All posts by dispar

academic podcasting, DRM, iPod, podcasting, Tech

Zune Debacle: Worse Than Expected

Leave a comment

Microsoft’s Zune media player is out:

BBC NEWS | Technology | Zune goes head to head with iPod

We already knew the sharing feature was crippled, even for non-DRMed user-created files and that Microsoft’s own “Plays for Sure” DRM will not play on the Zune. The Zune is crippled in other important respects.

  • Doesn’t use Windows Media Player.
  • No podcasting support.
  • The Zune software doesn’t allow for sharing between computers (the way iTunes does).
  • No PDA features (not even the iPod’s calendar and contacts).
  • Apparently no recording feature.
  • Apparently no add-ons.
  • Some music studios are asking for a share of the profits on unit sales, even though the device could be used with non-studio content.
  • The store’s “point system” is even more confusing than it first seemed. (A song is worth 79 points, costing $0.99, the minimum number of points is rather high…)

Actually, I just read Duke University’s report on their early iPod initiative. Since that report, the iPod has improved a lot and several features and services are especially useful for educational or academic use. Podcasting support in iTunes and iTunes U is far from perfect but makes the iPod a very desirable device for course-related use. With the help of an inexpensive add-on , the latest iPods can record in much higher quality audio than the version Duke had for its iPod initiative. Since recording was the most appreciated feature through that initiative, the iPod is a much better academic tool now than it was at the time of the Duke initiative. In fact, my iRiver H120 lacks many of the feature expected from the latest generation of media player but has proven an extremely valuable tool for academic purposes due to its recording abilities and the bookmarking features of the Rockbox firmware (ideal for podcasts).
Microsoft Zune’s goes in the opposite direction. No podcasting features, apparently no support for recording.

Too little, too late.

Beer, craft beer culture, glocalization, Montreal

Beer Tourism

4 Comments

We made the list!

Top 10 Cities for Beer Lovers (Sherman’s Travel)

Got this through the mailing-list for the MontreAlers brewclub. People are discussing some of the choices made by that travel agency but it’s still nice to see more awareness for beer tourism. Some beer lovers go to great extremes in those contexts and there’s a lot to be said about the cultural, economic, social, and even political importance of the quality beer movement.

The list, in alphabetical order:

  1. Amsterdam
  2. Berlin
  3. Brugge
  4. Burlington
  5. Dublin
  6. Mexico City
  7. Montreal
  8. Portland
  9. Prague
  10. Sapporo
joie de vivre, Montreal

Petite expérience à 1$

Leave a comment

Ma femme et moi étions au Marché Jean-Talon, ce midi. Toujours agréable, surtout la semaine. Il y a moins de commerçant, mais l’ambiance est excellente. Beaucoup plus calme, beaucoup moins de «m’as-tu vu?» plateausiens, des commerçants plus décontractés et moins vendeurs sous pression…

En quittant le Marché, j’ai décidé d’aller nous chercher un chocolat chaud chez Chocolats Privilège. Très différent de celui de Juliette et chocolat (mon préféré), bien meilleur que celui de la très chrômée Suite 88. Coût? Un gros dollar, TTC. Le chocolat chaud est dans un gros thermos Bunn-o-matic, on se sert soi-même. Les tasses (en styrofoam) sont seulement de 8 oz., à l’oeil, mais c’est suffisant pour moi.

Ce qui me fait dire que plusieurs commerçants du Marché ont bien compris le principe. C’est une petite expérience, toute simple, pour un dollar. Oh, bien sûr, on peut se faire du bon chocolat chaud à la maison, pour moins cher. Si on achète un contenant de poudre de chocolat. Mais, l’idée, c’est de profiter de la vie à son maximum. Quand on n’a pas d’argent (ce qui est essentiellement mon cas), on se débrouille comme on peut. La petite tasse de chocolat m’a procuré autant de plaisir que beaucoup d’autres choses dans ma vie qui ont coûté autrement plus cher. Oh, il y a des choses qui ne m’ont rien coûté et qui étaient encore plus agréables. Mais c’est pas vraiment une question de rapport qualité/quantité/prix. C’est le rapport plaisir/prix. Plaisir à peu de frais. Simplicité volontaire, objecteurs de croissance, Simple Living…
Au Marché, nous avons aussi dégusté de très bonnes saucisses de gibiers (1$ chacune, toutes petites mais succulentes) et d’excellents sandwiches maroccains (kefta et merguez). Tout compris, ça nous a coûté moins cher que deux repas chez McDo et nous a fait autant plaisir qu’un bon souper.

