Category: Distribution Page 12 of 15

E-Readers: Getting there?

By MB

On October 15, 2007

While I’ve never owned (a dedicated) one, I sure am interested in the progress of “e-book” and “e-reader” technology. Sony’s latest is out, and it seems to be getting closer to decent. In considering the content availability (or lack thereof), I’ve realized that I really *would* find value in an e-reader. I read a lot of fiction that’s good, but not great. And far too much political and policy non-fiction. While I’m always glad I’ve read them, nothing in either class really deserves the increasingly rare space on my bookshelves at home. And I could never toss a book.* Being able to buy them in e-reader format would be well worth the price of the reader, I think. These are books where, as soon as the immediate value of the content has been consumed, I’ve not so much use for them. Let’s hope that buying them as e-books is an option, soon.

*Like many, I grew up with very specific ideas about how books should be treated. In my family, every book was something just short of a Torah. It should be respected, valued, and protected from harm at all costs. This is why my mother’s childhood books (Little Pokey Puppy, Doctor Dan) and my childhood books (The Fire Cat, Green Eggs & Ham) will soon be enjoyed by the next generation (don’t look at me). But I do have to say that my personal book rules have evolved. I never wrote in a book in college, but law school forced me into some pretty ugly desecration (which, frankly, is nothing compared to what I’d do to those case books now). Now, I’ll willingly dogear a page or lightly tick (pencil only) a particularly relevant or superbly written passage. But I’ll still look at you as if you were a serial killer if you lazily drop a book, break its spine, or tear a page. So my ideas with regard to books are malleable, but deeply rooted.

Friday Notes

By MB

On October 12, 2007

In DC, Distribution, Politics

Let’s Abolish the Electoral College! (Salon story – sub req’d or sit through a quick ad). This is the the kind of stuff I wish we were spending our time examining and debating, instead of Torture: Hot or Not?

Guide to Bypassing Internet Censorship – this is an issue near and dear to my heart. In addition to being a free speech absolutist, I’m fanatical about transparency. That combination results in a deep interest in permitting unfettered communications via the Internet (I’ve even taken to running a Tor server). Check it out.

US: Switchboard to the World. Not unrelated to the previous post, Ryan Singal examines the infrastructure that routes so much of the world’s communications through the US (much to the pleasure of the NSA). (This is the subject of a project I’m working on, and hope to serialize here.)

Tom Friedman: The Clueless American? – For a couple of years, I shared a downtown parking garage with him, and often found myself standing next to him as we waited for our cars. This came well after the shine of The Lexus and the Olive Tree had worn off, but a bit before the full-blown ridiculousness of the past few years. So I never did bring myself to say anything to him. Now, though . . .

And with the usual disclaimer about DCist.com (a sad product, but the only game in town), and specific disclaimer about the actual author (he disturbs me in so many ways, his name not least among them), I present my favorite comment of the week, from Monkeyrotica:

Instead of giving DC back to MD, give it back to the Powhatan Tribe. That way, DC gets tax exempt status, casino gambling, and Sen. Brownback’s scalp.

Maryland’s Steny Hoyer: Please, Sir, May I Have Some More?

By MB

On October 9, 2007

In Distribution, Politics

Democrats like Steny Hoyer are the sort that make people vote for Ralph Nader (you’re still an idiot if you do, of course).Â It seems that old Steny has decided to sell out the Rule of Law for . . . well, hell, I have no goddamn idea what he thinks he’s going to get out of it.

A top Democratic leader opened the door Tuesday to granting U.S. telecommunications companies retroactive legal immunity for helping the government conduct electronic surveillance without court orders, but said the Bush administration must first detail what those companies did.

What a pathetic joke.Â Kneejerk partisan Democrats ought to remember actions like this the next time they start make excuses for a favored candidate’s failures.Â I’m particularly interested in how the RK folks are going to respond to the position Sen. Jim Webb takes on the new FISA legislation . . .

