Quoting Rolling Stone on Obama's economic team of Wall Street insiders intent on turning the bailout into an all-out giveaway:

So on November 23rd, 2008, a deal is announced in which the government will bail out Rubin's messes at Citigroup with a massive buffet of taxpayer-funded cash and guarantees. It is a terrible deal for the government, almost universally panned by all serious economists, an outrage to anyone who pays taxes. Under the deal, the bank gets $20 billion in cash, on top of the $25 billion it had already received just weeks before as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. But that's just the appetizer. The government also agrees to charge taxpayers for up to $277 billion in losses on troubled Citi assets, many of them those toxic CDOs that Rubin had pushed Citi to invest in. No Citi executives are replaced, and few restrictions are placed on their compensation. It's the sweetheart deal of the century, putting generations of working-stiff taxpayers on the hook to pay off Bob Rubin's fuck-up-rich tenure at Citi.

Now a little flashback to another another left adminsitration:

As Treasury secretary under Clinton, Rubin was the driving force behind two monstrous deregulatory actions that would be primary causes of last year's financial crisis: the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act (passed specifically to legalize the Citigroup megamerger) and the deregulation of the derivatives market. Having set that time bomb, Rubin left government to join Citi, which promptly expressed its gratitude by giving him $126 million in compensation over the next eight years (they don't call it bribery in this country when they give you the money post factum).

Simply a must read article.


Apple, Tech Buzz
UserpicLa La Land
Posted by Sasha

Quoting The New York Times article published on the December 4, "In the most recent sign that Apple is looking at alternative ways for people to store and play their digital music, the company has agreed to buy Lala, a four-year-old start-up based in Palo Alto, Calif., a person with knowledge of the deal said Friday." Immediately after an unnamed source in a Reuters report stated that Apple is ready to start streaming, "Apple recognizes that the model is going to evolve into a streaming one and this could probably propel iTunes to the next level," either were asleep during the last few years or are PC users. While I can't disagree that Apple recognized that the model is going to be about "streaming", I can only add that Apple recognized it many years ago and was setting up both software and hardware to accommodate the streaming, including the latest HTTP adaptive streaming on iPhone system 3 and Quicktime X, which is bundled with Snow Leopard OS.

In regards to Apple buying Lala, some say that, "if Apple is already testing a functional streaming service, there seems to be little need to buy an entire company to obtain similar technology. In fact, Lala uses Flash for wrapping its streams, and Apple has been notably averse to using that software for just about anything—it's certainly not displayed within iTunes as things currently stand." My interpretation is that Apple simply removed a competitor from the marketplace that got in its turf, even if it was with a sub-prime experience.


Offbeat
UserpicBetween The Folds
Posted by Sasha

Do you ever wonder what people do in this technology driven fast pace environment? Origami. Between the Folds is showing on PBS's Independent Lens this month.

Origami: it's no longer just paper cranes. A determined group of theoretical scientists and fine artists have abandoned conventional careers to forge unlikely new lives as modern paper folders.


Business, Offbeat, Tech Buzz
UserpicAntiquated American Patent System Slows Down Innovation
Posted by Sasha

U.S. innovation slowed this year for the first time in 13 years with a number of patent filings dropping 2.3% at the same time as U.S. patents issued to inventors and businesses in foreign nations jumped 6.3% for the year. At the same time the revenue of Patent Office dropped 200 million, which means a growing backlog of filings.

Currently, there are 740,000 patents pending, with an average wait time for approval of 40 months. The Patent Office isn't even able to look at applications for three years because of the backlog. That's an eternity for tech inventions, which tend to cycle through product generations in a year or so.

If backlog of 40 months is of no concern to the cutting edge innovators, perhaps the cost of filing and later on defending the patent is worth keeping up in mind.

The application, processing and legal fees average about $15,000 per patent, but the cost to defend those patents in court after they've been granted typically runs between $3 million to $6 million...


Apple
UserpicHTTP Streaming Architecture
Posted by Moxietype

Starting with iPhone OS version 3.0 and QuickTime X, you can send streaming audio and video over HTTP from an ordinary web server for playback on iPhone, iPod touch, or other devices, such as desktop computers. This is called HTTP Live Streaming. Because it uses HTTP, this kind of streaming is automatically supported by nearly all edge servers, media distributors, caching systems, routers, and firewalls. HTTP Live Streaming also provides for media encryption and user authentication over HTTPS, allowing publishers to protect their work.

Read the rest...


