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January 29, 2006

The Slide

February is looming and the slide to Summer is on the run. Clues are available as to what we're up to. Let me first hand out the template for Calendaring Feb 06 (PSD file) here. "Save Target" in Safari as it now supports layered PSD display.
And my Feb 06 contribution here (In the Gallery by Feb 1st):

1024 x 768
1140x900
1152x768
1280x854
1440x900
1600x1200

STU tell me if you want me to take care of the Illustration you sent.

Back to the slide(s).

Slide One: ArsTechnica is running a Jobs vs. Gates discussion. Is Jobs the greedy capitalist (bad?) and Gates along with wife Melanie the charity champion (good)? Look at the numbers that are available to public, the Gates family surely gives a lot in charity while Jobs is nowhere listed. According to the article, the Gates Foundation has a US$29 billion endowment in fighting racism, poverty, inequality or war. Jobs started a charitable foundation in the 1980s but gave up once he "discovered how time-consuming such business can be." Thanks, Steve, for being honest. And thanks for being a "greedy capitalist". The least we can say is that greedy ones like Jobs who strive to make better products, find elegant solutions and have the balls to drive them to the market and influence many for the better while making a profit are the good ones. On the other side no ballistic amount of charity is going to save Gates from the catastrophic mess his products, practices and commercial behaviors are and have been for the past two decades. Bill, use your money better, to cherish the crowd from Times Mag pages with Bono is as little as nothing. Here we know who is doing a good job and who is not.

Slide Two: Push for Elections and market the idea as synonym to Democracy, make it happen and find yourself trapped in an unmarketable mess. The victory of Hamas over Fatah in recent elections for Palestinian government will drive nuts many. Consolation may be something as a civil war within Palestinian borders is already in progress and may distill a better approach on the long run. But as far as things prospect outside of the borders in the short, that's a long standoff. Juan Cole describes Bush's faults in his Salon piece here. And also look for Gilbert Achcar's guest editorial of January 27, 2006 at Cole's place. Let's try now to put pressure for negotiations based on good faith (and who is to convince Israel to do so?) and ask for no machine guns on the table. Can Europeans speak loud on this? The "other" approach, detailed here on TCS Daily is not going anywhere. In deep and focused discussion on Belmont Club here

Slide three: Soaps. The big guns are all set for some color of tragedy. "The O.C.", finally a chance to cut Marissa out of the landscape, now that the little sister is running the show. The one-that-does-not-shake, Ryan, now the wisest man in town, progressively replacing Sandy, whose role has become minimalist, which is sad. So much for the Rumble Fish. "Lost" is midway to the fall with the community half set for all-out-war with the land owners and the other half entangled into a spreading turn for private matters, sexual intercourses and drug rehab without the facilities. Both Saeed and Sawyer are on the rise, is this army to be Iraqi based? What to say about "Desperate Housewives"? At this point we are running circles around daily routines, despite the killings, mean gay children's revolts and Internet porn. The show is begging for a big dip into something that we can not forecast successfully.

Slide four: The loudest political campaign in the world, Italy, is set to spark in a few days. If I was not living here I would rather laugh about. A bloodshed will be, with no particular side detailing a coherent strategy for a country which economy is clearly on a landslide to irrelevance. The "left" conglomerate, apparently with better ties to the EU burgs, will do all it can to lose. Berlusconi, obliterating its allies, will spend whatever it takes and go as far as he can get. Let's only hope it's April soon. What about a standoff reminiscent of Germany a month ago? Is that ugly enough?

Slide five: Google is likely to shape the market's mood next week, when it comes through with its fourth-quarter results. The online search giant has blown Wall Street targets away through its first five quarters as a public company, thanks to a potent combination of improving fundamentals and an insistence on keeping mum when it comes to providing guidance to the investing community. But let's be realistic. After being humbled for five straight quarters, analysts are getting aggressive with their optimism by raising their projections and profit targets almost monthly. In fact, over the past three months, Wall Street consensus estimates for Google's 2006 profitability have grown from $8.36 to $8.76 per share. That means Google will miss, and when it does, it won't be pretty. Away from the coin count and on the flip side, recent snafus suggest not just estimates are being missed. A nasty one was recently found with Gmail forwarding from an x.y account to the corresponding xy account without user's knowledge. Another one was the now famous Google video store, the store with a price policy wholly onto the distributors. I bet anybody to buy anything on a store set up with such business logic. Cherry on the cake is Google China a.k.a. how an engineer's based company deals with censorship. Check this post on LGF to find out how Google Search works from China. It is pretty striking. Here. Amen. It is true when Google screws it, it does it big time.

