Follow-Up

There are 521 posts filed in Follow-Up (this is page 28 of 53).

redhat.com | The first [open source] American

Back in 2006, Red Hat Magazine published an article on Ben Franklin from Amy Anseim which claims that Franklin was the first open source American. Franklin would’ve been right at home with the open source movement that we know today. Not only today’s open source proponents, but all of society owes a debt to Franklin for his devotion to the free exchange of knowledge and information.

Kids know him as the guy flying a kite in a lightning storm. Adults know him as the face on the hundred dollar bill. Historians know him as"The first American." His achievements and contributions to mankind, particularly to the fledgling United States of America, have shaped much of what we do on a daily basis, from the clauses of the Constitution to the maxims of Poor Richard’s Almanack.

But all of Ben Franklin’s ideas, actions, and contributions can be linked back to his own ideals. An appreciation of community. A love of truth. His belief in an inherent responsibility to his fellow man.

Franklin was truly ahead of his time. He wasn’t just the first American, he was the first open source American.

Freedom. Transparency. Collaboration. Accountability. Sound familiar? This was how he lived his life and impacted society.

via redhat.com | The first [open source] American.

Google Maps captures me capturing it

Who’s that weirdo in the bushes with the camera?


I saw the Google Maps car parked outside the Crabtree Blvd. Bank of America last week. It reminded me to check to see if Google Maps has been updated from the last trip the camera-equipped car drove through.

Remember last year when I spotted the Google Maps car as it drove through the neighborhood and I couldn’t wait to see the bald guy with the camera standing in the driveway? Well, here he is!

Zazzle yanks sticker under pressure from Honda

Odyssey transmissions blow chunks. Literally.

It seems Honda took offense to my first bumper sticker, asking Zazzle to pull it from sale. I asked Zazzle to elaborate:

Thanks for the response regarding my rejected bumper sticker content. However, I am still at a loss as to how this sticker infringes on any copyrights, trademarks, and/or libels or defames anyone. Could you please cite the specific content guideline that is of concern?

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Ask me about Honda transmissions bumper sticker

Honda transmissions suck


After becoming disgusted with American Honda’s refusal to own up to the problems with the Honda Odyssey transmissions, I decided to create a bumper sticker which will help spread the word about Honda’s shoddy treatment of its customers.

Feel free to share!

Update 1:25 PM: It seems Zazzle has removed my bumper sticker without explanation. My email is down at the moment but when it returns I hope to hear what happened. I certainly hope it isn’t a case of Zazzle getting nervous about me exercising my First Amendment rights. Certainly there’s nothing defamatory about a product that simply reads “ask me about Honda transmissions,” is there?

Myth Dispensing: The Whole ‘Spotify Barely Pays Artists’ Story Is Bunk

Listen up, David Lowery.

One of the key talking points that we’ve heard from the "haters" of the new music business models is the claim that Spotify pays next-to-nothing to artists. This is really based on a few stories, taken totally out of context, concerning a few artists who received relatively small checks from Spotify. David Lowery actually used this as a key point in his screed against young music fans and their supposedly "unethical" behavior: to him, even if you are listening to a legal, licensed service like Spotify, you’re "unethical" because he’s heard rumors that Spotify doesn’t pay enough.

However, the more you look, the more you realize that Spotify actually pays out quite a lot. A few months ago, someone at one of the music collection societies told me about an analysis they had done concerning the amount of money paid per listen — comparing Spotify to radio, iTunes and lots of other things. When you knock it down to a per listen basis, it turns out that Spotify pays a hell of a lot more than any of those other sources.

via Myth Dispensing: The Whole 'Spotify Barely Pays Artists' Story Is Bunk | Techdirt.

Glorious Church noise issue in committee

Raleigh’s Law and Public Safety committee met at 3 PM today with the Glorious Church noise complaints on its agenda. I attended the meeting, not as a community leader but more as an interested party as the church is in my neighborhood. Before I could declare my neutral position, chairperson Mary Ann Baldwin was meeting with me and fellow neighbor John Seitz to “hash out the ground rules.”

Both John and Bishop Spain are neighbors of mine, so I sympathize with both sides. John has a right to enjoy his home in peace and Bishop Spain and his churchgoers have a right to worship any way they’d like. The only way I can see both of these rights being fulfilled is for the church to accept the neighborhood’s offer to raise money to upgrade the church’s windows. With some soundproofing in place everyone can be happy. If the soundproofing includes new windows the church will undoubtedly save money on its heating and cooling bills, too.

The upshot of today’s meeting is that the community and church agree to meet again within two weeks to plot next steps. Though I just expected to sit quietly on the sidelines today I wound up being asked by Councilor Baldwin to help set this up, so now its time for me to pull the resources together. It’s not the role I expected to be playing in this situation but I’m honored that Councilor Baldwin and the various parties involved think enough of me to ask for my help in brokering a solution.

Scientists crack RSA SecurID 800 tokens

Remember when I said we are living in a world without secrets? The security tokens that provide two-factor authentication for a number of companies and organizations have been broken. Instantly, countless confidential files became unprotected.

In the age of globally-distributed mathematic expertise, high-speed computers, and Internet collaboration, codes and ciphers that once looked impenetrable now fall on a weekly basis.

Scientists have devised an attack that takes only minutes to steal the sensitive cryptographic keys stored on a raft of hardened security devices that corporations and government organizations use to access networks, encrypt hard drives, and digitally sign e-mails.

The exploit, described in a paper to be presented at the CRYPTO 2012 conference in August, requires just 13 minutes to extract a secret key from RSA’s SecurID 800, which company marketers hold out as a secure way for employees to store credentials needed to access confidential virtual private networks, corporate domains, and other sensitive environments. The attack also works against other widely used devices, including the electronic identification cards the government of Estonia requires all citizens 15 years or older to carry, as well as tokens made by a variety of other companies.

via Scientists crack RSA SecurID 800 tokens, steal cryptographic keys | Ars Technica.

The need for probation reform

After digging up some info on the two suspects in my neighbor’s burglary, I found out even more distressing information. Edwards had been arrested March 30th for the very same charge, Breaking and Entering, skipped bail and missed court date, which apparently resulted in his Failure To Appear charge. This is of course all after he was convicted in December of multiple property crimes. I haven’t found out yet what Enyinnaya’s story is but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a similar one.

Where was his probation officer? Who knows? Edwards got a suspended sentence and probation for his December thefts but felt confident enough that he wouldn’t get caught to bust into more homes three months later.
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Is Stealing Music Really The Problem?

A good response to David Lowery’s response to Emily White.

What started this was a post on NPR’s website by an intern named Emily White who admitted to buying very little music in her life but owning a lot via various levels of legality. This led to an impassioned response by Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker frontman David Lowery, who eloquently argued for the ethical and moral obligations Emily should have towards these artists and how stealing music has dramatically impacted their financial lives. This post has sprung up impassioned responses by, among others, Bob Lefsetz and a manager who is also, coincidentally, named Emily White. People have dug in their heels and have spilled many hours defending and vilifying both sides.

Yet lost in this discussion is one important element. Facts. Because if you’re going to argue that stealing has impacted your business, you should actually prove that…y’know…a lot of people have actually stolen your music.

via IS STEALING MUSIC REALLY THE PROBLEM? – FutureHit.DNA.