Apple, Mobile Internet, Mobile Internet, Tech Buzz
UserpicApple's HTTP Adaptive Streaming in Action
Posted by Moxietype

According to the article in the Business Week, the upgrade to the iPhone operating system is going to change user experience with mobile video by utilizing HTTP adaptive streaming:

"HTTP streaming enables publishers to give users a better video experience by employing adaptive streaming techniques, something other players such as Microsoft (MSFT), Adobe Systems (ADBE), Move Networks, and Swarmcast already offer (though Adobe uses a more traditional proprietary real-time streaming protocol to do so, rather than sending chunks of video over standard HTTP like the others). That means that watchers can enjoy a continuous, smooth video experience. The stream intelligently adjusts to the highest quality a viewer can receive at each moment. If the connectivity worsens, a lower-quality stream is substituted without interruption or buffering. (For a more extensive explanation about adaptive streaming, see this subscription-only piece from GigaOM Pro.)"

Clip from "The Workshop"


Rupert Murdoch is looking into ways to block Google from indexing content of the sites owned by News Corp which owns the Times and Sun newspapers in the UK and the New York Post and Wall Street Journal in the US.

He believes that search engines cannot legally use headlines and paragraphs of news stories as search results.

"There's a doctrine called 'fair use', which we believe to be challenged in the courts and would bar it altogether," Mr Murdoch told the TV channel. "But we'll take that slowly." Read more...


Offbeat
UserpicBig Bank Earnings Explained
Posted by Sasha

How did JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs make $6.8 billion in profit last quarter? Very simple. They borrowed money from the US Govt at 0% and then bought bonds from the US Govt that paid 2-3%.

What kind of bonds are they buying? Are they investing the money in American business? "No, they are mostly buying Treasuries." So the money is just being shuffled from one Federal bank account to another, with each Wall Street bank skimming off $1 billion per month for itself? "Pretty much."

Read the rest


Google, Offbeat
UserpicGoogle Page Turners
Posted by Sasha

Google page turners got caught in action. This is page 471 of The Anglo-American Telegraphic Code book.

Google Page Turner


Offbeat
UserpicMr Eaves
Posted by Sasha

Emigre has released a sans serif companion for Mrs Eaves, Mr Eaves. In my opinion it is a fantastic contribution to visual clutter along with Mrs Eaves, Apollo, Arbitrary, Backspacer, Base 9 and 12, Base Monospace, Big Cheese, Blockhead, etc.

Mr 1


Apple, Mobile Internet, Mobile Internet
UserpicUniversity of iTunes
Posted by Moxietype

Leading business schools including University of Cambridge Judge Business School, Fuqua School of Business, and Yale School of Management make course content available for download through iTunes University (iTunes U), part of the of the iTunes online store. Read more...

Related: iPod in the Classroom


Apple, Mobile Internet
UserpiciPod in the Classroom
Posted by Moxietype

At France's leading business school, HEC Paris, students are taking the idea of iPods in the classroom a step further, with what associate dean Valerie Gauthier describes as "technology in the pipeline that will set the standard for the use of quality education tools". As part of an exclusive partnership with Apple, the school issues students with the latest iPod Touch loaded with dedicated browsing software and podcasts. They can then preview courses from a browser menu, and put together a personalised programme to review at their leisure. "Millennials are accustomed to receiving the exact information they want, when and where they want it," says Gauthier. "The podcast of tutorials gives them all the information for review whenever they want."

Read full article on The Independent


Business, E-Commerce, Tech Buzz
UserpicThe Competition to Save Newspapers Online
Posted by Moxietype

The competition to save newspapers online heats up, with Google being the front runner.

It is hard to tell what payoff would go to the winning technology provider, says Gordon, nor is it even known who would own the content. There is also the question of whether the various pay-for-content ideas would fly with consumers. Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently told British broadcasting executives that charging for online content won't work except for niche and specialist markets. Consumer surveys tend to support those doubts. A Belden Interactive survey released in mid-September found that computer users who said they'd pay for news online would shell out an average of only $4.64 a month, while 47% of the group surveyed said they wouldn't pay anything.


Offbeat
UserpicTurritopsis nutricula
Posted by Sasha

"The Hydrozoan species Turritopsis nutricula is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again. This means that there may be no natural limit to its life span."

Related: Google map of oldest things in the world.