Slide six:A large set of email messages, the Enron corpus, was made public during the legal investigation concerning the Enron corporation. This dataset, along with a thorough explanation of its origin, is available here. The raw Enron corpus contains 619,446 messages belonging to 158 users. Academic researchers quickly realized the e-mails were a unique and open data trove that could be exploited by researchers interested in social networks and information analysis and retrieval. The Enron Email Analysis Project at Berkley is here and includes search interfaces, specifically developed search algorithms, categorization styles and subset annotations, an email visualization and clustering tool and a database representation built by Andrew Fiore. Dig it.

Off to iTunes.

Posted by lck at 03:14 PM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2006

Ipod Killers Where Are They?

This op-ed (copyright Smart House Magazine) dares to draw a line. The topic is one of the hottest in the industry today: the future of the iPod. According to Chris Seybold and David Richards the outcome is very clear. At least for this year :)

Ipod Killers Where Are They?
Chris Seybold & David Richards - Sunday, 22 January 2006
© Copyright 2002 - 2005 Smart House Magazine. All rights reserved.

If there is one thing that Bill Gates and Companies like Creative or Samsung or any one hundreds of organisations who are trying to emulate Apple's iPod success can not do and that is win market share up against Apple.

Chris Seybold of Apple Matters a web site that tracks the Apple market daily writes. There are a million iPod killers floating around. Some feature more capapcity, some feature more gizmos, and some feature lower price points. None of the iPod killers are actually doing any iPod killing because they're too busy trying to be more iPodish than the iPod.

Even with the consistent lack of success the iPod wannabees have had, there are still plenty of companies willing to make iPod knockoffs. Some of the manufacturers labor under the delusion that the next iteration of their player will dethrone Apple. The more rational mp3 player producers are intent on scooping up the lion's share of the crumbs left by the market dominating iPod. For all the bluster and imitation the competition has consistently failed to dent the iTunes/iPod stranglehold, few expect that to change. Why has every attempt failed so miserably? Because if you are truly desirous to do to the iPod what Windows did to the command line there's only one company who can pull it off. Their name is Microsoft and it is only a matter of time until they make a serious effort. At least, that is Steve Jobs' take on the situation as evidenced by the following quote:

The problem is, the PC model doesn't work in the consumer electronics industry, where you've got all these companies and some does one thing and another does another thing. It just doesn't work. What's going to happen is that Microsoft is going to have to get into the hardware business of making MP3 players. This year. X-player, or whatever.

Mr. Jobs' logic is transparent. He reasons that since iTunes and the iPod use the vertical integration model that Microsoft could use the same tactic to finally relegate the iPod to the technical trash bin. In theory, the system would work as follows: Microsoft would bundle a music playing program with every PC that, of course, pointed to an iTunes like music store. The model would be completed when people buy a Microsoft produced digital audio player. Consumers, being the lazy slugs they are, would take the path of least resistance. Inevitably, iPod marginalization would ensue.

The normal objection at this point is to state, with a certain naiveté, that the iPod is much too well designed to be toppled by any music player that Microsoft could produce. That notion gives people a little too much credit for desiring slick interfaces and elegant design. Likely, any audio player designed by Microsoft wouldn't match the iPod's streamlined looks but would remain desirable. Microsoft, after all, already designs some of the best mice and keyboards and has shown certain hardware engineering skills with both editions of the XBox.

At this point, it is time for a little hand wringing. If the only thiing that is required for Microsoft to decimate the iPod is a Microsoft branded mp3 player then the future is bleak. That assessment is a little too dark. Steve may have made the path to iPod irrelevancy seem straight enough but, if Microsoft takes the gamble, they will surely find the trail full of blind turns, deadly snakes and crumbling footholds.

The logistics, of course, won't be problematic for Microsoft. They have scads of cash for development and other associated manufacturing costs. Rather, the issue would be with those who already manufacture digital audio players and license Microsoft's DRM. Suddenly, these manufacturers would find themselves competing directly with Bill Gates and his well-paid minions.

With this realization, we now see Steve's comment not as a roadmap but as bait. Were Microsoft to jump headlong into the digital audio player market there would be strong incentive to Apple to begin licensing FairPlay. Manufacturers would be forced to choose between two mainstream options: A) go with Microsoft or B) Go with Apple. In the past, the no-brainer has been to go with Microsoft. This time the obvious choice is different.

