Thursday, November 17, 2005

 

CD spyware

Sony is still having problems with the spyware they've been putting on their new CDs. The Washington Post quotes an industry security expert saying "What I'm most concerned about is: If nothing serious happens to Sony that's visible to other companies, then we run the risk of this kind of thing becoming standard corporate behavior."
As consumers we're capable of taking this punishment into our own hands. I'm already feeling cautious about obtaining any "legal" copies of the music I like. Why would anyone want to pay money for CDs that contain material you can't copy? If I buy a recording, I want to able to put it on a mix CD to listen to in the car, or just put it on my computer to listen to while I'm working.
There are more and more places that you can buy albums and individual songs online. I prefer to get stuff legally, but I'm starting to worry that the "official" versions will mess up my computer.
Haven't thought this through much yet, but I don't feel much sympathy for the bosses at Sony-BMG.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

 
I just read that Fox is probably cancelling "Arrested Development" after this season. Too bad. The show is genuinely funny. It's fate was becoming obvious, anyway, when they moved it from a somewhat secure spot on Sundays first to Fridays and then all around the schedule. Note to the networks: People are more likely to watch a show they like if they can find it.
Which moves me to point out something that other people must have noticed about TV ratings and which shows live or die. It's all about scheduling. There are hours and hours of absolute crap available on the air every week. Shows like "Yes, Dear" and "According to Jim" last because they are on at a time that there is little else available. Would anybody ever actually have chosen to sit down in front of the horrible acting and labored plot lines of "Seventh Heaven" if they had had an alternative? That show was handed a time slot by the poor choices of the other networks. If that blonde with the gigantic head weren't on right before "Reba" she wouldn't have had a chance.
On the flip side, we're subjected to time slots like Thursday at 7. There are four different programs that the three people in my family enjoy on at exactly the same time. I've given up. If any of the four -- "The OC," "Everybody Hates Chris," "Joey" or "Smallville" survive this scheduling Armageddon long enough to make it to DVD, I'll watch them next year.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

 
Okay, I've been trying not to say anything about Maureen Dowd because she already gets more attention than she deserves. I've never been able to read any of her columns without falling asleep halfway through, and my standard is not that high -- I've been caught reading the phone book for fun at times.
So I'm not really qualified to react to what she might be trying to say. But it burns me up when Dowd and the rest of the "Sex in the City" crowd claim to speak for intelligent women anywhere.
The thing is, I haven't yet seen any evidence that Dowd is intelligent. It certainly isn't reflected in her writing. If this is what passes for wit in New York, I'm glad I live in New Mexico.
I'm a bit younger than she is, but I remember the seventies when it was considered charming for a good-looking chick to be able to babble about the books she'd read. I played that game myself for a while, but I didn't make it my profession.
Maybe that was a mistake.

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