Rant

The Internet Knows No Borders

Wayne Hartman — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:02:32 GMT

One of the underpinning tenants of the Internet is the concept of self-healing, world wide access. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, as long as you're connected to the 'Net, you're connected to everything else. The Internet knows no borders, political boundaries, or frontiers. Once you are plugged in, the world is at your fingertips. Unless you live in China. Or the United States--what?

One of the things I find goofy about content producers is the idea of U.S. only content. You can go to Hulu, MySpace Music, and Pandora to listen to free, ad supported movies, TV shows, and music, but only if you happen to be geographically located within great U.S. of A. And why is that? Is it because shows that end up on Hulu usually aren't seen until weeks or months later in international cities? Is it because the ad targeting is geared towards an American audience, thus making ad campaigns pointless?

It's hard to say, really, but to me it speaks volumes about how the MPAA/RIAA don't understand the digital age. They don't understand what it means to make a true transition and embrace the concept of how content wants to be free from the restrictive controls that they try to set.

In response to such backward thinking, several free products have appeared such as AlwaysVPN, a mechanism that allows users in foreign countries to fool these websites into thinking that that users are located on American soil. It's interesting to note that this organization supports itself on ads as well, but I have a sneaking suspicion (if they're as smart as they seem) that ads presented would be relevant to the location that you're connecting from, taking advantage of revenue earning potential that content providers seem to be missing out on.

Even still, though, it is very apparent that while making sites like Hulu and MySpace Music available for 'free' consumption seems to be a step in the right direction, the content providers still have a lot to learn about how to cast the widest net possible for generating revenue.

So in the end, content producers, free your content, come up with a model that works well for you and your consumers, and please, let me know what ads you'll be showing me if I surf from Antarctica.

My 2009-2012 Tech Wish List

Wayne Hartman — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:07:06 GMT

Christmas is almost here, but with last nights election I have a nice little technology wish list for the next administration.

Net Neutrality

The concept of Net neutrality spans the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should give traffic neutral passage regardless of protocol and source/destination. What this means is that people shouldn’t have to pay more to get the same speeds from (or even access to) Disney.com and say, Joe’s Gadget Shack. It also means that whether I’m surfing the ‘Net, checking my email, uploading photos to Flickr, or playing a video game with some friends, that data should not be filtered or slowed based upon what I am doing at the time.

I’m looking for Obama to quash the hopes of ISPs to create a tiered Internet where one may have to pay more to reach ‘premium sites’ or content. This is a bad idea for everyone because the mainstays of the Internet are based upon a platform with a level playing field where you have just as much a right to get to ESPN.com as you do to read this post on my site.

Copyright

For the past ten years, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) has been the lawyers delight in beating people over the head for ‘copyright infringement’. From DVDs to music, the DMCA has provisions in there that explicitly prohibit the circumvention of anti-copy protection schemes in an effort to criminalize piracy of digital content. Where the law goes too far is that there isn’t any provision in there that allows for duplication for legitimate archival purposes.

DVDs don’t lend themselves to withstanding much abuse, and a five to twenty dollar price tag per disc makes the media pricey if you have kids putting their peanut butter covered hands all over them. The reality of the situation is that many people do this (software to do this has been around for quite a long time) but any commercial venture to attempt to capitalize on it has found itself vaporized by DMCA wielding lawyers. Let’s get over the fact that people aren’t inherently criminal and are only trying to protect their media investment.

Universal Broadband

To be clear, Internet access is a privilege and an opportunity, not a right, but the U.S. severely lacks a clear broadband strategy for not just getting access to all those who desire it, but increasing bandwidth to existing users as well. Billions have been poured into the usual telcos and ISPs as a stimulus to innovate and expand offerings, but it seems the service has not scaled to the amount of funding provided.

I’m not calling for a government sponsored ISP, but a certain degree of regulation to promote alternatives and ‘openness’ in our digital destiny. This has some tenuous ties to net neutrality, mentioned above, but this has more to do with legislation to provide an even playing field that doesn’t favor existing broadband networks. The recent C Block spectrum auction earlier this year is evidence that rules and legislation can have a positive influence on how our digital assets are used amongst the masses, but more need be done to encourage things such as municipal networks to compete with the ‘good ol’ boys’ of traditional network service.

So for the next four years, this is what I (and I think a lot of Americans) would like to see on the forefront of the next administration’s tech policy. We’ll see how it goes.

President Obama

Wayne Hartman — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 04:23:45 GMT

Whether you voted for the guy or not, one cannot deny the magnitude of Barack Obama's clinching of the U.S. Presidency. Numbers are still yet to come in, but this election has seen a level of participation from a large cross-section of our nation, showing America's concern for it's future, both home and abroad. While the tea leaves aren't revealing much about what the future holds, one can see that we have chosen to go down a different path than we have been going for the past eight years. Early results are also showing that the Democratic party has accrued a substantial amount of seats in the Senate, though it is still in doubt whether they will gather the sixty total seats necessary to have a super-majority in that house of the Congress.

