Author: Chris

Why blocking Newzbin2 won't make the blindest bit of difference

[Update, 5th of April 2011: Oh look, the Business Secretary Vince Cable went on record saying that the Government would stop blocking web sites using the SI of the Digital Economy Act. Heh. (Newzbin2 was blocked via legal methods offered through the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act - making that entire equivalent section of the DEA redundant, and also upon further scrutiny, extremely poorly worded. You can also read Justice Arnold's ruling.)]

A friend emailed me a link to a BBC article [1]"BT ordered to block links to Newzbin 2 web site", BBC News, July 28 2011 discussing the 'landmark' judgment handed down by an (out of his depth?) judge regarding the enforced blocking by BT of Newzbin2 to stop its customers from accessing copyrighted materials in a piratey manner.

Everyone's dancing around the topic. (I do not advocate piracy as a means to solve the current problems the creative industries face, but I haven't paid for every single song I've ever listened to.) However the older I get, the more I understand about the importance of paying your dues - and understanding the value of a piece of music or film, and understanding why it's right to pay a fair price for it. I have, quite literally, spent thousands of pounds on my music collection, with a heavy investment into vinyl along with many CDs and even a few C90s 😉 Regrettably I believe this judgment could have serious ramifications for not only the future of entertainment industries but personal rights and freedoms. My email back to my friend turned into somewhat of a long one... And here it is reproduced for your enjoyment.

Read my reply!

References

References
↑1 "BT ordered to block links to Newzbin 2 web site", BBC News, July 28 2011

The Three Year Review: Zoom H2 portable field recorder (pros and cons)

After reading a DV247 Magazine article comparing a dozen or so different hand-held digital recorders, I wrote a longish post adding my own experiences of the device (I've been a Zoom H2 owner for several years and I think it's a great little device. However I doubt my comment will ever be approved on their blog, so I thought I'd republish here as it'll be helpful for anyone shopping around for devices. A lot of the criteria by which I judge the H2 will apply to many / every device in the price bracket, so caveat emptor as always, and always try before you buy if possible!

Read the rest of my review of the Zoom H2

SED #9: Intelligent Environments Europe Limited

This is a real gem. Brucie Bonus: the company's domain is IE.com.

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IE is the trading name of Intelligent Environments Europe Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Parseq plc.

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Intelligent Environments Europe Ltd is a VAT registered company - GB 602 8062 72

To Three or Not to Three?

That is very much the question, as WordPress 3 finally gets its first point update to 3.1. Are there any significant benefits over the 2.9 branch? Interested to hear any and all viewpoints, along with any upgrade horror stories.

(Incidentally if you came here because you thought this might be about me considering moving to the Three mobile network... I've been there in the past. It's a dark place. I'm glad I escaped.)

I ♥