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Apple to Mac owners: throw away your monitor if Hollywood says so

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:15:29 -0600

Buying an Apple computer? Get ready to throw away your monitor, over and over again. New Apple hardware is shipping with "HDCP" anti-copying technology that prevents showing some video on "non-compliant" monitors. Best part: the list of "compliant" monitors will change over time: the monitor you buy today can be "revoked" tomorrow and stop working.

Slashdot says that Apple's added "copyright protection" to its video. But copyright law isn't violated when you watch a movie on an "unapproved" monitor. This isn't about enforcing copyright law, it's about giving a small handful of movie companies a veto over hardware designs.

Yesterday, our buddy David Chartier at Ars and Sam Oliver at AppleInsider both publicized an issue that's been burning up the support boards for a while now: iTunes video rentals and purchases in HD are flagged for HDCP control, and in cooperation with the new Mini DisplayPort connector on the MacBook and MacBook Pro unibody models, those movies and TV shows are refusing to play back on non-compliant external displays.
In this case, 'compliant' means HDMI or recent-vintage DVI, but even monitors or TVs that support HDCP may not properly negotiate with the DisplayPort connector to give iTunes and QuickTime the all-clear signal (if so, quitting and relaunching iTunes once the display is hooked up may clear the playback hold).
Equally annoying: HDCP is only supposed to apply to 'high-value' digital streams, meaning standard-def purchases and rentals on the iTunes store should be out of scope... but some reports indicate that both the HD and SD instances are flagged, blocking playback on anything but the laptop's internal display or a straight-thru HDMI connection. Argh!

MacBook Pro users getting bitten by HDCP (Thanks, Denver Jewelry Guy!)

Tags: hdcp itunes compliant monitor apple

Living Large

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:11:39 -0600

I've heard it said that the financial crisis and looming recession will reduce income inequality, but there still seems to be plenty around:

Four guests at the Omni Shoreham Hotel will be living large this January. The hotel's 44th Commander-in-Chief Package, priced at a whopping $440,000, includes lots of bells and whistles to make its four-night stay for the inauguration as deluxe as possible.

Guests will stay in the two-bedroom, 1,700-square-foot Shoreham Presidential suite. It includes living and dining rooms, a library, a full kitchen, and a balcony. They'll be treated to private breakfasts and an in-room dinner with entertainment by political satirist Mark Russell. Because tickets for four to the swearing-in ceremony are included, the hotel will make sure that its VIP guests are well coiffed and outfitted for the event: They'll enjoy a preinauguration makeover by Elizabeth Arden's Red Door Salon & Spa, a $44,000 shopping spree from the Lambros Jewelry Inauguration Collection, and personalized president and first lady cologne and perfume.

Getting to and from Washington won't be a problem either: The hotel will arrange a private jet for the guests' arrival and departure. And when they leave, they'll walk out the door with a puppy of their choiceyes, a puppy.

I've gotta say, in-room dinner with entertainment by political satirist Mark Russell is way down the list of things I would want to buy with my $400,000. 1

Tags: guests hotel living inauguration private

The Atlantic's Boldest: The Department Of Corrections

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:48:17 -0600

1. Yesterday, I wrote way too hastily that President Clinton had canceled his campaign trip to Georgia in order to attend to his wife's "pressing business." Here's what happened: because Clinton wants to attend to said business, his staff asked Jim Martin's campaign to move the location of a fundraiser closer to the venue for Clinton's public speech. There was some confusion, some gnashing of teeth, and knowledgeably people downstream picked up bad information. Unfortunately, I took the information and printed it before checking with Clinton's spokesman, Matt McKenna, whose evening was almost ruined by a call list that grew by 20 names of reporters who were trying to figure out what was happening. My reporting was sloppy; that's what happened.

2. Earlier this week, I speculated about John Kerry and the Department of the Interior. Actually, I'd be surprised if Kerry leaves the Senate if he doesn't become Secretary of State.

3. A reader writes:

I don't really care much about the overall point being made, but as a professional poker player, i have to say that "Reader David Loewenberg" is completely misusing his poker metaphor. In fact, his metaphor works entirely against the point he is trying to make. When someone is shortstacked (the phrase is not "small stacked" , you take any chance that is +ev to eliminate him. you DON'T want any player to stick around ever if you eliminate them in a tournament. (it's pretty similar in a cash game). As to calling a shortstack's bluffing, in that situation the caller is rarely more than a 60% favorite to win that particular hand.

