Posts by David Hamilton

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  • Discussion: On Copyright,

    Contrast this with copyrights, which are of value to society as a whole only when the subject matter passes into the public domain.

    You've mentioned this notion a couple of times and I don't get it. Doesn't society benefit from art/music/ideas regardless of whether the creator owns them or not?

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

  • Hard News: "Rubbish" is putting it politely,

    *obvious, as in from their Christian/'family values' POV.

    Minor gripe...I know what you mean but Christian and/or family values does not equal homophobic alarmist bigotry. It can and often does I'll grant, but there are people who are christian and also don't have a problem with people being gay.

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

  • Island Life: I can see clearly now,

    Don't tell anyone, but I actually really like that new logo.

    Me too, all fibrous and technomological and volcanic. Although in my opinion the K is all wrong, should be less like an R with its head cut off. It's a pity cause it's a sweet font otherwise.

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

  • Hard News: The TVNZ 7 Internet Debate,

    2) Traffic caps - Broadband speed isn't the most critical factor, but rather traffic caps. A hangover of the dial-up volume charging era.

    I thought it was quite funny how everyone was up in arms about Comcast's 250GB per month cap in the states.

    I live on the rural outskirts and my internet speed is diabolically slow. I believe the plan is uncapped now but I may as well be on a 256Kbps one, especially in the evening. Once I can watch a youtube movie in real time I'll agree about the speed being more important than the caps. However, I do agree that caps less than 10GB are just silly, especially Xtra's ridiculous 200MB basic plan.

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

  • Hard News: Conscious Party,

    That's a really interesting article, thanks for posting it. As for the DRM engineers making it worse, the problem is bad design, and that stems back to the requirements of the "customer", which is in this case the parties wanting to maintain strict copyright control. Unfortunately their methods haven't gelled with consumers habits/expectations too well so far. I agree its made things worse, but probably not because of the engineers (why wont someone think of the engineers!).

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

  • Hard News: Conscious Party,

    On a related note, Metallica who were so abrasive about downloading in the past have a new strategy: Metallica Repents, Sort Of. The key seems to be building up a community around the band and the music, something the fans can share in and be a part of. No DRM in sight and even 320Kbps mp3s (anything less is silly in this day and age in my opinion).

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

  • Hard News: Conscious Party,

    Russell jumped in with his hobby horse of "no drm" Luddite comment, wasting valuable time which his highly educated guests could have used. (in a perfect world the no drm comment should mean "I want you to stop making bad drm that intrudes on my fair use, and get it right in a transparent and non invasive way", rather than "yes I do want to freely copy media files and you're spoiling my party"

    How is that more of a hobby horse than your "ideal drm" arguments? Are you willing to consider a solution of which DRM is not a part?

    other than music drm engineers are shit at their job.

    That's pretty harsh, I'm willing to bet they are good developers with a very hard, possibly unsolvable problem to solve. At the very least there are too many conflicting stakeholder requirements.

    God, we're not going back here again..no! no!

    /me shuts up :P

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

  • Island Life: Still not over it,

    +1

    I just spent a few months in a cycle friendly city and it was magic. I could cycle into town beside (but not on) the main highway south/west. This main cycle lane was used by huge amount of people getting to work and for recreation/training on the weekends. It was something like having a small dedicated cycle road from downtown Auckland down to Manukau or up to Orewa. NZ really needs to get with the program.

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

  • Island Life: Serving suggestion only,

    Leader John Key, who wore a light blue tie which did not quite match the colour of the planes in the ad, said he was worried about net migration out of the country.

    Wait, what?

    Public Address reader David Hamilton, who is wearing a brown kind of smart casual hoody that contrasts nicely with the orange of his office chair, is confused at how that's relevant.

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

  • Up Front: The Innocent Sleep,

    Great post! I'm sure I have a variant of this, and of course everyone I know thinks I'm some kind of lazy timewaster. Especially my mum, who always remarks with surprise at the fact I have just woken up when I answer the phone at midday on Saturday.

    Lectures at nine am were torture at uni (though the seven pm tests worked great for me), and at school the only detentions I got were for repeated lateness. My job thankfully is a bit flexible though I'm sure my timing is frowned upon and isn't preferable. Nine thirty is my usual goal but it sometimes gets to ten. I always set my alarm for seven thirty am but waking up and moving then feels like torture. It's not just a lack of self discipline, there is actually something really physiologically hard about it. On the other hand, if it's a one off weird time, like 4:30am to go snowboarding or catch a flight I don't have any problems at all.

    Night was always my favourite time. It's a night wind that gets under my skin, the patterns of light on black, the unique smell of a city in the dark.

    I really relate to this too, I start getting restless and creative at about 10pm and going to bed just sucks. I've always found it tough with normal sleeping flatmates because it's my natural time to pick up the guitar. Some of my favourite times when I lived in Wellington were walking the city streets late at night, or taking my guitar over the street to Lyall Bay where I would wander up and down singing to the sea with the wind snatching my voice away.

    Moving through a world with all the internal coherency of a David Lynch adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel...

    That is a great metaphor :)

    Hamiltron • Since Nov 2006 • 111 posts Report

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