Daily Archives: April 6, 2016

More Media Manipulation on Copyright Office Crashtrogate

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There’s been some coverage about the Copyright office’s website crashing from all the last minute comments on the topic of DMCA reforms. Here’s an interesting article that calls those stories into question.

Music Technology Policy

As any bully can tell you, if you want them to be afraid, you have to remind them occasionally of the last beating.  This is what Google just did through its surrogates who would very much like everyone to believe they “crashed” the regulations.gov website that hosted the webforms for public comments on the Copyright Office’s public consultation on the effectiveness of the DMCA “notice and shakedown”.  And how do we know this?  A statement from the Office of Management and Budget in the White House that runs the site?

No, we know it from what is apparently a Google-funded surrogate’s press release reported as news by the Torrent Freak blog that once again is trying to whip up a frenzy over something that’s not there.

Make no mistake:  There’s been no official confirmation from the Google White House that anything happened in the way of an attack on regulations.gov…

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Daily Links and Deals: A computer has made a Rembrandt painting and it’s perfect

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daily_links_1In today’s stories,there’s news on Rembrandt going digital, chat bots, lifelogging and chat app encryption. In the deals department, There are deals on smart sprinkler systems, incredible savings on both e-ink Kindles and Fire Tablets.

Daily Links for Wednesday, April 6, 2016:

Kik Messenger launched a bot store one week before Facebook is expected to launch a bot store (ReCode) This may go a long way towards making information readily accessible. Interesting to see where this one goes.

Lifelogging is dead (for now) (Computer World) This was an interesting experiment. Are there any lessons learned here?

WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging service, just turned on encryption for all its data (Quartz) Yes, it is now fully encrypted. And, it looks like your tax dollars paid for the software.

A computer has made a Rembrandt painting and it’s perfect (The Next Web) Is technology taking on the art world now? This opens some interesting doors for artists of the future.

Adobe to issue emergency Flash patch (ComputerWorld) Again? *sigh* We really need to get rid of Flash – for good.

Deals of the Day:

Amazon’s selection of Kindle Daily Deals includes The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White for $1.99.

Today’s Deals include a BISSELL 1940 Powerfresh Steam Mop, up to 50% off Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller and 15% off Fire TV models. There are still Kindle deals as well: Savings on the Fire HD 6, pre-owned Fire tablets, and the great  Kindle Deals for customers with Amazon Prime.

If you are not happy with the on-board storage on your 7″ $49.99 Fire, Amazon recently started offering a 16 GB version for $69.99. Personally, I like the resolution on the Fire HD6 better, and the 16GB HD 6 version is on sale right now for only $89.99. IMHO,  that’s the better value. 🙂

The Barnes and Noble Nook Daily Find is The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen for $1.99. The Romance Daily Find is The Choice (Lancaster County Secrets Series #1) by Suzanne Woods Fisher for $1.99.

Kobo’s Daily Deal is Long Gone by Alafair Burke for 99 cents.

iTunes’ Weekly Bestsellers Under $4 includes The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick for $1.99.

(A note on Daily Deals: All prices current at the time of posting and subject to change. Most items marked Daily Deals are good for only the day posted.

Many large promotions have discount pricing that is set by the publisher. This usually means that titles can be found at a discount price across most platforms (with iTunes sometimes being the exception). If you have a favorite retailer you like to patronize, check the title on that website. There is a good chance that they will be matching the sale price.)

Daily Links are interesting links I discover as I go about my online day. The frequency and number of links posted depend upon the daily news. I also post other, different links of interest on Twitter, Facebook, and on the Google Plus eBook Evangelist Page.