Internet Freedom Preservation Lives On

Again, sorry for the massive delay of this post. I know it's long overdue, but this week was really kind of crazy. This next week should be a lot more calm so hopefully I'll be able to make another post before the end of next week.

I've been working on my Net Neutrality video for my Contemporary Issues in CS class and it's been fun. I'm trying to get various viewpoints on net neutrality and expose the truth, my personal biases aside. A few people aren't talking on camera, so that kind of sucks, but I'd rather have a video where everyone wants to speak their mind than one where I have to pull people's arms. I actually totally forgot that censorship fell under the spectrum of what neutrality is trying to fight, and I'm reeling now to cover my bases on that end. Fortunately, How Stuff Works has a really great explanation of censorship in its many forms with tangents into net neutrality if you feel like your knowledge is deficient or could use a brush-up.

There is good news though: Congress introduced a bill earlier this week called the Internet Freedom Preservation Act that I really love: it seeks to protect the neutrality of the Internet not by regulating it but rather by empowering the FCC to investigate if companies are "blocking, thwarting, or unreasonably interfering" with consumers' consumption of online content. This could be worded a little better yet because it needs to allow them to block spam and child pornography and all that stuff, but you get the picture. Would such a provision protect illegal content? Probably not, but I'd rather live with that than tiered service and censored content. The bill additionally directs the FCC to hold several broadband summits with other countries to discuss the issues of consumer choice and protection and such with regard to broadband service. It's a really interesting bill that I think could do well if people mobilized and told their representatives to support it and maybe if it was polished up just a little bit so that it doesn't become an overbearing piece of regulation.

The House of Representatives has been really busy because another interesting bill, that was introduced recently and I even brought it up here, passed easily. It's called the College Opportunity and Affordability Act and one of its very strange provisions requires universities to provide legal alternative to P2P file sharing and that it implement network filtering. Obviously, all the IT departments are pretty pissed and have been about this issue for a while now. There's a very real fear that maybe if they don't comply they'll lose federal funding even though dealing with illegal downloading isn't their priority; providing a quality education is. You think the MPAA and/or RIAA had a hand in this? I wonder. What really upsets me about this provision isn't that it discourages stealing, I'm ok with that, but rather the fact that pushes this crap onto our universities. So basically, we don't care that this country is lagging behind in math and science graduates or that other countries, like India and China, are outpacing us in churning out really smart students but rather that our universities help out greedy labels and clueless studios in their quest to stamp out piracy. Since when did our commercial society get to the point where we value this junk over securing the future of this country. I mean come on, once these kids graduate it's not like they're going to keep pirating your nonsense if they can easily afford to just buy it. It's like burning Aladdin at the stake for stealing a loaf of bread for himself and his loveable monkey.

Anonymous has come out with yet another video:



I don't know if I talked about this back when I explained my fascination with Project Chanology, but they had a flyer on their site about gatherings in various cities on February 10 at Churches of Scientology in protest of them. I'm sure it was inspired by V for Vendetta, but that's alright because it was still a good idea. What amazes me is that people still refer to them as religious bigots. I saw someone's opinion in the local paper blasting these protesters as bigots, which is crazy because they keep emphasizing that it's the Church, not the beliefs, that they're attacking. It's no wonder that we elected George W. when people are this naive. There is proof of the Church's human rights violations and there's proof that they're the bigots in that they try to silence those who speak out against them. Not only that, but they're thieves by not paying proper taxes. Christian churches get tax breaks and, lo and behold, actually give food and clothing to the poor and conduct various services for the community. Yes, they still make money, and yes they're crazy powerful, but they don't take from the community without giving back and get tax-exempt status. Oh, did I mention people who have left the Church speaking out against the Church coercing people to work for them? You can get the big picture by watching The Bridge. I'm a big supporter of this cause, and I'm glad that they sound more focused and determined now than they did before. Oh, and Tom Cruise is crazy.