The folks who stick with Microsoft get to fight over, roughly, twenty percent of the market. The folks that go with Apple would be aligning themselves with what has become the industry standard. The players that license FairPlay would have access to the iTunes store, backwards compatibility with the songs consumers have already purchased, and a chance to compete on a perfectly level playing field with the iPod. It doesn't take a Stanford MBA to deduce that the potential rewards of opting to use FairPlay far outstrip the rewards of going with PlaysForSure.

When the vast majority of manufacturers stop supporting PlaysForSure and start supporting FairPlay, as would likely happen, then the battle is over. Microsoft will be relegated to side player in the digital content delivery market. Their DRM, the most coveted part of the deal for Microsoft, will have been shunted to a distant, irrelevant second tier player.

Why doesn't Apple go ahead and slam the lid shut on Microsoft right now in an effort to retain ownership of the growing market they already dominate? Currently, and likely until Microsoft makes a push with their own player, there isn't a reason to share the wealth with anyone. It is feasible that Google, or some unidentified third party, could begin challenging the iPod/iTunes dominance through some heretofore unthought-of bit of innovation but the end result, Apple licensing FairPlay, would remain the same.

Of course, there is a wildcard. What if Microsoft could convert FairPlay tracks so that they would run on players besides the iPod? Would that be enough to drive people away from the iPod? That functionality has been hinted at and, undoubtably, Microsoft believes that is the key to dethroning Apple. In reality, it is simply a tacit admission that competing directly with the iTunes Music Store is too much to ask of even Microsoft. If the plan goes through, the end result will be another round of supposed iPod killers showing up and being quickly forgotten.

Nothing lasts forever, certainly some day the iPod/iTunes duo will be challenged and soundly defeated. That day isn't today and unfortunately, if you're Microsoft, it isn't even this year.

© Copyright 2002 - 2005 Smart House Magazine. All rights reserved.

Posted by lck at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2006

The Night Clerk - Chapter 5

The crying game

Aperture is just right. I'm taking measurements of the landscape before running to work. Talking funny and looking funny, shy by the sudden glimpse of a luscious pair of twin legs getting on the bus. I bet from a distance for a prize meticulously taken care of and a head start. The Sony barks off with a loud unknown on the wire. At the other end a man is looking for a Sophie, which (unfortunately?) I don't know. Sophie? With two fingers on the flip he's crying single syllables off the speaker. The girl pays for a routine and sits down, hands on her knees firmly. Make my way back with the tune pounding, sick, awake and calm in the jungle, breath out and catch her on the eye-wire.

Finger-picking on the heels and off the bus. Is this where you live, Sophie? You and your copy machines? I work at the Ambrosia, down the block. Her soothing dark eyes speak of three legged stools, scattered Polaroids, napkins and crumbs in the sun, a casual eye musing for Paris every other day.

Can I buy you breakfast?
You're going to wear that funny hat and spin?
May I survive thru the night...
9 a.m. at The Wall, bring a tie.
A tie? What for?
I only date boys with ties, no questions.

The phone rang for the rest of the night. Unfair affair and the crying game. Who's there?

Have a tie to spare, John?
Talking to me?
I missed the crowd, pie-hole.
Who's getting married this time?
Friend of mine.
Got friends? Black tie far-out these days?
I'm all highway on the silk. Cheers.

Don't talk to anybody, lick away the dancing until it's go on the watch and wave to the Wall, a recessed spot by Metro, hiding by Regent's and the neon lamps. I'm not supposed to see what I see: she's at a table, crisscrossing in the black suit, mirror-shades to the overcast, a cream pullover and a smile, chin and jaws dipped into psychology.

I had coffee early on. I like your shades.
Sophie... Sophie, right?
What happened to your funny hat?
Traded in for a tie. More coffee?

I learned everything she could possibly tell about the place, the 1970's styled neon signs and their manufacturing process, the font faces in the menu, a list of drinks and the snow melting at 46F. I mumbled with myself that I never spotted her before and of the guy who loves my wire so much and how sleepy I was and of 404. So this is where you work.

You lost it. How exactly?
Do you want phone, room number, eye color or social security?
Ah! Hell, the tie would be enough.
John, forget it. I'll buy you one.
Is she one of ours?
Naa. One of ours?
Did she like your phone?
No, but she wanted a clamshell and I needed a new one anyway. Now you're questioning way past work ethics. I dunno if I want to talk to you.
404 was looking for you today.
I know. I'll touch base.