The research was based on 24 million speed tests done in 66 countries via speedtest.net. The test focused on download speeds, upload speeds and latency - the delay that happens as information is routed around the net. Using this measure alone, the UK was ranked 31st. Only nine countries, including Japan, Sweden and Latvia, were ready for future demands, such as watching high-definition video. The study was conducted jointly by Oxford University's Said Business School and Spain's University of Oviedo's Department of Applied Economics.

Ready for tomorrow Comfortable for today Meeting needs for today Below needs
for today
Korea Switzerland Iceland Malta
Japan Czech Republic Estonia Luxembourg
Sweden Norway Greece Chile
Lithuania United States Singapore China
Bulgaria Slovakia Canada Qatar
Latvia Portugal UK Brazil
Netherlands Finland Australia Argentina
Romania France Spain Saudi Arabia
Denmark Germany Poland Cyprus
  Hungary New Zealand Costa Rica
  Russia Ukraine Bahrain
  Belgium Turkey Thailand
  Slovenia Ireland Tunisia
  Taiwan Italy Mexico
  Austria   Philippines
  Hong Kong   UAE
      Malaysia
      Pakistan
      Colombia
      Morocco
      Vietnam
      South Africa
      Indonesia

While this research addressed an attitude towards DRM in the independent music sector, it could be applied equally as well to the independent film distribution. Most widely used DRM systems currently are not user friendly in the terms of usability and carry very serious drawbacks such as a prohibitive cost of implementation and sub-optimal speed of viewing the encrypted content. To make matters even worst, there was not developed up to this date a system which could prevent the content to be captured by a knowledgeable hacker. It could always just be shot on a DV cam as it is done during the releases of new movies in the theaters by unsavory patrons.

It is interesting to note three major differences for the Indies in comparison to the majors’ perceived strategy of active and extensive DRM-protection. First, the smaller and more independent the label, the more sympathetic it is to consumers’ convenience and perceived rights. Second, Indies try to avoid active DRM whenever possible. But they acknowledge that this decision is up to the distributor. Third, Independent labels’ preferred DRM strategy is a passive one: watermarking. They feel that this does not limit their customers’ convenience and at the same time identifies users in case of infringement.

Again, among the labels using the portal for online distribution, there is not a single one insisting on DRM-protection, Mr. Krieger affirms. The company feels that legitimate buyers of digital music should not have less usage rights than those downloading pirated material.

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Justice Department urged a federal court judge to reject a proposed settlement which would allow Google to digitally scan massive libraries of books and place them online.

"The current settlement proposal would stifle innovation and competition in favor of a monopoly over the access, distribution and pricing of the largest collection of digital books in the world, and would reinforce an already dominant position in search and search advertising," said the Open Book Alliance, which includes Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon. All three are Google's biggest rivals.


Business, Social Web
UserpicAd infinitum
Posted by Sasha

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg advises businesses to post quickly. (Think Twitter.)

“This isn’t about perfect messaging,” she said. “Do it often and quickly and imperfectly and just keep changing it.”

Both she and Zuckerberg said the company became profitable last quarter, beating its goal of getting out of the red by the end of 2010. I wish there were some details on where the money coming from.


The Boston Globe has published an interesting editorial piece on the balance theory both in social networks and in the movies.

Balance Theory:

Examples of unstable social network include Mexican standoff in “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” and “Reservoir Dogs” with all three pointing guns at each other.


On the other hand, if you and someone else hate the same third person, but like each other, balance theory says you’re golden - all three can persist without changing their opinions.

Six Degrees of Separation:

Back in the 1960s, the psychologist Stanley Milgram attempted to measure the number of connections separating people in Nebraska and Kansas from those around Boston, and found a typical distance of about six steps. Since then, this concept of a tightly connected world has captured the public imagination, and in math and science has spawned a large field known as social network theory.


UserpicFree: Not a New Concept
Posted by Vondah Elizabeth

Thinking about the ubiquitous confusion surrounding the concept of 'free'; yes, Linux is 'free' and yet it is a 38 million dollar industry, so somebody is paying for something. I think the proper analogy is this: Linux is to programming as ...the English alphabet is to anybody who writes in English. To use it properly and effectively you still have to know the basics of grammar and not just anybody can write Moby Dick.


If you stretch the analogy further, programming code, whether Linux or php is like all alphabets, meaning that code is as old as Cuneiform tablets, and so is the concept of free. This brings me to two other commonly confused points regarding the concept of 'free': free as in free speech and free, as in free beer. They are not the same, i.e. your right to free beer is not guaranteed in the Constitution.

1 comment 1 comment ( 1548 views )