Tuesday, July 29, 2003

Secret Networks Protect Music Swappers There have been plenty of articles about more anonymous file sharing networks, and now CNN has written their article about it. They focus on private networks, such as those using Waste, the released and then denied product from Justin Frankel at AOL. What's odd is that the article seems to focus on the encryption part of the networks to keep them safe from the RIAA subpoena squads, when the more interesting thing is that these networks are private. That is, only a limited number of people are on them, and you can't get on them unless you know about them - which should help to keep RIAA scanners out. Yet another example of ways that consumers will route around the entertainment industry anytime they try to crack down. [Techdirt] I don't know much about these, but they sound like a step backwards in dressed up in a crypto disguise. private pirate networks have been around since the dawn of personal computer. they lose a lot of the power of public networks -- segmenting the public network into a set of private networks drops the value of the network dramatically (cf metcalfe's law). also, the larger a network gets, the harder it gets to prevent infiltration -- these only work when they stay small and selective. 9:48:54 PM

RFID for All? I was reading an article earlier today about how retailing giant Wal-Mart plans to mandate that its partner network adopt and deploy RFID tags by 2005. Is the technology ready for prime time?... [Charles Hudson's Weblog] this sounds like a professional services opportunity: lots of interest and possibly a sense of urgency from potential buyers but not a lot of certainty about exactly how to use; a range of technical options to be considered; relatively complex to integrate all the pieces; etc... 9:23:07 PM

That was quick Pentagon Abandons Plan for Futures Market on Terror, by Carl Hulse in the Times. Better cache those pages while they're still on the Web. [Doc Searls] 9:15:50 PM

A theologian on gods in gaming Check out this fascinating exchange between Stewart Butterfield, the founder of Ludicorp, a gaming company developing a massively multiplayer game called Game Neverending, and AKMA, a theologian blogger. Stewart's designing the religious pantheon in GNE and wanted AKMA's advice: Interactions with the divine should have just enough predictability to make them worth bothering with, but absolutely no more (I except simple devices, such as T'aach boosting your karma for eating a mint). The vital element that this contingency serves is making it not worth players' while to try to *work* the game by (as it were) coercing divinities. I'll repeat later on: deities should be only slightly predictable enough for players to observe that they do indeed matter. In fact, it would make a worthwhile argument *within* the game, whether one need adhere to any divinity or not. If you could attain that degree of subtlety, you'd have won outright. Regarding game play, I ought to be able to interact productively with my patron's enemy-spirit, even if just to placate her or him. Think of classical divinities; they're less mechanistic (by far) than our imaginations would tend to make them. It makes perfect sense for an adherent of T'aach to make a propitiatory sacrifice to Thbwappo, the Source of Halitosis even though the two of them are mortally opposed to one another, and T'aach should be nettled by this only if the adherent in question is a keystone figure. People don't matter that much to divinities. LinkDiscuss [Boing Boing] 8:51:07 PM

Cluetrain for record execs Doc "Linux Journal" Searls and David "Small Pieces" Weinberger -- two of the Cluetrain authors -- have written a new manifesto, called "Word of Ends," which attempts to explain the Internet in terms that entertainment execs and bellheads can understand. 10. Some mistakes we can stop making already. The companies whose value came from distributing content in ways the market no longer wants – can you hear us Recording Industry? – can stop thinking that bits are like really lightweight atoms. You are never going to prevent us from copying the bits we want. Instead, why not give us some reasons to prefer buying music from you? Hell, we might even help you sell your stuff if you asked us to. The government types who have confused the value of the Internet with the value of its contents could realize that in tinkering with the Internet's core, they're actually driving down its value. In fact, they maybe could see that having a system that transports all bits equally, without government or industry censorship, is the single most powerful force for democracy and open markets in history. LinkDiscuss (Thanks, David!) [Boing Boing] 8:50:44 PM

Bosworth et al on XML, SOAP, Binary Data Today sees the publication of a thought piece by six authors the first of whom, alphabetically and (in my view anyhow) in intellectual standing, is Adam Bosworth.... [ongoing] 8:48:41 PM

New home sales fall 15 percent New home sales fall 15 percent in January, prices also drop [Housing Bubble] 8:48:34 PM

NASA Gives Up On Pioneer 10 [Slashdot] 8:48:26 PM

Real estate market is vulnerable in wartime House prices may fall if U.S. goes to war says Wall Street Journal 8:48:17 PM

California detached home price breaks record in Q4 California detached home price breaks record, sales up 15.8 percent Q4 8:48:06 PM

Home prices keep rising The daily Review (Hayward) Feb 14 2003 6:01PM ET [Moreover - Bay Area news] 8:47:55 PM

Bay Area foreclosure activity up 23 percent, study shows Contra Costa Times Feb 13 2003 3:57PM ET [Moreover - Bay Area news] 8:47:40 PM

Greenspan: Housing bubble - potential problems but not serious ones Greenspan testimony: no need to address housing bubble, household debt levels not a cause of concern [Housing Bubble] 8:47:21 PM

Housing Starts rise to highest level since 1986 Housing Starts rise multi-family home permits fall in latest Commerce Dept data [Housing Bubble] 8:45:41 PM

Middle market housing still rising in Los Angeles and Orange Counties Study shows home buyers continue to take advantage of low interest rates as prices continue to rise [Housing Bubble] 8:45:33 PM

California median home price up 17.3 percent, sales ris 0.1 percent California home price rises and flat sales raises affordability concerns [Housing Bubble] 8:45:21 PM

Home prices may be at plateau The daily Review (Hayward) Feb 21 2003 6:01PM ET [Moreover - Bay Area news] 8:45:14 PM

California median home price increases 15.9 percent in June California median home price hits record $376,260 sales increase 7.2 percent C.A.R. reports [Housing Bubble] 8:45:03 PM

Home prices in Bay Area surge again The Argus Jul 24 2003 7:29PM ET [Moreover - Bay Area news] 8:44:58 PM

Bay Area home sales down, prices steady in February Bay Area home sales down 3.5 percent in February prices steady [Housing Bubble] 8:44:51 PM

Area home buying sags The daily Review (Hayward) Mar 22 2003 6:01PM ET [Moreover - Bay Area news] 8:44:42 PM

San Diego realtors fixing prices declares Appeals Court Court of Appeals ruled that all five Boards of Realtors in San Diego County fixed prices [Housing Bubble] 8:44:31 PM

Condo sales go flat: Demand, sales slumping for Bay Area condominiums The daily Review (Hayward) Mar 23 2003 6:01PM ET [Moreover - Bay Area news] 8:44:15 PM

California median home price increases 15.9 percent in June California median home price hits record $376,260 sales increase 7.2 percent C.A.R. reports [Housing Bubble] 8:43:58 PM