Around the Web…

Places I have accounts around the web:
Livejournal (2)
MySpace
Blogger (2)
WordPress
GMail
Yahoo
AOL
AIM
Kiko
Planzo
Writely
ProtoPage
Fyuze
Hoverspot
Digg
del.icio.us
This Place I Know

None of them do everything I want them to.

a calendar: an update

So I found http://planzo.com/, an onlnie calendar that’s easy to use, but has no ability for other people to request time on it, and I can’t import my iCal or Palm calendars into it. Oh well. It was worth a shot.

They do e-mail me on a daily basis to let me know my schedule, but I’ve got it memorized for the most part anyway. Everything’s AJAX so there’s no page reloading once you enter an event. Also, no multiple tags. I’ve yet to find a calendar that supports this. Anyone care to build me one?

Here’s another interesting thing though, look at the login page. Looks like some web search company’s login sites, doesn’t it? Planzo’s either hoping to get bought by Google or just doesn’t have much imagination when it comes to their own design.

Looks like it’s back to the “calendar beta ajax” Google search for me.

edit: I’m also going to be trying Kiko as well. they claim they are working on importing iCal calendars. If I can convince them to include multiple tags, then at least it’s a step in the right direction. I’m also playing around with Monket’s calendar on my server as well. Hoefully, one of them will satisfy what I’m looking for.

a web application request

So here’s what I want:

1. To be able to view my calendar (and sync it to my Zire 72’s calendar and iCal) online and edit it online as well.
2. At the same time, I want to be able to allow other people (people I freelance for) to put in requests for time that is viewable to me.
3. I want to be able to add tags to each scheduled event I have posted.
4. And when I confirm a request, it should send an e-mail to the person who requested it confirming the request.

I hope Google Calendar can do this, probably without the e-mail confirmations though. I checked through the MoMB site, but no luck.

stereotypes

I heard a new one yesterday.

French Canadians are great at putting up drywall.

The joke goes liek this: What’s the different between a frog and a toad?  A toad can’t sheetrock.

working on resolutions

So it’s not even 2006 yet, but I’m setting some goals for myself. Some esay, some no so easy. Here are a few preliminary ones:

1. Before October 3rd, 2006, I will weigh less than 200 lbs. I will still weigh less than 200 lbs. on January 1st, 2007.
2. I will get my company’s website up and running. The soft deadline in February 1st, 2006, and the hard deadline is April 1st, 2006. This will include both the Blattcave Productions site and the Blattcave Podcasting site.
3. I will move into a house I own at the latest of when my current lease expires on June 10th, 2006.
4. I will continue my involvement with Inside Pulse and hit my deadlines for my soon to be every other week column

Just a preview.

How far did Sony really go with XCP?

I think anyone who gets to this blog already knows about the Sony XCP/DRM debacle. some new developments to this isthat Sony potentially broke the DMCA in order to create it’s anti-iTunes copy protection.

The DMCA states it’s illegal to reverse engineer copy protection. Getting technical, Mark Russinovich of Sys Internals and the guys at F-Secure broke the law to find out that the XCP copy protection was poorly written and harmful to any system it installed itself on.

But here’s a new twist. Rumor has it that parts of the XCP code were lifted from open sources applications. Parts of the multiple program’s code were found in the XCP code.

DRMS code was found in XCP. It is used to strip Apple’s FairPlay iTunes copy protection from songs, originally written by hacker hero DVD Jon. Reportedly it’s not being utilized, but still sits on these CDs. But that doesn’t matter. think back to the Rockstar/Grand Theft Auto/Hot Coffee debacle. The code wasn’t used by the game, but it was still there.

The LAME (more stolen code found in XCP) guys have said they’re not the suing kind of guys. But they have a big gun aimed at Sony if they don’t do what they feel is right here. I’m pretty sure they’d be happy if they pulled XCP discs off the shelves for good, replaced any discs that have this on it and offered a complete uninstall and fix of whatever this disc put on computers.

So who broke the law here? Who has the right to sue who?

Sony:

• potentitally broke the law by installing this in the first place. I’m sure this will be determined in the courts.
• supposedly sviolated copyrights by including code from LAME, id3lib, mpglib, mpg123, FAAC, and DRMS in their XCP CDs.
• Potentially violated the DMCA by including software that reverse engineer’s Apple’s FairPlay in their XCP CDs.

The creators of LAME, id3lib, mpglib, mpg123, FAAC, and DRMS:

• Has a big gun aimed at Sony that says “Lawsuit”, but doesn’t plan on pulling the trigger

Mark Russinovich, SysInternals and F-Secure:

• Violated the DMCA by reverse engineering Sony’s XCP

Apple:

• Can sue Sony for violating their copy protection and the DMCA by including DVD Jon’s FairPlay stripping code

This of course doesn’t count the lawsuits by New York, Texas, California, Italy and (I think) Britain against Sony.

References:
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=940
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=933
http://sam.zoy.org/blog/2005-11-21-suspicious-activity-indeed