Computing – Page 36

Bill C-61 To Return?

October 8, 2008July 25, 2009 Doug Groves CRTC, online rights9 Comments

(original image found at Wikipedia Commons) Though we try not to stray into party politics, digital copyright and internet issues are important to everyone. With the federal election a week away, it’s worth pointing out where each of the parties stand on the issue. We’ve discussed C-61 before, a nasty piece of legislation reform also known as the “DMCA of Canada”. The Bill caused the formation of a number of groups fighting against it, but ultimately died on the table when a federal election was called about a month ago….

The “Podcaster” lesson: Users want more than Apple’s Walled Garden allows

September 19, 2008July 25, 2009 Danny X iPhone, review7 Comments

As we’ve discussed before…and before…and before, Apple’s practice of blacklisting applications from its App Store is something of a controversial move on the part of the Cupertino-based technology company that once described its products as “the computer for the rest of us”, and told us that their company will be “nothing like 1984”.

Apple Beset by Criticism From Leading Mac Bloggers

September 15, 2008September 15, 2008 Paul L 37 Comments

When lodestar users like Harry McCracken, Dave Winer, and even John Gruber are gunning for you online, you know your mobile platform has a real problem on its hands. Thus, is Apple reaping what it has sowed with its increasingly pathological obsession with control.

Yahoo’s Homepage to Get Even HEAVIER

September 12, 2008September 13, 2008 Paul L 1 Comment

While Google tries to hold its homepage word count at 28 — that’s right: 28 words — Yahoo suddenly gets it in their heads that what people really want is to download a few more thousand, socially networked words, thus continuing the company’s long-term slide toward forcing you to download the whole internet before you search through any of it.

NDP gets all creative on the Internetz; Google Harper, get an ad for Layton

September 11, 2008September 12, 2008 Danny X 1 Comment

Isohunt Suing The CRIA

September 11, 2008April 17, 2009 Doug Groves 8 Comments

Earlier this year the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) sent a Cease And Desist letter to popular torrent seach site isohunt, demanding that the site be taken down for copyright violation. If founder Gary Fung refused, the CRIA has threatened to sue them to the not so compressed tune of $20,000 per infringing recording. If isohunt were The Pirate Bay, they’d probably try to buy an abandoned oil rig off the shore of Baffin Island, but isohunt is trying something different. They’re suing the CRIA right back. Quoting from a…

Santa Jobs is coming to town, Apple enters its CURVED phase.

September 9, 2008July 25, 2009 Danny X 11 Comments

Bill C61 Gone For Now

September 9, 2008April 17, 2009 Doug Groves 3 Comments

Though Canada is facing it’s third election in less than 5 years, there are a couple of things to be thankful for. First, is that Canadian election cycles don’t last 3 and a half years, like certain neighbours. Second and arguably more importantly, Bill C61, the ‘DMCA of the North’ championed by Tory Industry Minister Jim Prentice, is dead for now. That doesn’t mean the battle is over. The controversial bill, which inspired YouTube videos and very active groups on just about every social networking site, will probably see new…

iHologram: the coolest app that never was

September 9, 2008September 11, 2008 Danny X 0 comment

On last week’s episode of Diggnation (166), Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht discussed the inarguably awesome iPhone / iPod Touch app “iHologram”. The app purportedly uses the devices’ accelerometers and “works by assuming a constant viewing angle (35-45 degrees), typical for when the device is placed on a tabletop…The 3d scene’s perspective is then warped using anamorphic perspective, making the object appear to jump off the screen.” It all sounds cool…and LOOKS VERY VERY COOL. But if you go to the iTunes App store looking for it, you’re going to…

Jobs and Woz, In Manga — For Kids!

September 5, 2008September 13, 2008 Paul L 0 comment

By way of Boingboing.net, my attention has been drawn to an amusing ’80s manga by Mitsuru Sugaya about the birth of Apple. Not speaking Japanese, I managed to get some gist of the artist’s commentary (though not the comic dialogue itself) from the Babelfish version. I particularly enjoyed their rendition of Mitsuru’s descriptions of one of Woz’s teen pranks. (See if you can guess what it does…)

Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld talk about the future of computers. Hint: They’re delicious.

September 5, 2008July 9, 2009 Danny X Microsoft, Windows7 Comments

Microsoft’s new campaign is in the wild. The campaign, in which Seinfeld & Gates just sort of hang out and shoot the proverbial breeze, was created by ad agency juggernaut Crispin Porter + Bogusky. The ad takes a significantly different tack than the Mojave Experiment did, and is in fact very reminiscent of Seinfeld’s “Superman” ads for Amex. See for yourself here.

Supermodel-Skinny computers all the rage, but is there any real point to it?

September 4, 2008September 8, 2008 Danny X 0 comment

It’s not been 8 months since the January 15 release of the MacBook Air, the much-praised and equally maligned ultra-portable offering from Steve Jobs’ crew of catured alien computer designers from the future. The notebook was an historic first: a practical laptop that sported a large screen and a full keyboard, internet connectivity, and video conferencing capability, that measured a scant .16 inches thick (at its thinnest point) and weighed in at a feathery 3 pounds. The thing sold itself…all Jobs had to do was pull it out of an…