Danish courts ruled last Wednesday, that the Internet provider Tele2 are to shut off their clients access to the controversial Russian music site allofmp3.com. That I find really disturbing, that the danish Internet access is starting to look like the situation in China.
In a matter of hours a guide on how to get pass the block was published. This guide claims that the block is a simple dns-block, meaning that access is only prevented if the users use Tele2’s own dns server. With this knowledge the average user should be able to get passed the block in five minutes.
What really bothers me, is that they use such an extreme means for such a complicated case. The whole allofmp3.com discussion is a complicated matter which lately has gotten political. These extreme means should only be used in extreme cases. Another point is that these extreme means lose their value when used in cases such as these, more people will know how to avoid getting blocked.
Last but not least – as the case with China shows – it is extremely hard to control the internet. It will be very hard for the danish Internet providers to block people using proxy servers, tor and so on. In my mind it is just a waste of time.
I thought the online office suite would fail without doubt, but after trying out Google’s new spreadsheet and docs service , I’m actually in doubt.
I like owning things, and I distrust things that are free. That is why I thought Googles new online spreadsheet and word processing applications called Google docs was a bad idea. However, I decided to try it out after listening to the podcast Gillmor Gang.
First impression – there is something missing
The first thing I noticed about Google Docs, is what it is lacking compared to a standard office suite. It had the basic stuff, but a lot of the more advanced functions i missing.
Second Impression – I can’t live without it
After using it a couple of days, I realize that I’ve grown quit addicted to a couple of function.
The collaboration possibilities are absolutely amazing. Within a few clicks you can invite someone to view or collaborate on the document. It is a lot easier than saving it, emailing it and waiting for the response. It is actually possible to be two (or more) persons working on the same document at the same time, or several persons can share a document.
I think this function actually makes it possible to compete word since you don’t have to export it out, you can just invite people in, all they need is a computer with internet connection.
It works on almost all platforms. I often use several different PCs during the day, running XP or Linux. When doing that it is just a thrill to have a system running on all platforms (without installation).
The third thing which has gotten me hooked is the document handling. It is very handy that they are all in the system – No matter from where I connect. I don’t have to waste my time exporting things and saving it on different media and transferring it. Another
advantage is, that if the laptop i stolen, no documents is on it.
And the winner is…
All in all I’m a lot more fund of Google Docs now than before I used it. Most of the time I don’t miss the advanced functions – because I was not going to use them for the document. And I have become really fund of the new functions Google docs has. But a lot of it comes down how much one trusts the service provider – Google. Comparison
Advantages of Google’s service:
Free – as in beer
Platform independent: Requires a browser and a connection
Avoid losing your documents with the laptop
No wasting time moving documents
Amazing collaboration possibilities
Advantages of regular Office:
Once you own it – you own it!
More advanced in most area than Google Docs
Keep your documents safe by not saving them online
According to newspapers in Denmark, an 11 year old girl has been sued by the heirs of Marlene Dietrich, for bying the domain: www.marlene.eu.
A few days ago danish newspaper Politiken reported of an 11 year girl named Marlene, who has been contacted by the heirs of Marlene Dietrich.
According to the newspaper, the heir’s of the German actress claim, that they have the rights to the name Marlene. They are demanding that she hand over her domain www.marlene.eu and pay 50,000$ to compensate for the loss that she has inflicted on their business.
The girl and her family has nothing to fear according to a lawyer specialized in domains. The lawyer, Mikkel Gudsoe, tells the newspaper that you are allowed to use your own name, as long as it is not done in order to create confusion.
From my point of view, the logic must, that the girls “stealing” the traffic intended for the official Marlene Dietrich web site. That logic has a flaw, that the .eu domains are very new, and not getting a lot of traffic. This is indicated by the sponsored counter on the girls web site, according to this she did not have any visitors at all last week until saturday when the story was picked up by the newspaper.
It seems to me that the heirs, or their lawyers, are trying to avoid having to pay for the domain by scaring of the girl and her family.
It seems this site has been having some issues in the last week. After contacting dreamhost the problem should be solved, and the site should be more stable from now on.
With the help of the third party software iTunes agent any mp3 player can be synchronized via iTunes.
I have an older no-name mp3 player, which I would like to use with iTunes. This can be accomplished with the help of a small free software called iTunes agent.
To make it work, I just had to make a play-list in iTunes, and afterwards setup iTunes agent to synchronize this playlist with my mp3 player. In order for iTunes agent to recognize the player, I had to give iTunes agent the name of a folder on the player.
Just note that this software only synchronizes the player with the iTunes play-list, it does not convert any files, and many mp3 players are unable to play the iTunes default format.
I’m trying out a number of themes these days. This week it is Jason Golods Adsens Ready theme. It is a more clean theme.
I some time I’ll try to compose a post with my experience and evaluation of the themes.
