Clipmarks | Djiezes's clips

Beer Etiquette

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:56:50 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: A report on beer etiquette in Europe: What's the tradition on buying each other rounds, who pays, who drinks the most, etc...

Click through to the pdf report, it contains pretty graphs & more detailed stats.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2505479/Beer-Etiquette-Report

Clip Source: www.sabmiller.com

Clip Source: www.scribd.com

Beer Etiquette Report

Clip Source: www.sabmiller.com

SABMiller’s ‘Beer Etiquette’ report which surveyed 7,500 men and women across 15 countries revealed many more surprising insights. These include:

Britain and Sweden are Europe’s leading round-buying nations, with 82% of Britons preferring to buy a round for their friends rather than split the cost.

Britons compare favourably with Germany which came last, with only 37% of German respondents happy to treat their friends to a round. The vast majority of Germans (90%) prefer to split the bill and meticulously work out exactly who had what.

Britons are unconditional round buyers as over three quarters (77%) would buy someone a drink regardless of whether they thought they would get one in return.

Britons are happy to buy for up to six people per round (5.9). Additionally:

Belgium is home to Europe’s biggest rounds with Belgians prepared to buy for up to 7.1 people per round.

Tags: beer, drinking, etiquette, europe, pdf, report, stats

Open Space

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:22:29 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: More links & info @ source.

Clip Source: www.linuxjournal.com

There are more than a few of us who would be overjoyed to see Open Source take over the world. For the geeks at NASA, though, the world is not enough.

In order to coordinate its extensive use of Open Source, the space agency now has its own repo, complete with Open Source-licensed code for many of its projects.

According to NASA, the motivation behind providing its Open Source repository is

To increase NASA software quality via community peer review
To accelerate software development via community contributions
To maximize the awareness and impact of NASA research
To increase dissemination of NASA software in support of NASA's education mission

It's refreshing to see this level of commitment to Open Source from such an important — and highly-visible — government agency. With Open Source in government receiving a significant push, including the recent formation of the Open Source for America coalition, NASA stands as a shining example of how Open Source in the public sector should work.

Tags: astronomy, government, nasa, open space, oss, science, software, space

Book Burning the DRM-way: Amazon goes Medieval

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:14:54 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Big brother is watching you & his name is Amazon. All in the name of Digital Rights Management (I think Orwell would've loved this newspeak).

Clip Source: www.eff.org

Orwell in 2009: Dystopian Rights Management

The Ministry of Truth would have truly appreciated DRM and tethered devices. As many owners of Kindle e-books discovered this morning, electronic books that come rigged with DRM "copy protection," stored on e-book readers subject to Amazon remote control, can be made to disappear at the whims of their publishers, as if they never existed in the first place.

David Pogue reports today in the New York Times that books published by MobileReference, including Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, were remotely deleted from customers' Kindles over night.

This is Amazon choosing its "content partners" over its customers. There is nothing about copyright law that required these deletions -- if Amazon didn't have the rights to sell the e-books in the first place, the infringement happened when the books were sold. Remote deletion doesn't change that, and it's not an infringement for the Kindle owner simply to read the book.

Tags: 1984, amazon, big brother, copyright, drm, literature, orwell

Is News Behind a Paywall Really Worth it?

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:48:31 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Some more quotes:

Furthermore, for every major news site that decides to charge, they have just opened the playing field wide open for others to come and scoop up their market with a better, smarter business model. And don't think some smart media execs and entrepreneurs aren't salivating over the opportunity of some major publications to go behind the paywall.

He (Lionel Barber) continually talks up how important journalism is to the community, but doesn't do much to talk about how important the community is to news organizations.

Links @ the source

My opinion:

If they don't embrace the new social media, it won't catch on. The landscape of journalism & media has evolved since the days people still bought (enough) newspapers. And if news-outlets won't embrace these new forms of media that entail things like blogging & comments to name a few, then only erecting a 'paywall' will not form a solution to their current situation.

Clip Source: techdirt.com

Newspapers continue to insist that people will pay for news, but they never give any reasons why. Instead, they keep working on these vague threats of colluding and promising "you'll miss us when we're gone."

But this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of why people actually paid for newspapers in the past. At the time, it was the only real way to get that information and to be a part of that local community. The paper served the community without much competition. Yet, these days, there is plenty of competition, and these newspaper guys aren't talking about serving the community better than the competition, they're talking about limiting the value of newspapers by putting up paywalls, that make it harder for people to consumer the news, harder for people to discuss the news, harder for people to share the news and harder for people to be a part of the community.

Making Government Transparent Using R

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:06:41 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Simply said: R is an open-source language to analyse data in a statistical way. Combine this with the idea of open government & open data and you get a powerful way for transparency in government.

Clip Source: radar.oreilly.com

Part of that openness is being able to access and interpret the mass of data that the government collects, something Cooper thinks R would be a great tool for.

we're starting to see some interesting and unexpected consequences from the fact that it's open source and freely available.

