Here is today’s bunch of quick slants:

• Generally speaking, I really like cloud computing as a concept.  However, in practice, it is unacceptably vulnerable to something as elementary as a network outage, or any other form of disconnection from the web.
• I like my iPod Classic (there’s something really awesome about music in ALAC (mP4a) — I’d use FLAC, but apparently my device is Rockbox-proof), but utterly detest iTunes.  iTunes is the only thing that crashes my home PC.
• Only today did I learn what the piece of l33tspeak “Q Q” means.  (Yeah, I’m lame.)
• The Lakers resemble a MASH unit much more than a professional basketball team with championship aspirations these days.  What’s with all the injuries?  At least none are season-ending (I’m knocking furiously on wood as I type this).
• I want to play some rFactor and test out a couple of new F1 mods (1999 Season mod, for one; I forget the other one at the moment), but I’ve got no time at the moment.
• Come to think of it, I’ve got no time to play games on PC lately.  Maybe later on in the week; I’ve got a couple of projects that are in the finishing stages.
• I’ve been offered a chance to buy Crysis for cheap.  I’m considering it, just to see what the fuss is all about.
• Sometimes, the best thing is to be told that you’re wanted, that people would miss you if you left.  Sappy, maybe, but true.
• Joel Meyers must go as TV play-by-play announcer for the Lakers.  Why?  Not only did he allegedly stab his predecessor in the back through politicking for the job, Meyers just absolutely SUCKS at the job.  Instead of calling the action as it happens, he reads off of the stat sheet, usually citing some statistic that has absolutely no relevance to the game being presently played.  Consequently, if you don’t have your eyes glued to the TV, you will have absolutely no idea what’s going on (plus reciting stats is completely useless unless you put the information in some kind of context, which he never really does).  Other reasons for hating Joel Meyers’ work?  His enthusiasm for the Lakers is completely unnatural — when he sounds excited, it’s obvious that he’s only acting (the listener never feels like Meyers truly loves the Lakers).  He might like to think of himself as being part of the Lakers’ crew, but true diehards can feel that he’s simply not part of the family.
• Speaking of the Lakers, congratulations to the organization for being the first team to win 3000 games in NBA history!
• Last notes about that idiot Joel Meyers:  Meyers sounded far more enthused with the Dallas Mavericks‘ Dirk Nowitzki scoring his 20000th career point in tonight’s game than he did at the finish, when the Lakers clinched # 3000.  My dad and I were apoplectic with just how happy Meyers seemed to be to witness Nowitzki’s great achievement.  What’s the big deal?  While Nowitzki is truly deserving of great acclaim for his milestone, Meyers should not have sounded so happy about it SINCE HE (Meyers) IS THE LAKERS’ PLAY-BY-PLAY MAN ON TV, not the Mavericks’.  The fact that Meyers didn’t sound nearly as enthusiastic and ecstatic about witnessing the Lakers taking their 3000th victory is such an insult and a ridiculous slap in the face…

A good friend from OCN, “Tator Tot,” guessed what a “quick slant” is.  As he told me on Twitter, a quick slant is a type of offensive pass play in Football (not soccer).  He said he could describe what it is, as well, but wants to leave that cookie out for someone else.

Any takers?

Here’s another chance for an e-cookie:  Give me the name of someone from the planet Sullust.

A week and a half into the new year, I thought I’d introduce a tweak onto this blog: Quick Slants, a short but hopefully sweet series of bullet points that currently have my attention.
Without further delay, today’s edition of Quick Slants:

• It’s utter nonsensical foolishness for the Los Angeles Lakers to even entertain thoughts of trading Andrew Bynum for the Toronto Raptors‘ Chris Bosh.  True, Bosh may be rated by many to be the superior player today, but the Lakers don’t need another power forward (they already have Pau Gasol).  Bynum is still improving year to year and is actually still growing into his body.  I dare say his upside is much greater than Bosh’s and will eventually wind up with the greater career.  Plus, bona fide Super Centers in the NBA are the rarest of all commodities; why would the Lakers give away potentially the best center of the next generation when they already have him in the payroll (for cheaper than what Bosh will command when his current deal expires at the end of this year)?
• FLAC and ALAC are appreciably superior to mP3 as an audio format in every way except file size. mP3 is penalized by its one advantage over FLAC/ALAC: The small file size endowed by the compression results in noticeable data loss (i.e., parts of the music which are removed during the compression process), which, if your ears are sensitive enough, effectively changes the very music you’re listening to.
• I think Pete Carroll left USC for the Seattle Seahawks because he knows or feels that the NCAA sanction sledgehammer is about to smash Southern Cal for Reggie Bush-related indiscretions (and maybe also Joe McKnight’s), and this is his best chance to escape with his coaching reputation unscathed.
• I loved Mark McGwire when he was one of the Bash Brothers (Jose Canseco is still my favorite MLB player, despite being blackballed and blacklisted by the game and its fans and media), but I find his statements accompanying his speeches of contrition to be somewhat clumsy and misguided, as well as a bit stupid. Is he sorry for his part in the proliferation of PEDs (Performance-Enhancing Drugs) in baseball, or is he sorry of the shadow his willful use of such substances now casts on his achievements?  There’s a huge difference…
• Tiger Woods: Yes, I’ll continue to kick him while he’s down. Fess up to being a douche bag, you douche bag.  You’re ONLY A GOLFER.
• Michael Schumacher: I don’t respect him any more than I ever did when he was king of F1. That’s my way of saying I don’t rate his achievements any more than I do those of such true greats as Stewart, Clark, Fangio, Lauda, Senna, and Prost.
• Stats are just numbers to me, which don’t ever tell nearly enough of the whole story.
• I have too many things on my plate at the moment, and not nearly enough time to work on them all.

