- The layout is now fluid, which means that it should occupy the entire screen. Try resizing your browser window to see how the layout is affected.
- I've also changed the colours to a standard black and white to make it easier to read.
- Link colours are back to default - blue for unvisited links and red for visited links.
- The page structure and CSS layout has been made way simpler. If you did view source on the previous version and on this version, you would see the difference.
- The layout is specified in percentages of the font size, so if the font size is higher, the margins etc will be more and so on. For those running high resolution displays: Try increasing the font size to make it more readable (ctrl + in Firefox). For those on super low res displays, you can reduce the font size. If my calculation is correct, the layout should still be propotional even with the changed font size. I'm planning to add in some Javascript + CSS later that will allow you to click a button to change the font size.
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Sunday, January 30, 2005
New template
I've made some changes to the template.
Blog template
I'm looking at changing the site layout. I will probably keep the colours, but I want to get rid of all the blank space on the sides. At the same time, it should be flexible so that the layout is not hardwired to a particular screen resolution. If you have any ideas, post them in the comments.
Podcasting: Digital pirate radio
Podcasting. After months of waiting and looking and waiting some more [mainly because of the firewall at work], I've finally decided to listen to podcasting.
Podcasting is the pirate radio of the digital age and are to radio what blogs are to journalism. It is actually nothing more than using RSS to deliver MP3 files to your subscribers. But it wouldn't be half as cool if that's all it did. Podcasting software like iPodder not only download the RSS feed, but dowload the enclosed MP3 files and automatically transfer them to your iPod (or any other player). So you dump your iPod to your PC at night, set iPodder to download feeds while you sleep, and when you wake the next day the latest files are sitting on your iPod, ready to be listened to during your commute to work.
Podcasting is the pirate radio of the digital age and are to radio what blogs are to journalism. It is actually nothing more than using RSS to deliver MP3 files to your subscribers. But it wouldn't be half as cool if that's all it did. Podcasting software like iPodder not only download the RSS feed, but dowload the enclosed MP3 files and automatically transfer them to your iPod (or any other player). So you dump your iPod to your PC at night, set iPodder to download feeds while you sleep, and when you wake the next day the latest files are sitting on your iPod, ready to be listened to during your commute to work.
Friday, January 28, 2005
The VW ad spoof
via Gapingvoid: Jeff writes about the spoofed VW ad.
The ad shows a suicide bomber in a VW who tries to explode himself, but nothing happens to the car, followed by the tagline "Small but tough". VW is threatening to sue for the damage caused to them.
Hugh, of gapingvoid, talks more about the changing dynamic of advertising in The Hughtrain, which in turn is based on The Cluetrain Manifesto.
You are no longer in control of your message, advertisers. You can fight it or you can embrace it.
Learn the lesson from the music industry. They fought. They lost. Big media is trying to learn that lesson now. TV is trying to learn that lesson. Your turn, advertisers.
The ad shows a suicide bomber in a VW who tries to explode himself, but nothing happens to the car, followed by the tagline "Small but tough". VW is threatening to sue for the damage caused to them.
Hugh, of gapingvoid, talks more about the changing dynamic of advertising in The Hughtrain, which in turn is based on The Cluetrain Manifesto.
Copying music onto iPods
I just came across this comment on Dilip's blog. She brings up an excellent point. There are many people who would never copy in an exam or plagiarise their academic thesis, but have no qualms about copying copyrighted music onto their iPods. Why?
This is an interesting question, and worth a much more detailed reply. The difference lies in the evolution of online culture compared to offline culture. The Internet has historically been a medium for the open distribution of information. Most Internet users have been brought up in such a community, and thus most Internet users show a distinct leftist bias (at least as far as IP is concerned) in their views.
The general view has been that once you buy a CD, it is yours to do whatever you want with it. If you want to copy it and distribute it for free, then that's your choice. In reality, you don't buy a copy of the song, only a license to use it for personal use, and under the license, copying and distributing is illegal.
There has been a lot of controversy regarding these licenses. After all, you never sign one when buying a music CD, and even licenses for software products have been mired in all sorts of controversy regarding their legality. It surprises a lot of people when they realise that they don't actually "own" the music CD or software that they bought. Software EULAs in particular add all sorts of absurd conditions in legal jargon that no one has a hope of understanding. Many are surprised to hear that common license agreements prohibit resale of the software, even if you paid for an original copy. Music CD's are even worse, with most people never even seeing the license which is printed in fine print in some corner of the CD or cover.
