Dec 10
Since I got my new glasses, DVD cases on shelves look suspiciously small. At first I wondered if it was some new smaller design of DVD case. However, DVDs themselves are obviously still the same size, and inspecting a case reveals that it’s only just wide enough to encompass the diameter of the disc.
OK, you may think, no mystery here. New glasses. However, my new glasses are exactly the same prescription as the old ones. What’s more, DVDs still look the same size when I’m holding them close to me; they only look smaller on the shelves, at medium distance. It’s almost like my eyes have switched to wide angle lenses. I can only think that it’s an odd perceptual effect caused by the fact that my new glasses have a much wider field of view. At medium distance, there’s now a lot more stuff clearly in focus within my field of view, so things look smaller.
Sep 27
broken software, DVDs, Frauenhofer Institute, free, Free Software Foundation, FSF, GNU, GPL, GPLv3, linux, lockdown hardware, loophole, Microsoft, Mozilla Foundation, MP3, MPEG, MPEG-1, Open source software, Pepsi, Richard Stallman, Ross Anderson, software, software iPod, software patent approach, software patents, technology, trademarks, web browser
There has been a lot of GPLv3 discussion on tech sites. Perhaps predictably, a lot of it has missed the point or miscategorized the changes.
If you read the history of the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Public License, you discover that it all came about because Richard Stallman found himself having to use broken software that he wasn’t allowed to fix. The entire purpose of the GPL is to ensure that everyone who uses a piece of GPL-licensed software can change that software, use the changed version, and distribute it to other people.
The GPLv3 changes are not some radical new direction, there’s no bait-and-switch going on. The problem is simply that a number of organizations have found ways to use GPL-licensed software, but still break the spirit of the license by preventing users from being able to change the software, use the changed version, and distribute it.
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Jun 30
Not only is the complete boxed set of Thunderbirds coming out at the end of this month, there’s also a complete boxed set of Captain Scarlet, and they’re releasing the whole of U.F.O. as well.
Jun 13
The camcorder finally turned up at Micro Center. I’m gonna make DVDs of our home movies… With soundtracks and titles and everything.