Whoever can answer this question gets an e-cookie:  Where does the term “Quick Slant” come from, and can you describe it (“quick slant”) properly?

(Okay, I cheated; those are two questions.  Whoever gets both gets two cookies, then.)

(By the way, I’m totally digging being able to write blogs on my laptop.)

My son has always been a keen observer, so it’s no surprise he developed an interest in photography fairly early in life. It’s the perfect avocation for someone equally smitten with technology and the natural world.

We’ve long enjoyed walks through our neighborhood and community with camera in hand—photographing everything from various textures of tree bark to assorted convolutions of cacti.

We enjoy looking at the photos we’ve taken together through the years. Some are framed on walls or bookshelves. Some are filed on our computers. Some have been fashioned into scrapbooks.

One of my favorite holiday gifts was a photo book of our cat that Christopher put together using Snapfish. Another was a book titled “100 Days in Photographs” featuring photos of “pivotal events that changed the world.”

It’s nice to balance the experience of taking your own photographs with appreciating the photographs of others.

What better way to expose your child to a multitude of interesting shapes and colors—plus subjects and perspectives—than to enjoy photography exhibits together.

It can be as simple as choosing a coffee joint, such as Mama Java’s in Phoenix, that rotates the photos of local artists on its walls.

More formal exhibits are available at many an Arizona museum—easily researched via the Central Arizona Museum Association website.

Here’s a brief sampling of current exhibits (make haste since many are nearing their final days)…

• Face to Face: 150 Years of Photographic Portraiture. Phoenix Art Museum Norton Photography Gallery. Through Jan. 10th (this Sunday). Includes more than 60 portraits “by some of the great portraitists and photographic image-makers of the 19th, 20th and 21st century.”

• Mexico, the Revolution and Beyond: The Casasola Archives, 1900-1940. Arizona State Museum at The University of Arizona. Through Jan. 16th. Features the photography of Agustin Victor Casasola.

• John Gutmann: The Photographer at Work. The University of Arizona Center for Creative Photography. Through Jan. 31st. Features the work of a German-born artist and art teacher (who fled the Nazis in 1933 and settled in San Francisco) whose work focuses on multiculturalism.

I love these types of exhibits, so ripe for reinforcement.

I might, for example, couple a visit to the John Gutmann exhibit with a reading of Anne Frank’s diary or the writings of recent immigrants from Asia or the Middle East. After viewing Casasola’s work, I might contact Advocates for Latin@ Arts & Culture to learn about other opportunities to enjoy Latino arts and culture. After seeing the Face to Face exhibit, I might engage my children in making our own exhibit of family portraits (photographed, painted, whatever…).

Future photographic exhibits (featuring primarily works from the Center for Creative Photography) coming to the Valley include:

• Ansel Adams: Discoveries. Phoenix Art Museum Steele Gallery. Jan. 31st to June 6th. The exhibit will feature 120 photographs (including many taken in the Southwest and in our national parks)—plus photographic equipment, proof prints, negatives and more.

• Exposing Time. Phoenix Art Museum Norton Photography Gallery. March 6th to June 27th. The exhibit will feature the work of five 20th century American photographers as they document change (in people, in places, in perspective) over time.

These are just a few of the many opportunities Arizonans have to explore the fine art of photography. Stay tuned for future posts listing other photographic exhibits and opportunities.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for photo collections in your local community—at temples, synagogues and churches; at community colleges and universities; at community centers and museums.

As I often tell my children—the secret to finding is looking.

–Lynn

Coming soon: Photo-based art projects for families, Great places to take photographs with your kids, Favorite books featuring photography

Tis the season to be jolly… careful.

Southern Squall’s urging readers to take care after a flurry of communiques warned us to be wary of ever-present danger this Christmas.

The lead-up to Christmas is traditionally a time of well-meaning/inadvertant scaremongering-by-press-release, and this year has been no exception.

Our good friends at the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand remind us to look after each other around booze.

ALAC chief executive Gerard Vaughan says we should think about the place of alcohol at our parties, and to manage it so that people don’t drink too much.

Over-indulgence can turn into weeks, months or even years of regret because of damage to work and personal relationships, property and health.

It can be pretty nasty. One-fifth of the (on average) 154 deaths and serious injuries reported during the Christmas period involve alcohol. Each year, nearly 20 people drown while under the influence.

Alcohol is involved in 50 percent of all fatal house fires.

“We’re basically asking New Zealanders to place their emphasis this Christmas on the most important things at this time of the year – the people they love and care about.”

