By John Gruber
WorkOS launches auth.md — an open protocol for agent registration.
Linked List: December 30, 2007
Sunday, 30 December 2007
- Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use ★
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Marc Fisher, reporting for The Washington Post:
Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.
Jiminy.
- Starbucks Might Be Helping, Not Hurting, Independent Coffee Shops ★
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Taylor Clark in Slate:
According to recent figures from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, 57 percent of the nation’s coffeehouses are still mom and pops. Just over the five-year period from 2000 to 2005—long after Starbucks supposedly obliterated indie cafes—the number of mom and pops grew 40 percent, from 9,800 to nearly 14,000 coffeehouses.
- Choosing a Distributed Version Control System ★
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Dave Dribin’s terrific overview of the distributed version control systems Git, Mercurial, and Bazaar. Don’t miss his follow-up: “Why I Chose Mercurial”.
- BusySync 1.5 ★
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BusyMac’s outstanding iCal sharing utility now supports synching over the Internet (in addition to its previous support for synching over Bonjour, locally). Buy it before January and use the coupon code “DARINGFIREBALL” to get 20 percent off.
- Eddie, Dick, and Dave ★
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Classic segment with Eddie Murphy and Dick Cavett on Late Night With David Letterman. (Via Cavett.)
- Variety Reports iTunes Movie Rentals Will Be 24-Hour Time-Limited ★
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Dade Hayes, Variety:
Rentals are expected to cost between $2 and $5 for a 24-hour period, with the price point ideally motivating consumers in the manner of 99¢ music downloads.
I hope this is wrong — a 24-hour limit would suck. You ought to be able to keep them at least as long as you do from Blockbuster. Update: Apparently the way Amazon Unbox and other services work is that a 24-hour expiration period kicks in only after you hit play, not after you download. That’s semi-reasonable.