InformationWeek | DRM | Opinion: Apple's Copy-Protection Isn't Just Bad For Consumers, It's Bad For Business | July 26, 2006
Another great Anti-DRM rant from Cory. [from: del.icio.us]

I've just been playing with last.fm again. It's had another revamp and is getting seriously good. If you've been there and drifted away, look again. If you've never been, go now.

Currently listening to a composite tag radio station Called "Cocktails at Sunset".

We'll be doing a Skypecast of the Ecademy event again tonight.

Details here. Starting at 7:30 London time. [from: JB Ecademy]

Gliffy.com - Create and share diagrams online.
Web 2.0 flowchart and Diagramming site [from: del.icio.us]

wiki/NakedSkype - Skype Developer Zone is a page for speccing what a naked skype interface would look like. Naked Skype means a library that can interact with the skype network without generating any client UI. It may or may not require a full client install.

On the subject of Reverse engineering keeping Skype honest, I found this on the Skype API forum.

forum.skype.com :: View topic - Please release your API before it becomes public underground : "When business forget they are a business, they go out of business."

For those of you that are not running a business with stiff competition, or trying to meet release deadlines, or make a profit, or SURVIVE, then you can afford to be patient.

By the time you guys are done reading this thread and asking Skype for an API, I have used JAJAH OPEN API to create a running CALL BACK FEATURE in less than one day. Fully transparent, works perfect, done.

Like many I suppose, Ill wait until the NAKED SKYPE API becomes available, or until the Chinese version becomes downloadable on IRC or for sale. If Skype does not care about protecting their supernode network by releasing a legit version, how can they expect their developers too? Developers can not to proceed with VOIP enabled software with this current API.

Some of you may think I am rude, or abrupt, but lets face it, I am the face of business, the path of least resistance.

Also, for your consideration:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2005/12/17/google-talk-puts-gun-to-skypes-head/

and

http://www.skypejournal.com/blog/archives/yet_more_technology_topics/products/skype_api/

and strait from GOOGLE I give you:

http://www.google.com/talk/developer.html

At which point I just repeat myself. If LibJingle is going to open up IM, where's the code that uses it?

Here's some ways to think about this. The first point is to understand what interop means. There are 3 ways of linking IM/Audio/Video networks.
1) At the network level. Transparently route chat, voice and video by linking the networks. Skype can't do that because there is no central network. MSN, YM! and AIM have a big centrally controlled part of the system even though a lot of the communication is P2P so they can, at the cost of running that big central system.
2) At the server level. This is what some Jabber servers do. Because all comms go partly through a server they can be switched. It's the same as 1) except that anyone can run a jabber server.
3) At the client. GAIM, Trillian and others let you have one client that speaks multiple protocols. You need an official account with any system you want to talk to but it blurs the differences between them.

So if there's a library that can be built into cient code that duplicates the Skype protocols, 3) can be built. And 2) can be built where it's appropriate (eg Asterix PBX)

Then look at two conversations that are happening on the Skype forums already. Building audio/video stream access into the Skype API and release of a Naked Skype which is a library that provides the API without having to have the Client.

So if you can reverse engineer the protocol, there's no point in trying to build a better Skype client when Skype are shipping a new one every 2 months. You're just getting involved in a code race. If you can produce a naked skype API library with more capability, you can fill in the holes that Skype can't address. This might be something like a Linux version or a Nokia Series 60/80 version or a Skype that runs on a Linksys Wifi router. But again you're up against a potential code race. By producing something, you'll identify a market for Skype who will then produce it or bolt your new capability into their next release.

So we can begin to see that Skype don't need to open the protocol. What they do need to do is to make that protocol widely available in forms people want. Which means a naked Skype library with full access to chat, voice and video. And a friendly licensing regime to go with it. Then we can have Skype in GAIM/Trillian, 3rd party Skype-SIP gateways, Skype on weird platforms and so on.

A note about Security. If Skype have built their encryption properly (and I believe they have), then exposing the code and protocol will make *NO* difference to the strength of the encryption. Which means that if the USA/UK require backdoors for government access they're out of luck. if Skype put a backdoor in, the 3rd parties will produce a version with no backdoor. So I think this announcement of reverse engineering the protocol will keep Skype honest and keep the governments out. At least for Skype to Skype conversations even though Skype to POTS will still be at risk because you can always tap the POTS interconnection.

So all in all I see this as doing nothing more than providing a spur to Skype to keep writing code, building innovation and shipping it. As long as they keep doing that, there's no stopping them, and no downside for the users. And the fact that the protocol is reverse engineered will make no difference.

Now look at that idea of a naked API library. This is exactly the unfulfilled promise of LibJingle. Skype have had 9 months now to replicate it. I think they'll ship something before there's any use of LibJingle outside the official GTalk client.