Intellectual property evolved in the 18th century out of a need to give creators limited monopoly over their creations in order to spur creativity. The reasoning is that if creators have no incentive to create, society as a whole would be poorer for it. The concept is to promote creativity in society, and protecting the rights of the creator is the means to do this, not the goal.
Today, IP is being used (abused?) to squash other creators, and is therefore not serving its original purpose - indeed hindering the purpose - of promoting creativity in society. This is the root cause, the reason why many people are against current IP laws. They feel that they are unfair, and no longer serve their original purpose. They are against organisations like the MPAA and RIAA that seek to use IP solely to enhance their bottom line. They feel that the laws are too restrictive and must be modified or an alternative found (Some are promoting creative commons, which is much less restrictive than all rights reserved, but still protects the creator, as the alternative).
Prominent online blogs and personalities are encouraging people to copy music and movies. They promote the view that if you bought it, then it ought to be yours and you should be allowed to do what you want with it. The unfortunate thing is that many users nowdays don't really realise all this. They just see their friends do it and think that it must be okay. Oh well.
Some references -
This is an interesting question, and worth a much more detailed reply. The difference lies in the evolution of online culture compared to offline culture. The Internet has historically been a medium for the open distribution of information. Most Internet users have been brought up in such a community, and thus most Internet users show a distinct leftist bias (at least as far as IP is concerned) in their views.
The general view has been that once you buy a CD, it is yours to do whatever you want with it. If you want to copy it and distribute it for free, then that's your choice. In reality, you don't buy a copy of the song, only a license to use it for personal use, and under the license, copying and distributing is illegal.
There has been a lot of controversy regarding these licenses. After all, you never sign one when buying a music CD, and even licenses for software products have been mired in all sorts of controversy regarding their legality. It surprises a lot of people when they realise that they don't actually "own" the music CD or software that they bought. Software EULAs in particular add all sorts of absurd conditions in legal jargon that no one has a hope of understanding. Many are surprised to hear that common license agreements prohibit resale of the software, even if you paid for an original copy. Music CD's are even worse, with most people never even seeing the license which is printed in fine print in some corner of the CD or cover.
Intellectual property evolved in the 18th century out of a need to give creators limited monopoly over their creations in order to spur creativity. The reasoning is that if creators have no incentive to create, society as a whole would be poorer for it. The concept is to promote creativity in society, and protecting the rights of the creator is the means to do this, not the goal.
Today, IP is being used (abused?) to squash other creators, and is therefore not serving its original purpose - indeed hindering the purpose - of promoting creativity in society. This is the root cause, the reason why many people are against current IP laws. They feel that they are unfair, and no longer serve their original purpose. They are against organisations like the MPAA and RIAA that seek to use IP solely to enhance their bottom line. They feel that the laws are too restrictive and must be modified or an alternative found (Some are promoting creative commons, which is much less restrictive than all rights reserved, but still protects the creator, as the alternative).
Prominent online blogs and personalities are encouraging people to copy music and movies. They promote the view that if you bought it, then it ought to be yours and you should be allowed to do what you want with it. The unfortunate thing is that many users nowdays don't really realise all this. They just see their friends do it and think that it must be okay. Oh well.
Some references -
- Larry Lessig is a prominent IP professor and lawyer at Stanford Law School, and he is the creator of the Creative Commons. He has written numerous books on these topics.
- The November 2004 copy of the prominent WIRED magazine is titled "Fight for your right to copy". A free online copy is available here.
- The Slashdot - Your rights online section is extremely widely read.
- The Electronic Freedom Foundation is a huge, well funded non-profit for the protection of digital rights.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Funny Mappoint bug
via Scoble: Want to know how to go from Haugesund, Norway to Trondheim, Norway? Mappoint shows you how
Dave Winer points to a post by John Robb that explains a common fallacy promoted by the press. Quoting,
I am nonplused by the language, "fierce attacks in Iraq occurred in the run-up to the elections." This implies that fierce attacks will end with the elections or that the elections are the primary cause of the violence. The trend lines belie this. Only the targets have changed and not the volume, ferocity, or sophistication of the attacks.
Phew
My blogroll is up to a hundred feeds now. I've now removed the blogroll listing from the sidebar on the right, and replaced it with a link which goes to the complete listing at bloglines.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Google browser speculation starts again
Ben Goodger, Lead Engineer for Firefox announced that he is leaving Mozilla and joining Google. Speculation has started once more on Google's intentions to build a browser.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Committees
via Scoble's linkblog:"Committees don't have vision. Committees have meetings"
That's funny, only because we all know that it's so true. The rest of the post is pretty good too.
That's funny, only because we all know that it's so true. The rest of the post is pretty good too.
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