All this talk of love - we feel another warning coming on.

Family Planning chief executive Jackie Edmond warns unplanned or casual sexual encounters these holidays could have consequences that last a lifetime.

The combination of holidays, sun (sun – you remember that, Southland!) and alcohol can result in people of all ages “behaving in a manner they wouldn’t normally” – and sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancies.

Ms Edmond says we should hang with like-minded friends, to stay safe. We should remember to “wrap all our gifts” and, ahem, “use condoms and lube this festive season”.

We guess that’s one Christmas present taken care of. 

Gifts – now there’s something we shouldn’t be afraid of, right? Well, no.

Watchdog outfit Safekids says picking the right gift can be “quite challenging”, so it’s come up with its own sure-to-please “What to Buy” list.

The list includes such childrens’ favourites as a booster seat, a cycle helmet, a portable pool fence, and smoke alarms. Ah, the joy of Christmas.

Of course, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without fears we’ll all over-spend.

Debt collection agency Dun & Bradstreet says referrals traditionally surge about 94% in February as people struggle to repay credit card bills racked up over the Christmas period.

This year could be worse than normal with mounting pressures placed on families from the country’s deepest recession in 28 years, which pushed unemployment to its highest level since 2000.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs advises us to make presents ourselves, set a price limit on presents or give labour-based presents like a voucher for babysitting.

Police Southern District family violence co-ordinator Senior Sergeant Kelvin Lloyd says we should do all we can to take the pressure of ourselves this Christmas.

The period is the busiest for family violence. Southern coppers attended more than 700 family violence incidents over December and January last year.

It’s a time of “immense fear”.

“There are pressures on people at this time of year. They can be financial, relate to relationship or child custody issues and of course, alcohol plays a significant part in the escalation of violence in homes.”

Frankly, it’s all enough to make you want to shoot-through to a restful holiday destination.

Central District’s road policing manager Inspector Neil Wynne says fines and demerit points aren’t at the top of your average driver’s Christmas list – but that’s what you’ll get if you use your hand-held mobile phone while you’re driving.

“The rush and stress of Christmas is not an excuse that will wash if you are found by police to be using your phone. I’m sure you have all have better things to spend $80 on.”

Acting Southern District road policing manager Senior Sergeant Steve Larking suggests that’s the least of our worries.  Drink-driving’s a real Christmas-time menace – we should plan to survive.

“It’s tragic that at this time of year there will be a number of people killed on our roads as a result of drink driving, and it could be a member of your family and friends,” he says.

Well, we should have seen that coming. And Dog and Lemon Guide editor Clive Matthew-Wilson says we should drive with our lights on so that everyone else can see us coming, too.

He says World Health Organisation stats show vehicles using daytime running lights have a crash rate 10-15% lower than those that do not.

Speaking of lights, Energy Safety reminds us to be careful even when buying the lights we might use to trim the tree (or, as in Gimblett Pl, Invercargill, our houses).

We should avoid lights with plugs that are not designed for use in New Zealand and we should turn them off when we go to bed. A tingling sensation is usually a warning of danger. So is smoke and fire.

The Fire Service advises us to keep our Christmas trees well watered, to keep them lush and prevent them becoming a fire hazard. We shouldn’t decorate them with candles and we should make sure what decorations we have a fire resistant.

Fire resistant? Well, all that stuff won’t be a problem for the Southern Squall team. We’ll use torch-lights as we hide under our beds and wait for the New Year.

Enjoy your holiday.

And good luck.

During our discussion about ALAC, Jim Covarrubias and Linda Torres also shared some advice he had for beginning journalists.

He stressed that in order to discuss a certain subject, you have to first start overhead of the issue and root the reader in historical relevance to create the emotional connections necessary for communication. You “can’t set a topic into somebody,” he said. Rather, you must elevate the conversation and open the door to something bigger that the topic applies to today.

He also suggested that much of what a journalist, or any writer, does depends on understanding the artistry and delivery of the craft. Both Covarrubias and Torres mentioned they thought writers and journalists could be considered artists, and a majority of the class agreed. Some members also pursued art outside of their journalism studies. You have to be able to communicate revelations in the audiences terms – “You have to think like them.” A writer must also be concerned about the writing style, the kind of dialogue they are creating or fostering, and the specific words chosen – all elements of being a wordsmith.

Another reality journalists must face in a digital age is the regulation of life in to video and sound bites, according to Covarrubias. Presentation becomes even more key, as well as explanation. Anyone can produce one stellar sound bite, but the journalist must concentrate on doing a series of engaging products. He or she must be able to think about the process without getting overwhelmed.

Finally, Covarrubias shared some tips on interviewing and writing on the topic of art. He advised there are no yes or no questions to be asked about a piece of art. Any interview should examine the idea behind the art, the message of the piece that the artist is trying to convey. The journalist should ask how the piece contributes on the artist’s road to self-discovery, and why their particular mediums convey their message so well, or how they are significant.

A thoroughly scary and disappointing thing happened to me this weekend that made me reevaluate my cavalier way of doing IT work at home (you know, where the data is actually important).

