The author of ATSC capture and edit tool has announced that he is attempting to revoke the licensing of his product under the GPL General Public License. Unfortunately it appears that the GPL does not allow this particular action. Of course in this heyday of lawyers and trigger happy litigators who can tell. What successes have others had in trying to take something they once operated under the GPL and make it private? And the more pressing question, why?

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gnick writes to mention Wired is reporting that an Illinois startup is claiming they can make ethanol from most any organic material for around $1/gallon. Coskata, backed by General Motors and several other investors, uses a process that is bacteria based instead of some of the other available methods. The bacteria processes organic material that is fed into the reactor and secretes ethanol as a waste product.

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Back in October, we wrote about a law firm that was claiming a copyright on the cease-and-desist letters it sent out, and insisting that it was a violation to repost them. It's long been believed that cease-and-desist letters that have no new creative expression and are merely boilerplates are likely not covered by copyright. On top of that, preventing someone from copying a cease-and-desist letter or posting it on their own website seems like a pretty severe First Amendment violation. The group Public Citizen hit back against this law firm's claims, but surprisingly, a judge has now agreed that you can copyright cease-and-desist letters (thanks to Eric Goldman for emailing over the link). The news was announced in a press release by the lawyer in question, who claims this means he can now sue anytime someone posts one of his cease-and-desist letters. He also goes on to slam those who believe free speech means being able to talk about the fact that a company is bullying them:

"The publication of cease and desist letters is an easy way for scofflaws to generate online 'mobosphere' support for illegal activity and, until today, many businesses have been hesitant to take action to address some of the lawlessness online because of possible retaliation and attacks."

To which I would respond: "The copyrighting of cease-and-desist letters is an easy way for law firms to bully small companies who have committed no wrong, but who have no real recourse to fight back against an attempt to shut them up via legal threat. Until today, many companies who were being unfairly attacked by companies and law firms misusing cease-and-desist letters to prevent opinions from being stated, had a reasonable recourse to such attacks, and could draw attention to law firms that used such bullying tactics to mute any criticism." This is an unfortunate ruling and can only serve to create a serious chilling effect on free speech.

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Adam "Ape Lad" Koford's Laugh-Out-Loud Cats are now available in book form. "I'm selling signed and drawn in copies on my blog, or unsigned and undrawn in copies via Lulu," says the author/illustrator. Link.

Recently and related posts on BB:

* BBtv - Ape Lad: The True Hollywood Story of Aloysius Koford
* BBtv -- Laugh Out Loud Cats: The True History

There’s nothing quite like an Apple product launch to bring out every arm-chair profiler to describe exactly what kind of people are lining up to buy.

From the treasure trove of Engadget’s comments sections come these astute piece of analysis on who’s going to buy the new MacBook Air:

It is a laptop for apple fans and people who rely on material goods to demonstrate their worth to other people.

This seems to be an incredibly useless laptop that really only has a market among the yuppies and Mac sycophants with cash to waste on an underpowered, 1-USB port, overpriced toy that in the end just looks pretty and nothing else.

It is primarily going to be purchased by people with too much time / money to do a little independant thinking (read: Starbucks junkies, college students with allowances from the parents, fashionistas, etc.).

I know full well what people i will see with this laptop and they aint the sort of people i get along with. Pricks basicly.

Expected delivery: February 11th. Can’t wait to join the rest of the sycophantic yuppies down at Starbucks where we can flaunt our lack of independent thinking and worth through choice of computer. Awesome.

Network World has written up a somewhat interesting article speculating on what the world would be like if the Internet was taken away somehow, asking various "futurists" what the ramifications would be. Fortunately, most of the respondents don't see such a thing happening -- unless a major catastrophic disaster occurred in which losing the Internet would be the least of our worries. But from there, they go on to predict the failure of web-based businesses such as eBay, Google and then just about any business that processes credit cards in a modern way. The futurists also discuss how society has become dependent on offshoots of the Internet, citing examples such as people's addiction to email, online dating and MMORPGs.

