LJ State

A bunch of you have undoubtedly noticed this already (from my remarkably tardy comments), but just FYI: I am *way* behind on LJ, even by my usually lax standards. Work is keeping me super-busy, and I've got a lot of irons in the fire at home, so there just isn't much time to read. Even working strictly on my Crucial Catch-up Filter, I'm still about eight days behind right now.

So if there's anything important going on that I should know about, please contact me directly via email, phone or IM. Thanks!

LJ State

A bunch of you have undoubtedly noticed this already (from my remarkably tardy comments), but just FYI: I am *way* behind on LJ, even by my usually lax standards. Work is keeping me super-busy, and I've got a lot of irons in the fire at home, so there just isn't much time to read. Even working strictly on my Crucial Catch-up Filter, I'm still about eight days behind right now.

So if there's anything important going on that I should know about, please contact me directly via email, phone or IM. Thanks!

And another arms race begins...

The big tech news of the day is that YouTube, as expected, has come up with a super-secret technology that will allow them to automatically detect and delete copyrighted materials being posted on the site. This is being ballyhooed as a fundamental sea-change.

Any bets on how long it'll take for the first circumvention program to come out? Oh, it'll be trickier than usual: since Google is (I assume) not going to release any details of the algorithm, the hackers will have to use trial-and-error to figure out what it's doing. But I confess, I'd be genuinely surprised if it takes a month before it is not only cracked, but packaged in an easy-to-use way. I mean, this is basically waving the red flag in front of the bulls, and the hacking community loves a challenge.

Of course, Google will then begin to tweak and refine the algorithm, and the back-and-forth will get going in earnest. They might even eventually get it good enough to prevent the posting of any reasonably high-quality copies. But I will be *very* impressed if they can do it in less than ten rounds...

And another arms race begins...

The big tech news of the day is that YouTube, as expected, has come up with a super-secret technology that will allow them to automatically detect and delete copyrighted materials being posted on the site. This is being ballyhooed as a fundamental sea-change.

Any bets on how long it'll take for the first circumvention program to come out? Oh, it'll be trickier than usual: since Google is (I assume) not going to release any details of the algorithm, the hackers will have to use trial-and-error to figure out what it's doing. But I confess, I'd be genuinely surprised if it takes a month before it is not only cracked, but packaged in an easy-to-use way. I mean, this is basically waving the red flag in front of the bulls, and the hacking community loves a challenge.

Of course, Google will then begin to tweak and refine the algorithm, and the back-and-forth will get going in earnest. They might even eventually get it good enough to prevent the posting of any reasonably high-quality copies. But I will be *very* impressed if they can do it in less than ten rounds...

Okay, I'm officially sick of being sick...

And BTW, if you'll pardon a brief health whine, this cold can hie itself from my body already. I expected to lose both days of the weekend to it, but so far I've wound up working from home for the first two days of the week, and I *still* feel like crap. By this point, any self-respecting rhinovirus should have long since moved into the sounds-like-death-warmed-over-but-isn't-really-that-bad hacking-cough stage. But this one is still being quite "productive", and my head still feels like it's stuffed with cotton balls, despite msmemory having to sign away her life and identity to obtain me some 12-hour Sudafed.

Bleah. I say unto thee, Bleah! I didn't mind losing this weekend to it, but I had damned well better be feeling better for Falling Leaves...

Okay, I'm officially sick of being sick...

And BTW, if you'll pardon a brief health whine, this cold can hie itself from my body already. I expected to lose both days of the weekend to it, but so far I've wound up working from home for the first two days of the week, and I *still* feel like crap. By this point, any self-respecting rhinovirus should have long since moved into the sounds-like-death-warmed-over-but-isn't-really-that-bad hacking-cough stage. But this one is still being quite "productive", and my head still feels like it's stuffed with cotton balls, despite msmemory having to sign away her life and identity to obtain me some 12-hour Sudafed.

Bleah. I say unto thee, Bleah! I didn't mind losing this weekend to it, but I had damned well better be feeling better for Falling Leaves...