would have to “break” the digital locks and this would make you a criminal. You would have to buy a right to use for each device – one for your PC, one for your iPod, one for the MP3 stick you use in your car. Crazy.

One thing to remember: We already pay a levy on each MP3 player, CD/DVD we purchase to deal with “illegal” copying. While I hate citing Wikipedia (I believe you should really go to the sources and quote them) but I’m lazy this morning. The page Private copying levy cites what you pay out to be redistributed. I wonder if that levy will go away?

You should also take a look at Michael Geist’s site it has a great deal of information on this (and other) subject.

I just read on CBC.ca and simultaneously heard on CBC Radio 1 that Art Linkletter has died at the age of 97.  I can remember as a kid listening to rebroadcasts of his shows on the radio as me and dad ate breakfast.  They just ran a clip that goes:

Mr. Linkletter: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Kid: A bus driver or a pilot.

Mr. Linkletter: What would you do if you were flying a big plane and all four engines stopped?

Kid: I’d say “Our father, who art in heaven…”

Funny!

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Bell Appeals CRTC Decision To Bill By Amount Downloaded

I just read on CBC that Bell is appealing the CRTC’s decision that Bell had to start charging ALL of its customers by the amount they download per month before they can start charging in this way to their wholesale customers.  From the CBC site:

The company is disputing the regulator’s requirement that it move all of its retail customers off unlimited download plans before it can implement so called usage-based-billing on its wholesale customers, which are typically smaller companies that rent portions of Bell’s network in order to sell their own internet services.

While we have no real choice in the Metro St. John’s, Newfoundland, area – we only have Bell-Aliant and Rogers – at least we don’t have caps with Bell-Aliant.  At least not yet.

I really think that the CRTC and their political masters have to get the balls to divide our Internet providers into three parts.  One part for the infrastructure and only the infrastructure.  One part for the network access and only the network access.  And one part for content and only content.  Bell, Rogers and Shaw are all conflicted.  They all own infrastructure, network access and content.

And those in power think that there is no conflict of interest?  Bah sheep.

Free E-mail Certificates

I found this great free site for e-mail certificates.  Just in case you don’t know, you can add a digital certificate to your email to allow you to encrypt and digitally sign your emails so they cannot be intercepted, read or modified by anyone except the person you sent them to. These are “real” certificates, not “self-signed”, that are recognised world-wide.  The certificates are from Comodo and can be found here.  They also have a number of other free security products – recommended look.

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Tim Horton’s Rant

I stopped by Tim Horton’s today before lunchtime (around 11:30) today to pick up a cappuccino, or what Tim’s passes off as a cappuccino – whatever, my wife likes them, and ended up going in instead of waiting in the drive through line.  I can’t speak for Tim’s outside of the metro St. John’s area with any in-depth knowledge, but generally walk-in is faster than the drive through.  This, however, seems to be changing.

The big problems that I have with Tim’s are:

1. Since they started selling “sandwiches” the time waiting to be served has gotten crazy.  It was bad when having to wait for a toasted bagel but this makes things worse by an order of magnitude.  You are standing in line waiting for your cup of coffee, which only takes a a minute, and you have to wait 4-5 minutes – or more – for the person in front of you to get a sandwich.  Why don’t they have a coffee and doughnut only line where nothing has to be cooked?  I really hate waiting 15-20 minutes in a line for a cup of coffee.  (Maybe that is why I generally make my own coffee and take to work.)
2. This is an extension to the first problem – they say that they don’t accept Interac because it would affect their quick service.  Poppycock!  Given the length of time I have to wait to get change made from my five dollar bill or the time waiting for someone to get a sandwich made the time to process an Interac transaction don’t count for much.  If they said that they didn’t want to accept Interac because of the service changes – which in my opinion is the real case – I could buy the argument.  But not to impact their fast service you gotta be joking.  Maybe things are better in the capital of Canada, err… I mean Toronto, but this ain’t the case here!

Crazy North Korea

In a Bohemian sort of way I have to admire North Korean.  Not for their government, aggressiveness, the starving of their people; no none of this.  It has to be for not giving up.  This is a laughable real-world, with real-world consequences, of the act in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the Black Knight refuses to give up despite be dismembered (“…come on, I’ll bit your leg off” is what I seem to remember).

The problem with this are:

1. North Korea has the fourth largest army in the world;
2. North and South Korea are still in a state of war from the 1950’s;
3. North Korea’s actions (and apparent understanding of the world, for that matter) aren’t that logical (maybe they are “starting to believe their own press”); and
4. They are trying to develop nukes.
5. Oh, and you’re not sure who is in control of the country!

Not exactly gives one a sense of confidence.

Now it appears that the North Koreans torpedoed a South Korean Corvette (not the car, the warship) and now it appears that the South has proof.  See The New York Times’ article Diplomatic Storm Brewing Over Korean Peninsula

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Perils of Automotive Journalism

I just read this article in the Globe and Mail: Globe journalist’s son crashes $180,000 Porsche You think you’ve had a small fender bender?

