To kill a mocking birdman.

Interesting article by a wired reporter who spent four days digging for tidbits at the ISS World Conference, a surveillance trade show for law enforcement, intelligence types and government officials who officially don't exist. There are some valid points spread throughout the article, not the least of which is that US government is more likely to abuse the technologies offered at the show than many of the more obvious suspects, such as various Middle East governments, and that this type of technology really won't catch the skilled technology users so often pundited as the biggest threat, but only the unskilled common criminal. Being familiar with the technical deficiency of most technological users, I'd have to say I completely agree with the second point..

-Z

Digital Dreams of Jeanie

So I've been watching the television industry's response since ABC's announcement in April. So far, Fox and CBS have both followed suit with announcements of their own plans to offer some of their shows online. I haven't specifically seen an announcement from NBC, though I'm sure it's coming if I didn't already miss it. What's interesting to me is that thus far, ABC has been the only broadcast network to follow through with actual content. Alias, Lost, and several other mainstay ABC programs are available via their website. Each show contains three commercial breaks, which last approximately 45 seconds each including the next segment's load time, at least on my cable connection. Kudos to ABC for a job well done, my only real complaint is that it would be nice to have a full screen option, maybe with a transparent sponsor overlay like they do with the ABC network identifier/logo.

In other news, a well (vc) funded startup is trying to build a national wireless network that will offer free service at 384/128 and commercial service at even higher speeds. They are aiming for 95% coverage of the continental United States. Choke on that Verizon, Sprint, Crapulair et al. When are the media companies really going to understand that current filesharing trends (or "piracy" as they like to call it) are not about defrauding and undercutting them but instead a huge red flag that their CUSTOMERS want their content on their timeframe on their choice of platform, not BigMedia's (BM?) timeframe and DRM'd to fuck platform of choice? I cringe at saying ABC gets it, not just because I don't want to jinx it, but also because I'm not 100% convinced they do, but they are sure a hell of a lot closer than any other BMs out there at this point in time.

Final thought: $100 laptop. Why aren't more companies supporting this? I mean seriously, while the HP, Dell and Cisco types have a financial motivation not to support low cost affordable computers globally (think no more $1800 laptops sold isn't a motivation?), how about the Yahoo, Google, Ebay, and other content players? Google should be buying these things by the truckload, setting their browser home page to Google.com, installing a Linux version of Google desktop and laughing their asses off all the way to the bank. I just don't get the "realities" of business sometimes, since said "realities" seem to have little reflection of real Reality(tm). Regardless, (iregardless isn't a word as pointed out about 10 times in the lackluster stoner buddy movie we watched recently Puff, Puff, Pass. I give it 2.5/5 stars for some occasional good humor, despite the really cheeseball plot/writing for most of the movie) the $100 laptop project is a great humanitarian project and I encourage everyone to support it. There's talk of having the laptops be sold commercially to individuals for $300, basically giving you a low cost system and providing two more laptops for those less able to provide it for themselves.

I'm done for today, lates.

-Z

Wow, ABC catches up to ME!

Almost three years ago, I lamented the huge disconnect between the cable and television networks and their audiences. I made the point that the reason that filesharing applications were so widely adopted was due to the one simple factor that none of the people in the TV/Movie business seemed to be able to understand, convenience. I suggested that the future of TV would be to air made-for-TV content over the Internet, commercials and all, and further that this model would quickly overtake the number of viewers using a standard TV setup (broadcast, cable, satellite, etc.) Well, three years later, our friends over at ABC may have finally listened. They have announced a plan to make much of their premium content online for free the day after broadcast. This will be the complete version of the previous days broadcast showing, including commercials. The real remaining question is whether there are enough interested parties remaining after the growth of Tivo and DVR's to make this model still viable.

-Z

Flashpoint Hope

How does one define hope? Fundamentally, human beings have a need of purpose. Hope is the check drawn against the future. The belief that someday, somewhere things will get better. It's really no wonder then that in our modern society that so many people are unable to see hope.

Dead end jobs, dead end relationships, dead end lives forming an unpassable barrier to beneficial change. Governments losing sight of the ideals of their very founding to control and persuade their populaces that they know best and should be part of every aspect of every individual's lives, locking them into a culture of enforced need and collectivism, while monopolizing or defeating any technology or system that threatens to erode this control. Protecting by invading all facets of the individual. The average citizen comes under surveillance over 100 times a day and while great pains have been taken to publicize the controls of medical data via the HIPPA act, no regulations currently oversee the flow of information such as surveillance videos.

Paranoia is the new norm and distrust of government and its entities is at an all time high, for good reason. Stories continue to surface of government misuse of newfound law enforcement powers against private citizens. National governments have become often tools to big business, enforcing the rule of the wealthy and monolithic corporations into the foreseeable future.

The idea of hope is one difficult to find in most modern environments even for the optimistic. Many of the younger adult crowd have become increasingly jaded to the possiblity that there is even a potential solution to their plight.

Automagic Asshattery

I'm a big fan of automated attendants. What a great technology, I can call into a company and transfer to the department or person I would like to talk to, without a myriad of questions from a curious or screening secretary. Well, in theory.

I call RandomV company today to speak with tech support, and my call is answered by auto attendant #1 (female voice, we'll call it Susan). Susan says I can press 2 for sales, 5 for finance, or 7 for technical support. I hit the 7 key, hear a moment of silence, followed by a single ring, AA2, Janet (who has a much deeper robotic voice but still female), answers the phone. Janet kindly informs me that I can press 2 for sales, 5 for finance, or 7 for technical support. Eager now, knowing I must be closing in on the prize, I mash the 7 key like it's going out of style.

After a short pause, the line begins to ring. Anxiously awaiting the completion of my call, I wonder how many rings before I get to talk to my technician. Perhaps I'll be put into a queue to wait, but maybe I'll get lucky and just get right in, now that I've found the super secret back door. 5 rings, 6 rings, 7 ri.. Wait! Could it be, someone has answered! AA3, or Rick as I like to call him (not that gender refernce is particularly useful when referring to automated systems)comes on the line, and begins repeating the company mantra/prayer press 2 for sales, 5 for finance, or 7 for technical support. Quickly losing faith now, I pound that damn 7 key with everything I've got, hoping beyond hope to make it somewhere in the vicinty of the support phones.

With no delay I hear 2 short rings, and someone comes on the line. Could this be it? Have I finally proven myself worthy to be admitted into the hallowed virtual halls of V-Support? The excitement at the possibility of finally accomplishing my goal nearly overwhelms me, but I manage to retain enough lucidity to hear AA4, James, begin to speak. "Please enter the number of the individual you are calling, or press 0/stay on the line for an operator" Sudden silence on the line as James' message winds to a close. I sit, stunned, unable to comprehend the black magic technology that has allowed me to transfer myself to the Saturn office of V (who knew they had outsourced their tech support off planet?) Steeling myself for a new life experience, obtaining tech support from a Saturnian (I hope they speak english/human better than some of the Indian support folks I've worked with, no offense guys I know your trying) I hit the 0 with enough force to start an atomic chain reaction, had my desk been made of plutonium.

"We're sorry, our system operator is busy, please leave a message at the beep or try your call again later."

So what's the moral of this story? While automated systems can save a tremendous amount of time and money, they don't necessarily mean a company allows access to their technical support.

Z