Month: September 2005

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Jens of Sweden Rejects Copyright Charge

“Jens of Sweden, a company which produces mp3 players, is facing legal proceedings for after flatly refusing to pay a controversial ‘copying charge’ on its products.

“It’s not our problem that the record industry hasn’t come up with its own solution,” said the company’s owner, Jens Nylander. […] He said that there are several large companies which do not pay the charge, including Apple with its iPod, but Copyswede is only taking legal action against his company and one other.

The Local via /. via Juha

I’ve had my eye on Jens’ players because of their support for Ogg Vorbis. But in addition to that they also seem to have the balls to fight back when it comes to copyright tax issues. Go Jens!

I don’t know what they were doing when the cassette compensation was expanded to cover MP3 players in Sweden, but why haven’t any of the companies voiced their opinions here in Finland? I’d presume it’s much harder to fight the law in court than it is to fight it when it’s being crafted.

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USB for your car

“With digital music players becoming more ubiquitous, Volkswagen AG is offering a stereo component that lets motorists plug in all manner of portable digital players — not just iPods — and manage their tunes and podcasts on a dashboard display.”

CNN via /.

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Count to 31 on One Hand

“Forget your abacus? Lose your calculator? Every geek should know how to use binary to count to 31 on one hand. It won’t replace your slide rule, but it’s an attention-getter. If you’re familiar with binary you’ll pick it up quickly.”

glassgiant.com via TSOB

I categorized this as being a ‘hack’, considering this is an innovative application of using fingers as an aid to counting.

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Hacking's a snap in Legoland

“When Lego executives recently discovered that adult fans of the iconic plastic bricks had hacked one of the company’s new development tools for digital designers, they did a surprising thing: They cheered. […]

All it took was being open-minded enough to see that their biggest fans weren’t trying to rip them off; they were trying to improve Lego’s products in a way that, just maybe, the company’s own designers hadn’t thought of.”

News.com via Fark.com

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My brush with the FBI

“Perhaps, [colleagues and friends] suggested, the AHA was monitoring internet traffic at the conference, or maybe the FBI was keeping a watchful eye on Arabic cardiologists. One colleague even suggested that the FBI had mistaken “PLoS” for the PLO. “But in any case,” said one colleague, “when did it ever become a crime to look at a Palestinian website?””

BMJ

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SCEE Announces Recall of AC Adaptors sold with the slimline PlayStation 2

“Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) is providing new AC Adaptors free of charge to replace certain AC Adaptors that are supplied with the new black slimline [PlayStation 2]. To verify if you own an affected AC Adaptor you will need your [PlayStation 2] model number (located on the back of your console), your AC Adaptor code and AC Adaptor manufacturing date code (both located on your AC Adaptor).”

ps2ac.com via ITviikko via Juha

The instructions are available in many other European languages besides English (including Finnish).

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Google Earth threatens "democracy"

“The recent news that South Korea is to take the US to task over Google Earth images which expose its military installations to close Commie scrutiny has provoked a mini stampede of other peace-loving nations eager to protect their assets from prying eyes. Enter stage right Thailand, which says it may ask Google to “block images of important state buildings vulnerable to attack”.”

The Register via Fark.com