A Switcher Confesses

Last week, I bought Apple’s 15-inch PowerBook, marking my most-recent switch back to the Mac. The decision, nearly five years to the day after buying my first PowerBook, marked the final chapter in my back-and-forth switch between Macs and Windows. I’m a Mac user now, although Windows will remain vitally important for work.

My struggle ensued, in part, because of Microsoft’s success at creating, for non-Windows users, barriers to entry—to the Internet and key software categories. I also wobbled back and forth because of concerns using a Mac would hurt my work, first as a reporter and later an analyst covering Microsoft.

Apple by Joe WilcoxJan 31, 20046:14 pm

RIAA Taketh, and Pepsi Giveth Away

The Pepsi ad promoting the big iTunes Music Store 100-million song giveaway debuts tomorrow during the Super Bowl. The spot [Editor: original link replaced] features 16 kids busted by music industry copyright cops for illegally downloading or trading tunes. The ad’s music bed is “I Fought the Law”, which artist I don’t recognize.

Plenty of rip-roaring versions are out there, from Bryan Adams, The Clash, Dead Kennedys, Stray Cats, and others. Oh, and the Bobby Fuller Four broke into the Top 10 with the song during the mid 1960s.

News Media by Joe WilcoxJan 31, 20041:39 pm

Whatever Happened to the Free Spirit that spawned the Modern Internet?

This afternoon, I was reading a story about cancelled flights—more concerns about terrorist threats—over at MSNBC. The story included an interactive element that lets the reader try out being a baggage screener for two minutes. Beneath the interactive element, “Can You Spot The THREATS?” is this option: “License this Interactive for your Web site.” Clicking through leads to Rights Links (powered) by Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. The cost: $99 for a single Website. Yeah, you read that right. MSNBC is charging for that interactive element.

Media by Joe WilcoxJan 31, 20049:11 am

Lay Me Down

In 1978, on a cold February day like this one, I sat in my freshman college dorm, forlorn and frustrated. I hadn’t written a song or lyric in months. In breakthrough, this simple poem spilled out from typewriter to paper.

Music by Joe WilcoxJan 30, 20043:11 pm

Let’s Eat at the Audio Lunchbox

I discovered a cool, new music site today. I was looking around MusicMatch, which had profiled The Distillers album “Coral Fang.” I listened to the songs first on MusicMatch MX radio; some rad punk. So I checked out the band’s homepage where there was a post about The Distillers going digital, with songs for sale over at Audio Lunchbox.

Audo Lunchbox is a legal download site hawking indie music. Lots of it, and stuff you’d buy from Apple’s iTunes Music Store (that means rights protection) or one of those Windows Media Audio outfits like MusicMatch (that also means rights protection). The problem with the rights-protected (a.k.a. digital rights management) stuff isn’t the restriction on playback (three PC cap for most music) but the compatibility. Apple’s music format and WMA aren’t compatible. The songs usually won’t play in the same media player or portable music player.

Uncategorized by Joe WilcoxJan 29, 20043:49 pm

Windows XP: Game Over

If you’ve got kids, kids’ games and Windows XP, you’ve problems. You see, Microsoft appears to have ignored an entire category of software during Windows XP compatibility testing: Educational and edutainment software for kids. If you have a closet full of hand-me-down games for that four or five year-old previously used by an older sibling, plan on turning many of them into coffee coasters.

Windows XP may have been on the market for more than two years, but plenty of kids games won’t work well or run at all on the operating system. If your kids have a beloved game for which there is no new version and you’re thinking about getting a shiny, new Windows XP PC, plan on keeping that older Windows machine around for awhile.

Music by Joe WilcoxJan 29, 20043:35 pm

Microsoft ADD

Earlier this week, over at O’Reilly Network, Alan Graham posted a rip-rourous blog about Microsoft’s Windows Media strategy. While I don’t agree with all his conclusions, his rat-tat-tat sarcasm had me in stitches. It’s a […]

Digital Lifestyle by Joe WilcoxJan 28, 20046:12 pm

Lucky Brats!

What’s the best remedy for snowbound kids! WebCams! Sunday’s snow socked in Washington, keeping my daughter and her friends down the road from getting together for play. Sure, she did the snowplay thing, but that […]

Living by Joe WilcoxJan 25, 20046:25 pm

Washington Winter Wonderland

Snow is pelting Washington this evening. Forecast for the D.C. metro region is 10-20 cm of snow. I’d say there’s 1 cm on the ground in the first half hour of snowfall. Lots of losers […]

Health by Joe WilcoxJan 24, 20046:45 am

Man on the Train

Wednesday afternoon, while on the D.C. metro, I saw a homeless man working the train for change. Lots of loafers beg for money around Washington; they’re professional beggars whose job is collecting handouts, sometimes pretty aggressively.

But this guy looked truly down on his luck. I’m not tall, about 1.6 meters, and this guy, sporting a well-weathered sleeping bag, was shorter than me. He shuffled politely through the subway car, asking people for money. What surprised me was just how many folks gave him money. Unlike the professional beggars, which more typically use disposal cups, this guy took cash by hand. Like the others, I gave him some change; I wanted to give more but hadn’t hit the bank machine before going on a trip to New York. He literally got all that I had to give.

Health by Joe WilcoxJan 23, 20048:08 am

My LinuxWord Souvenir: Poison Ivy

Wednesday afternoon I headed up to New York for LinuxWorld. Strangely, I developed a weird, itchy rash. Thank-you, LinuxWorld, you gave me poison ivy! Reliable Dr. Mirkin made the diagnosis this morning. Maybe Linux truly […]

Living by Joe WilcoxJan 20, 20043:29 pm

NeoPets Alarm Clock

Rousting a kid is every parent’s morning nightmare. Those kids cling to the pillows the way leeches used to stick to our backs at the old swimming hole.

Two weeks ago, my daughter picked up a Pocket NeoPets electronic game, at the local Target using her allowance money. Promptly, at 7:30 each morning, the game buzzes to feed her critter—a Fairy Poogle, I do believe—and she hops out of bed with urgency no alarm clock could muster. It’s a parent’s dream situation.