Bad news for HD-DVD: Wal-mart has decided that they're not going to be stocking up on HD-DVDs after June. Is this the nail in HD-DVD's coffin? I personally think so. Not that I'm an expert or anything, but this is a pretty big blow. Wal-mart is the world's largest corporation (by revenues) and is a huge player in selling music and movies. Couple that with Best Buy pushing Blu-ray and Netflix phasing out its selection of HD-DVD movies and you have an extremely steep battle for Toshiba. Is there any hope? I honestly don't think so. It would take something pretty miraculous for everyone to all of a sudden decide to give HD-DVD another shot. Does your mom ever admit she's wrong? Probably not, so it's not like Wal-mart is going to say "Whoops, let's start carrying HD-DVDs again" and all those studios that moved away from it also changing their minds. A format war is just bad for business, I think everyone just wants it to end sooner than later.

I know I haven't talked about the iPhone much in a while (I try to not pollute the Web with more buzz about how cool it is, even though it is rather nifty), but this is big. Gear Live has very reliable sources telling them that Flash support for the iPhone is in the very near future (I assume just a software update from iTunes), which makes sense so that it would coincide with the SDK release. It seems like what was holding it back was business negotiations, not power consumption issues, but it'd really help the iPhone if it had it, regardless.

Now for some odds and ends. Google developed Google Apps Team Edition so that company employees can collaborate with Google Apps without having to go through their IT department. I don't know/understand all the details, but it seems to me like this is kind of a security breach if people use this without their IT department knowing. These guys may be part of a bureaucracy, but it shouldn't suggest that they're useless. Six Revisions has an excellent article on using the Web Developer add-on in Firefox to bolster your web development efforts. I actually didn't realize all its advantages, I only wish that I didn't have issues using it on this computer. It'll probably work on the new computer I get in May. The last thing is this bulky list of open source alternatives to popular proprietary software. Some of the alternatives aren't so exciting, but applications like Gimp, Pidgin, and Miro (I just downloaded this one because it looks so freaking cool).

Interview with a Googler

Have any of my Seattle readers noticed this near Pike's Place Market?


I saw it on my way to work on Monday and have been wondering ever since where it came from. That little triangle has been empty since I got here, and seemingly overnight that sculpture appeared. I'm guessing that they want to plant a little garden there also because the dirt around it is really manure.

Google is like the wizard of Oz: every pretends to know how they operate but no one really knows because no one sees the wizard. However, a Microsoft employee got us as close as most of us are going to get: he interviewed a Microsoft employee who was a recent re-hire from Google. While things definitely sound nice there, he definitely acknowledged that it wasn't an ideal environment. Google kind of radically does away with private offices which follows the philosophy of openness and encouraged teamwork, but I definitely think there are certain people who need private offices and then there are also people who just work better with their own office. While I don't think a cube farm, I think that when you do have to do it you should do it like they do at Amazon: low walls, open spaces (not little faux-doorways). At a certain point though, you need higher walls and you need offices though to be more productive. The worst thing is that they do virtually no career planning. Wow. So you may just get a little more money, but never really a chance for managerial positions. Oh, and their managers seem to manage swarms of employees. That's stupid. I'm sorry, but that makes no sense. Again, I like Amazon's structure: 1PT or 2PT teams with managers and TPPMs, and this works really well. I feel well-supported, my manager is always involved with what we do through daily Scrum meetings, and since our team does sprints our projects are broken up into manageable pieces the end up getting planned out by month and divvied up quite well.