A significant amount of the traffic on Ecademy comes from Googlebot, Yahoo Slurp, MSNbot and Alexa Archiver. i've gone to a lot of trouble to ban and exclude pretty much all the others. But now I'm looking at traffic today and the first three are all hitting on us continually.

So then I looked at the referrers and I discover that Google is 51%, Yahoo is 3% and MSN nowhere.

I'm seriously thinking of banning everyone except Google.

It also re-inforces what I guess we all knew. Google has won for basic search. Everyone else is just throwing large amounts of money at a hopeless cause.

Here's one of those questions. In the wake of GoingOn and PeopleAggregator would it be possible to build a social networking site or a community news/group blog site entirely by mashing up other people's web 2.0 services? Take Blogger, Google Calendar, Yahoogroups, GMail, Google Maps, Craigslist, Ebay, Amazon, Del.icio.us, Digg, MySpace and tie it all together with a User account management and content aggregation system. Don't even try to write any real functionality, just piggyback on other people's.

I suspect the missing piece to make this possible is single signon applied to mashups. Which then relates to authentication in web services. Something that really hasn't been dealt with yet.

Skype have a service now where you can broadcast to up to 100 people or have a discussion around up to 100 people called Skypecasting. At the last couple of London events we've hooked a machine straight up to the PA and have run a broadcast of the event. The next one can be found here.

They've improved the search. So if you run a Skypecast that is loosely related to Ecademy, please include the word "Ecademy" in the title and the tags and it'll be easy to find in the search system.

It's all free. And all you need to listen is a copy of the latest Skype. Just go to the skypecast page at the event time (7:30pm UK, 18th July, 06) and follow the instructions. [from: JB Ecademy]

Skype Journal: You won't like this, not one bit : UPDATE: That means the EU constitution is "edge-based", and the US one doesn't scale. Oops. Hey, just skip a generation and move straight to anarchism: peer-to-peer contracts, and a state whose only function is to enforce them.

Ah. Now that's a new take on Anarchism. An anarchic economy where the state exists purely to maintain the anarchy. But isn't that anarcho-capitalism? It's what they're supposed to have in the USA. Whereas in reality what they have is some weird mixture more like anarcho-socialism where there's open economic competition within tightly defined and centralist controlled rules. And those rules can be changed if you have enough money and lobbying power. In the USA, you have perfect freedom just as long as you stay between the white lines on the freeway. Which is actually no different from the rest of the developed world. In more corrupt societies and economies, you have perfect freedom if you carry a big enough stick.

You managed to screw a whole country and get royally paid for it as well.

Thanks Sven.

We will be taking Ecademy down at 18:00 tonight (Friday June 30) for planned maintenance to our hardware. We estimate the site will be down for about an hour.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused. [from: JB Ecademy]

Phil Wolff on SkypeJournal asks Skype Journal: Should eBay and Skype be open to other payment systems? : Now that eBay is letting sellers put Skype Me links in their auctions and profiles, shouldn't they also encourage use of rival tools?

It's surprising to me that eBay don't provide more tools to build an AboutMe profile page for users of their system. I guess at one time they were concerned about people using eBay purely as a tool for finding products and then taking the transaction offline. And it would interfere some with their rating/reputation system. But now they are beginning to open up, it's time to open up properly.

Then there's the issue of a common sign in system. It ought to be possible to sign in with a common login to eBay, Paypal, Skype. It's the same problem Google is currently tackling and MS have tried to tackle in the past with passport and in the future with Infocards. eBay's vast number of accounts in the three systems now give them the opportunity to play in the Identity Server space as well.

And so to numbers. "The combined users bases of Yahoo! Messenger, AOL, Google Talk, QQ, MSN, and Live Messenger dwarf Skype" Is this true and to what extent? I *think* Skype has overtaken YM! and is closing in on AOL and MSN. It's a small sample with a skewed audience but this poll puts Skype at 45%, MSN at 30% and the others nowhere.

I seem to be waiting in vain for MSN Messenger and YM! to interoperate with chat, voice and video. And for LibJingle to bring voice and video interop between iChat, AIM, GoogleTalk, Jabber, Trillian and Gaim. Meanwhile Skype continues to churn out a new release every 2 months and bug fixes every 2 weeks.

Google Account Authentication

So they did it. I've been waiting for this for ages. There is a catch of course. All your data are belong to Google. What's missing here is the ability for third party ID servers to use the same protocol and to federate among themselves. But it should be possible for people to reverse engineer it and create that.

Now when will Google allow you to merge all the different identities you have so that it recognises that they all belong to the same person? I think I've got about 10 Google accounts now. It's extremely annoying when I'm logged into one because I was using Google Analytics and I then want to check the Calendar that is associated with the gmail/googletalk account.

I wonder how long it will be before Drupal can use this to login and create accounts?

I've just seen a very curious letter on P2Pnet about Kazaa and Sharman Networks.

Contents below.