Tags: clinton point business poker attend

Holy Crap

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:05:28 -0600

Rep. Henry Waxman (D) has ousted John Dingell (D) as Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

That's a hugely big deal on any number of levels -- not least of which is the two men's very different positions on energy policy. We'll have more soon.

Late Update: Here's the reaction from a Republican Hill staffer friend of mine -- very sane good guy, but, you know, still a Republican ...

Dude:
The day Henry got into this race, this result was ordained.

The differences between the 2 are, as you mentioned, HUGE.

But, honestly, the real story here is Nancy Pelosi whacked John Dingell. She put a hit on him, and it was executed.

The rest of the story takes a back seat to that FACT.

For the moment, I'm still going with 'Holy Crap'.

Tags: dingell energy republican story john

"The dissemination of what's important to the world is too significant a task to be left to..."

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:22:55 -0600

The dissemination of what's important to the world is too significant a task to be left to algorithms and popularity contests.

- Jason Kottke, whose reputation as the winner of many popularity contests is well-earned by go-to nuggets like this one. Nicely put.

Tags: popularity dissemination left contests task

Rhymes with "pyorrhea"

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:09:21 -0600

I made my first trip to the Galleria in about a year last week. It'll probably be my last trip for at least that long.

Okay, it wasn't that bad even though I noticed the Christmas rush seems to have begun a few weeks early. I had to drive the West Loop last night to make a screening of Twilight last night (I'm still working on the maximally hilarious way to incorporate "sucking" into my review). From 290 to 59S took 25 minutes.

But that wasn't the case when She Who Shall Not Be Named and I headed over to kill a few hours while The Wife got some cold-induced couch time. We navigated through mercifully traffic-free streets and snaked one of those elusive first parking garage level spots less than two hundred feet from Neiman Marcus. Granted, we didn't actually buy anything but we did come up with some amusing mall activities.

1. Go to the Apple Store and see if an employee ever gives an answer to a question that doesn't start with, "Well, if you go to our web page." Didn't matter if it was financing or the relative fragility of the MacBook Air. Why the hell do you guys have a store in the first place?

2. Ask the girl at the Hollister store if they have any clothes that don't say "Hollister" on them. Shake your head at her response and say, "No, really."

3. Allow your four year old to run into the Versace store with a large, slobbery lollipop. Pause briefly to enjoy the horrorstruck expressions before corralling her.

4. Laugh at the hair on the guy working in the Michael Kors store. Your hair says Good Charlotte, but your crows' feet say Charlotte Rae.

5. Count the number of kids and adults-who-should-know-better wearing South Pole and Aerospatiale clothes. Stop when you reach 10,000.

Tags: store first say working charlotte

My visit to Wartburg Seminary

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:12:12 -0600

On Sunday afternoon, I left the ELCA church council meeting early to drive to Dubuque, IA. I had been invited to Wartburg Seminary for Monday morning through lunch.

I have had the privilege of being on this campus for each of the past 5 years. I enjoyed the company of President Duane Larson where we compared notes on the critical importance of strategic planning and of making hard, but essential, leadership decisions. We have both received much affirmation and a bit of grief for hard decisions that we've recently made and announced. So, it was good to compare notes. It was wonderful to hear the enthusiasm in his voice as he talked about the future of Wartburg Seminary and the educational opportunities they provide for future pastors, youth ministers, CE directors, etc.

AF author, Norma Cook-Everist, was the catalyst for my visit to Wartburg Seminary. But, my visits always expand off of her hospitality! I enjoyed speaking to the students in her Christian Education class. Not only was I able to share information about some of the innovative and successful resources that we have published over the past several years, but I was also able to give them a sneak preview of some of our forthcoming resources, including those related to the Book of Faith Initiative and our spring 2009 Sunday School curricula, Spark! They reacted to the slides just as I expected they would. With energy, enthusiasm and excellent questions.

After class, Norma had invited anyone from the Wartburg community to join us for lunch and Q&A about publishing. There was quite a turnout! People came and went, so I didn't have an exact count, but there must have been 20 people who stopped by at some point during the lunch hour. Students, faculty, staff, spouses of students. They had excellent questions for me related to their interests as writers of curricula, music composers and arrangers, copyeditors, book authors, etc. There is obviously a lot of talent in this community!

