Month: October 2001
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The Record Industry Wants to Take Over Your Computer
The Record Industry Wants to Take Over Your Computer in a very direct way, in fact. ZDNews reports that the RIAA is exploring methods for jamming up computers running peer-to-peer file sharing software. The tactic involves requesting downloads of files they want to render unavailable, but making sure the connection and download is excrutiatingly slow,…
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New Mediageek Section: DIY Files
New Mediageek Section: DIY Files In an effort to try an make it easier to find what you”re looking for, I’ve started a new section called the DIY Files, which focuses on the technology and geekier aspects of this site. This where you’ll find equipment reviews, hints for using equipment and similar stuff. The front…
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War Fever: What the Mainstream Media isn’t Telling You
War Fever: What the Mainstream Media isn’t Telling You The Springfield, IL IndyMedia Center will be rebroadcasting this talk and roundtable discussion hosted by the Anarchism and Social Change Public Affairs Colloquia on FM, satellite audio, shortwave and Internet audio. The two hour program will air Saturday evening Oct.13 at 11pm CDT (which is Sunday…
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Ads on Public TV?
Ads on Public TV? USA Today reports that the FCC is considering allowing public TV stations to run advertising and subscription based services on their digital HDTV channels. Supposedly, the ad and suscription revenue is needed to finance the transition to digital. But, then, doesn’t that really make these stations commercial? Where’s the public —…
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A couple more notes on
A couple more notes on copy protection: Dan Bricklin argues that Copy Protection Robs the Future. In my copyright essay/rant earlier today I referred to SCMS, which is the copy protection built into DAT recorders and other consumer digital recorders, including minidisc and home CD recorders. After writing that piece I wanted to explain SCMS…
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No New Cable Modems?
No New Cable Modems? CNet reports that @Home, the largest cable modem ISP, is no longer accepting new customers, apparently in an effort save cash after filing for bankruptcy two weeks ago. Despite the promises made by the telecomm industry which claimed that deregulation would bring cheap, accessible hi-speed Internet into peoples’ homes, it seems…
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Digital Media Distribution: Is the Honeymoon Over?
Digital Media Distribution: Is the Honeymoon Over? The BBC reports that a bill has been entered into Congress by Dem. Senator Fritz Hollings that would make it illegal to manufacture or sell computer equipment without gov’t approved copy protection devices. This latest legal move on behalf of the music and film industries comes alongside the…
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A quickie: The folks at
A quickie: The folks at Global Indymedia Features have put together a nice little complilation of analyses of recent mainstream media coverage, called “Questioning US Media’s Coverage of War.”
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More on shortwave: Monitoring Times
More on shortwave: Monitoring Times is a good independent magazine that covers shortwave and scanner listening. They have a page outlining good shortwave listening resources for news directly from Afghanistan and the Middle East. Most of these frequencies are for non-English broadcasts, though apparently Afghanistan’s Radio Shari’ah broadcasts in English from 1530-1545 UTC daily (10:30am…
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Shortwave Popular During These Times
Shortwave Popular During These Times Looks like I’m just a bit ahead of the curve — the SF Gate reports that sales of shortwave radios have surged in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks–and now in the wake of US counter attacks. The article notes that Afghanistan does not have much of a media…