Nice! I’m now the web master for the Media Resources Center at the Undergraduate Library at UNC-Chapel Hill. I really, really like it here.
Filed under: musings
November 26, 2007 • 3:46 pm 0
Juicy copyright goodness
Infringement Nation: Copyright Reform and the Law/Norm Gap
In short, we’ve gone intellectual property crazy.
via Bruce Schneier.
November 6, 2007 • 2:02 pm 0
Slashdot | How PDAs Are Saving Lives In Africa
• 2:02 pm 0
This sounds familiar.
• 2:02 pm 0
The Cellular Economy: West Virginia Edition
Rural Areas: 44% Fewer West Virginia Payphones Since 1998 – Consumerist
My home state. It may come as some surprise, but not everyone in America can afford a land line, let alone a cell phone. Throw in poor to nonexistent cellular coverage, and you put a big dent on the modernization of the local economy. It saddens me to see West Virginia getting left behind so badly.
• 1:56 pm 0
Over 2 Billion Mobile Phone Users Worldwide
http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2007/01/putting_27_bill.html
And according to the article, the United States and Canada are last in the industrial world in terms of phone penetration. And U.S. carriers would have us think that everything is just peachy.
Filed under: Mobility
• 1:56 pm 0
Things are just peachy. Uh huh.
Glowing report on state of US cellular market overlooks problems
The American Consumer Institute produced a pdf that describes the supposed dangers of Net Neutrality. In essence what they describe is that a free, or neutral, internet is one that stifles innovation and investment. It would appear that their ideal internet would be run like the wireless industry in America, where access to information is so tightly controlled we could end up with an ISP that behaves like Verizon Wireless, selling crippled equipment and packages that nickel and dime the customer to death. There would be innovation, but they would be the kind of innovations that benefit the ISP over and above the customer.
In the world of cellular communication technology, the innovation is occurring in Europe and Asia, and not in the “glowing” American market.
I can agree that the network infrastructure needs updating, and that updates cost money, but something about that argument just doesn’t hold enough water. Maybe I can comment on that in another post.
The discussion going on in the Ars Technica forums is worth a read, by the way.
Filed under: Mobility, net neutrality