I admit I was over-confident about certain things.  Heck, the thing we were doing worked before, so why shouldn’t it work again?

Here are some of the lessons and quirks that I uncovered:

You’ve got 720 minutes

Windows Home Server (WHS) does some really great things.  It mirrors your files so that in case of most hardware failures, your content is safe.  It backs up your other computers so that you’ve got peace of mind when your computers start making funny noises… but what’s backing up your WHS box (I would link in JungleDisk here, but they just pulled their WHS backup beta until further notice)? 

What if you make a mistake (or something else does), and you lose some files?

The good news is that you actually can recover files that are accidentally deleted from a WHS network share.  For 12 hours.  You may be able to right click on the folder in question and look through the “Previous Versions” of it and recover the lost content (review the link to see the steps – there’s also a client tool that could help there, but I’ve not used it).

Here are the key points to know about when it comes to previous versions in WHS:

• Depending on your disk space, you may only have 12 hours to figure out there is a problem AND recover the files (recovery isn’t instantaneous)
• If you only have 1 previous version available (due to disk space), it will disappear at noon or midnight.
• You must do the recovery from the network shares (log into the machine and open explorer, type in “\\<your machine name>”, right click on a folder and select Properties and work from there), not the “d:\shares\” folder in WHS.  You won’t see any previous versions from the “d:\shares\” folder.

So, if there is all this protection involved – even without a backup of WHS itself, why was this such a problem?  Enter the next set of factors…

Windows 7 and media libraries

A challenge for a friend and I has been figuring out how to seamlessly incorporate a vast collection of Apple Lossless (ALAC) .m4a music into his Media Center and Windows Media Player.  Zune seems to be a lost cause since it decides to use its own DirectShow filters and its own special media library. 

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, but have ALAC encoded files without DRM, I would suggest you:

• Install iTunes somewhere
• Open your vast ALAC library of music
• Change the default music encoding scheme in iTunes to WMA Lossless or something similar
• Go away for a while and let iTunes churn

Anyhow, let’s just say I’m thoroughly convinced that ALAC files are just not meant to live together with any Microsoft Media Center type product.  Go to some other media center type application for your HTPC, use iTunes, or convert your files.

We were able to get the files to play in Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player 12 (in Windows 7) by installing QuickTime and the RiverPast QuickTime DirectShow Filter.  The catch is that you can’t see the “tag” information in the files.  So song name, album etc. are all going to be empty unless you install some sort of Windows Media Player plugin.  It’s possible this could let you stream music over http on your WHS box if you install QuickTime and the DirectShow filters there too (untested).

I’m not going to suggest an AAC music information plugin for Windows 7 WMP 12.  Somewhere along the line of attempting to get these ALAC files merged into the Windows Media Center and WMP media library, something started deleting the music files silently.

This could have been any one of several moving parts in this setup (note, this did work in Vista).  However, we did not discover there was a problem until about 10AM when we noticed that all the music files in the artists beginning with “A” and most of the “B’s” were already gone.

By the time we figured out how to recover files from the shadow copies (we tried using the d:\shares folders at first instead of the actual \\<machine name> shares), it was 12:01 PM.  The previous versions disappeared, and all was lost.

Note, his WHS volumes were very full, so it could only keep one shadow copy around.

Other Windows Media Player 12 and Win 7 Media Center quirks

Independent from the above problem, we couldn’t even add any music to the WMP / MCE library.  We also could not view the library setup at all in Windows Media Center and Windows Media Player 12.  The symptoms of this problem are:

• In Windows Media Player 12, right click the Music entry on the left and select “Manage Library”, and nothing happens.  Or find another way to select “Manage Library” and again, nothing will happen.
• In Windows Media Center in Windows 7, if you select Tasks and Media Libraries, the option to “Remove a location” will be grayed out and unselectable.  You can attempt to add a new location, but you’ll never know for sure if it worked.

If you run into this situation, this may have happened to you:

• You mapped a network shared folder to a drive (say “M:” for your “\\homeserver\Music” shared folder)
• That drive mapping somehow disappeared

On a whim, I added his M: drive into the mix to see if that changed anything.  I didn’t realize he used to have drive M: in his setup. After doing this, I was suddenly able to manage his media libraries in both WMP and MCE.

Moral: Test test test

Yup.  It seems simple enough… we should have copied a bunch of his ALAC media to a temporary location and pointed all our efforts toward that.  The drawback there was the colossal amount of time it takes to rebuild the media library.  But then again, he wouldn’t have lost any media by my hand.

Oh, and maybe throw an extra drive into your WHS box if you get near 70% capacity.

Help with converting FLAC to ALAC while retaining metadata and cover art Apparently you need to use a windows program called dBpoweramp to do this.

My Open Letter series has recently been on the backburner, and this is actually the first Open Letter I’ve written in my WordPress blog. And, it’s been a long time coming.

