Month: October 2004

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: October 03, 2004 – October 09, 2004 Archives:

When shown that it was taken directly from the official debate feed, a spokeswoman, Nicolle Devenish, said it was “most likely a rumpling of that portion of his suit jacket, or a wrinkle in the fabric.” Said the Times: “Ms. Devenish could not say why the ‘rumpling’ was rectangular.”

I think it’s an iPod he’s packing . . . . I can see some cool guerrilla iPod art based on this. (and the ALT text — “national bulge” — came from the NYTimes, not me.

Continue reading “What’s on Bush’s iPod?”

I saw these “single-use” digital cameras the other week and after getting over the shock of their existence, the shop assistant told me there were a number of hacks in the wild to do things like make them multi-use, ie, download the pictures, etc.

But I had no idea you could do all this. Like any other digital device (the iPod comes to mind) there are features in the hardware that the vendor may not provide access to, which is where the hackers come in.

Use the (PureDigital) Dakota Digital Camera with your PC:

The Dakota Digital Camera is one of several inexpensive ($10.99 MSRP) single-use digital cameras currently on the market in the US. Picture quality is a bit lacking, but acceptable for Web images and the like, and certainly not bad for the price. These are available at participating Ritz or Wolf Camera stores, or can be ordered by phone at 1-877-690-0099 (no online ordering, apparently). The camera is easily adapted from single-use to many-use following the instructions below, and is powered by two easily-replaced AA batteries. While they are sold with the intention that you return them at some point for processing (they give you prints and a photo CD, but keep the camera), there is nothing (no contract, rental agreement, deposit, etc.) that actually requires you to return it–once you buy it, it’s yours to do with as you please.

This is amazing stuff: the webcam idea is especially interesting. A reasonable webcam for less than $20? Why not?
Continue reading “never underestimate what hackers can make possible”

Sometimes it’s better just to let the other guy talk: he may just say enough to make you look better than him. So John Gruber see Steve “Monkeyboy” Ballmer on the iPod and DRM media:

Daring Fireball: Some Joke:

Microsoft’s successful operating systems and office software monopolies came about largely because they’ve been successful selling them in the corporate market. But the corporate market is irrelevant when it comes to computer/entertainment convergence.

This isn’t about “I like Apple” and “I hate Microsoft” it’s simply an observation that successful consumer platforms are designed to make consumers happy, not clueless entertainment industry executives. The film industry fought against the VCR, but it became wildly successful anyway, because consumers loved it. (And it’s worth noting that Hollywood now makes more than 50 percent of its revenue from VHS and DVD sales — their opposition wasn’t just futile, it was foolish.) The TV industry largely despises TiVo — but people love it.

If Microsoft plans to build home entertainment systems that are designed to please entertainment industry executives, I don’t see how they expect their products to appeal to actual people.

Selling to corporations and institutions is easy, no doubt about it: one or a few decision-makers, some flexibility with discounts and arm-twisting of hardware vendors, and you’re done. But home users are different: it’s their money and their expectations. It’s their time that will be wasted with fiddly details that the vendors doesn’t care about. People buy a Windows PC because it’s what they’re used to at the office: increasingly, what they’re getting used to is frustration over unreliability and poor performance. They may not want to perpetuate that at home. As long as Ballmer and his flunkeys think of home users as some undifferentiated mass of office clerks, they’ll lose sales and so will their partners.

If we take the report on Iraq’s weapons capability at face value, what should we make of Saddam’s refusal to yield to a rigorous inspection regime? Why would he bluff at the risk of losing his power and position?

Take a look at the map: Iraq is the yellow bit in the middle, with Iran in pink to the right and Saudi Arabia to the left in brown. Would you want to admit to the world that you were defenseless, given a recent war with Iran and continued mutual antipathy toward Saudi Arabia?

Map of the Iran-Iraq War:

When two of the world’s leading suppliers of oil go to war, the world has to take sides, but when the war pits a corrupt dictatorship against a fanatic theocracy, it’s hard to know which side to take. As a purely practical matter, however, it’s best to line up with corrupt dictatorships because they’re usually more willing to work a deal. During the Iran-Iraq War, the world as a whole tossed in with Iraq. The two superpowers openly assisted the Iraqis, as did most centrist Moslem states such as Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Continue reading “dangerous bluff, continued”

The vice president, in his attempts to make Senator Edwards seem like a lightweight, not only claimed never to have seen him on the Senate floor but also claimed Edwards constituents felt he was shirking his duties. Facts are troublesome things.

The Pilot Newspaper – Opinion Page:

“His hometown newspaper has taken to calling him ‘Senator Gone,'” Vice President Richard Cheney said of his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Edwards.

Well, not exactly.

The Pilot hasn’t ‘taken to calling him’ anything. In fact, the vice president’s obscure reference sent us scrambling to our library. And sure enough, we did publish an editorial 15 months ago, on June 25, 2003, headlined, ‘Edwards Should Do His Day Job.’ In it, we noted that Sen. Jesse Helms used to be called ‘Senator No.’ And we added: ‘Four and a half years into his first term, John Edwards is becoming known as Senator Gone.’

The reference was to Edwards’ frequent absences from the Senate floor as he traveled here and there (mostly there) pursuing his presidential ambitions.

But we also wrote: “Members of the senator’s staff point out that Edwards’ attendance record this year has been better than the three other Democratic senators who are campaigning for president — Joe Lieberman, Richard Gephardt and Bob Graham. And the aides also say none of the votes Edwards missed was close, so his presence on the floor would not have changed the outcome.”

I was thinking of this last night when Cheney tossed the barb that neither Kerry nor Edwards were on the floor when some votes were taken: none of them were close votes, ie, there was real no point in being there, other than to be on the record. If the greater good is served by campaigning to turf the incumbents out of office, they did the right thing by campaigning.

[via]

And as it turns out, Cheney himself punched his card only 2 of 127 times. Hillary Clinton racked up more appearances in the chair than Cheney . . .