Author: luken7

Showing my age, but some of Archie’s quotes are just priceless.

Archie Bunker All In The Family Quotes – Politics & History Quotes That’s what Columbus said to the Indians just before he gypped ’em out of Manhattan.

As a Squeezebox owner, and potential Transporter owner, I pray that Logitech does not marginalize the Slimdevices product line. I love my Squeezebox, and am looking into a Transporter.

Slim Devices : Press Information : Logitech Acquires Slim Devices Logitech Acquires Slim Devices, Pioneer In Network-Based Music Systems Developers of award-winning Squeezebox join Logitech to deliver promise of digital home to music lovers FREMONT, Calif. Oct. 18, 2006 and ROMANEL-SUR-MORGES, Switzerland, Oct. 19, 2006—Logitech International (SWX: LOGN) (Nasdaq: LOGI) today announced that it has acquired Slim Devices, Inc., a pioneer in the development of music systems that take advantage of a home network. Products from Slim Devices, such as the acclaimed Squeezebox™ and the recently announced Transporter™, enable people to enjoy high-quality digital music, in multiple rooms of the home, regardless of whether the music is streaming directly from the Internet, or from a PC, Mac, or storage device on the network. Logitech purchased the privately held Slim Devices of Mountain View, Calif. for $20 million in cash plus a possible performance-based payment, tied to reaching certain future revenue targets.

Sirius, XM Want To Make Music Together – Forbes.com Over a year after talk of a Sirius and XM merger first surfaced, the companies made it official on Monday. The two U.S. satellite radio providers announced a merger of equals on President’s Day. Under the terms of the agreement, XM shareholders will receive 4.6 shares of Sirius stock for each share of XM they own. XM and SIRIUS shareholders will each own approximately 50% of the combined company. Together, they have lost about $6bn over the past five years while building a subscription base of roughly 14m, compared with the estimated 200m people who listen to terrestrial radio stations.

Yes, they have a lot of money and will probably continue, even if they do merge. I’m an XM subscriber and while it has some convienence, it’s not revolutionary in the musical sense. With the amount of channels, I expected a larger catalog of music, especially in the Jazz arena. Maybe due to licensing agreements with record labels, they don’t have full access, probably just a  subset of artists, because it seems like I can hear the same song several times a day, and several days at that.

But both companies argue that the competition today comes not so much from traditional radio stations, but from new forms of digital audio distribution including portable digital music players such as Apple’s ubiquitous iPod and the launch of new HD (digital) radio stations broadcasting near-CD-quality content. "There were no iPods when satellite radio was first licensed," says Mel Karmazin, chief executive of Sirius. Today, he points out, iPods are just one of the devices that can be used to stream digital content though a car audio system, or through a home HiFi. "Our sense is that there are only 24 hours in the day and consumers have an enormous amount of choice," he added.

Competition in the sense of iPods and other formats? Satellite should service a different type of service. iPod’s and the like are for people who already own their music, and know their library. XM/Sirius is there for people to discover, engage and listen, especially to new material. So in that sense, there is no competition.

Bush Compares Revolutionary, Terror Wars – washingtonpost.com MOUNT VERNON, Va. — President Bush honored the 275th birthday of the nation’s first president on Monday, likening George Washington’s long struggle that gave birth to a nation to the war on global terrorism. "Today, we’re fighting a new war to defend our liberty and our people and our way of life," said Bush, standing in front of Washington’s home and above a mostly frozen Potomac River. President Bush is pictured with Gen. George Washington, played by actor Dean Malissa, after Bush spoke on the 275th anniversary of George Washington’s birthday at his estate in Mount Vernon, Va., Monday, Feb. 19, 2007."And as we work to advance the cause of freedom around the world, we remember that the father of our country believed that the freedoms we secured in our revolution were not meant for Americans alone."

Holy crap, I’m not even sure where to begin with this one. I’m gonna have ot come back to this post after I get my bearings. This is so far off the scale of absurdity that I don’t even know where to begin.

Anheuser-Busch under fire for Web site – Boston.com Twenty-three attorneys general have written to Anheuser-Busch Cos., asking the brewer for better tools to make sure underaged viewers aren’t accessing its new Bud.TV site. The Web site launched earlier this month after the Super Bowl broadcast and streams beer-themed shows, sports events and musical acts 24-hours a day on the Internet. In the letter the attorneys general "strongly encourage" Anheuser-Busch use a more effective age-verification tool. While Bud.TV asks for a name, zip code and birth date to check public records and verify the user’s age, the attorneys general said that any underage youth who knows basic information about an adult could plug it in to access the site. They request that at a minimum people should have to enter their name and full address, or a driver’s license number, exactly as it appears on a government-issued ID before a person could access the site. They propose several other possible safeguards, like sending a postcard to the home or making a phone call to check that a legal-aged adult, and not a child below the drinking age, is checking out the site.

So these attorney generals now want people to have to prove who they are, entering personal information such as driver’s license information? So that information can then end up being sold or stolen? Hey, here’s a thought, how about requiring some parental involvement….

U.S. Mint rolls out new presidential dollar coin – USATODAY.com Note: Congress required that presidents be dead at least two years before they can be depicted on a dollar coin and that presidents be featured in the order they served. Ronald Reagan who died in 2004 cannot be pictured on a coin unless Jimmy Carter has been dead two years in 2016 when the program expires. Source: U.S. Mint

Of course you know that the George W. Bush coin, when it comes out, will only have a street value of .35 cents.