An Open Letter to…

iTunes

Being the technologically and musically open-minded person that I am, I love to try out media players, and see which one is the best fit for me. Since I bought my iPod Touch a while back, I decided to go back to iTunes, for convenience sake over anything – I didn’t want to mess up the hard drive’s formatting and I wanted my songs and apps to sync as smoothly as possible. But, if I didn’t have an iPod, I most certainly would not be using iTunes. What bothers me is that the majority of people use iTunes now for their music playing, but they have to put up with the lack of features and slow speed. I will give you the reasons why, along with solutions that Apple could incorporate into their next version of iTunes (which, I am led to believe, is coming out next month)

1) iTunes does not have native FLAC support

iTunes, I swear, if you incorporated FLAC support, you might just be the most awesome media player out there. I know, Apple, you want your ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) to be for iTunes and to be the market leader in lossless quality music. But, let’s face the facts, you’re not. You’re far behind FLAC (and probably even WAV; as hard drive consuming as it is). You need to accept defeat and let FLAC into iTunes. I know there are several “hacks” for Mac iTunes to enable FLAC support, but there’s nothing at all for Windows users, and it may be too complicated for those who just want FLAC support and own a Mac. It’d make a lot of peoples lives easier if you just added this feature…rather than limiting people to just a few audio formats. Which leads me nicely into…

2) Better support for more audio formats

Yes, believe it or not, Apple, people do like music in other formats, or have ripped music from ANOTHER media player *shock horror I know, Apple*. So then, why do you be such assholes when it comes to this music in another format. Whether it’s OGG, WMA (and yes, you do convert the music to m4a, but transcoding that can sometimes make the music sound worse than WMA) or any other format other than MP3, m4a or WAV, it’s impossible to add it to your iTunes Library. Most people today listen to music on their computers or iPods, and you need to get a grip and let these other audio formats in. You are losing lots of end users by being so format-Nazi.

3) Allow a feature for folder monitoring

This is one thing I really miss about Foobar and Winamp. I loved how I could monitor my 2 main folders for music, and then Foobar/Winamp deleted or added anything when it started up. Because I do have rather limited space for all my music that I want to listen to/or will listen to,  I need to delete files or back them up. And I like to have all my favorite albums in lossless format (and yes, they’re all in ALAC now because I switched back to iTunes), which obviously takes up more space than a standard mp3 rip. What bugs me so much is seeing these tracks still in my library, with an exclamation mark beside them, knowing that they aren’t there anymore. It also is good for those who chronically download and sometimes even forget about albums they’ve downloaded, that way guaranteeing a complete and updated library.

4) Please, PLEASE, work on the startup time and memory consumption

Whilst iTunes 8 did see a rather significant decrease in startup time, it’s still not enough. Not everyone out there has a high spec PC yet. And, really, what takes it so long to load up? I understand loading up some media libraries may take a while, but what else needs loaded up? Foobar takes only seconds to boot up, and Winamp takes a little longer, but it’s still significantly quicker than iTunes. Cut out the excess garbage that no-one needs or wants, and I’m sure iTunes could load up quicker. It reminds one of Real Player many moons ago, when it became popular it suddenly got slower and groggier. Also, there have been more than a few occasions where I have had to simply kill iTunes completely because it was taking up over 90% of my CPU for no apparent reason, and completely slows everything down. This message can also be delivered to Firefox.

5) Why must you randomly reload up when I shut you down?

I still haven’t gotten to the bottom of this problem. And it’s occurred on more than my PC. Almost every time I go to shut down iTunes, it magically loads up again. I have to kill it in Task Manager sometimes to make it stop doing that. If it is a bug, it’s lasted for a very long time, so fix it. Now.

6) Make Genius more of a genius idea.

While I do like the Genius tool, it’s always within my own music. It’s so close to being Pandora it’s not even funny. Yes, find me music similar to what I want to listen to, but make it expand beyond my library. You guys could do something like Spotify, and I really think it would explode, especially if you link it to buying the song in your iTunes store. Win win for everyone concerned.

7) Incorporate better last.fm support, and encourage people to use it!

Last.fm is still a pretty “new” thing to many normal people out there, but it is such a valuable tool and site. Recommendations on artists you may like based on your weekly listening, event/gig recommendations based on your overall listening, and the opportunity to meet many like minded music listeners from all over the world, or just your area. It’s also cool to see what you listen to the most in a week, or ever. Within iTunes though, you could use the “love” feature which could then sync to the last.fm account, or could publish that loved track on Twitter or Facebook. Rumors circulate that iTunes is incorporating some form of better social networking support for iTunes 9…let’s hope so.

Remove the “Genre” option in Browser

Please? I can’t think of any reason why anyone would need/want to use it. Time to streamline the player, make it look better.

9) Option to tag music from a site/iTunes Store

This would make my iTunes experience a hell of a lot better. Unfortunately, a lot of music today is tagged terribly by halfwit users who don’t have a clue about computers. MediaMonkey, Winamp, Foobar…all these players have tagging capabilities from other sites. Again, if you added this, you’d be a clear competitor to the best media player out there award.

10) Have an option to convert lossless/high bit rate music to a lover bit rate when sync’ing to iPod on the fly

This would be SO awesome for us lossless lovers. I hate only having a small amount of music on my iPod (and my model is 32GB). This is one thing that Winamp’s iPod syncing does so well.

