in re:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit just overturned a lower court’s March 2007 ruling, which found Cablevision’s Remote Storage Digital Video Recorder infringed on copyrights. The Second Circuit held that offsite DVRs were not copyright violations (could still head to Supreme Court some think), paving the way (for now) for cable companies to provide subscribers with DVR functionality sans the home unit (users would still need a digital cable box capable of on demand interaction). Still, this can be seen as a big win for those who argue for broader usage rights, then those put forth by Hollywood and other major content owners. Cable companies can provide this type of service much cheaper than the current at home products.

See story

Just on the way back from a brief visit to Seattle. While there I was able to make it over to one of my favorite spots , Pikes Place Public Market. While it is packed with crowds of tourists, it is also packed with all kinds of great food, from fruit and fish stalls to prepared foods to sit down spots. Yesterday for lunch I stopped by in one of the many alleys at Pikes Place Chowder and grabbed a cup of their chowder of the day, which was Crab and Oyster along with some other flavors such as chorizo and sweet corn. The chowder was great, with a little kick from the chorizo and the sweetness off corn and crab. Gotta give it a recommendation as a worthwhile lunch spot when in Seattle.

Live from SF some pics in front of Hills Bros Coffee (don’t worry I am not drinking any)

So I am sitting (when I write, not when it gets uploaded) here halfway between Dallas and San francisco in seat 13F and I thought why not fire off a post. I am on my way to SF for what looks to be a great weekend, visiting great friends in a really great city that I only have spent a little time in, and getting some good meals in. I’ll through out my props to the inter terminal transport in Dallas, which is simple and you don’t need to leave security ( a plus for a lot of reasons, the one that came to mind today was not throwing away the overpriced water I bought in Ohio) for comparison sake Newark you need to go through security if you train (I hear if you bus, you don’t but they don’t make that common knowlege.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Ohios domeless statehouse, not the only State with no dome, but the only rotunda without a dome ( apparently the civil war led to the dome craze as troops returned home having seen the capitol building.

So a bit ago I ordered some new work shirts from Brooks Brothers online during a big sale they had (their non-iron shirts are amazing). Anyway I also ordered a replacement pair of the little knotted string cuff links (the only kind I’ll wear generally, a more casual and cool looking I think , just be careful of them coming apart — hence the replacement. I assumed when ordering they would throw the little things in with my shirts as they are tiny, so I was a bit surprised when a seperate box showed up. Now having read consumer reports back page I have seen my share of wasteful packaging and too large boxes, but considering a small envelope would have held the knots I was a bit surprised by the box. I just wonder how the packers of the box can’t figure out a better way, oh well.

What’s different about this post? Not sure if you will notice any difference between this post and any of my earlier ones. To keep you from guessing I’ll give you the answer… I am blogging from my iPhone (yeah it’s the now antiquated 1st gen). Anyway wordpress the website that runs my blog has a mobile edition now that is really lean and simple to use - meaning it loads fast on 2g edge networks and is a simple screen that fits the small screen well. It will be interesting to see if I get into doing shorter more spontaious posts or stick with the tried and true.

Update: so just as I found out about that today they came out with a free wordpress iPhone native app, so far looking pretty good.

Speeding tickets are one of the more annoying things to deal with, there is a certain helplessness that most people feel in terms of the ability to fight a supposed radar gun reading.  An interesting case is taking place out west on the subject where a teen was nabbed for speeding, the only difference between this and every other case is that the kid and his family are trying to fight the ticket w/ the GPS data they have (his car was equipped with a GPS unit that reported back to a central service with his speed so that his parents would know if he was speeding).  Of course GPS in every car is something that reeks of big brother to many folks, but here we got a case where it might be able to poke a hole in the normally open and shut case of speeding.

