Posts
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Speed skating and the goal for the end of this season
read moreHmm… today, I heard we’re supposed to do 30 rounds (without rest) in less than an hour by the end of the season… That’s next month by the way.
Until a week ago, exercises of 4 rounds was the most we did, today it was 10 minutes rounds of one minute, one minute rest, 10 minutes rounds of 50 seconds, two rounds rest, four times three rounds, two rounds rest and then fifteen minutes rounds of 50 seconds.
The nice thing is that I feel my technique improving by the round. This higher group certainly was a good choice.
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U2 - Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
read moreI was pointed to this U2 music video (transcoded to h.264) yesterday.
People who’ve seen Himmel über Berlin will recognize the theme… And the follow-up of that movie is called… In weiter Ferne, so nah! or in English “Faraway, So Close!”
Further, if you take a close look at the leader, you’ll notice that Wim Wenders himself was the director of the video. It was produced in 1993, the same year as the follow-up movie.
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Steve Jobs on DRM
read moreIn response to the European countries which are starting to take action
against the closed-off DRM software by Apple called FairPlay, Steve Jobs
personally responded with an open letter to the European government and the
music industry titled Thoughts on
Music on the website of
the computer company.
Firstly, he rejects the allegations that iPod and iTunes are strongly
locked into eachother, which is simply not true; music ripped from CDs into
iTunes can be perfectly played on any MP3 player in the market. And
conversely, MP3s created by any encoder can be played on the iPod. So there
is no lock-in between iTunes and iPod.There is however, a lock-in between the iTunes Store and the iPod; only the
iPod can play content bought in the iTunes Store. This is against European
free market regulations and this is what Norway started complaining about,
getting joined by many other countries including the Netherlands.In the letter, Steve Jobs defends their strategy, enabling users to play
their bought items on relatively quite a lot devices, be them all by Apple.Apple was able to negotiate landmark usage rights at the time, which
include allowing users to play their DRM protected music on up to 5
computers and on an unlimited number of iPods. […] So far we have met
our commitments to the music companies to protect their music, and we have
given users the most liberal usage rights available in the industry for
legally downloaded music.Remember that the Windows Media DRM is much more restrictive (and much less
end-user friendly). So he is proud that Apple could negotiate the
relatively free DRM with the music industry. He is however not proud of the
fact that they have DRM at all and would much better liked to have
completely free content in the iTunes Store. Once a hacker, always a
hacker, I guess…He foresees three scenarios for the future:
- The current system of FairPlay which is only playable on iPods and iTunes, probably resulting in being forced to close the European iTunes Store.
- Licensing the FairPlay technology to other media player producers, becoming unable to guarantee the safety of the encryption – Microsoft actually used this scenario, but with the introduction of the Zune they changed into the above one. It shows how weak the system becomes.
- Free all content of DRM.
All have their problems and issues. On the third option, Jobs argues that
90% of all music sales are in fact already DRM-free, namely CDs, and asks
the music business why this small percentage should be bothered with the
hassle of administrating DRM on the files, while CDs can be ripped and
copied just as easily.Jobs doesn’t forget to mention that two of the four big music companies are
in fact European themselves and that a third is 50% in European hands.For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located
right in their backyard. The largest, Universal, is 100% owned by Vivendi,
a French company. EMI is a British company, and Sony BMG is 50% owned by
Bertlesmann, a German company. Convincing them to license their music to
Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music
marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.In this light, it is strange that as far as I know, indie releases on
iTunes are also crippled with FairPlay. Most indie artists have a much more
relaxed attitude towards internet downloads. If those releases where freed
from their shackles, it would certainly put the big music companies in a
disadvantageous position and could put a little bit of pressure on them to
loosen up.So if Steve Jobs really meant anything of what he wrote, Apple should sit
around the table with all the small labels and individuals offering their
stuff on the iTunes Store, suggesting to release it free from DRM.Update: EMI apparently is thinking about selling unprotected MP3 files
online,
so it’s already starting. -
First information meeting of Kalmar
read moreWell, this is filed under holiday, but of course it will be hard
work. I applied today for Kalmar, the
Scandinavia Study Tour in 2008 of GEWIS.
This study tour will visit the cities of
Trondheim (world famous for their
bike elevator… well at least among
Rocketboom
viewers),
Stockholm and
Helsinki.
The topic of the tour will be “networking”, as Scandinavia is famous
for its advanced telecommunication networks and companies. We will
visit some companies and universities, learn about Nordic culture
(me likes :-)) and there will also be enough off-time for ourselves.It however isn’t all partying. In advance, a case study has to be
done and some excursions in the Netherlands (Reykjavík
University would call them “Science Trips” ;). Afterwards, a final
report is written about the study tour.There will be a maximum of 24 participants and judging by the
turnout at the information meeting this afternoon, a lottery draw
might be needed.Subscription is open until 6 April, but you’re encouraged to enter
before the February 13th, in order to take precedence. On the other
hand, by not subscribing, I will have a bigger chance to get in. -
IKEA Hacker
read moreObligatory reading material for every IKEA fan!
WANTED: your ikea hacks
i like tinkering with ikea stuff and i know many other people who do too. whatever they may be – a funked up karlanda sofa, an ingenious idea for your pax wardrobe, a creative twist on your kitchen countertop, or even advice on how to finally stop flimsy forby stools from wobbling, i’d love to hear from you. email me at ikeahacker [at] gmail [dot] com.
Very useful, I say. Although I also read that the LACK wall shelve was hard to install and also EXPEDIT is causing troubles, even needing extra tools to build them…
Now, I’ve seen JG (flatmate, the ones who know him should know enough ;-)) build up his EXPEDIT on his own without any help nor did he need additional tools, so I gathered this should be doable by anyone.
Maybe European build instructions are incompatible with Americans? Are our “little differences” a bit too big or does the blogger in question have two left hands?
Other nice hacks:
