“Kun tähän asti kuluttajille on myyty “omaa kaistaa”, voitaisiin asiakkaiden maksuhalukkuuden mukaan priorisoitavalla verkonjaon tekniikalla jopa satakertaistaa liittymien nimellisnopeudet ja pudottaa silti hintoja, [Tampereella toimivalla] Staselogilla uskotaan. [… Esimerkiksi] p2p- ja voip-liikenne voidaan sallia, kunhan asiakas maksaa käyttämästään nopeammasta kaistasta.”
Ääkköset tulevat verkkotunnuksiin
“Kansalliset merkit (å, ä ja ö) otetaan käyttöön Internetin fi-päätteisissä verkkotunnuksissa syyskuun alusta.”
[sarkasmia] Entä koskahan ne skandit saadaan toimimaan YLEn RSS:ssä? [/sarkasmia]
World, say Hello to OpenWengo!
“Free calls are good, but free software is better. How about both? Wengo is proud to bring you the best open-source VoIP softphone, and the quality SIP service that plays nice with it. Wengo is a European company backed by a major telecom player, totally commited to providing you with the most open platform for IP telephony, video conferencing, and more.”
BBC plans to put channels on net
“A simulcast of BBC One or BBC Two, letting UK viewers see programmes on the web at the same time as they go out on TV, is being planned. […] A player to let viewers watch shows on the internet for a week after they have been broadcast on TV is in development. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, [director of TV Jana Bennett] said she hoped to simulcast a channel within the next year. “It’s a great way of getting public service content, which people have already paid for, out to people in a different way,” she said.”
BBC
some links added
Google Talk Beta now available
Soneran sähköposti korjattu
“Sonera ilmoitti korjanneensa sähköpostinsa ongelmat. Vika alkoi [varhain] aamulla, ja liikenne palautui normaaliksi kello 13:40. Vika koski koko Suomen aluetta ja ilmeni siten, ettei sähköpostiin kirjautuminen onnistunut, eivätkä käyttäjät voineet sisäänkirjautua Soneran sähköpostipalveluun. Edelleen kuitenkin Soneran datayhteyksiä on poikki Itä-Suomen alueella.”
UK ISP deal with Sony-BMG allows subscribers to share their music
“UK ISP Secures License to Share” by Anthony Patarini:
Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing claims (don’t worry, we believe him) that MSP, a new British ISP, “has secured a license from Sony that allows its customers to legally share any song in the Sony-BMG catalog with any other PlayLouder MSP customer, and to download these tracks from any ISP customer in the entire world.”
Apparently, PlayLouder MSP DSL costs about the same as other DSL offerings in the UK, but subscribers will gain the ability to legally download any music which Sony-BMG holds the copyright to (including “out of print” tracks), to share any of that music with other PlayLouder MSP subscribers, to do so using any file format at any bitrate and using any software. The music can originate from anywhere – P2P, CD, radio recording, etc. MSP is also in talks with several indy labels in an effort negotiate the same deal with them as well.
The system does have its drawbacks, however. As you’ve read, subscribers can only share with other subscribers, and on top of that MSP will be analyzing traffic to try to determine how many Sony-BMG songs are being shared (though this is, according to MSP, only to determine how much they must pay Sony-BMG). Using this technology, they will be actively blocking recognized songs from leaving their network, while allowing unrecognized files to flow like normal.
Although this setup isn’t perfect, it’s certainly the “best thing to happen to the copyfight” in a long time. As Cory points out, this is a lot like the Voluntary Collective Licensing system the EFF has been working towards for years. I personally don’t think that you should need a license to share music non-commercially, so I don’t think that this type of system should even be necessary, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. Hopefully we’ll be seeing many more deals like this in the future.
For those interested, PlayLouder MSP is set to launch at the end of September.
Free Culture blog
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
morgueFile: where photo reference lives
“This morgue file contains free high resolution digital stock photography for either corporate or public use.”
“Are the images really free?
Yes, all images are really free and they can be used in your commercial projects without permission or credit from the [photographer]. Although selling prints, selling the images directly or claiming the photo is yours is prohibited.”
Online librarian is 'overwhelmed'
“The My Book Your Book website does not go live until Monday evening, but has already received 750 applications. […] The website asks its members to add a list of 10 books they own to its online catalogue. The listed books can then be exchanged between members for the cost of postage and packing.”
BBC
some links added
"EU online music deal closer"
“Anyone interested in offering paid-for downloads currently has to deal with 16 different licensing bodies in the EU. […] Proposals for an EU-wide licensing system for online music were first put forward by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body. The Commission has threatened to sue the music industry on competition grounds if national bodies did not change the way they enforced online copyright restrictions. […] Now the Dutch music copyright agency BUMA, and the Belgian agency SABAM, have said that they will not enforce the so-called “economic residency” clause in the case of online music.”