thomas fitzgerald.net

Good article from the BBC about the UK Police Force harassing innocent photographers.

… have to be the ones that are so convincing that, even though you know it has to be a joke, it’s believable enough that you still question whether or not it could be true. Like this one for example.

Greetings from Ireland on this our national holiday to who ever you are, wherever you are. Of course it’s not all that exciting really. There’ll be a Parade and then the entire country will get so drunk today that productivity at businesses across the isle will be down about 50% tomorrow, but hey, a holiday’s a holiday.

The BBC website has a fantastic article listing the top ten most common misconceptions used by skeptics of climate change and the arguments to counter them. A great informative and balanced read.

From BBC NEWS

Work time is the single most important lifestyle factor that impacts on sleep - the more hours you work the less sleep you get - research suggests.

I have to say I can completely vouch for this. I have suffered from insomnia on and off for as long as I can remember. Well, since I started working in the television and design industries. I have to wonder if the rate of sleeplessness is even higher in this field. I’d say Apple employees are a statistic onto themselves with regard to work related insomnia.

Fantastically funny article from the Guardian.

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates the Holiday.

Check this out. It’s a cool video of France’s TGV breaking the world speed on rails record.

Link

The story (which I commented on yesterday) about the EU’s case against iTunes and the Record labels has demonstrated both a frightening lack of journalistic professionalism on the part of several websites, but more so a shocking lack of understanding of Europe and an alarming level of anti-eu sentiment from people who simply have no idea of what the European government is or does. I will not attempt to tackle that, as I believe that a sustained period of misinformation brought on by apathy for world events and political posturing has led many everyday people (both outside the EU and many inside) to completely misunderstand the European Union, its laws and its citizens.

I think it has become a fundamental problem of the way news is reported on the internet. Someone reads a story, puts their own spin on it and posts it. Someone else reads that post, and posts based on that rather than checking back the original source. People scan through stories and headlines without taking the time to understand or fully read a story, and go on to comment on it even if the posting of the posting of the posting has become distorted from the original story. And the frightening thing is this all happens in a matter of hours.

But in a further attempt to clarify some of the issues over the whole iTunes case, here is a comment I posted to O’Reilly’s web site earlier (I am certainly not an expert in EU law or it’s treaties, but this is my best understanding of the matter):

“It is amazing how the internet has totally botched up this story. The EU doesn’t care one bit if Apple charges more in one country than another. What is it the heart of this issue, is restricting sales to individual countries, which is against EU law. As a by product of this, by forcing customers only to buy in the country of their residence and by charging more in one country they are preventing customers from seeking best price across the eu, which is also against EU law.

It shold be noted that certain “services” are currently exempt from this law, namely insurance and medical services, but these are currently under negociation.

It should also be noted that the European Comission is charged with enforcing the treaties upon which the EU is built, and this case falls under that remit, as it is existing laws that were broken.

It should also be noted that stores can refuse to ship to another region, but the can not refuse to sell. If the customer arraanges their own shipping they can not refuse to sell to them. As there is no shipping involved with the iTunes store this is not an issue

Once again, just to make this absolutely clear, the EU is NOT telling Apple they have to charge the same in every country, they are telling them they can’t force customers not to be able to seek the best price by restricting sales from other EU memeber states.

People who are not familiar with the EU need to think of it like this. When it comes to trade, the EU operates much like the US. Individual member “states” can set their own taxes etc, but you can not discriminate against someone living in a different state by refusing to sell to them (at least I presume this is the case in the states)

I read a comment elsewhere that “the free market would work in an ideal world but the EU should just leave apople alone.” Again, this is a lack of understanding of the EU. The EU has laws that supercede the laws of individual states, and free trade across borders is one of them. It is not an idea, or a theory, it is Law that has been signed by member states and is fundamental to the operation of the EU.”

(As an aside, I am trying my very best not to single out any individual nationality, but some of the comments make me want to scream back in anger. Im refraining. I don’t think it is right for any one from one country to tell an other that their own way of living and government is vastly superior to theirs and everyone else’s and that everyone else is just jealous. That’s where much of the hatred and anti (insert country here) feelings come from. I may not agree with the laws and customs of another country but I will respect them for what they are, and the people for who they are. I’m certainly not out to spark a “my country is better than your country” sparring match, but if you demand respect from everyone else, the least you can do is respect others in return)

Steve Jobs’ open letter, “Thoughts on Music” which appeared on Apple’s Hot News section of the company’s website has caused an earthquake in the news. What could pass for a blog entry has made headlines around the world, unprecedented in it’s openness from the normally tight lipped Apple. In the letter, a frank discussion of the issues of interoperability of digital music, Jobs mulls the potential options to satisfy those calling for Apple to open up iTunes and the iPod. His conclusion being that the best approach is to abandon DRM all together. A bold move from the world’s largest provider of DRM encoded content, and even more so a brilliant tactical move. With Apple facing pressure over iTunes in Europe and its contracts with the Record Labels up for re-negotiation, Steve Jobs has firmly put the ball back in the music industry’s court. But will it make any difference?

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The other day I was walking around the electronics section of a local department store, when I noticed these cool looking little lcd TVs shaped like animals. Nearby was a 8 year old boy with his parents who was drawn to the televisions commented to his parents how the screens looked like something Apple would make. I was taken aback somewhat at the comment from a young child, but I soon realised how pervasive Apple has become into our culture. The more I thought about it I began to realise just how stunning an achievement that is for a company that only a few years ago everyone had written off. But Apple hasn’t just rebounded; it has become an Icon of the twenty-first centaury. The iPod halo effect finally kicked-in in force this year but it had a surprising side effect. It didn’t just increase awareness of Apple’s computer products; it propelled the Apple brand to superstardom, in a way no other electronics company has ever achieved before.
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As always John Gruber can put it far more eloquently than I can….(from daring fireball.net)

from the “Oh, for god sake” files….

Officials at an elementary school south of Boston have banned kids from playing tag, touch football and any other unsupervised chase game during recess for fear they’ll get hurt and hold the school liable.

Recess is “a time when accidents can happen,” said Willett Elementary School Principal Gaylene Heppe, who approved the ban.

Cnn Story

The potential scary invasive uses of RFID technology continues with Airports considering Tagging passengers. It’s one of those things that sounds like a good idea until it is abused. How long before it becomes mandatory to carry RFID tagged id at other public places, like train stations? Isn’t being able to track everyone’s every movements going a bit too far?

Technorati Tags: RFID, Security, technology