Apple, despite bringing out great products, iTunes is probably your weakest link. It’s slow, groggy, limited and to the music lover, very frustrating to use when there are other alternatives. The only thing that gives you my support is your iPod support, being the best in the market today. Be nicer to your end users, you have millions of them! Something Foobar or Winamp would strive to have.

A rather disgruntled but begrudging iTunes user,

Iain Watt

(R-L) Inside Phoenix Council Chambers, Novelist Stella Pope Duarte, ALAC President Erlinda Torres, and painter Jim Covarrubias will lead a group of Latino arts & business leaders to develop the new center. (Photo credit: Jose Muñoz)

[Source: Marcos Najera, KJZZ Radio] — A Latino arts group will start making plans today to turn a storefront space at 147 E. Adams St. in downtown Phoenix into a new cultural center by the end of the year.  The Phoenix City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve the lease.  To listen to the radio segment, click here.

ஆங்கிலம் தவிர மற்ற மொழிகளில் Domain பெயர்கள் அறிமுகம் செய்வது குறித்த பணிகளில் ICANN at-Large advisory committee (ALAC) அமைப்பு உபயோகிப்பாளர் கருத்துக்களை கவனித்து உபயோகிப்பாளருக்கு பங்கம் இல்லாத திட்டங்களை ICANN நிறுவனம் எடுக்க உதவுகிறது.

IDN என்பது Internationalized Domain Names என்பதாகும். தற்சமயம் இணைய தளங்களின் (Website) விலாசங்களை ஆங்கிலத்தில் குறிப்பிடுகிறோம் ( உதாரணம் : http://www.tn.gov.in/ ) இந்த விலாசங்களை ஆங்கிலம் தவிர இதர மொழி எழுத்துகள் கொண்டு குறிப்பிடுவதர்க்கான விஞ்ஞான ஆராய்ச்சிகளும், அரசியல் ஆய்வுகளும் முன்னேற்றம் அடைந்துள்ளன. விலாசங்களை தமிழகஅரசு.தமிழ் என்பது போன்று தமிழ் மற்றும் இதர மொழிகளில் குறிப்பிடும் காலம் விரைவில்.

இணைய தளங்களின் விலாசங்கள் ஒரு புறம் இருக்க, மின் அஞ்சல் (email) விலாசங்கள் தமிழ் மற்றும் இதர மொழி எழுத்துக்களால் குறிப்பிடும் சூழல் ஏற்பட இருக்கிறது. உதாரணம்: narayanan@imaginarymail.com என்பது போன்ற விலாசத்திற்கு பதிலாக நாராயணன்@தமிழஞ்சல்.தமிழ் என்பது போன்று தமிழ் மற்றும் இதர மொழி எழுத்துக்களால் (script) குறியிடலாம். 

tamil language script

இணைய தளம் ஆயினும் சரி, மின் அஞ்சல் ஆயினும் சரி, தமிழ் மற்றும் இதர மொழிகளில் ஏற்படுவதற்கு விலாசங்கள் மட்டும் போதாது. இது சார்பான இதர முன்னேற்றங்களும் ஏற்பட வேண்டும். உதாரணமாக தட்டச்சு செய்வத்தில் உள்ள இடர்பாடுகள் தீர வேண்டும். Google மின் அஞ்சல் தமிழில் டைப் செய்வதை மிகவும் லேசான விஷயம் ஆக செய்து விட்டது. இனி மேல் தமிழில் டைப் செய்வதற்கு நாம் தடுமாற வேண்டியது இல்லை. மற்றும் வேறு வேறு மொழிகளில் செய்திகள், கதை, கட்டுரைகள் (content) இணைய தளங்களில் ஏற்பட வேண்டும்.

இது போன்ற விசயங்களை (issues) Multilingualism என்ற தலைப்பில் உலகின் பல் வேறு நிபுணர்களும் நிறுவனங்களும் ஆய்வு செய்து ஆலோசித்து வருகின்றன. Google நிறுவனம் இந்திய மொழிகளில் மின் அஞ்சல் செய்வதனை இலகுவாக்கியிருக்கிறது. IDN எதிர் காலம் இது போன்ற Mutlilingualism விஞ்ஞான வளர்சிகளுடன் தொடர்புடையது.

இது தொடர்பான ALAC IDN liaison எனும் ஒரு சிறு பொறுப்பில் நான் இது போன்ற விஞ்ஞான வளர்ச்சிகளை கவனித்து, சேகரித்து வருகிறேன். உபயோகிப்பாளர் (User) தொடர்பு இந்த சிறு பணியினை சிறப்பாக செய்ய பெரும் அளவில் உதவும். IDN பற்றி உங்களுடைய கருத்துக்களை என்னுடன் பரிமாற வேண்டுகிறேன்.

ICANN IDN Wiki
ICANN ALAC IDN Working Policy Working Group
email in Indian languages
Google transliteration web application
ISOC India Chennai at-Large

அன்புடன்
சிவசுப்ரமணியன் முத்துசாமி
மின்னஞ்சல்: isolatedn (at) gmail (dot) com

[Source: Jahna Berry, Arizona Republic] – When Elizabeth Gauna closed the Museo Chicano in January, it wasn’t just the end of a small Phoenix museum.  It left a city of 1.5 million people, 40 percent of them of Hispanic descent, without a Latino art museum.  While major Latino museums have sprung up in big cities, including Long Beach, Calif.; Albuquerque; and San Antonio, Phoenix has lagged behind.  An alliance of 12 Arizona arts groups has an ambitious plan to change that.