• Body work on the Porsche: $11,000
• Repair the garage door: $2,700
• Cost of sending son to driving school to learn how to drive a standard: Unknown, but not cheap
• Having to write in a national newspaper about it: Priceless

I can’t get over Wednesday’s weather.  It was sunny and barely a draft of wind.  And it wasn’t cool.  In May.  In Newfoundland none-the-less! I’m still in shock!

I’m not pleased. ‘Nuff said….

I’m working on an HP Pavilion DV6 laptop for a family member.  Since we’re in Canada (or possibly as likely because this is a big box vendor who doesn’t want to stock multiple versions) we get stuck with the multi-language keyboard that, frankly, sucks.  It has, get this, two backslash/pipe keys one of which takes up half the space usually reserved for the left shift key.   Then it takes half the Enter key and replaces it with the other backslash/pipe key which has been moved from above the Enter key on the far right.   At least I really hope that the English-French keyboard is the reason.  Otherwise, someone should be fired for letting this abomination be put on the market.  This keyboard makes it just about impossible to type “normally”.  I think that a) you can get the US keyboard that is “normal” but b) it would probably cost about CDN$100 and would void your warranty.

The sad thing is that I actually like this laptop.  The screen is big enough – but not too big.  The CPU is fast enough – but not so hot as to melt your lap (and only your lap if you’re lucky!).  There isn’t so much add-on junk software that you need to re-install the OS.  It is light enough to carry around from room to room – in fact, it seems to be the same weight as the old Dell D820 I use for work (and will continue to until they pry it from my cold dead hands or they have something I like – the D820 just plain works) which is only a Core Duo.

For me, that keyboard would be a deal breaker!

I saw two movies in the theatre in the last 24 hours.  The first movie was Robin Hood last night. To be honest, it was not all that great. The premise was good – how Robin Hood got his start, or really the run-up to his start – but it just seemed too long and that something was “missing” in the plot.  I owe my wife one of this one…

The second move was Iron Man 2 and I have to say that the first one was better.  There was definitely more of a plot with the first one.  Not to say that there wasn’t enough action as there was more than enough.  My seven year old son thought it was great.  Except for the “kissy face” scenes.  😉

Please excuse the flash in the original site links.  I am really starting to hate flash – more flash than substance – but I’m probably just an old fogey…

I’m not a diarist and I know it and now you know too. Over a month and I can’t even blame the fact that is was so nice outside that I had better things to do. Anyway, I’m going to try to change that. We will see….

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6:30 AM – it is snowing. I know better than to think that we’re out of the weather woods until May 24th. More than one person has woke up in the tent… in the wood… on the “Glorious 24th”… under 10 cm of snow!

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Changes at Sun since the Oracle take over – see this link on the Globe and Mail piece “Larry Ellison details Sun changes” from 2010 May 14. Sun’s history reads like a Greek tragedy (not unlike Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), Compaq and a host of others). Ellison has a history of doing what he says he will do. Time will tell but I wouldn’t bet against him. IBM was (and is, for that matter) successful with the same paradigm in the mainframe world.

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The New York Times had an interesting article yesterday (2010 May 13) U.S. Decision to Approve Killing of Cleric Causes Unease. If nothing else it is food for thought and bound to open the debate as to what is correct in “self defence”.

I found out some additional information. I had forgotten about the hack that occurred for the PS3 that would let you get to ring 0 (the core of the system) that was developed by George Hotz. In an interview with the BBC Mr. Hotz said:

• the hack was “5% hardware and 95% software” (not exactly something that seems like a script kiddie would do);
• he would publish details of the console’s “root key”, a master code that once known would make it easier for others to decipher and hack other security features on the console;
• he hack would allow people to play older PS2 games on their consoles. Sony removed the PS2 hardware from later PS3 systems; and
• He admitted that it could also allow people to run pirated games (Now, that likely has a bigger impact to Sony, especially after saying that the system was, in effect, unhackable – anyone else thinking “Titanic”?)

I also had forgotten that Netflix now could be streamed to the PS3 – if you could get into ring 0 then you really can do some “interesting” things!

I also wrote Sony on the loss of Linux with the upgrade and the $10 PSN credit I read about and here is the (unfortunately what seems to be the “standard” in customer service) response:

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused you regarding the firmware update. We do not have any information regarding the refund you mentioned in your request.

I also wrote them on the issue with the Newfoundland time zone to which they (promptly, to give the devil his due) responded:

We apologize for any inconvenience you are experiencing with the Newfoundland time-zone on your PlayStation(R)3 computer entertainment system. We value your input and appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has not released any details concerning the product, project, or development referenced in your email. SCEA and its affiliated companies are regularly engaged in extensive research and development in many areas of the computer entertainment industry. Hence, we cannot comment on future PlayStation(R) developments, projects, or products. We appreciate your enthusiasm and continued interest in our products, and hope you understand our position. You may however, visit our website at http://www.us.playstation.com/ and view our current press releases and future updates.

Please rest assured that we will convey your feedback to Sony Computer Entertainment America’s (“SCEA”) appropriate management.

Maybe someone will figure out how to properly include the full tzinfo (timezone) on a future firmware update…