None of the predictions are particularly surprising, but the story does bring up the question of how vital the Internet is (or isn't, depending on your point of view). A couple examples come to mind where the Internet has been shut down temporarily. In mid-2007, the tactics of cyberwarfare were demonstrated against Estonia. After those cyberattacks, though, attention focused more on who was responsible rather than on the damage, since the actual effects to the country were pretty minor given that the interruptions only lasted a few hours, and not days or weeks. Closer to home, there was the 2003 power outage in the Northeast -- but that was electricity, not just the Internet. So based on these examples, it seems like the Internet isn't quite as important as water, gas or electricity, but perhaps it could be gaining on the power grid. Additionally, it's reassuring to know that futurists aren't projecting a 'Max Headroom' dystopia where telecommunications are more important than Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

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I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Warner Bros. Records is suing SeeqPod, the music search engine, in an attempt to test the limits of the DMCA Safe Harbor provisions with a theory of contributory, vicarious and inducement liability. While other services like Last.fm have cut deals with the labels, SeeqPod relied on the DMCA Safe Harbor alone to protect it. According to the complaint [PDF] SeeqPod 'deliberately refrains' from adding simple yet ineffective content filters to screen out copyright infringing materials, presumably by not buying those filters from label-affiliated companies. Of course, this lawsuit is merely part of a recent trend seeking to move the responsibility for policing copyrights away from the copyright holders and on to third parties."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Two separate agencies that supply Congress with important reports, have simultaneously recognized that they're wasting a ton of money printing up reports for Congress critters each year. Both the Government Accountability Office (the GAO) and the Office of Management and Budget have announced plans to stop printing out the reports they deliver to Congress. Instead, they'll be delivered electronically, saving the agencies somewhere around a combined $0.5 million/year in printing costs. That's a tiny amount in the grand scheme of things, and you might argue that Congress will simply spend that (or maybe even more, given the way they spend) taking the electronic copies and printing them out themselves -- but it certainly seems like a reasonable point for Congress members to at least start recognizing that there's a digital age going on out there.

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This week the US Patent and Trademark Office issued a surprisingly (although I guess it shouldn't be) broad patent for a "mobile entertainment and communication device". Upon closer inspection you may notice that it pretty much outlines the ubiquitous smartphone concept. "It's a patent for a mobile phone with removable storage, an internet connection, a camera and the ability to download audio or video files. The patent holding firm who has the rights to this patent wasted no time at all. At 12:01am Tuesday morning, it filed three separate lawsuits against just about everyone you can think of, including Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, ATT, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, Samsung and a bunch of others. Amusingly, the company actually first filed the lawsuits on Monday, but realized it was jumping the gun and pulled them, only to refile just past the stroke of midnight. "

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Kate Black made this notebook. She has just one for sale on Etsy for $24. It's called "The Dollar's In The Shitter.

The US Dollar is worth so little now, it's cheaper to bind books with banknotes than art papers.

This book is made with two 1 dollar bills, actual US currency.

The interior covers and spine reinforcements are emerald green batiked paper.

The textblock is made from 60lb, bright white drawing paper. The paper has a good amount of tooth and can handle ink, pencil and many other media.

- 5.5" x 2.125" (14 cm x 5.5 cm)
- 140 pages.
- Bound with forest green waxed Irish linen thread.

This book opens completely flat, for ease of use.

Link (Thanks, Jenny!)

We've noticed a certain pattern among tech companies once they run into business problems. Rather than figuring out how to improve their product by innovating, they resort to patent litigation. It's an all too common practice, unfortunately -- and can be a sign of how strongly a company believes in its own ability to actually innovate. Perhaps the latest to follow this unfortunate trend is Sprint. Sprint is clearly facing a number of problems in its effort to innovate out of trouble, so it probably will come as no surprise that it's now going after a bunch of small companies for patent infringement, concerning the same VoIP patents it used to squeeze money out of Vonage. Just as Verizon did with its Vonage patent windfall, Sprint has decided to turn around and sue more companies. Though, unlike Verizon, Sprint is focusing on smaller players who probably have even fewer resources to defend themselves, making them more likely to quickly settle, rather than deal with the cost and uncertainty of a lengthy patent lawsuit.

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BoingBoing is reporting that a new robotic assistant may soon be able to help you find your way the next time you are lost in a mall or a supermarket. The latest demonstration from the Osaka-based Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR) showcased "Robovie", a semi-humanoid robot designed to monitor up to 20 people at a time and classify each person's behavior into one of 10 categories (waiting, wandering, walking fast, etc). Whenever it was able to classify someone as disoriented it would approach them and ask "are you lost", if the answer was yes it provided directions, otherwise it just recommended nearby shops and restaurants.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

found zen 3
garbage scout
big happy funhouse
superfluous
eavesdrop
swap meat

previously on web zen:
found zen 2
found zen 1

Link, Web Zen Home and Archives, Store (Thanks Frank!)

