When I write a post for dx13, I write it in plain text with a special markup syntax. Some hacked together regexes then translate my markup into bold text, links and the like. This solution was a duct tape and string solution, often meaning that I had to go out of my way to make sure the regexes could parse and format my writings correctly.
It is not unknown for me to miss a failure in the parsing and for bits of formatting markup to then end up in the published items. This is somewhat unsatisfactory.
I received an email from Amazon today telling me my order had dispatched. The interesting part of this was I received the package for the order two days ago. So I figure Amazon now have a new delivery option I must have chosen: Back in Time Delivery — Even better than Just in Time!
Either that, or I shall soon have a second iPod nano…
*Warren Ellis Comments on Second Life*:http://secondlife.reuters.com/stories/category/second-life/warren-ellis/
I didn’t know who Warren Ellis:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Ellis was until I looked him up on Wikipedia, but these articles on the Reuters website are fun and interesting comments about what happens in Second Life. I have no experience of Second Life, and find its popularity rather bemusing, but nevertheless it’s something fun to keep half an eye on. These articles are at a much more human level than most about Second Life, simply because they are about Ellis’s experiences of the game.
As I hammer home (over) regularly, I don’t agree with the use of DRM on download-to-keep media. After all, you have downloaded it to keep and shouldn’t have to go through a large amount of hassle to be able to use it in a manner the content owners disapprove of, such as having it on two computers at once (shock! horror!). I can see DRM having uses in other fields and pricing models, however.
Interestingly, especially in light of some of my previous posts, it’s fairly obvious from this open letter from Steve Jobs that having to place DRM on the music they sell through the iTunes music store is something that drives Apple nuts.
I think it’s quite brave of Steve Jobs to post something like this, especially in light of the love-hate relationship the record companies seem to have with Apple. I really hope this is reflective of both Steve’s and Apple’s true views on the subject — that they would remove DRM from the Apple store “in a heartbeat” if they could sell the same songs — and not a cynical play. More and more technology companies are coming out and saying DRM is crazy and unsustainable; how long until the music companies figure this out?