Last, but far from least, I had the opportunity to spend a bit of time during the day with Barb, Jill & Jean, all staff members in our Augsburg Fortress bookstore on campus. It was bittersweet to be with them. We announced on November 7 that we will be closing 9 bookstores, including this one, by no later than April 30, 2009 so that we can focus our time, talents, and financial resources on the creation of new resources for the church. So, these good, hardworking people will be laid off. But, they were incredibly gracious, warm and welcoming to me. Class acts! They noted that they are sad and a bit nervous about the future. But, they also commented on how much they appreciated the 6 months' notice that we have given them along with the safety net of severance, outplacement assistance, etc. We are blessed by such loyal and gracious staff members. I encourage anyone who reads this blog to say a prayer for these good people and the others from AF and so many other companies, who are being laid off. These are challenging times, to be sure.

I always enjoy my time on our ELCA Seminary campuses. Interacting with the students who are our future pastors and other church leaders gives me such optimism for the future! These are nurturing, challenging, inspiring communities!

Blessings,
Beth

Tags: future seminary wartburg students resources

Rebuilding the Republican Party

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:32:58 -0600

Shared by @ErikJHeels
@rklau: Mark my words. Rick Klau will be a politician one day (if he isn't already). And a good one.

It may strike some as odd that my first post-election political post would be about the GOP, but there you go: I'm a maverick. (Is it OK to use that word again? Or will it forever conjure up images of Tina Fey hawking Palin 2012 t-shirts on QVC?) I've been heartened in conversations with friends and family who are proud Republicans over the last two weeks to hear their resolve at taking a long, hard look at what went wrong. (And equally encouraged by their genuine eagerness to support Barack.)

I've made no secret of my Democratic party leanings I've voted Democratic for every Presidential candidate I've been eligible to vote. Yet I grew up in a Republican household, spent many chilly fall days in Connecticut canvassing for Republican candidates (local and national). My Dad volunteered on George HW Bush's 1980 presidential campaign. Gerald Ford once commented to my Dad at a state party meeting that my Mom was cute. (She is, by the way.) So I have mostly positive feelings about the GOP the old GOP. And I know precisely - the actual day - when those feelings started eroding:

That's Pat Buchanan delivering his address to the 1992 Republican Convention. He referred to the Democratic Convention as a masquerade ball, mocked its attendees as radicals and liberals even blew the cross-dresssing dog whistle (get it? THEY'RE ALL GAY!). And then this:

My friends, this election is about much more than who gets what. It is about who we are. It is about what we believe. It is about what we stand for as Americans. There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself. And in that struggle for the soul of America, Clinton & Clinton are on the other side, and George Bush is on our side. And so, we have to come home, and stand beside him.

Much of the slash-and-burn tactics the GOP has deployed over the last 20 years trace, for me, to that speech. It's possible they existed before that religion was used as a wedge to scare voters into voting for the GOP but I certainly didn't see it. In President George HW Bush I saw a committed government servant, a modest man with a fearsome intellect who lost touch with his country. I voted for Bill Clinton, not against George Bush.

In 2000, I considered crossing party lines and supporting John McCain over George Bush in the California primary. I liked McCain, I didn't like George W Bush, and I had originally supported Bill Bradley. (Family trivia: my first son was born on Super Tuesday that year. The political junkie thing runs strong in our family.)

And as President Bush betrayed his party's ideals on civil liberties, on government spending, on the separation of church and state, on scientific research, on diplomacy I began to get angry. George W Bush did not represent the GOP I knew and grew up with: he led a religious coalition of social conservatives who sought to codify their beliefs through government intervention. When Howard Dean said I want my country back!, it resonated for me in a way that summed up much of what I felt was wrong. And when he followed it up by exclaiming that he was tired of listening to the fundamentalist preachers!, I remembered Pat Buchanan and his exhortations of a religious war.

Today's GOP is coping with significant defeats across the board. I contend that this was a natural extension of Buchanan's religious war: as Karl Rove (and Ashcroft, and Bush, and Palin, and countless others) played it to its logical conclusion, inevitably someone would show up and get us past it. But in those defeats, I'm encouraged out of this will rise new thinking about what the party can (and should) do, most importantly from people whose voices must be heard in the party. Check out Rebuild the Party, or David Frum's announcement of the New Majority. Read Reihan Salam's posts over at The American Scene. Listen to former Congressman (and founding member of The Heritage Foundation) Mickey Edwards talk about the future of the conservative movement. They're not all in agreement - but they don't need to be. The key is that they're working hard to identify ways to reclaim the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

Many of my Democratic friends will no doubt scratch their heads, wondering why I would care: we won! But that's just it: I didn't support Barack Obama because I wanted to win. I supported Barack Obama because I believe in what Barack often spoke about: "disagreeing without being disagreeable". Politics for me is finding good solutions to hard problems, not demonizing the other guys because they don't agree with me.

