It’s true: they have no taste. Only Mohamed Al Fayed comes close.
Daily Archives: December 17, 2006
Disintegrating Euros
Hmmm… Do I believe this?
Users of the drug crystal methamphetamine may be causing euro banknotes to disintegrate, German police have told Der Spiegel magazine.
Sulphates used in the production of the drug could form sulphuric acid when mixed with human sweat, they say, causing banknotes to corrode.
Drug users sniff powdered crystals through rolled up banknotes.
About 1,500 banknotes have crumbled after being withdrawn from cash machines, German banking officials say.
Much of Germany’s supply of crystal methamphetamine is believed to come from eastern Europe, and has a high concentration of sulphates.
Its corrosive effects are also spread between contaminated notes and clean notes in wallets and purses.
The Bundesbank announced in early November that reports of bank notes worth between five euros and 100 euros disintegrating began to be received in the summer.
A 2003 report by the Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research in Nuremberg found that 90% of German euros were contaminated with cocaine…
Quote of the day
” Well, I know when I finish a book I know that it’s not only the worst book I’ve written (laughter all around), but that it’s the worst book that’s ever been written. [Laughter all around] I always tell my wife that. Actually there’s always a point where I go upstairs and go, ‘Oh, God, it’s the worst book ever written.’ And she says, ‘Oh that’s good dear, it means you’re almost through.'”
Novelist William Gibson, in an interview published on his Blog.
This is very consoling. Gibson is such a terrific writer, and even he feels like that. When people ask me if I like writing, I always reply: “I like having written“. Which is true.
Gates on the future of DRM
From Techcrunch…
Microsoft convened a small group of bloggers today at their Redmond headquarters to discuss the upcoming Mix Conference in Las Vegas. Highlights of the day included:
The receipt of a Zune as a gift (the third I’ve received from Microsoft – I now have all three colors) Seeing the look on Gates’ face when he walked into the room and every single one of us had a Mac open on the desk in front of us – Niall Kennedy had also set up a makeshift wifi network using an Airport An hour-long anything goes Q&A session with Gates One of the questions that I asked was his opinion on the long term viability of DRM. I don’t hide the fact that I think DRM isn’t workable, and actively support DRM-free music alternatives such as eMusic and Amie Street. The rise of illegal or quasi-legal options like AllofMP3 and BitTorrent ensure that users have plenty of options when it comes to DRM-free digital music.
Gates didn’t get into what could replace DRM, but he did give some reasonably candid insights suggesting that he thinks DRM is as lame as the rest of us.
Gates said that no one is satisfied with the current state of DRM, which “causes too much pain for legitmate buyers” while trying to distinguish between legal and illegal uses. He says no one has done it right, yet. There are “huge problems” with DRM, he says, and “we need more flexible models, such as the ability to “buy an artist out for life” (not sure what he means). He also criticized DRM schemes that try to install intelligence in each copy so that it is device specific.
His short term advice: “People should just buy a cd and rip it. You are legal then.”
He ended by saying “DRM is not where it should be, but you won’t get me to say that there should be usage models and different payment models for usage. At the end of the day, incentive systems do make a difference, but we don’t have it right with incentives or interoperability.”
These quotes are rough – I was typing fast but it was not an exact transcript. Still, it is interesting insight from a man who is in a position to shape the future of digital music models.
There’s a nice picture of the assembled bloggers and their host here.
The bubble reputation
This morning’s Observer column — on the eBay ‘reputation’ system…
It has become the linchpin of the eBay phenomenon. But as the importance of having a good reputation has increased, so has the temptation to manipulate the system. Fraudsters have been fooling the rating system by conducting transactions with friends or even themselves, using alternate user names to give themselves high satisfaction ratings – and luring unsuspecting customers to buy from them.
It’s difficult to know how widespread this scam is, and eBay is fanatically tight-lipped about it. Policing the billions of transactions that take place every year in its online auctions is a Sisyphian task. And reputation-faking rings have been difficult to spot, especially since there are lots of close-knit groups on eBay (for example, porcelain collectors) who trade intensively – and innocently – with one another…