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Comment Jumping to conclusions! (Score 5, Informative) 148

It seem that the CBC was *protecting* the creative commons license, not attacking it. From the Sparks comments section:

We've been listening to the conversations today regarding a "ban" on the use of Creative Commons music in our podcasts and want to take the opportunity to clarify some of the misconceptions that are floating out there.

The CBC has always embraced new ways of creating and sharing the content we make (in fact, shows like Spark and previously Search Engine were some of the first in Canada to use this type of music license in their programming), however, just like you, we must do so in a way which respects the limits put on that use by the music's creators.

The issue with our use of Creative Commons music is that a lot of our content is readily available on a multitude of platforms, some of which are deemed to be "commercial" in nature (e.g. streaming with pre-roll ads, or pay for download on iTunes) and currently the vast majority of the music available under a Creative Commons license prohibits commercial use.

In order to ensure that we continue to be in line with current Canadian copyright laws, and given the lack of a wide range of music that has a Creative Commons license allowing for commercial use, we made a decision to use music from our production library in our podcasts as this music has the proper usage rights attached.

Everyone can rest easy-- there are no "groups" setting out to stop the use of Creative Commons music at the CBC, and we will continue to use Creative Commons licensed music, pictures etc. across a number of our non-commercial platforms.

We hope this helps clarify things.

Sincerely,
Chris Boyce Programming Director. CBC Radio.

SinceSpark is available on areas of the net that are being monetized, which can violate Creative Commons rules (non commercial) on the vast majority of music (and most forms of CC-licensed work) available for use.

Biotech

First Halophile Potatoes Harvested 117

Razgorov Prikazka writes "A Dutch-based company from Groningen is trying to create a potato race that is able to survive in a saline environment. The first test-batch was just harvested (English translation of Dutch original) on the island Texel and seem to be in good shape. The company states that rising sea-levels will create a demand for halophile crops. I do wonder if one still has to put salt on ones potatoes when they are grown in salt water."

Comment It's not just the BIG tech... (Score 2, Interesting) 39

With high tech sports like this, the fancy stuff gets a lot of press, but I bet the small stuff will really help out space exploration.

Take the 3D virtual race course technology, not super surprising, but super dam useful for future civilian rocket/space flight applications.

Just having a place, such as a the Rocket Racing league, that provides a venue and funding to develop bleeding edge, high risk tech is a massive boon for progress.

Safety systems, rocket aerodynamics, even flight strategy techniques. It will also provide a new employment pool and a place to get experience for new engineers, flight crew and pilots.

Comment Re:One of the reasons the old model is dying (Score 3, Interesting) 135

Oh I completely agree!

I think the other bonus now is that artists are (or will) be working harder at making a whole album again since people CAN buy single songs on iTunes/online now. Live show are getting better again too. I detect more effort being put into live shows now at ALL levels of musical fame. The whole concept of playing live only because you are supporting and promoting an album is pretty silly for most types of music anyway.

Comment Re:You are a bit late. (Score 4, Interesting) 135

Yes, I know, and I think it is a step in the right direction. The thing is that Radiohead, N.I.N. and co. all went through the "system" first. I can't wait till a significant portion of the worlds popular artists have NEVER had a major label contract. Labels may never die completely, but they will be left with the Britney Spears and Jonas Brothers markets only, and even then they really won't care about music sales, as all the profit in that market is merchandise anyway.

A membership based record store would be interesting, kind of like the old Colombia House mail order thing, put a physical store. Charge a flat-rate for membership, then have the music for sale at 75% off. If you made it so everyone got one free CD a month, I bet a lot of people would pick up a few albums just 'cus they were in the store anyway to get their "Free" CD.

Comment Move to Europe (if you have a passport/visa). (Score 1) 1123

I don't know about the States, but up here in Canada they are addicted to Certs, age and University degrees for ANY job, let alone IT stuff.

I am a dual citizen, and moved back to London, England not long after I left high school. I grabbed a job as an IT tech at 19 years old that payed about 45k a year and moved up to 55k with-in 18 months. All they cared about was my experience, and even more important my ability. I moved back to Canada a few years later and was shocked to realize that they were perfectly willing to ignore my experience due to my lack of A+ certs. I got fed up being their "go-to" guy to fix all the cert'ed tech's mistakes, but they still refused to pay me the same.

I moved back to London and picked up an sys administrator job for the media dept. of a large sixth form college that payed 54K a year, day one. The guy I replaced was cert'ed up to his eyeballs, but they fired him because he could not relate to people.

I'm back in Canada for other reasons now, but only now that the baby boomers are starting to retire are companies getting over the age/Certs hang-ups.

Government

White Spaces Test "Rigged," Says Google Co-Founder Page 323

Davide Marney writes "As reported by the Washington Post, Google co-founder Larry Page claims that an FCC field test of white space wireless devices was 'rigged' to make the test device fail to detect wireless microphone broadcasts. A Google spokesman explained later that testers had hidden the wireless microphones within the same frequency as local television stations, preventing the test device from detecting them."

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IBM Advanced Systems Group -- a bunch of mindless jerks, who'll be first against the wall when the revolution comes... -- with regrets to D. Adams

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