See article Nabbed for speeding? GPS data could get you off the hook - from Ars Technica

A crazy story that is just to strange to be fake that is written up in the NY Times.  Basically in Missouri a man  known as “Sergeant Bill,” went around w/ the local police who he convinced that along w/ him they did not need search warrants to enter their homes because he was a federal agent (multi-jurisdictional task force anyone?).  Unfortunately a reporter checked into it and found out that Bill was not a federal agent, and that Bill was Bill A. Jakob, unemployed former trucking company owner, a former security guard, a former wedding minister and a former small-town cop from 23 miles down the road.  Why he ended up Gerarld, MO, kicking down doors and trying to put an end to the meth problem there is apparently unclear.  See the story here

Well until I get a few posts strung together maybe I shouldn’t welcome myself back to the blog, but I have had enough complaints about my extended recess to remind me to get back on here.  About to head down to DC for a quick weekend trip so I will keep this first post short, but I actually just thought I post a link to an article on Slate that was pretty interesting on Costco’s worker treatment versus Wal-Mart, basically Costco is notorious for its good treatment of workers compared to Wal-Mart, but if its so good for business as Costco claims why isn’t Wal-Mart testing it out?

I’ll throw out into the area that I don’t shop at Wal-Mart, I don’t really care if others do, but its my opinion that they aren’t particularly good for our society for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into here as I have probably spouted off on them before.  I do belong to Costco and occasionally make the 15 minute trek on the highway out to their store, part of the reason I belong aside from some of their prices (contact solution is half the reason) is that their company is progressive and treats their employees fairly well and I am willing to sacrifice the ‘lowest cost’ for that, but call me crazy, but there yah go.  Now check out the article if you care.

Article here

“A cashier at Costco, after five years, makes about $40,000 a year. Health benefits are among the best in the industry, with workers paying only about 12 percent of their premiums out-of-pocket while Wal-Mart workers pay more than 40 percent.”

So those of you who know me know that I am all for high gas prices.  Yes you read that right, HIGH GAS PRICES, see I said it again.  Why?  Am I nuts?  Well since I was lobbying earlier for a $1 a gallon gas tax (on the coat tail of an article by Thomas Friedman a year or two ago) we have had exactly that kind of increase in fuel and the market response has already shown why we need high gas prices if we are to remove our dependence on oil from less than savoury sources (no offense Saudi Arabia - okay none taken).

I know several individuals who are now either using public transportation or carpooling something they would not have thought about just a year ago.  The increase in ridership (10% over last May here in Columbus) will of course allow expansion and improvement of mass transit, which in turn snowballs to allow further ridership.

One other effect?  Well besides SUV sales suffering and the rise of the Hybrid, there is the more low market response of scooping up Geo Metros, formerly the butt of jokes and now the hot ticket item that used car dealers can’t keep on their lots.  Actually for really green people a Metro (used - they aren’t made anymore) are better for the environment then a hybrid when you factor in the huge environmental toll making that new car and battery takes (apparently 100,000 miles is what it takes before you undo the toll of manufacturing and pass into the ‘Black’ environmentally w/ a Prius) whereas the Metro has long since overcome its manufacturing debt.  see story in the Dispatch

Of course a lot of these hot to trot people may be forgetting that the Geo Metros 40+ mpg that they are lusting after are computed with the old EPA numbers (i.e. numbers so fictional you needed to be drafting behind a semi with a strong tailwind to get close to).  US News has a good article telling you why buying a Metro today is a stupid idea (one of them is the car wasn’t that safe)

“The federal government altered the formula it uses to calculate gas mileage last year.…It’s easy to compare old and new numbers — the EPA has already done it for you, publishing the older numbers alongside the new, revised numbers on its website.  So let’s look at the mileage of that 1992 Geo Metro. According to the old formula it should have managed a combined mileage rating of 38 mpg. That’s not far below the 46 mpg of the current Toyota Prius, just like the Mercury-News claims. According to the revised formula, however, that 1990 Metro should actually manage only 33 mpg — 13 below the Prius. That’s not nearly as impressive. In fact, it’s nearly the same rating as many current small cars.”  US News

(Oh and as a side note, I did just get a new car and it wasn’t a Metro, went with another VW Jetta, not the best fuel mileage, but the appeal of the 4 cylinder turbo and the fact i put on less than 8,000 miles a year steered my decision…)