For the common good: creative commons licences
21 January 2004
Creative commons licences are a way of allowing your online work (e.g. writing, photography, graphics, or sound samples, etc) to be used by other people, provided certain conditions are adhered to. And all without affecting your original copyright entitlement.
There are several licences for content creators to choose from, depending on the degree to which they are willing to allow their work to be reused and distributed.
Creative commons licences seem like a sensible development in response to the growing amount of material that is published in the public domain that often finds itself in a grey copyright area.
These licences, as the by-line “some rights reserved” implies, does not render copyright null or void. Instead, they serve as a guideline (of sorts) as to how people accessing material in the public domain can re-use it for their own purposes.
Originally published Wednesday 21 January 2004.
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Tim Berners-Lee, a knight of the World Wide Web
4 January 2004
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web, is to be knighted:
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web and director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), will be made a Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth. This was announced earlier today by Buckingham Palace as part of the 2004 New Year’s Honours list.
More much deserved recognition for someone who changed the way we communicate and share information.
Originally published Sunday 4 January 2004.
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What is worth failing for is what is worth striving for
4 January 2004
New year, new start. A time to consider new opportunities. It’s been said a million times already, and it’s only day four of 2004.
Most of us though are afraid to try something new or different for fear of failing. One statistic suggests 98 per cent of people will never realise their loftiest ambitions. How alarming. It seems to suggest we are all settling for second best in life. Or less.
So frightened are we of inevitable doom, we won’t take a chance, and peruse our dreams. I could insert lashings of rhetoric here. You only live once. There are no rehearsals in life. Just do it. I’ll spare you the drivel though.
Jugglezine’s* latest article The Pain and (half) Pleasures of Rejection (Wayback Machine link), written by Todd Pitock, suggests that in order to succeed, we need to find a cause or goal worth failing for. Something so fundamental and intrinsic to our beliefs, that failure will not ultimately matter.
It’s almost another way of saying that failure is a signpost found along the road to success. Falling down is all part of the process. And the importance of being focussed and motivated cannot be overstated.
Aside from our own inhibitions, the criticism we receive from those closest to us is the next biggest stumbling block. Sometimes our own doubts are overweighed by the negative perceptions of friends and family. Their disapproval can cut the deepest. It’s often enough to dissuade many people from ever having a go.
But it’s mind over matter. If our dreams and ambitions are worth failing for, they must be worth pursuing. Where would any of us be otherwise? If everyone were too afraid to take a chance and try a new idea? Still living in caves perhaps?
Hmm, how affirmative. I really should listen to myself more often.
*Jugglezine is no longer being published.
Originally published Sunday 4 January 2004.
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Kennedy assassination was no conspiracy says Kenneth Rahn
27 November 2003
Last week marked the fortieth anniversary of the 1963 assassination of United States President, John F. Kennedy. Kenneth Rahn, Professor Emeritus at the University of Rhode Island, writing for The Guardian, says the horrific shooting was far more straight forward than many people believe:
It is over. We must realise that this horrible event was not some evil plot. It was the product of chance, not conspiracy.
Rahn is part of a group who have studied all aspects of Kennedy’s assassination and have concluded there was no conspiracy, and that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin. There was no second shooter on the grassy knoll.
The real story of the assassination is this: Kennedy was killed by one misfit guy, a cheap but effective rifle, a good vantage point from the building where he worked and a run of fortuitous events.
Originally published Thursday 27 November 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
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history, John F. Kennedy, legacy, politics
Adobe Creative Suite transitions, both subtle and not so subtle
18 November 2003
For years Adobe have been sending me invitations to a variety of seminars, conferences, and product launches. And last week I finally decided to RSVP yes, and go along to the Australian launch of something called Adobe Creative Suite, held in Sydney.
Creative Suite is a collection of Adobe products rolled into one package, and includes new versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Go Live, and In Design. Part of the reason, we were told, in bringing these products together as one package is to reduce confusion as to which versions of Adobe’s software products are compatible with each other.
