Author name: S Anand

Microsoft’s ‘true story’ of a Mac-to-PC convert isn’t true. The “convert” works in a Public relations firm hired by Microsoft. And probably didn’t switch in the first place. (The original ad)

After Lessig’s hearing at the Supreme Court, here’s the next step towards rationality on copyrights. The US Copyright Office is asking for public opinion on what could be considered an exception to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. via Scripting News

How do I kill thee? Let me count the ways. Several end-of-world scenarios — scientific and religious. via MetaFilter

Music-swapping continues. An RIAA spokesman says,

The problem would have been far worse if we had not stopped Napster. We would have seen far more venture capital companies taking a shot (at P2P sites) if Napster had succeeded.

However,

consumers are continually becoming more accustomed to downloading music for free

KaZaa’s the most popular right now, but not for long, perhaps.

KaZaa also faces a possible Napster-esque end. The recording industry has sued the service and court date looms in December

Problems in online education. David McGrath teach English online. He ends up …

spending hours copying excerpts from her paper into cheater catching software programs and search engines to verify that it was authentic. [It is not authentic] 30 to 40 percent of the time.

Universities today certify the ability to do original work, in addition to training students. Corporates, I think, value the ability to create a good quality report, irrespective of originality. This is a mismatch. Maybe the whole objective of courses, at least online courses, will change shortly. via Plastic.

Opera works well with mobile phones. I don’t understand how, personally, but Opera has revamped its site focusing on smartphones, and seems to have a good technology here.

Nicholas Negroponte on “Being Wireless”.

Five years ago, I put a wireless LAN in my home in Boston. At the time it cost about $2,000 for the base station and $500 for each device I wanted to connect. Today, it costs $120 and $50, respectively, and the price is dropping.

That’s about Rs. 10,000. My next gadget is identified.

The Economist on the Nobel prize in medicine.

The Human Genome Project was a formidable achievement, but one that was managerial as much as scientific, and there is no Nobel prize for management. Instead, Sir John has been given a prize for real scientific work which nobody could doubt was of Nobel quality.

Lessig argues copyright to the Supreme Court. Lawrence Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford, and argues against excessive legislation of the Internet and related technologies. Good guy.