The demise of Museo Chicano has fueled an effort to create a major Latino museum and cultural center in downtown Phoenix, said Martín Moreno, a local resident and nationally known muralist.  Advocates for Latin@ Arts & Culture plan to begin efforts this month to raise $200,000 to open and operate a small Phoenix cultural center later this year.  Five years down the road, the group envisions a $10 million facility.  “It’s kind of embarrassing,” said Moreno, who sits on the consortium’s board of directors.  He said Phoenix needs a center that preserves and nurtures Latino, Chicano and indigenous contributions to the arts.  [Note: To read the full article, click here.]

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) held a forum on e-Crimes to gather multi-stakeholders and explore the cyber crime situation today. It is also the forum’s goal to find both preventions and solutions to cyber crimes, such as phishing, pharming, etc. At the same time, the forum was aimed at finding a method of recovery for end-users who have become victims of these  proliferating cyber crimes.

The forum was co-sponsored by the At-Large Summit (ALAC), which serves as the representative of common Internet end-users in iCANN. It is regarded as one of the major highlights of the 34th ICANN Meeting.

ALAC explained that this forum is necessary and extremely relevant since online global consumers are getting more and more frustrated, feeling that there’s no one to attend to them when they find themselves victims of cyber crimes.

Frederick Felman of MarkMonitor gave a wide overview of cyber crimes, and he mentioned that phishing is the most damaging form of abuse against common Internet users so far. An estimated $3.2M loss has been recorded so far. On top of that figure, a lot of consumers haven’t reported being victimized due to shame. Therefore, the forum was opened to gather opinion from the experts on how to protect the consumer from this kind of abuse.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Bedser of the Internet Crimes Group showed how organized crime uses the Internet and the DNS to complete criminal acts against end-users. He described how e-Crime is able to take advantage of resources from virtually any user and provider in the Internet.

In conclusion, Jeffrey summarized the root of e-crimes in one word: profit. Having said that, he called on everyone to get involved in finding a solution, be on guard against attacks without merely relying on experts to solve the issue. Global participation is needed in confronting cyber criminals before it could go to a bigger level such as cyber terrorism.

From this point on, the Internet end-users all over the world can expect that ICANN through ALAC and related organizations will continue to seek ways to combat cybercrime and protect the global users against it. (AMP)

… art lovers!  I’m sure you’ve experienced this at one time or another.  You go into a store (whether brick-n-mortar or online) and find all these really cool breed-related items.  Labs, Tzus, Pugs, Yorkies, German Shepherd Dogs, etc. are all represented … everything but an Apso!  I even encounter this when shopping the myriad of vendors at the dog shows — very little in the way of my chosen breed. 

Every year at our National Specialty (the American Lhasa Apso Club or “ALAC”), special trophies are obtained for the winners.  These typically are Best of Breed (BOB), Best of Opposite Sex to Best of Breed (BOS), Best of Winners (BW) (from the class dogs), Winners Dog (WD) and Winners Bitch (WB).  This year’s trophies are spectacular … original oils by artist Karen McClelland.  An exhibitor, she understands the nuances and anatomy of the canine, resulting in true-to-life work.   Scroll down her Non-Sporting page to view the three Apso prints she’s offering as limited edition giclees on canvas!  This has to be my favorite …

"Tibetan Brass" by artist Karen McClelland

Karen will also do commission work for those wishing to memoralize a beloved pet.  Additionally, she does quite a bit of equine art which can be seen on her blog … Karen McClelland Blog.

Hmmmm, I think I have a wall that needs a little “something” …

This is the ninth entry on a series of posts regarding domain registrants’ rights and responsibilities as discussed by ALAC members.

Disclaimer: This was summarized from an ICANN update and is still subject to further studies by ALAC.

Awareness: Registrants’ Rights and Responsibilities

11. ICANN may decide to publicly display all the names of registrar officers and directors, particularly when a registrar’s accreditation is terminated. It is the registrants rights to know the people behind the company that registered their Internet names.

12. The registrants have the right to excellent service. However, ICANN cannot impose penalties from registrars for perceived poor service, because imposing penalties may not promote and sustain a competitive environment. Therefore, registrants should do their own bit of research before signing up for a domain name.

13. Typosquatting is a process wherein registrants pay for domain names like samsong.com to increase their traffic by getting the visitors of samsung.com who made a mistake in typing. Unfortunately, does not impose rules on how a domain name should be used. Hence, typosquatting is not about to go away. However, if it comes to a point when typosquatting has proven to be harmful to the security, stability, reliability, and global interoperability of the Domain Name System (DNS), the ICANN will step in.

Netpia hopes that through these summarized points on the Rights and Responsibilities of Registrants, the company is able to help the market to make wiser choices and better decisions in domain registration.

Everyone is welcome to e-mail Netpia at inquiry@netpiacorp.com.

