Friday, April 27, 2007

DRM is bad, m'kay?

Hit the link for a nice article in the Economist to remind people why DRM is dumb.

The short version: DRM doesn't work. Treating every customer as a criminal pisses us off, and is really stupid when the real pirates make short work of every DRM scheme ever created. A better plan is to do some digital watermarking so that you can trace the origin of said content so if your content shows up on YouTube or something like that, you can tell where it came from and know easily that it isn't authorized. This then allows people to buy your content safe in knowledge that if they want to use it on any of their devices, they can.

I have no problem paying for content. But I'm not paying for content that I can't watch where I want just because it is digital and not tied to a disc.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Just... why?

Please take a moment out of your day today to pause and say a prayer for those affected by the shooting at Virginia Tech. I went to school there, and had friends in the AJ dorm, as well as had several classes in the Norris building.

It is easy for me to imagine myself in the midst of that, and it is unnerving. And I'm in Seattle and several years removed from school - I can't imagine what it is like for people there right now.

So, please... just a moment of your time for a prayer, or simply a minute of silent reflection. Then, when you're done, resolve to not go quietly into the night as shit falls apart around us. Stand up and don't just demand answers - demand solutions. Don't let this fade from memory after the next big news story hits.