Writers Block Live

The more I think about Apple’s announcements today the more I get this odd feeling that something has changed in Cupertino. Something is not right. Where’s the ‘fire’ that used to be obvious in every new Apple product? Attempting to make a big deal out of such trivial products and product changes is just plain weird.

It makes me wonder if Mr Jobs has become disengaged lately, or shifted his focus too far towards making deals with content companies and artists. Or perhaps everyone on Infinite Loop is drained from the effort of switching over to Intel chips. (more…)

I was all set to write a long analysis of the sure-to-be-amazing new stuff Apple was going to announce today, only to be hit in the face with a boring update to the mini that basically now includes a remote control. Oh, and a $350 boom box. Damn.

Based on the overwhelming feedback to my suggestion of a boycott of the new HD disc formats and their associated DRM schemes, I decided to push this further and set up a site to serve as the ‘home base’ for information and education around this issue. It is www.hdboycott.com

It is just a skeleton of a site so far, but with your help I expect it to improve rapidly. (more…)

This is important. I really want you to understand what’s going on with the video industry’s push towards HD. Under pressure from Hollywood, they are engineering a complete removal of the concept of fair use. They are setting up systems that will completely control how, when and where you can use content that you buy. Even worse, they can retroactively change the rules!

Today the AACS (aggressive automatic consumer screwing*) organization announced availability of the interim version of their system for protecting content providers from their criminal customers. (more…)