Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to all my readers. May 2008 find you more success and happiness than 2007 did.

In the meantime, here are a few interesting links and tidbits, all related to looking forward and looking backward. I thought that was pretty appropriate for the day. Enjoy!

Lawyer: Ripping MP3s Illegal, Grounds for Lawsuit

What the...? So, first, copying and sharing music is illegal. OK, I can understand that. But now, just copying it for your own personal use is illegal? What will you declare illegal next, listening to it? Another example of the content providers trying legal means to preserve their dying business model. History is replete with examples of businesses who tried to hold back the world via legal and/or governmental means and preserve a poor business model while social, economic, cultural, or (in this case) technological paradigms changed around them. It never works (See: passenger rail and the steel industry). The production and distribution of content, and how to make money from such production and distribution with today's rapidly changing production and distribution technology, is one of human society's big challenges. You might try to dictate how people want their content delivered to them, and what they do with it themselves once they have some control of its format, but you will fail. Your business model is already dying, as you obviously know from how vigorously you're prosecuting these "cases." You could continue to try to control your consumers, and run the risk of alienating them or worse, driving them even closer to the new media that you loathe so desperately. Or, you could be truly visionary and try to find a new way to make your business model work, to convert your old, stodgy, dying model into something brand new. The best companies have always been able to rework and reinvent themselves when need be. Nintendo, Chrysler (circa early 1980s under Iacocca), and Novell are prime examples. Some of the big recording industry companies are already getting this, which is great to see. Or, you can be Sony.

On a positive note, enjoy some great links to webcams around the world. One of the great things the Internet can do is bring other parts of the world straight to you immediately. Just check out the cool webcam for the Pyramids! That is awesome.

There are other great ways that the Internet brings people and places together. I was talking with Chong the other day while he was visiting, and I asked him how we looked anything up before the Internet. Let's say you want to find out how to clean an engine. You could call someone you knew might know the answer and might be willing to take some time to explain the procedure to you. Even then that person might accidentally leave out a crucial piece of information (like, "cover your electrical wires before you start" or "don't take out the spark plugs"), or they might tell you something wrong just because their experience was different. If you didn't know anyone, you might call a mechanic's shop and hope they'd help you. As a last resort, you could drive to the library and find a book or magazine article that would guide you through the process.

Today, you fire up your browser, go to Google, type in "how to clean an engine," and you have hundreds of links to howtos, discussion forums, manuals, and books that describe every part of the process in detail. You can even compare multiple links to each other and get a consensus on something like what type of chemicals to use or if water is necessary and so on. I have to admit, the new way is much better.

What about hobbies? You can find enthusiasts and resources for just about any pastime imaginable. Sure, sports, sci-fi, cars, quilting, scrapbooking...those are easy ones. Heidi herself enjoys meeting up with other new moms and baby-oriented groups. As you might recall, I used to be a HUGE Land Rover aficionado. Ten to fifteen years ago, I'd have to hunt around to find a local Rover club that met regularly so I could get the best information on how to keep the Rover running, or where to find parts. Even then, my experience would be limited to the experience of those in the club. Or I could find a Rover dealership (not as easy back then as it is today, now that Rover is owned by Ford) and get whatever help or parts I needed from them. Of course, many of you know how expensive parts from dealerships are, so this was often an expensive proposition, as well. I could try used parts from a salvage yard, but I had to hope they had the part I needed in reasonable shape. Today, if I need Rover parts I simply Google "Land Rover parts" and I can find as many sources as I like. I can even comparison-shop for the best price. I can look on eBay if a used part will do, and there's a good chance I can find the part in decent shape at a decent price. If I need some information on some obscure happening with my Rover engine, there are hundreds of Rover discussion forums and clubs online where I can just submit my question and have a decent answer (or many decent answers) within an hour or two at most. I can network with Rover fanatics not just locally, but around the world, many of them not only Rover enthusiasts but professional Rover mechanics with years of experience.

I ask again, how did we manage, doing things the old way? As we look forward again today, consider again where we have come from. Thanks for reading along.