Attend Advocates for Latin@ Arts & Culture’s (ALAC) inaugural festival and celebration of Latino, Xicano, and Indigenous arts and culture in partrnership with the Herberger Theater in downtown Phoenix.  Program activities include: art exhibition, book signings, and live entertainment preceding theater productions.

Opening Night (Wednesday, October 8, 2008)

• 5:30 PM Art Exhibition featuring: Marco A. Albarrán, Tavo Barrios, José Benavides, Victor Caldee, Francisca Cota, Jim Covarrubias, Francisco Garcia, Francisco Garcia, Zarco Guerrero, Johnny Lozaya, Jorge Moreno, Martin Moreno, Roman Reyes, Jaime Rodriguez
• 5:30 PM Latin@ Authors’ Book Signing featuring: Frank Barrios, José Burruel, Ph.D., Stella Pope Duarte, Zarco Guerrero, Kathy Cano Murillo, Santos Vega, Ph.D.
• 6:30 PM Opening On-Stage featuring: Rainie Moreno, 2008 Estrellas Latinas Vocal Artist of the Year & Estrellas Latinas 5; Andres Leal, Clarissa Granado, Monica Castro, Socorro Flores, Southwest Hispanic Culture Association Estrellas Latinas Program.
• 7 PM New Carpa Theater presents: Por Amor/For Love: An Operachi in One Act.  Written by James E. Garcia & Directed by Marcelino Quinonez.

Theater schedule and tickets available for purchase online at Herberger Theater website.

$15 per ticket for four plays & $20 for musical

• October 8, Wednesday at 7 PM: Por Amor/For Love: An Operachi in One Act-Performed in English
• October 9, Thursday at 7 PM: La Calaca Cabaret-Performed in English
• October 10, Friday at 8 PM: El Grito de una Máscara: Los de En medio II-Performed in Spanish
• October 11, Saturday at 2 & 8 PM: Vaselina/Grease- Performed in Spanish with Engish super-titles
• October 12, Sunday at 2 PM: The Women of Juarez-Performed in English

For more information about ALAC, click here.

This is the eighth entry on a series of posts regarding domain registrants’ rights and responsibilities as far as the ALAC is concerned.

Disclaimer: This was summarized from an ICANN update and is still subject to further studies by ALAC.

Awareness: Registrants’ Rights and Responsibilities

10. The registrants are free to give the domain name control to anyone they choose as long as they don’t affect the security and stability of the DNS. Hence, registrars cannot stop actual users from contacting a third party registration service provider as long as the registrants agree to the registrars’ terms and conditions. There is no applicable law that could effectively require a registrar to determine the actual user who will benefit from a domain name registration.

Netpia promotes the use of the Internet in many different ways. While doing this, Netpia maintains a robust system to prevent any mishaps caused by irresponsible Internet players and users.

This is the seventh entry on a series of posts regarding domain registrants’ rights and responsibilities as far as the ALAC is concerned.

Disclaimer: This was summarized from an ICANN update and is still subject to further studies by ALAC.

Awareness: Registrants’ Rights and Responsibilities

8. It is the registrants’ responsibility to renew their domain name registration right before or after the expiry date of their contract with the registrar. Registrars have never been required by ICANN to offer a free service, such as providing more than one year’s worth of service for the payment of a one year registration fee.

9. Registrants may transfer their domain name to another registrar but this process is covered by the Transfer Policy and in the contractual relationship that exists between registrant and registrar. It is outside of ICANN’s mandate.

Netpia advises registrants to take a careful note of the expiry dates of their registrations. At the same time, Netpia is efficiently sending notices to the registrants to notify them of upcoming expiry dates.

This is the sixth entry on a series of posts regarding domain registrants’ rights and responsibilities as far as the ALAC is concerned.

Disclaimer: This was summarized from an ICANN update and is still subject to further studies by ALAC.

Awareness: Registrants’ Rights and Responsibilities

6. Registrants are free to register as many domains as they could afford as long as their registration mechanisms do not affect the stability of the DNS. ICANN does not intend to restrict access to registrations. Such a procedure is outside ICANN’s mandate and it will contradict ICANN’s mission to promote a competitive environment in the Internet.

7. Registrants are free to practice domain parking as long as the process does not put the DNS at risk. ICANN will not issue regulation on banning domain name parking because it is tantamount to restricting the competitive environment in the Internet.

Netpia hopes that by publishing the summarized analysis of ALAC regarding the rights and responsibilities of registrants, then the existing and prospective registrants will understand the choices that are available for them.

This is the fifth entry on a series of posts regarding domain registrants’ rights and responsibilities as far as the ALAC is concerned.

Disclaimer: This was summarized from an ICANN update and is still subject to further studies by ALAC.

Awareness: Registrants’ Rights and Responsibilities

5. ICANN avoids any involvement with price controls because it aims to promote and sustain a competitive environment. Registrants who want to save money on registration fees should carefully compare and contrast the pricing models of the registrars and resellers.

Even as ICANN is not strictly imposing rules on pricing models, Netpia is serious in keeping its price competitive and reasonable. This is the company’s way of keeping the registrants happy.