Now is your chance to own a fantastically awful waxwork from one of the world's worst wax museums. Louis Tussaud's House of Wax in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK, is auctioning off 75 wax heads from its collection. The auction will take place at Keys on February 12. According to The Telegraph, each disembodied head is expected to go for between £50 to £80. Seen here, from left to right, John Travolta, Bob Hope, Tom Jones, and Shirley Bassey. Link

An anonymous reader writes "Another fight appears to be brewing in Switzerland over how file sharers are identified. Logistep, a company that specializes in anti-piracy by collecting computer evidence against file sharers for use in lawsuits, seems to have taken an end run around Swiss law in order to try and settle cases out of court. 'Under Swiss law, the identity of a subscriber to an ISP (Internet service provider) can only be revealed during the course of a criminal case, not a civil one, Schaefer said. The IP (Internet Protocol) address of a computer controlled by the subscriber is considered "personal" information. In order to try to claim damages from people suspected of trading songs or movies, Logistep has asked Swiss prosecutors to open criminal cases, Schaefer said. As the criminal cases progresses, Logistep receives information from prosecutors that identifies the file sharer.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Like2Byte writes "CNN is reporting that a US Marine who lost both his legs in Iraq is now able to walk again by using bluetooth technology to coordinate his leg movement. The two legs communicate to keep the man in motion. ' [...] Computer chips in each leg send signals to motors in the artificial joints so the knees and ankles move in a coordinated fashion. Bleill's set of prosthetics [legs] have Bluetooth receivers strapped to the ankle area. The Bluetooth device on each leg tells the other leg what it's doing, how it's moving, whether walking, standing or climbing steps, for example.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Like2Byte writes "CNN is reporting that a US Marine that lost both his legs in Iraq is now able to walk again by using bluetooth technology to coordinate his leg movement. The two legs communicate to keep the man in motion. ' [...] Computer chips in each leg send signals to motors in the artificial joints so the knees and ankles move in a coordinated fashion. Bleill's set of prosthetics [legs] have Bluetooth receivers strapped to the ankle area. The Bluetooth device on each leg tells the other leg what it's doing, how it's moving, whether walking, standing or climbing steps, for example.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A few weeks ago, David Siegel of Global Crossing looked at some high-profile websites and found that none of them have made the switch to IPv6, the supposed replacement for today's 32-bit Internet addressing scheme. The IPv6 protocols have been finalized for a decade, and major operating systems have supported it for several years, so one would expect Internet-savvy companies like Google and Microsoft to have started running IPv6 versions of their sites. But it appears that so far, nothing of the sort has happened. Indeed, progress toward an IPv6-based Internet appears to be at a virtual standstill. The situation becomes less mysterious when one realizes that the primary rationale for the switch to IPv6 -- the exhaustion of the IP address space -- is basically bogus. It's true that if Internet governance authorities continue handing out IP addresses, they'll eventually run out. But the best solution to this isn't necessarily a massively disruptive transition to a totally new addressing scheme. It may very well be a lot cheaper to continue working within the constraints of the existing address space. Technologies like NAT allow many users to share a single IP address. And Internet governance bodies can facilitate the creation of a robust market for unused IP addresses, so that those who need additional IP addresses can easily purchase them from someone who has more than they need. For example, Apple, Ford, General Electric, and several other Fortune 500 companies currently control blocks of 16 million IP addresses each. These companies should be given a straightforward way to auction off the unused portions of their blocks for the use of other Internet firms. There would be plenty of IP addresses to go around if firms had a financial incentive to give up unused addresses.

An interesting analogy here is to the continued health of the x86 architecture that now lies at the heart of virtually all desktop and notebook computers. For decades, people have been predicting that x86 was on its last legs because it is a clumsy, register-starved architectures. In the early 1990s, everyone expected RISC chips like the PowerPC and Alpha to clobber x86-based chips in performance. In the late 1990s, Intel itself bought into the hype and attempted to push the computer industry to its brand new Itanium architecture. Yet the predicted demise of x86 never happened. The x86 platform had extremely broad support in the industry, and it has turned out that the costs of limping along with a crappy architecture are smaller than the costs of switching to an entirely new one. I think something similar may be true of IPv4 addressing. As cramped as its address space may be, the costs of switching the entire Internet to a new addressing scheme will be enormous, and the benefits are far from obvious. So my prediction is that IPv6 will continue to be "just around the corner" for the foreseeable future, as the bulk of network owners find it more affordable to just make do with the addressing scheme they're already using.

Timothy Lee is an expert at the Techdirt Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Timothy Lee and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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