It will be interesting in Obama's freshman year to see the challenges that confront him, how he'll deal with them, and how the public will react. We have a unique moment in history in which we will be asked what it was like when the first African American president was elected, to which we'll reply that it was exciting and uncertain. Exciting because it seems that we have grown from our bigoted and biased past, but uncertain, not because he's black, but because of the economic and foreign calamities and troubles that have been layed before us.

Obama, I'm looking to you to guide us through these disturbing times.

I Think FedEx Wants My Business...

Wayne Hartman — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 03:05:00 GMT

I've gotten a few goofy emails lately, but today I got one that really made me laugh. This one's from FedEx. I highlighted the areas that made me laugh the most.

From my experience with outbound shipping at my current employer, DHL has been pretty lousy, but I didn't know FedEx would ever make such a bold move to poach customers. What's particularly interesting, is that I have never received any unsolicited emails from FedEx in the past.

Steve Jobs: 'Blu-Ray Is Just A Bag Of Hurt'

Wayne Hartman — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:42:23 GMT

The real kicker in Apple's notebook announcements wasn't the release of their new manufacturing process, MacBook upgrades, or glass multi-touch trackpads, but Steve Jobs' response to a question on why the new additions didn't include options for a Blu-Ray player:

"Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It's great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace."

Phil Schiller chimed in immediately after Steve saying, "We have the best HD movie and TV options in iTunes." Ouch. In other words, Stevo isn't convinced that a plastic disc is in Apple's digital future, it's costly to implement, and this far into its nascent market emergence, it isn't worth putting in their laptops. This isn't much of surprise considering consumers seem to be clinging to the popularity and ubiquity of DVDs.

My Ode To Doctors

Wayne Hartman — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:55:00 GMT

I hate doctors. Even more than lawyers. Yes, they are way worse.

In a doctors office, you are stuck sitting amongst the sickly of society. You have no idea who they are, what the have-- could it get me sick?!

I don't know of any service that when you make an appointment, you could be stuck waiting for a very long time. It's not like taking your car to the shop. At least there you can drop it off and go do things. Doctors don't acknowledge you, don't respect you enough to keep the magazines stocked and updated, and if you are late, you literally have to pay for it. How about paying me if they don't start my appointment on time?

Those annoyances aside, the thing that kills me the most is how little doctors really know and understand our bodies and the diseases that afflict them. They can guess and have limited ability to troubleshoot, but in the end they haven't a clue about the things that ale us. Which is fine, because let's face it, our organism is one of the most complex and specialized structures we know of. It's just galling that doctors give off this air of authority and knowledge, exerting great care to make sure the perception of wisdom cloaks the truth of anatomical ignorance.

I guess more than anything, I would be satisfied if my doctor would just admit his lack of true knowledge, confess that he really doesn't know--then I would be satisfied and placated that the enormous and exorbitant amounts of money spent on snake oil was indeed misspent and mistrusted on a so called 'health care provider'.

At least with the lawyer, the premise of uncertainty of outcome is firmly established.

Be Careful To Whom You Send Email

Wayne Hartman — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 06:20:27 GMT

Sometimes the best joys in life are the ones that happen totally at random. In this case, I received an email from someone who thought they were sending a mail to Wayne Hartman. Just not this Wayne Hartman. Ben says (leaving all poor grammar and spelling intact):

Well my girlfriends name is Taylor Poling she a year younger than me and she around 5 months. Since all that happened i didnt end up going to MU just going to missouri western in st joe, when she gets done with high school we have talked about moving to columbia or kansas city so i can get a fully accredited degree in business.

I was a waiter at this chineese retaurant for about a month but the lady that ran it was crazy and in my ear all the time so i left, we were never that busy so i didnt make that much money. Their system was kinda behind times also.

I love poker, i used to play all the time with my friends and take all their money and i play on pokerstas occasionally, but ive never played as high stakes as you have. Travis is it? told dad you were winning a lot in vegas.

Much love,
Ben

Five month old girlfriends, Chineese [sic] restaurants, and poker. Sounds exciting! I'm just disappointed he left out any juice! Well, goes to show that there is more than one Wayne Hartman in this world. Too bad he didn't check to make sure he was sending it to the right one.

How To Kill A Brand, Apple Style

Wayne Hartman — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:34:28 GMT

When I think of Apple, one of the first things that comes to mind is good, quality products. Expensive, but nice. The experience I get when I go to the Apple Store is top notch and I have a feeling that a lot of people feel the same way—until now.