And as more and more data becomes open, they're going to need world class tools to analyze that data. And right now, R is the only open source tool.

statistician is actually the new sexy job in the tech world, being able to deal with data and make quantitative analysis of it and come to reasonable conclusions

Tags: democracy, government, open data, r, statistics, transparancy

Open source gets its first legal journal: "International Free and Open Source Software Law Review"

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:43:42 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Quoted from the first article:

Free and Open Source software, though now a robust business proposition, evokes for many, memories of the days when it was seen as crusade. Its proponents as well as its opponents still occasionally address the subject as though they were engaging in a philosophical debate. There are also differences of emphasis, and a whiff of sectarianism amongst the proponents of the various standard licences.
It is for others to address these theological disputes. It is, rather, the purpose of this Review to take one step back and look behind the rhetoric in a rigorous and objective fashion, to probe, to analyse, to question received wisdom, and to bring proper academic discipline to the study of Free and Open Source software in its legal and wider context.
Free and Open Source Software has become a serious player. It deserves serious analysis.

Clip Source: news.cnet.com

This week, in a sign of just how far open source has come in the past decade, the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review (IFOSSLR) was launched, aiming to "bring the highest standards to bear in analysis and comment on all aspects of Free and Open Source software."

The first issue is now available online.

Clip Source: www.ifosslr.org

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

Clip Source: www.ifosslr.org

Foreword and statement of purpose: an introduction to IFOSS L. Rev.

HTML PDF

The Fiduciary Licence Agreement: Appointing legal guardians for Free Software Projects

HTML PDF

Collaborative Approach: Peer-to-Patent and the Open Source Movement

HTML PDF

Bad Facts Make Good Law: The Jacobsen Case and Open Source

HTML PDF

Introducing The Risk Grid

HTML PDF

Tags: academic, journal, law, legal, open source, papers, resource, review

Does Free & Open Video Equal Change/Democracy?

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:29:55 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Found this via wildcat.

In my opinion, it does not equal democracy or establish an utopia. But surely it can help & support it if done the right way.

http://openvideoconference.org/videos/

Clip Source: rhizome.org

Does free video uploading and downloading equal democracy?

The mission statement for the conference reads, “Open Video is a movement to promote free expression and innovation in online video." The conference and its affiliates aimed to respond to outdated copyright law in an attempt to open the limits on the circulation and distribution of copyrighted material.

The situation is nicely summed up by media scholar Geert Lovink, in his recent manifesto written with Ned Rossiter.

he utopianism of “open and free” video culture, it seems, is correct in that it allows people to do things they could not do before. But this does not automatically equal change or democracy in itself. Any proclamation of social utopia deserves a second look

As László Barabási points out, the majority of internet traffic still flows through major hubs—hubs like Amazon and Yahoo, which means that online content generally continues to rely on traditional media channels for distribution.

Tags: change, democracy, free, innovation, open, video, copyright

Daft Punk - Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:09:45 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: This is the full 65 minute video of Daft Punk's Interstella. Not only the music is amazing, but the same can be said of the animations by Leiji Matsumoto. Put them together and you end up with this: a masterpiece.

From the source:

Interstella 5555 is a feature-length Japanese animated musical film originally released on December 1, 2003. The film is the visual realization of Discovery, an album by Daft Punk. Each track from the album has been animated as an episode in the story of the abduction and rescue of an interstellar pop band. The film was produced by the creators of the Discovery album, along with Toei Animation, under the supervision of Leiji Matsumoto. The film has no dialogue and minimal sound effects.
Music list

1 "One More Time"
2 "Aerodynamic"
3 "Digital Love"
4 "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"
5 "Crescendolls"
6 "Nightvision"
7 "Superheroes"
8 "High Life"
9 "Something About Us"
10 "Voyager"
11 "Veridis Quo"
12 "Short Circuit"
13 "Face To Face"

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: daft punk, discovery, interstella, matsumoto, video

Do We Need Open Access Journals?

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:04:11 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: opendotdotdot.blogspot.com

One of the key forerunners of the open access idea was arxiv.org, set up by Paul Ginsparg. Here's what I wrote a few years back

arxiv.org was and is a huge success, and that paved the way for what became the open access movement. But here's an interesting paper - hosted on arxiv.org

The analysis of citation data demonstrates that free and immediate online dissemination of preprints creates an immense citation advantage in HEP, whereas publication in Open Access journals presents no discernible advantage. In addition, the analysis of clickstreams in the leading digital library of the field shows that HEP scientists seldom read journals, preferring preprints instead.

On the one hand, it would be ironic if the very field that acted as a midwife to open access journals should also be the one that begins to undermine it through a move to repository-based open publishing of preprints. On the other, it doesn't really matter; what's important is open access to the papers.

Tags: arxiv, ginsparg, journal, open access, paper, repository, science

Is the world now an open source society?

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:57:46 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: blogs.zdnet.com

I have long argued, here and elsewhere, that open source and the Internet values on which it is based has a political dimension.