Take care of the Lonely Planet, Auntie Beeb

By MB

On October 2, 2007

In Distribution, Travel, UK

A friend sent me a link yesterday, noting the sale of the Lonely Planet company to the BBC. I don’t really have any impression of how the BBC has treated properties it acquires, so I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not. The BBC says that the deal will “allow Lonely Planet users to access BBC content – such as Michael Palin’s New Europe.” Well, umm, okay – didn’t I have “access” to that before? In any event, my advice to the BBC is twofold – concentrate on improving LP’s online presence. The “Thorntree” – LP’s online forums – is one of the Internet’s great wasted opportunities. LP users are the type that love to share useful info, but the forums are so poorly designed that they are near unusable. The books, on the other hand, are perfect. Don’t touch the guidebooks. Not even a little.

MP3, Easy As . . .

By MB

On September 27, 2007

In Distribution

1 2 3 (4).

Well, that was a pleasant surprise.Â The commercial for the new iPod Nano came on just a minute ago – you know, the one with the great theme by Feist? Â On a lark, I decided to check whether Amazon’s new DRM-free MP3 service offered this track for sale.Â And, one text search and about 5 or 6 easy clicks later, I’ve purchased this Apple theme from Amazon for 89 cents and am listening to it as I type this.Â And the icing on the cake is that I don’t have to bother with “authorizing” another machine or otherwise worrying about how I’ll transfer this track from this laptop to my desktop or other MP3 players.

Well done, Amazon.

Adjust Your Tinfoil Hat

By MB

On August 30, 2007

In Distribution, Policy, Tech

and then read this groundbreaking ABC report about the FBI’s DCSNet nationwide evesdropping systems. In case your eyes are glazing over, and you don’t think it applies to you, note that:

The surveillance system, called DCSNet, for Digital Collection System Network, connects FBI wiretapping rooms to switches controlled by traditional land-line operators, internet-telephony providers and cellular companies. It is far more intricately woven into the nation’s telecom infrastructure than observers suspected.

It’s a “comprehensive wiretap system that intercepts wire-line phones, cellular phones, SMS and push-to-talk systems,” says Steven Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science professor and longtime surveillance expert.

Arlington Wifi On Hold

By MB

On August 28, 2007

In Distribution, Tech, Virginia

Remember the Arlington County/Earthlink wifi project I wrote about back in April?Â Well, Earthlink did secure a contract with the County, but now that’s been put on hold as a result of Earthlink’s financial problems (as has Alexandria’s network, which has been partially built).Â Â The good news is that no one’s relying on either of these networks at this point, but it does highlight the importance of building contingencies for situations like these into municipal wifi contracts.Â It will be a shame if that equipment in Alexandria simply sits on the poles while Earthlink sorts itself out (Om Malik is reporting that Earthlink is considering selling its municipal network division).

Who Broke Blogger?

By MB

On August 22, 2007

In Distribution

Someone must have kicked the cord out of the wall at the Googleplex, as I can’t access a single Blogger-hosted site. Or even the status page. Oops.

Update: Huh. Looks like a lot of people are asking the exact same question, by the looks of my stats page. Sorry, all, I can’t help. Google broke it, I guess. Go ask them. How? Just follow the yellow brick road . . .

Or stick around here while you’re waiting for the rest of the world to come back online.

Update II:Â Looks like the wizard sobered up and has things running.Â I know that Google is supposed to pay $$$ for everything, but here’s a free idea: they should really separate the hosting of Blogger and the Blogger Status pages.Â I know some good hosts, if they need some leads.

Friday Notes: Reviewing the Basics

By MB

On August 10, 2007

In Cycling, Distribution, Law, Politics, Society

Josh Marshall asks an obvious question about the validity of a bill that was signed by the President, but not passed by the House or Senate. Is there really a question here? And if so – was I’m Just a Bill on Capitol Hill all a pack of lies?

Speaking of having to concern ourselves with things that ought not to have occurred in the first place, you’ve probably heard about the problem with Pearl Jam’s webcast performance this past Sunday. One of AT&T’s webcast editors apparently cut out parts of the performance that were critical of Bush (a few lines, it seems). AT&T is blaming an overzealous editor, and is claiming no nefarious intentions. Which I’m perfectly willing to believe. But it still leaves me asking: what kind of culture do we have where it makes sense to you – an editor covering a Lollapalooza concert, for godsake – to dump a few mildly critical lines about the President? Are you that afraid? That bitter? It makes no sense to me.

