Musical Patents

News is kinda slow today, so I figured I'd just briefly talk about a couple of related patents, one from Microsoft and one from Apple. The Microsoft one is to pay their users for "squirting" music. Ok, first of all, that is the stupidest technical term I've heard. It's what Microsoft is calling sharing music with your friends via your Zune. Were they high off their minds? Anyway, basically you could buy the music your friend has without involving the Microsoft servers, and the "squirter" would sync later with the server to report the purchase and get credit for it. It's not a bad idea, per se, but flawed in execution. How can you tell pirated from legal? Maybe it's simple, but I don't know how PlaysForSure is implemented. More importantly though, where's the demand for this? Apple is filing a much better patent, in my opinion: they're doing something similar to Zune with regarding other wireless devices with the iPod, but you can also buy music from a server in the patent. That's a better idea, really. Why do I want to buy music from my friend when iTunes has most everything I'd want already and doesn't have to be physically in front of me?

Internet radio is saved, for now. SoundExchange will not be collecting on the new rate hikes yet and are instead going to continue negotiating with online radio. I don't know why they're so hellbent on this. Why not just budge? Everyone hates them for doing this to internet radio, which clearly has a big audience for it to elicit such a response.

If you ever need to store files online, here are some free alternatives. Very handy for getting large files to friends since most major online e-mail services have caps on attachments.

Now for some one-liners. Now you can get more smileys in Pidgin. Actually, they're the ones in Yahoo/MSN, but still cool. Also, there's a new version of uTorrent out that supports Vista and is full of other little usability fixes.

I'm too tired right now to talk more about this, but ever wonder what happens to programming languages that don't make the cut? Well, you can read all about it here. Though I disagree about Haskell, it still has great academic value.

None of the movie news is really interesting, so here's Friday's Feast:

Appetizer
What is your favorite fruit?
Probably bananas for their versatility. They're easy to carry, great with peanut butter, pivotal to the banana split, fun with nuts when baked in bread, and the list goes on.

Soup
Who is someone you consider as a great role model?
My father, definitely. He's the embodiment of what it means to be a man: puts family first, good work ethic, talented, confident, etc.

Salad
If you were to spend one night anywhere within an hour of your home, where would you choose?
Considering home as Austin, I plead the fifth =P Those who know me best should know, anyhow.

Main Course
Name something you do too often.
Blog? =P I guess drink tea. I drink like two cups a day.

Dessert
Fill in the blank: I really like ___________ because ____________.
my girlfriend / she's sweet, kind, encouraging, beautiful, and smart =D

Yep, I'm pretty lucky! Have a good weekend everyone!