Bien que tout coûte plus cher qu’avant, se nourrir à Montréal peut être une expérience très agréable, même pour ceux qui ont très peu d’argent. Il y a beaucoup de choses qui nous manquent (comme une épicerie Whole Foods!), mais on peut très bien se débrouiller.

idealism, language sciences, linguistic anthropology

Automatic Translation: Not Ready for Primetime

Leave a comment

From Slashdot, via the Buzz Out Loud podcast…
TechSearch Blog | DARPA’s Dream – Ultimate Language Translation

Basically, hopes are still high but the technology “isn’t there yet.”

For those of us in language sciences, the issue is quite important but the conclusion is probably that the attempts are misleading. There is more to communication than this type of translation.
Related (older) article:

BBC NEWS | Health | ‘Tower of Babel’ translator made

activism, alter-globalization, media, moral enterpreneurs, nostalgia, Québec, Quiet Revolution

Building Ethics and Media

3 Comments

I sometimes have issues with moral entrepreneurs and other self-righteous “do what I preach or submit to my wrath” people. I certainly tolerate and respect them, but I do have some difficulties coping with their attitude.

On the other hand, I certainly salute initiatives which combine ethical values with self-empowerment, sustainable development, alter-globalization, sound economic principles, and pure, plain fun. I’m not an activist myself but I support and admire those who have the convictions of their strength.

Continue reading Building Ethics and Media →

Blogging, mailing-lists, Radio Open Source

TechYesRati!

2 Comments

Woohoo! We’re back on, baby!

Technorati Blog Info: Disparate

Mysteriously, this here main blog of mine wasn’t getting updated in Technorati’s famously unreliable databases. For about six months, my new posts and incoming links weren’t showing up. It now works.  So, that’s cool.

Not that it’s likely to bring me traffic or to increase my ranking somewhere. But it might bring me more of the attention from cool people that some entries have garnered me, on occasion. Call me vain all you want (anyone who discusses blogging eventually calls some bloggers vain, it seems) but there’s something fun about getting noticed if you eventually get to contribute something back.  Usually, non-blog tribunes work better for me to achieve those goals. Mailing-lists are especially good, for me. Or, possibly, forum comments.

Actually, the problem might be that blogging is still not a very natural thing for me to do. And my writing habits are possibly incompatible with blogging culture (though, not with the nature of blogging).

Still, blogging has been fun. Technorati might even make it a little bit more fun.

Who knows, maybe some people will eventually comment my posts… 😉

Anthropology, Coffee, Ethnography, food and culture, taste

Coffee in Norway

13 Comments

Nice! An elaborate description of coffee-drinking habits in Norway, within a forum thread on Turkish-style coffee brewing:

CoffeeGeek – Articles: How-To Article Feedback, Brewing Turkish Coffee

coffee is very much a national drink in Norway, and that would have travelled with Norwegians immigrants going to Minnesota, North Dakota, Washinton state in the US and Manitoba and Alberta in Canada.  Until Norway discovered oil in the late 70’ies, Norway was in fact a very poor country and the weak coffee was more a result of economics than of taste.  However, maybe the weak coffee instead inspired higher consumption?  All I know is that my Norwegian family are all big coffee drinkers and Norwegians seem to be awfully fond of coffee.  These days boiled traditional cofee is giving way to stronger imported types though, and Costa (Starbucks copy) is already established in Norway, so are other similar chains.

I grew up in Sweden and remember well coming to my father’s work when I was kid.  On the coffee machine on his floor, they had a board with names where the employees would make a tick at their name for every coffee they’d take.  At the end of the month, they would charge the employess their monthly consumption at approx 5 cents a cup.  My father was without comparation light years ahead of his colleagues.  The only challenger he would have to win the “coffee league” was another Norwegian employee!!!  He never beat my dad though.

I also remember going with my grandparents during my summer holidays to visit aunts and uncles in the family.  Often these visits would take place very late – you’d arrive at 10PM and leave at 1 or 2AM.  You have to understand that this far north, the sun never drops below the horizon during summer – the land of midnight sun.  Going on family visits like this was and is still called in our tounge: going for coffees.  And that’s what you’d do.  You’d talk, drink numerous cups of coffee and eat cakes, like lefsa and chocolate cakes.

Mind you, I was never allowed to taste coffee until 14 years old.  I know it used to be tradition to give coffee mixed with water or milk to kids in the old days, but so was giving them a rag soaked in vodka to suck on.  In the end, having kinds myself, I believe the latter is more realistic than the former: why would you want to give your little terrorists a kick?  Let’s sedate is probably or more logical but equally desparate reaction.  But I do have friends who started drinking coffee before they were 10.

As a coffee-drinker, I’d surely love to do coffee ethnography in Norway…