And in the category of things that make no sense, you might have seen the amusing video of CNBC financial show host Jim Cramer’s on-air meltdown. Actually, it was only amusing if you didn’t listen to the details of what he was going on about. If you actually listened to him, it was really sort of nauseating. Short version: my free-market titans got too greedy trying to make money off of loans that never should have been made, so now we need the Fed to bail us out. Funny how that works, no? And even funnier is this annotated video of his meltdown, which details the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

And the Discovery Channel cycling team is dead.Â Despite their having the most recent Tour de France winner, 8 TdF wins, and a solid roster of riders, they couldn’t come up with a sponsor. Â Huh.

Using the Internet to Communicate with your Constituents

By MB

On August 6, 2007

In Distribution, Policy, Virginia

Virginia Del. Kris Amundson (D-Fairfax) recently asked what we think she might want to share with the National Conference of State Legislatures attendees at their annual conference in Boston. She’ll be on a panel called â€œNew Ways to Communicate with Your Constituents.â€ She’s received some good answers already, so I’ll stick with a few big picture themes, and then a couple of tips on direct interaction.

Big picture:

It’s not about blogging. Or email. Or whatever might come next. It’s about communication. While blogs have received an inordinate amount of attention in recent years, they’re just another means of communication. Now, true, they’re a more widely accessible pathway than we’ve ever seen before, but – like going door to door, answering the phone, or hosting town meetings – its reason for being is communication amongst citizens and their representatives. Don’t lose sight of that.
Communication is not simply declaration. That is, communication is a two-way street. Don’t embrace a medium – like blogs – that is designed for two-way communication if you only intend to use it for a one-way broadcast of your own message. If you start your own blog, or even have your own website – but fail to respond to queries and challenges directed at it – people will ignore it. You might as well stick with direct mail.
Think about how you can encourage your own state and local governments to make information accessible to citizens. For example, Arlington, Virginia has an online database of all of its capital improvements projects – you can look up all bike-related projects in the planning pipeline, all scheduled projects for a particular street, or all projects still in the planning phase. Not only does this encourage good government by increasing transparency, it’s a resource that you can direct your constituents toward, so that your constituent service office can focus on communicating about policy goals, instead of serving simply as a factual information conduit.

A few practical tips:

If you’re going to start a blog, make sure you are committed to regularly updating it. It sounds simple, to be sure, but there are an amazing number of state and local politicians that have started blogs only to let them fall by the wayside after the first few weeks. At first, it annoys the constituents. And then it becomes the butt of jokes (see, e.g., DC Mayor Anonthy William’s blog) .
Before agreeing to “live blog” somewhere, check out the reputation of the blog’s primary author(s). Much like you wouldn’t want to show up for a speaking engagement at a Klan dinner or the Concerned Communists of America, you also don’t want to appear to lend credibility to a site that seems to exist primarily as a tool of hate or misinformation. That said, every blog community has anonymous commenters who seem to exist for the sole purpose of saying outrageous things. Pay them no mind, and don’t judge a site by the appearance of a couple of these troublemakers.
Acknowledge the hard questions. If, via the comments on your blog or in a “live blog” situation, you get a politically awkward question, you should make a reasonable attempt to answer it – especially if everyone else has seen the question posted. Simply ignoring a question won’t make it go away. And unlike a press conference or conversation with a reporter, the unanswered question doesn’t just fade away – there’s a permanent and public record of it.

You know, I could go on for weeks about this. I’ve worked in state and federal government. My day job consists primarily of bridging the gap between the private and public sectors. I’ve been “blogging” for nearly a decade. I’m convinced that government could be substantially improved with increased transparency and honest communication between citizens and their representatives. So thanks, Del. Amundson, for taking the time to ask. And then thanks again, for taking the message to Boston.