Ok, so I've turned this into a discussion about Amazon, but I just kind of wanted to compare what people perceive as a great place to work as opposed to a lower key workplace like Amazon that has some pretty interest techniques under the hood. It's just a perfect mixture of leaving you to do what you need to do to get your work done (including the ability to come in as late as 10AM) as well as guidance to stay on track and meet your requirements. I just love it. This interview makes it sound like Google has the relaxed atmosphere down, but not the focus, which would explain their plethora of products. Diversity is nice, but many of these products would benefit from better management of what customers would benefit from more and such. While this article is targeted at making Microsoft look better, I don't like the management structure of Microsoft. Too much middle-management. I only have three degrees of separation from SVP of E-Commerce Brian Valentine, who reports to Jeff B, which feels nice. It's comfortable but tight. Google isn't all bad though: free food, free snacks, health care on site, gym on site, barber on site, massages on site, free shirts, 20% projects (which you're fully responsible for, you don't get it if you don't use it), "Tech Spots" to service your hardware, laundry service, etc. Plus, you work with a lot of smart people and get a lot of freedom. Still, it sounds too much like a playground. I have fun at work without all those perks, and that's what I've come to realize is really important. Except for free food, those things really aren't a big deal as long as you love what you do, and I'm loving what I'm doing at Amazon and how I'm being led to do it.

On the bright side, Google Maps has unveiled a feature I've been clamoring for (unofficially) for a very long time: you can modify the routes it gives you. Your screen may glow when you use it for the same time by how awesome it is. I often wish I could modify just a couple of steps in my Google Map directions to see if it'll be shorter or faster, or when I give directions to people with Google Maps I'd like for them to take a shortcut or something but I couldn't until now. Kudos to you, Google!

The big boys of BitTorrent are encouraging supporters to start their own small sites so that it's harder for the MPAA and such to target torrents. The more decentralized it is, the worse their odds are, and the less successful they'll be. Unfortunately, I don't think people readily flock to do something like this, but I personally wish people would also. Not only for illegal content, but also for legal stuff. Why not a torrent site for stuff like video podcasts?

Supposedly, Steve Jobs is giving all his 17,000+ employees brand new iPhones. I know it sounds ludicrous, but he had a closed-doors event for employees only, which was leaked yesterday, and now this comes through as being the big news from the event. Jobs rarely holds such events, so it wouldn't be quite as crazy as it sounds, and he could afford to buy that many iPhones himself and still have a ridiculous amount of money. It would be a good reward for getting the iPhone out so fast and with minimal leakage, but it is unprecedented. I guess we'll know soon enough, he claimed they'll be given out at the end of July when public demand has been met a little. I have a feeling that'll get pushed back if this rumor is true.

The MPAA has come after Peekvid and YouTVPC which legitimize serving up television and other copyrighted video content by pointing to sites in other countries that host the media. The only reason the MPAA has some credence here is that these sites are running ads, which is a bad way to keep a site running in the grey area running. They should've just relied on donations. Now the MPAA may actually have a case, especially since they're actually profiting from copyrighted materials.

My Internet has decided to commit Seppuku, so I'm going to keep my movie news short. Yahoo has the trailer for The Hunting Party. Other than it having Richard Gere and Terrence Howard, I don't know anything about it.

I do know something about Knocked Up though, and Funny or Die has a deleted scene
from it that I wish I could see because that movie was awesome. I also can't see the Magnorium trailer, but it features Natalie Portman so I'm sure my male readership will appreciate it.

The Dark Knight has added to its roster a couple of new cast members for Lieutenant Gordon's family: his wife and son. I guess this is coming from Frank Miller's Year One, but it's been a really long time since I read that so I can't be sure.

And now for the 3x Thursday meme:

1. Are you one of those people who is constantly busy with projects, social outings, etc or do you just like to lay low and stay home? Why/why not?
I am, but that's why I do like to lay low on many weekend evenings. I spend so much of my week busy that I like to relax on a Friday night with my girl and/or with a few close friends.

2. Weather you're busy all the time or like to just chill, have you always been that way? How so/how not?
I definitely used to seek out adventure more in the form of frat parties and other assorted seedy college entertainment, but after a couple of years of that you get tired of it and prefer the company of those closest to you instead.

3. Is there something you'd like to change about how you spend your time? If so, what is it? If not, why not? How are things manageable for you?
I'd like to spend more time playing guitar, but I blog too damn much =P