On the second day of the shooting season, rock bottom, away from buses and neon lights, it's 48F outside and the snow is starting to melt. I like my new phone. My girl loves it too. Once she asked about the old Sony. We were at the hotel having croissants and she was experimenting with cornrows style, which made her look as if she had been intentionally distressed to look older. Maybe that's why I told her that I lost it.

© Fortunato Caragliano. All rights reserved.

Posted by lck at 08:42 PM

January 17, 2006

Mieke is Calendaring

Mieke sent her January Calendaring. You can see it here direct or in the Gallery along with the rest.

Mieke makes the cutest and simplest puppets on earth, so naive and expressive they are stunning. We adore her work. Don't miss it!

Posted by lck at 12:33 AM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2006

Annette Bugansky

Annette Burgansky trained and worked in fashion and costume design, becoming a ceramicist. She worked as a cutter for Jean Muir as well as the BBC costume department. Graduated in 2003 from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in Ceramic Design.

Her work is greatly inspired by her experience in the fashion and costume industries and this has influenced her approach to ceramics.

Very inspiring work.

Posted by lck at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2006

Create an e-annoyance, go to jail

Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity.

Read more on cnet here, by Declan McCullagh.

A good definition for "annoy" can be found on Answers.com here. Quite a wide range ah?

Just a ridiculous prohibition?

Let's move to deeply interesting (and highly controversial) matters with Leonard Susskind, one of the fathers (and prime discoverer) of String Theory, panning over his recent book. The video, on Edge.org is here and I highly recommend watching it as it depicts clearly at least the following:
1) how wildly open-minded one can be at 70
2) how bad David Gross and Edward Witten must feel about their whole carrier in lieu of the recent developments in String Theory (badly looking like a re-run of Einstein's God playing dice debating)
3) if we believe and embrace arms into Susskind territory we are (necessarily?) waving goodbye to mathematical physics as searching for certainty. Un-less, here comes Susskind hardcore view, the Theory predicts ONLY local landscapes with their own local laws BUT predicts ALL of them (10 power 500 or so).

Quantum Mechanics (re-born)?

Posted by lck at 06:51 PM | Comments (1)

January 08, 2006

Bound for Glory

Bound for Glory: America in Color is the first major exhibition of the little known color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA/OWI). Comprised of seventy digital prints made from color transparencies taken between 1939 and 1943, this exhibition reveals a surprisingly vibrant world that has typically been viewed only through black-and-white images. These vivid scenes and portraits capture the effects of the Depression on America's rural and small town populations, the nation's subsequent economic recovery and industrial growth, and the country's great mobilization for World War II.

The photographs in Bound for Glory, many by famed photographers such as John Vachon, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, and Marion Post Wolcott, document not only the subjects in the pictures, but also the dawn of a new era -- the Kodachrome era. These colorful images mark a historic divide in visual presentation between the monochrome world of the pre-modern age and the brilliant hues of the present.

The Photographs of the FSA/OWI

Approximately one dozen photographers were employed by the Farm Security Administration (FSA), and its successor agency, the Office of War Information (OWI), from 1935 through 1944. The original goal of the government project was to record through documentary photographs the ravages of the Depression on America's rural population and were intended to spur Congress and the American public to support government relief efforts. Over the years, with an improved economy, increased industrialization, and the onset of World War II, the photographs increasingly focused on an America that was productive, beautiful, and determined. The photographs originally intended to have a narrow focus developed into a noteworthy broader national record.

In additions to their documentary and historic value, the color images in the FSA/OWI Collection provide a remarkable opportunity to study the early use of color film as it was employed by a dedicated group of professional photographers -- who generally took black-and-white images. It is revealing to compare monochrome and color images taken on the same shoot, or to identify particular landscapes or subjects that caught the photographer's eye in such a way that he or she chose to use the medium of color to best represent their essence.

EXHIBITION CATALOG

Bound for Glory: America in Color, 1939–43. New York: H.N. Abrams in association with the Library of Congress, 2004.

The complete collection of FSA/OWI photographs -- 171,000 black-and-white images and 1,602 color images -- are available on the Library of Congress website.