They make it possible for great changes to occur from the bottom up, organically, transparently. They enable collaboration across continents.

It’s the ability to harness trends which leads to success, not the trends themselves. This harnessing would seem to contradict the open source ideal. But does it?

Again, I would argue that it does not. Open source is an accelerant of change. The Internet is the rocket fuel of change. Harnessing that power, directing that rocket, these remain tasks for leadership.

The way in which leadership works changes in an open source world, but the need for it remains. Even after the open source revolution is complete we will need leaders in politics, in business, and entertainment.

Tags: future, internet, leadership, open source, politics, society

Daniel Dennett on Evolutionary Theology

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 20:03:10 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: You've got to love these typical Dennett-style skeptical questions.

Full report by Daniel Dennett on the "Darwin Festival in Cambridge", funded by the Templeton Foundation, via PZ Myers blog: Pharyngula.

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

In the discussion period I couldn't stand it any more and challenged the speakers: "I'm Dan Dennett, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and we are forever being told that we should do our homework and consult with the best theologians. I've heard two of you talk now, and you keep saying this is an interdisciplinary effort--evolutionary theology--but I am still waiting to be told what theology has to contribute to the effort. You've clearly adjusted your theology considerably in the wake of Darwin, which I applaud, but what traffic, if any, goes in the other direction? Is there something I'm missing? What questions does theology ask or answer that aren't already being dealt with by science or secular philosophy? What can you clarify for this interdisciplinary project?" (Words to that effect) Neither speaker had anything to offer

Tags: atheism, darwin, dawkins, dennett, evolution, religion, theology

Open source to shape cloud computing, not dominate it

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:12:19 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: news.cnet.com

Redmonk analyst Stephen O'Grady writes a bleak, but likely accurate, eulogy for open source's relevance to cloud computing.

where big vendors like Amazon and Google are already divvying up the market, the odds of a small-fry, open-source start-up challenging "Goliath" are slim.

It's not a new argument: Nick Carr has been suggesting for some time that only a few, big companies can afford relevance in this hardware-intensive business.

Open source is changing the way these big vendors operate, because it's altering customer expectations.

Google, for its part, went from a happy consumer of open source to an active contributor to open source on a very big scale. Not because Google is "not evil," but because it realizes that open source can give it a competitive advantage in the market.

open source challenges otherwise proprietary vendors to compete through openness. We're already seeing some of this as vendors like Red Hat seek to claim parts of the cloud for open source.

Tags: amazon, cloud, computing, customer, google, hardware, transparancy

Open Source Incentives

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:07:55 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: Incent the users, not only the developers.

Clip Source: www.opensource.org

What I learned is that the government is focused on rewarding the use of open source software, not merely it's creation. How does this work from a sustainability point of view? After all, if there are not greater incentives for risky development, what will ensure that users will have what they need?

when there are incentives to use technologies, and when those technologies are (1) free to access, and (2) provide the freedom to modify and adapt them to a specific purpose, a whole new form of innovation, coupled with beneficial use, arises.

Thus, the policy lesson is that when you want to use technology in a new way, incent the users, not the developers.

Tags: developer, government, innovation, software, user

Open Sourcing Energy?

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:46:54 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: earth2tech.com

Steven Chu, wants energy efficiency, and other elements of green building, to be incorporated into structure designs from the get-go by way of an open-source software platform.

he wants the DOE to provide advanced design tools at affordable prices or for free so companies can implement them at a relatively low cost.

This idea isn’t entirely new. The DOE already provides energy modeling software called EnergyPlus, which simulates building heating, cooling, lighting, ventilation and other energy flows

There’s also a free plug-in for Google’s 3D Sketchup drawing program, called OpenStudio, which helps integrate the program with EnergyPlus

Clip Source: blogs.zdnet.com

It’s impressive, but I think there’s something that’s more important than open source.

Open standards.

Solar cells need to be built to a standard size, with standard connectors, so they can be replaced easily as new technologies are developed.

Systems for collecting power from small suppliers need to be standardized

Tags: doe, energy, google, government, green, software, standards

Cloud computing to drive open source

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:22:27 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.tectonic.co.za

open source software and the methodologies that accompany it have already been proven to be the chosen route for the vast majority of companies aiming to capitalise on the cloud phenomenon.

you need look no further than the route companies such as Amazon, Google and Rackspace

in each of these examples, open source is either at the core or forms a vital component of what’s on offer. And as cloud computing becomes more a prominent topic, so open source will find greater traction in the market.

The reasons open source is a popular route are not difficult to find. Since the cloud computing players are extremely technically proficient, they have sufficient skill in-house to capitalise on the more open nature of open source – and in doing so, can build a far lower cost solution than what would be on offer from a proprietary technology.

These solutions’ open nature furthermore allow cloud providers to mould and form tools to their own needs, changing and adapting underlying technology rapidly

Tags: amazon, cloud, computing, google, it, market