Hitachi’s RFID powder freaks us the heck out – Engadget As if the various other permutations and teensyness of RFID weren’t wild enough, here comes Hitachi with its new "powder" 0.05mm x 0.05mm RFID chips. The new chips are 64 times smaller than the previous record holder, the 0.4mm x 0.4mm mu-chips, and nine times smaller than Hitachi’s last year prototype, and yet still make room for a 128-bit ROM that can store a unique 38-digit ID number. The main application is likely to be anti-counterfit, but since the previous mu-chips could be embedded into paper quite easily enough, we’re fairly certain Hitachi is just doing this for bragging rights and potential pepper shaker mixups. Hitachi should have these on the market in two or three years.

Oh this is really freaking me out. Boy, can the government use this one. Think how this can be planted on anyone, without a court order. Not just tapping your phones, but probably implanted so the government can track almost your every move. When you go through security at an airport or wherever. Hitachi says it won’t be fully available for another two or so years. I don’t think Bush can wait that long, he needs it now !!!

I truly hope that this gets further press and Congress at least holds a hearing as to the absurdity of the conclusion of the study.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Iraq invasion plan ‘delusional’ The US invasion plan for Iraq envisaged that only 5,000 US troops would remain in Iraq by December 2006, declassified Central Command documents show. The material also shows that the US military projected a stable, pro-US and democratic Iraq by that time. The August 2002 material was obtained by the National Security Archive (NSA). Its officials said the plans were based on delusional assumptions.were prepared by the now-retired Gen Tommy Franks and other top commanders at the time. The US currently has some 132,000 troops in the violence-torn state. ‘Completely unrealistic’ The documents – in the former of PowerPoint slides – All of these were delusions Thomas Blanton, National Security Archive Border sealed Shia cleric in Iran The documents were presented at a briefing in August 2002 – less than a year before the US invasion of Iraq in April 2003. The commanders predicted that after the fighting was over there would be a two- to three-month "stabilisation" phase, followed by an 18- to 24-month "recovery" stage. They projected that the US forces would be almost completely "re-deployed" out of Iraq at the end of the "transition" phase – within 45 months of invasion. "Completely unrealistic assumptions about a post-Saddam Iraq permeate these war plans," NSA executive director Thomas Blanton said in a statement posted on the organisation’s website. "First, they assumed that a provisional government would be in place by ‘D-Day’, then that the Iraqis would stay in their garrisons and be reliable partners, and finally that the post-hostilities phase would be a matter of mere months’," Mr Blanton said. "All of these were delusions," he added. The NSA said it received the documents last month, after making a request in 2004. The NSA is an independent research institute at George Washington University. It obtained the papers under the Freedom of Information Act.

Now, one of two things. The drafters of this presentation obviously had no cultural understanding of Iraq, that it’s really three separate peoples/cultures whose borders were drawn by outsiders, and held together by a tyrant. And that the moment the tyrant was removed, these hundreds year old factions would return to their waring, the floodgates would reopen. Or second, the administration was behind this, dictating this draft, to help sell a war that was already predisposed to happen. Seeing htat these are not dumb people, hey’re actually quite smart, I’m choosing the latter. The President was going to Iraq, pure and simple, and would do and say anything to get there.

Now what are his reasons for going into Iraq? I do believe that he truly thinks he can implement democracy in the middle east. I think it’s a necessity for him to accomplish this, as it would be the greatest thorn against non-secular Islamic states (which is ironic seeing how in the US, it’s all about religion governing). Also, access and ownership of light sweet crude for the Guild (ExxonMoblie, Chevron, etc) wouldn’t hurt either.

El Financiero en línea Chrysler Group, an affiliate of German automaker DaimlerChrysler AG, announced Wednesday it planned to reduce 16 percent of its workforce, slashing 13,000 jobs. Chrysler said the elimination of employment positions is part of a massive restructuring plan to aimed at making it profitable again during 2008. In a communique issued Wednesday, ChryslerDaimler said it was also looking at more strategic options for Chrysler, while the automaker trims production and changes its ability to manufacture more fuel efficient vehicles.

You mean to tell me that US auto companies are that bad in general, that even the German parent company of Chrysler can’t fix it? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Detroit is paying for years of customer abuse with lackluster designs, quality and catering to ExxonMobile and the like. Even factoring in the $2500 per vehicle due to excessive labor, pension and health costs, the vehicles still do not compare to vehicles coming from the east.

As far as the newly 13,000 laidoff workers, I’m sure over time they will be fine as Toyota and Honda are expanding in the US. They’ll get to work for better managed companies, with better environmental values and employee appreciation. Hang in there folks.

EMI issues profit warning as US sales collapse | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited The pressure on EMI chief executive Eric Nicoli intensified yesterday as the music group, home to Robbie Williams and Coldplay, issued a shock profit warning, its second in as many months, prompting a fresh wave of speculation about its future.

Oh boy here we go. The RIAA is gonna go all out now. Their revenue stream is shrinking, time to sue some more 12 year olds and a couple of grandmothers. Let me help you EMI understand what is happening.

1. Your artists, a majority of them are just recycled sounds with no in-depth material, and it’s getting old. Return with quality artists that play instruments, write their own music and produce their own works, and if I like it, I’ll buy it, as long as you can comply with #2
2. DRM, we’re not playing by those rules when we purchase music. If I purchase it, I should have the right to listen whenever, wherever and however I choose.
3. $16 for a CD? You kidding me? Remember the move from vinyl to CD, you said the move would make music cheaper. Uh, what happened?
4. Downloadable music in better formats. While the MP3 format may suit many with iPods and the like, audiophiles want lossless quality formats to download
5. Where are the DVDAudio, DTS and SuperAudio recordings? Generic CD stereo is so 20th century…

When you, and other labels actually start to listen to your customers, your fortunes will change. And if you’re an artist reading this, find a label that’s not affiliated with RIAA, where you’re willing to work on a equitable solution between yourself and your fans.