Posted by lck at 02:38 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2006

MacWorld, here we go again

The first and early run of renderings for Caledaring 2oo6 runs very much in the family, while other friends are working on it. The Gallery is available here and a permanent link to it is now available on the main menu. Zib gave a boot to the photo illustration chapter as limited to yarn with her close-up, at which is very good, followed by Elizabeth Morrison, with a sample of lower contrast with good weaving and a rich bordeaux. Peter, a design student based in London sent his contribution, a raw sandy drawing that I appreciate for its simplicity and impact. A template for February will be made available around the 10th as well as my first sample for that month. The gallery is not optimized for Explorer. I've had it up to here with the pesky uber-abortion and Richmond-made.

In a few days Apple will kick off Macworld at Moscone, San Francisco. Everybody expect about everything but few are clear. Apple has been selling 100,000 iPods (figures are for the nano only) every day throughout December.

The Shuffle will come redesigned, lighter and possibly in colors, the offering of TV material will increase sharply with ESPN and more Disney available via iTunes, the Mac mini will be retargeted to the living room on Intel cypher processors and several software packages will receive updates, notably Final Cut, iLife (a spreadsheet anybody?) and Front Row.
All expect Intel-based iBooks, it may be early for that. And several things nobody is talking about, or else. The Motorola ROKR was a fiasco, doubt about it? Apple put its iTunes client on the phone, Motorola put its own mp3 client and the poor thingie is the only phone on the market with two players. Embarrassing. Jobs may come with radical clicks on the matter, why not a phone inside the iPod? Would you not love to flip your nano and find a thin phone pad on the back of your player? Without cheapo cameras to bother? iTunes, the flagship and core of the shift to consumers electronics should get a makeover. The app is growing bloated, and it shows. Better do it now. Demoing of an early build of Leopard is possible but with Microsoft copy-catting left and right, demo may as well be skipped until Vista gets to the point when even cosmetic changes can only make the matter worse. Jobs has to play smart this year. Here Apple either falls or puts a big hold on the market that was once Sony's. Intel-based Powerbooks now? No. An apple-cooked 3D app to complement the fast-fast quad-G5, with help from Pixar? Possible. The marketing hype is high enough, with room for some last-minute buzz, which is typical Apple. Hold your breath.

And finally, the parrot everybody would love in the house, here. He yawns and gets down too.

Posted by lck at 08:34 PM | Comments (0)

January 02, 2006

Sleep© kicks off 2oo6

Frozen, a piece from The Bamboo Book kicks off the 2006 premiere issue of Sleep©, an alternative magazine in London, UK. All the best to the mag. I'll be standing and waiting for my copy. That's a good year!

Posted by lck at 04:17 PM | Comments (0)

The Back of Beyond

Belmont Club has so far the best commentary on the current gas war between Ukraine and Russia. The post is followed by a massive discussion, spanning several topics from the emerging role of Iran to China's supply plans. For more on Gazprom here, via Jeff Kouba's "Peace Like A River" or Martha Olcott's paper study for Rice University here (PDF).

Posted by lck at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2006

Calendaring for 2oo6

Welcome into 2oo6. Hope there's still fresh leftover to drink.

The focus is on change. And best way to change is to change what we know best. January 1st: a calendar. The first one for January 2006 is available here (or banner-click). 6 different resolutions are available that will fit most desktops and portables. Left over are the few guys who own a Cinema Display. Feel free to work the canvas up to 3000 or more and request by mail, if needed, my original artwork.

1024 x 768
1140x900
1152x768
1280x854
1440x900
1600x1200

Change is not much on what I've done but on what you all can do. Your own artwork illustration (or own photographic), on this same template. The template is available as a layered PSD file. Paste your artwork and name and send it. Copyright will stay with you. Distribution of the flat JPEG file is encouraged, realize that each artwork bears copyright and name. The template itself is free to travel with no modifications (unless you find errors, please call). We are staying off of print for now, 72 dpi will work.

Photoshop Template for January 2oo6

All submissions will be reviewed and posted in a Gallery. The best authors will be invited to work in the near future on a similar theme, by that time we'll have a shop set up to sell the artwork.

Clear like Joe Pesci, I hope.

P.S. You don't have to produce 6 different sizes of your calendar, I'll take care of the technicalities. You'll clearly need Photoshop, the template is bulky to stay compatible with ANY VERSION of our pet graphic program. Again, I do not necessarily expect submissions from professional Illustrators as I am not technically an Illustrator myself. Stay with us and remember to have fun.

Posted by lck at 04:46 PM | Comments (0)