CopyNazis Filthier Than Ever

MPAA Caught Uploading Fake Torrents

RIAA’s Latest Trick: When Backed Into A Corner, Try To Associate File Sharing With Child Porn

Alan Pritt Sees Far

The iPhone – A PC in Your Pocket?

The point about the iPhone is it looks like it will start the process of a mass adoption of pocket computing. That’s what I’m excited about, because it will change culture and the way we interact.

Have an iPhone NOW!

PDF link: Gizmodo Papercraft iPhone

Steven Levy Nails It Again

Apple Computer Is Dead; Long Live Apple

The things you do with an iPhone are familiar to many mobile-device users—e-mail, photography, messages, music, even watching video. But Apple’s relentless focus on simplicity, efficiency, utility and fun makes the iPhone seem a different species than its competitor, something more personal, more approachable and, ultimately, more desirable than anything else out there. The best I can compare it to is the transformation that came when Macintosh popularized the graphical user interface in the computing world, and the cold environment of the digital world suddenly welcomed “the rest of us,” as Apple’s ads put it.

And then there’s this tidbit from Jobs Himself:

“You don’t want your phone to be an open platform,” meaning that anyone can write applications for it and potentially gum up the provider’s network, says Jobs. “You need it to work when you need it to work. Cingular doesn’t want to see their West Coast network go down because some application messed up.”

Still, since the iPhone runs a full version of OS X, the operating system of the Macintosh computer, it’s reasonable to expect the device to take advantage of that power by running lots of applications, even if Apple has to vet them to make sure they won’t compromise the integrity of the network. In the version we saw last week, there aren’t a whole lot—the notable ones include SMS text messaging, the Safari Web browser, e-mail, iPhoto, Google maps and two mini-applications (known as widgets) for weather and stock prices. Jobs says we can expect more apps on the phone by the time it ships in June. (For instance, one might expect the iPhone to allow users to view Word documents, something that the prototype doesn’t do today.)

And this too from The Steve:

To Jobs, the whole issue of what future applications may run on the iPhone, and what billing system it uses, really isn’t the point. The big picture, he emphasizes, is how Apple has delivered what he considers a triumph on the scale of the original Macintosh and the iPod. “[The iPhone] is five years ahead of what everybody else has got,” he gushes. “If we didn’t do one more thing, we’d be set for five years!”

We’re getting rid of television. We’re getting rid of the Command and Control model. I guess it’s now time to get rid of the existing cellcos. Get to it, Silicon Valley!

Whoa! A Newton Cellphone?

What is iPhone?

I was pretty excited about the iPhone. When I was at Apple and the disposition of the Newton division was uncertain, there was a cell handset company that was interested in acquiring Newton, but it didn’t work out. I was really disappointed when that didn’t work out. The concept of the iPhone that we saw yesterday is what Newton should have become, but I think that there are still a few things that will hold the initial iPhone back. I think that all those issues will get fixed in time, but it’s frustrating to see that they weren’t addressed in the initial product.

An iPhone WTF?

Gizmodo says:

The OS: It isn’t OS X proper, as you’d expect. And like an iPod, it won’t be an open system that people can develop for. Remember, this is both an iPod and a Phone.

What is this sudden darkness in my eyes…?

Aum Shinrikyo Redux

Before former Mayor Giuliani destroyed local television in NYC by selling off city-owned WNYC-TV Channel 31, I used to be able to catch international television programs that bought time to air their shows. One of these was a block of Japanese news and entertainment every weekday morning. I recall eerie events happening in Japan involving Sarin gas. As it all turned out, a bizarre cult called Aum Shinrikyo was out and about testing their homebrew chemical weaponry, murdering innocent people in the process.

Now Warren Ellis has found this:

Mystery as thousands of birds fall from sky

Acting chief veterinary officer Fiona Sunderman said toxins were the most likely cause but the deaths could be due to anything from toxic algae to chemicals and pesticides.

TV: From Infinity to Affinity

4GM: Nobody gets Rich, Everybody Gets Paid

Let’s take Warren Ellis, for example. Assume Warren’s dark heart improbably beats on, allowing him decades to build his awful ideological army. There will come a day when Warren will say “behold, people, this thing is good, and not at all testicle or piercing oriented. If you pay a dollar for a download of it, you will not be disappointed.” Granted, the profit margins will be small, but that’s the direction we’re heading in anyway. The massive scores off network hits were inflated, a brief, beautiful Golden Age of Filthy Money which I doubt will naturally recur. In the future, nobody gets rich, but everybody gets paid.

Yes, I basically just said that Oprah is a neo-network. Go ahead, argue with me. Is Dick Wolf a network? JJ Abrams? Is Kiefer Sutherland? Who do you trust to entertain you?

This is very interesting. He’s very correct in many respects. But MammothMedia, that creaky monster, dies hard. I know an absolutely brilliant and unique talk radio talent who can’t get a job anywhere. And he doesn’t deserve just any job. He should be national so people can kneel at his feet to touch the hem of his garment. Talent just isn’t enough for anyone in any field. There’s a lot of fucking noise out there. How to break through that is the question of the new age.

And, yes, initially nobody will get rich, but then it’ll become like Musical Chairs: this time it’s my turn to get rich, next time it’ll be yours. Which is still a hell of a lot better than the current We’re-Gonna-Screw-You-
In-The-Ass-For-The-Next-Seven-Years, Just-Sign-Here system.

New iPhone Site

The prolific PDA critic known as Foo Fighter has started The iPhone Blog.

Is It June Yet?