Hi Jon,

I'm the guy who arrogantly claimed that Sharman Networks implemented on December 5, 2005 an idea I sent them, which they were clueless of, to block Australians from using Kazaa. That last minute move by Sharman allowed it to continue operating Kazaa from that date until today instead of following an Australian court order which ruled that Sharman must either close down its business or implement a content filtering solution (which basically is the same as closing the business).

You can refresh your memory here:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/sharman-denies-lawyers-claim/2005/12/08/1133829710467.html

I'm telling you this because Sharman's attitude towards me, as well as in general, led me to take unreasonable and irresponsible actions including the claims I make below.

That is the reason why I now wholeheartedly want to claim that:
1. I am the person who posted in Israel the comments on p2pnet stories 8678 and 8699 which led Sharman to sue you (together with the Doe and Roe families).
2. You, Jon Newton, did not collaborate with me in any manner in posting the comments and you had no advance notice of the posts.
3. The opinions stated in those comments were genuine and the info was provided by a third party which is related to the Roes.

Now that we got that out of the way, to me it seems absolutely amazing that a P2P company which is fighting for its life in a court of law sues and tries to take down a site that has the explicit mission to advance the sharing of information and data which is really all what P2P is about. In the name of whatever is decent I think that Sharman must retract the case altogether and of course against you because it is obvious that you had nothing to do with the comments.

It's not that I don't feel compassion for Sharman's situation as I too now claim to have suffered after being publicly ridiculed with false and defamatory expressions in front of my family, friends and anyone else who read the link above. Reading about Sharman's agony over the posts reminded me of those long nights in which I woke up screaming my lungs out "screw loose? screw loose? Screw loose!" only to return to a vegetative state until the next psychotic outburst. Oh, the horror, the pain, the damages.

Compassion aside, too often do corporations and individuals with power or money decide that the end justifies the means although that sort of attitude should be reserved, if at all, for the weak.
When Sharman wants to save face or avoid answering questions it feels free to discredit with outright defamation a person who obviously had good intentions with respect to it. And when it wants to reveal the identity of an anonymous person Sharman suddenly becomes sensitive to the written word and assigns a famous defamation lawyer to the case which, if successful, can only mean bad news for free speech and the community Sharman regards as customers.

Anyway, it's worth mentioning that this entire letter, if read by anyone, is unsolicited advice and text and should be viewed accordingly, nothing above should be seen as a solicitation of legal proceedings or may be used in a court of law. Such proceedings shall be initiated, if at all, on the risk of the plaintiffs alone and I reserve all rights and claims I am provided with according to any law, including my right to, with all due respect, reject the jurisdiction of Canada's courts, the right to defend against and discredit the entire claim as well as to set off and counterclaim with at least two claims of my own I believe I have against Sharman Networks.
Also, if the legal proceedings against you shall continue I offer to legally assign to you all rights and claims I may have against Sharman Networks including with respect to an unjust enrichment claim and the defamatory expressions used against me, if in the opinion of your lawyers this may help.

It's not too late to kiss and make up.

Thank you for the great work you do here and for your stand on the right side of free speech,

Cheers :-)

Itai Leshem
Tel-Aviv, Israel
ileshem@gmail.com

Well, well. Perhaps this will take some of the heat off Jon.

bOing bOing has an article here about people creating podcasts from the MP3s put out by a US public service broadcaster.

Two things of note.

- Creating web links to people's content is good. But creating a podcast of links to other people's rich media content is a bit mean, no matter how much benefit is added. and the reason is

- We still don't have a good answer to the podcast hosting bandwidth problem. And it's made worse because RSS feeds often get left in an RSS reader long after you've stopped reading them. And with a podcast, the reader will download all those enclosures regardless of whether they get used.

So we have an NPR station generously providing Mp3s of it's content. People turn these into a podcast. Subscribers then download loads of copies and don't listen to them. And the NPR station's bandwidth bill goes through the roof.

One possible solution to this is real integration of BitTorrent into podcast aware RSS readers. This was obvious from when Podcasting hit the headlines. But it feels like we're still waiting for all the pieces to get put in place. And not least is a user friendly system that can take all the pain out of posting a new entry with it's enclosure that automatically and painlessly creates and seeds the associated torrent.

Naymz: Home Page
Commercial AboutMe page. At last. [from: del.icio.us]

Share Skype - Building A Skype BOT
C# source [from: del.icio.us]

I've been tracking the use of Firefox on Ecademy. I've just seen a really dramatic acceleration in the last few weeks. For June so far the figures look like this.

Name Visits Percentage
1. Internet Explorer 83,445 69.76%
2. Firefox 30,419 25.43%
3. Safari 3,639 3.04%

This is the first time I've seen Firefox over 25% and IE below 70%. Maybe it's a statistical anomaly but it surely looks to me like IE use is now in free fall.

This has interesting implications for systems like Alexa that are IE only. Or sites and developers that use technologies like ActiveX that are IE only. [from: JB Ecademy]