To demonstrate the features and advantages of the new suite, two of the product developers acted out a nice little role-play, mimicking designers in a studio, working on a project to a tight deadline. Their work, on their computers was, meanwhile, projected onto a screen above the stage.
All rather cosy, fun, and informative, and topped off with a nice smattering of gags and one liners. For all the great choreography though, it was the ending of the playact that let the production down. The two actors decided, almost arbitrarily it seemed, that the “show” was over, and with no transition at all, one of them was suddenly hauling a lectern across the stage, so he could declare that segment of proceedings closed.
Then again, maybe I blinked and missed something. And another thing, what’s the fixation with Hawaiian shirts? Why do they seem to be regarded as an enduring statement of retro non conformist zaniness? From theme parties, to casual wear on office mufti days, the Hawaiian shirt seems to constitute the continual butt of a never ending joke.
I only mention this because the Adobe road show crew were wearing them, (er, so we would know who they were) but isn’t it time we did things another way? Nothing against Hawaii, or Hawaiian shirts either, of course, but surely, say, black t-shirts, with the Adobe logo, and, say, the word “staff” emblazoned upon them would work just as well?
Originally published Tuesday 18 November 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
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Australia, design, events, legacy
Hal, of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame, inducted into Robot Hall of Fame
16 November 2003
I didn’t realise that Hal, AKA HAL 9000, the supercomputer in Stanley Kurbick’s 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was regarded as a robot, but apparently he is. That’s why Hal was, recently, inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.
There he joins other illustrious bots and ‘droids, including R2D2 from, of course, Star Wars. This hall of renown, brought to us by Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, is not restricted to fictional robots though, as the Mars Sojourner Rover is also honoured with a place.
Originally published Sunday 16 November 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
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The Big Bang might have been big, but it sounded like a hum
31 October 2003
Judging by the amount of press it generates, it seems we just love talking about the Big Bang, the theory that explains the existence of the universe. And why not? We wouldn’t be here now talking about it, if it er, hadn’t have happened. Theoretically speaking that is.
The latest revelations published in New Scientist suggest the Big Bang was more of a deep hum rather than an explosive, booming, bang. Whether it was a bang or a hum though, there’s no doubting its volume, which was certainly loud.
Another news service carrying the same story compared the noise levels as being similar to a jet aeroplane with its engines operating at full power just ten or so metres above your house.
A little like the noise that Concorde used to create perhaps? Theoretically speaking that is .
Originally published Friday 31 October 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
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astronomy, legacy, physics, science
Farewell Concorde, we will miss you, but not your booming engines
24 October 2003
The supersonic aircraft is no more, after making one final, much hyped, flight.
While some people will find this ending of an era a little sad, others may see things somewhat differently. My aunt in London lives under one of the flight paths into Heathrow airport, and there was no missing the twice daily flights of Concorde.
The whole house literally shook as the aircraft prepared to touch down. This was no sonic boom though, just the engines operating normally. But after a few days of hearing Concorde approaching Heathrow, other aircraft noise seemed positively inaudible in comparison.
And here I refer to the likes of those massive, lumbering, Boeing 747’s…
Originally published Friday 24 October 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
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Britain, legacy, London, travel
Creed Chris O’Hanlon, on the couch, with Mike Walsh, Sydney, October 2003
8 October 2003
Dot-com flamboyance, and web design world domination, are terms synonymous with Australian entrepreneur Creed Chris O’Hanlon. Spike Networks, the web design company O’Hanlon co-founded in 1994, quickly expanded from its base in the Sydney suburb of Double Bay, into Asia, Japan, and the United States, thanks to the backing of numerous venture capitalists.
But Spike didn’t just do extravagant, and expensive, websites. At the height of the dot-com folly, Spike was even operating a radio station.
As with most things dot-com though, Spike came tumbling down in spectacular fashion, although O’Hanlon had left the company long beforehand. Workers (including someone I knew personally) lost jobs, investors were out of pocket by millions, while the rest of us were left wondering how so little could have come of so much hype.