Encouragingly, each of the links above demonstrate a positive, principled approach to defining what the Republican Party should be about. In none of those efforts do they spend any time figuring out clever ways to question my patriotism, my eagerness to destroy the family or my desire to wage war on people of faith. And that's a start. A very good one. Here's hoping they stay at it, and make progress.

Tags: party bush george gop war

[UPDATED] On First Day of Recount, Franken Gains Net of 43 Votes on Coleman

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:08:00 -0600

UPDATED, 9:15 PM Central

According to data just released by the Minnesota Secretary of State, Al Franken has gained a net of 43 votes on the first day of that state's recount process. Norm Coleman had a lead of 215 voters over Franken in Minnesota's certified, pre-recount tally; that margin is now 172 votes.

Minnesota reports that it has thus far re-counted 15.49 percent of its ballots. If the first day's results are indicative of the pace that the candidates will maintain throughout the recount process, Franken would gain a net of 278 votes over Colmean, giving him a narrow victory. For any number of reasons, however, the results reported thus far may not be indicative of future trends.

Although Franken gained ground relative to Coleman, in actuality both candidates have fewer votes than they began the day with. This is because of the "challenge" process in which representatives of either candidate may challenge any ballot for any reason, which will subsequently be reviewed one at a time by Minnesota's canvassing board in December. Challenges can occur to ballots that had previously been deemed to be legal, in which case those votes will be deducted from the opponent's total. Coleman has thus far challenged 115 ballots and Franken 106. However, based on local reports, many or perhaps most of the challenges are frivolous, and are unlikely to be upheld upon review. Thus, the candidate who has challenged fewer ballots probably stands to gain ground once such challenges are adjudicated.

Of Franken's net 43-vote gain, a net of 27 of those votes came from just two towns in Saint Louis County, Ely and Eveleth. These Northern villages, characteristically highly Democratic, use an older type of vote scanning technology called the Optech IIIP Eagle which is less reliable and requires use of an alternate ballot design. The Star Tribune reports, however, that about half the Saint Louis County precincts with the Eagle machines have already had their votes re-counted. Thus, it would be dangerous to extrapolate results from these precincts (and therefore to some extent Franken's overall gain today) to the county or statewide levels.

On the other hand, the precincts that were re-counted today were slightly redder than average, having favored Coleman by an aggregate of 3.3 points during the initial count. No votes have yet been re-counted in Minneapolis (out of more than 200,000 cast), although about 43,000 have been recounted in St. Paul (out of around 140,000 cast on Election Day). Another city which has not yet reported any results is Duluth, traditionally a Democratic stronghold.

The Star Tribune reports slightly different results, with Franken having gained a net of 41 votes rather than 43, 18 percent of ballots re-counted rather than 15.5, and higher numbers of challenged ballots for both candidates.

Tags: votes franken ballots net results

On First Day of Recount, Franken Gains Net of 43 Votes on Coleman

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:08:00 -0600

According to data just released by the Minnesota Secretary of State, Al Franken has gained a net of 43 votes on the first day of that state's recount process. Norm Coleman had a lead of 215 voters over Franken in Minnesota's certified, pre-recount tally; that margin is now 172 votes.

Minnesota reports that it has thus far recounted 15.49 percent of its ballots. If the first day's results are indicative of the pace that the candidates will maintain throughout the recount process, Franken would gain a net of 278 votes over Colmean, giving him a narrow victory. For any number of reasons, however, the results reported thus far may not be indicative of future trends.

This story will be updated with additional information shortly.

Tags: franken votes recount minnesota first

Why John McCain Lost

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:11:28 -0600

The following guest post is from former Rep. Mickey Edwards (R-OK), author of Reclaiming Conservatism.

It's hard to know whether it was the real John McCain who lost or whether the person Barack Obama defeated was a fake, created to motivate the narrow slice of the electorate mistakenly thought to be the Republican "base" (see Palin, "country first", Joe the Plumber).

Obama might have won in any case, but the McCain campaign was an amateur affair, unable to settle on a consistent presentation of the candidate's message or identity. At times (e.g., the proposal to cancel a debate, put the campaign on hold, and race theatrically back to Washington), he appeared foolish.

McCain started the campaign as an admired and independent-minded combination of war hero and experienced legislator, weighed down by the unpopularity of his party and the president. By the time the campaign was over, it was not George Bush but McCain himself who had been rejected.