I’m seeing a disturbing trend lately where Apple seems to be slipping quite a bit on the quality side—not necessarily with hardware—but with their software. It seems that with the latest iteration of the iPhone, it has been plagued by software bugs and defects that really detract from the whole Apple experience. Apple’s latest flub involves the release of its latest version of the iTunes software which is causing Windows Vista machines to BSOD. As much as I dislike Vista, you still have to play nice.

Not a big surprise really, considering how fast Apple has been moving with their iPod and Mac lines, but one has cause to wonder when they’re going to catch up and provide stable products. One of the mainstays of a successful business is maintaining and improving your brand image. When you do things that detract from that brand, you create opportunities for competitors to move and capture a slice of your market—not that Apple ought to be worried from the likes of the Zune, but it’s the small (and large) things like bad 3G connectivity, apps crashing, and getting your email wiped out that really take a detrimental toll on that brand that ought to give you pause.

I think the big issue here is that Apple is really expanding, meaning that these are just growing pains that Apple is going through. Microsoft has taken a big hit (the bad kind) with its release of Vista, giving Apple an opportunity to cut into the computer market with its diverse array of integrated products. In the end I think Apple will pull itself out of its funk, but let this be a lesson to us all: if you grow too much, too quick, there are going to be some painful times.

Why The Zune Fails To Impress

Wayne Hartman — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:22:08 GMT

Microsoft revealed its new Zune music player this past week without the fanfare that Apple generated with its new iPod line. One really has to ask why Zune isn't nearly as successful as the iPod. The answer isn't really one thing.

First of all, the Zune's design isn't that appealing. Microsoft opted to give the Zune a more boxy appearance with sharp corners. The colors weren't that inspiring, either with plan black,white, and a drab brown model. Apple, on the other hand, went with more a eclectic selection of interesting neon colors with their Nano line, for instance.

Which leads us to another problem: lack of product variation. The iPod line has something for everyone with cheap Shuffles that hold a couple GB of storage, to 160GB iPod Classic, to a fully functional phone/iPod/gaming device. The Zune prefers a one-size-fits-all-take-it-or-leave-it approach. People like choice--give it to 'em.

Finally, there's iTunes itself and the software to sync the iPod itself. The Zune has no such cross-platform equivalent. You're stuck with Windows Media Player, meaning this is a Windows only game. It's limiting and insulting at the same time. Also, with the advent of the Apple App Store, users can purchase or even code up software to run on their device!

Also worth mentioning is this: It's very telling when a whole community lines up to hack the iPod to pieces, but one with the same zeal doesn't really exist for the Zune.

So what is Microsoft to do? Good question. First off, they need their software to be cross-platform. Microsoft is notorious for not doing this, but it was the iPod's saving grace.

Next, they need a product line that has something not only at the right price point, but provides a set of functionality/utility for varying audiences. Think Shuffle vs. iPhone. Not everyone needs or wants a bulky, touch screen player, maybe a matchbox-sized device with play button is good enough.

Lastly, Microsoft needs to outsource their product design department. I can't remember the last time I bought a Microsoft product and thought, 'wow, this makes me look good'. Apple seems to have proved itself in that regard time and time again--wait, what was up with the fat Nano design???

Anyway, to wrap things up, some might think I've taken a turn for the worse on Apple-fanboyism, so just to prove ya wrong, they're getting the smack down later this week.

Spore: DRM Backlash

Wayne Hartman — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 17:34:56 GMT

C|Net News has an interesting blog post highlighting Spore from EA Games. This game has been in the works for a couple of years now and its unique gameplay and concept have stoked the fires of anticipation for some time. However, one of the biggest things to come out with its release has not been its intriguing gameplay, but the strategies used to curb piracy. Spore uses a anti-copy protection scheme called SecuROM, which is considered by some to be much more than just an anti-copy protection scheme, but system subversive malware.

The controversy seems to seems to revolve around EA's activation scheme that only let's you install the game a total of three times. If your computer hard drive crashes, you reinstall Windows, you remove the game because you don't want to play it anymore--all legitimate activities on your computer-- don't matter because EA doesn't want people to pirate it. If you take a gander to the Pirate Bay, you can see that the numbers are quite substantive and send a very clear message: Consumers don't like DRM. At the time of this publication there were over 6000 seeders and nearly 20,000 leechers actively downloading a torrent of the cracked version of the full game. C|Net points at estimates that the game has been illegally downloaded nearly half a million times!

It seems that backlash seems to be making a very pointed comment on the state of DRM and anti-piracy efforts: the more you push honest people with malware-like software to keep them in check, the more you are going to drive them to do dishonest things. DRM only hurts, or is an inconvenience, to those who want to pay for creative works. The pirates will always find a way to do defeat and circumvent control mechanisms. But, as Princess Leia succinctly put: "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."