Not helping matters were the stories that began emerging of the indulgent lifestyle led by O’Hanlon, during his time as boss. No expense was spared. Five star hotels, first class airline travel, and gourmet dining the world over, you name it. Then there was the extramarital affair with a Spike employee, which later resulted in allegations of sexual harassment.
So when an email from The Domain, a local media and technology professionals networking event arrived the other week, inviting me to see O’Hanlon speak, I knew I didn’t want to miss out. He would be talking to Australian futurist and speaker Mike Walsh, at the Hotel CBD, in downtown Sydney, as part of Domain’s On the Couch interview series.
Those expecting to see O’Hanlon pelted with projectiles however, would have been disappointed.
This despite Walsh pointing out O’Hanlon, in wearing a red shirt, had readied himself for any rotten tomatoes that might be thrown his way. In the end, the Spike co-founder only had to field a total of three audience questions, none of which related to dubious past activities, business or otherwise. Strategically, O’Hanlon headed off any acrimony, by admitting at the onset the “terrible” things he was accused of, were, “unfortunately true”.
Instead he offered an array of insights into online media and communications in general. He has been working as a consultant in Japan for a well known car manufacturer in recent times, and spoke of how mobile phones had changed the previously rigidly structured fashion in which the Japanese communicated with each other. O’Hanlon also spoke of the death of copyright, and the dearth of ideas when it comes to conceiving creative advertising campaigns for electronic media.
He also mentioned the upcoming publication of a book he is writing, which we were told would be titled The Zen of Failure. If nothing else, all of this shows that there are always opportunities to turn failure into, if not success, at least money. The right attitude is also useful, especially when trying to turn around a tide of negative perception. The gift of the gab, that is, the ability to sound intelligent, articulate, and well worded, is also somewhat useful.
Originally published Wednesday 8 October 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
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Vale Windows NT4, you were the best
4 August 2003
My days of working with the Window’s operating system NT4 are all but over. It seems ironic that this outcome was brought about while I was trying to install some updated security patches for NT4, from the Microsoft website.
After the updates had been installed, I was unable to dial back onto the net. When I investigated, I discovered that all the dial-up networking protocols had somehow corrupted, presumably during the installation of the new security patches.
Then I noticed something else. Various icons on my desktop where jumping around, or sometimes vanishing completely when I clicked on them. I ran a virus check, and discovered the presence of some sort of hack tool in the NT systems folder.
There has been an increasing incidence of hack attacks on PCs in recent months, which has partly been caused by security vulnerabilities in some versions of Internet Explorer, which allow would be hackers relatively easy access to susceptible computers.
Possibly hackers had tried to access my PC while I was in the process of downloading the security updates. Talk about ironic.
To complicate matters, my anti-virus programme wasn’t able to remove the offending item. It turns out this particular hack tool is a rather tricky number, as it attaches itself to various computer ports and cannot be deleted easily because NT4 considers it a running or in use process.
It was enough to make me reconsider my PC situation though. My current “home” computer is now over six years old, and in more recent times has been developing an increasing number of small, though irritating, problems.
While it is nothing that a full system rebuild couldn’t resolve, I have decided that since I am doing more work from home now, it is well and truly time to upgrade my computer system.
I have a philosophy of running things into the ground before I replace them, and since I have had, up until now, access to more modern and powerful PCs at work, I had not been too worried about replacing my aging home computer.
All going well, I should be up and running using Windows XP, on a new super chunky PC by early next week. I am now waiting to see how XP compares to NT4, as XP is based on NT4. Obviously there will be a few degrees of difference in terms of technology advances between the two operating systems, but it is stability I am more interested in.
In the almost four years I was running NT4, the system only crashed two times. I consider that an exemplary track record, given the OS (Windows 95) I used prior to migrating to NT4 used to crash at least two times a day.
Originally published Monday 4 August 2003.
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