Tags: mccain campaign obama whether john

Legal Marketing with a Big Upside for Startups: FreeTrademarksForStartups.com

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:23:26 -0600

This is not my marketing concept, though I wish I had thought of it. Trademark lawyer and Red Sox diehard Erik J. Heels has a new initiative to help startups understand and protect their trademark rights.

FreeTrademarksForStartups.com: Free Trademarks For Startups @ErikJHeels

If your company is a bona fide startup, Erik will help you file a trademark application for free. He is up front about the fact that he is doing this to get your future paying business as well, which sounds entirely reasonable to me.

If you have a startup and need help evaluating your preferred trademarks and filing an application, go check Erik out.

Tags: trademark erik startups startup application

New York Times Launches Gadget Blog

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:06:09 -0600

The New York Times is launching Gadgetwise, a gadget blog that goes head to head with the likes of Gizmodo and Engadget (first and foremost), but so far in a less quirky and introvert style. Like you'd expect from the publisher, of course. The welcome post describes it like this:

A new personal-tech blog, Gadgetwise is currently organized around four product categories (digital photography, home entertainment, mobile technology and personal computing), each with a dedicated contributor.

If you want to know who's writing, there's an introduction to the five man team as well.

The New York Times already publish the technology blog Bits, which is frequently linked, and a good read really. In that sense, they are not new to the scene. In fact, their blog index is huge, although it looks better than it is.

I don't doubt that Gadgetwise will find some readers, but compared to the likes of Engadget and Gizmodo, as well as a wealth of smaller gadget blogs, it looks a bit thin at the moment. That might and will probably change, and there's the possibility of finding their own reader niche just by the fact that they are located at the New York Times, and the push it can get from there, but my guess is that Gadgetwise won't be the official CES blog partner for years to come

Possibly Related Posts

New York Times examines the rivalry between TechCrunch50 and the DEMO Conference

Tags: blog times york gadgetwise gadget

1,000 Gadgets For Every Man, Woman and Child

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:04:16 -0600

If you think it's tough now, managing a gaggle of digital devices and online profiles and services, you'd better get your multitasking and network administrator skills up to speed. According to MAGNET Beyond, a $17 million worldwide R&D project that wrapped up in June, we're headed for personal area networks containing an infinite array of connected devices. They envision a near future where everyone has a network of a thousand devices each (?!).

Perhaps a thousand is too generous of an estimate, but thinking about how to easily connect our myriad of gadgets is worthwhile. Alternatively, maybe we should be considering ways to reduce the amounts of objects rather than messing around with connecting lots of separate ones? Think consolidation of functions -small, all-in-one, multi-use instead of sprawling networks of single function objects.

Roland Piquepaille explains more:

How is this possible? In the future, there will be hundreds, even as many as a thousand devices in a PN. It may seem an impossible figure, but in the near future the number of personal devices will multiply enormously. One person might have dozens of sensors, monitoring vital signs like heart rate and temperature, and even the electrolytes present in perspiration. And then there are sensors and actuators in the home, including light switches, and more again in cars. People will be able to link with TVs, stoves and spectacles, which could double as a personal TV screen, and even clothing. They will have a home gateway, to manage all their home devices, and a car gateway while driving.

Let's admit that our PNs contain a thousand devices? How will be these devices be connected together? Right now, PNs usually involve fiddling around with Bluetooth settings and crossing your fingers. If it does work, users typically try to complete simple tasks by trial and error, like hunting for photos on your mobile or trying to transfer a tune from your computer to a PDA.

Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends: 1,000-device personal networks in 2017?

Dan Gould for PSFK, 2008. | Permalink | Comments | Add to del.icio.us

Tags: devices thousand personal future networks

Meredith Takes Stake In Real Girls Media Network

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:32:16 -0600

At a time when many media companies are retrenching, women's magazine publisher Meredith (NYSE: MDP) Corp has pulled out its checkbook and taken a minority stake in Real Girls Media Network. The publisher of Better Homes and Gardens and Fitness wants to use the San Francisco-based women's content and social net aggregator to buttress its 31 websites. In particular, Meredith and Real Girls Media will combine their inventory and sales forces. Also, as part of the investment, Meredith will have access to Real Girls Media's technology and apply its tools to the mag publisher's existing sites. The amount of the stake wasn't disclosed.

Real Girls Media, founded by Kate Everett-Thorp, a WaldenVC venture partner and former president of marketing agency AKQA, raised a $6 million first round of funding two years ago. Among the sites it operates is DivineCaroline, which mixes user-gen and professional content around channels that range from relationships to travel to style. Release

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Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

Tags: media girls real meredith network