Once back on the ground I hooked it to my PC, and tried to transfer some songs. Nope. It couldn't find the device's certificate, and hence was not able to make the proper license for the DRM file I wanted to transfer.

Cause: I believe I unplugged it from my computer at some stage on Sunday, and most likely it didn't like the way I did it -- and it decided to wipe out the file table. :S

Solution: Reformat the player using the recovery menu (remove the battery, pull the power button to the left while inserting the battery), and once more transfer the files across.

As I have written before. Firmware 2.10.05 is in BETA, and is not remotely stable. Hopefully a fix will be out soon.

What kind of animals does norway have?

The Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs has a brief overview in English.

The Department of Environment also has an up-to-date report on their website.

Today I flew Air France AF7711 from Nice to Paris CDG. Last night it snowed slightly in Nice and the wings of most aircraft staying overnight were somwhat covered in a slush of snow and rain. Problem 1: there is only one de-icing truck. Problem 2: After a few aircraft (and before our it was our turn) there was no more De-icing fluids left on the airport. (So much for planning ahead - the snow was forcasted many days ago.)

So how we got away; after a while the Captain decided that as there was no ice - only snow and water - the Airbus A320 could be de-iced manually. With a good old fashioned broom - Harry Potter style! Too bad I didn't get a shot of it, it looked hilarious...

Anyways; I was seriously impressed by the entire thing. The ADSL modem plugged into the wall. And after having been turned on it went on and did its thing for about 2-3 minutes, and then when the display showed the current time it was ready to be used. Plug the laptop into the ethernet port and you are ready to go. No username or password, no poorly tested embedded web server that needs configuration.

Kudos to Free.FR for having made technology so readily available!

So simple even my parents could do it. :)

I kind of blame the Zen Micro for this. I use the 2.10.5 firmware, the only one that is compatible with Napster To Go. It is in BETA. :( Well, hopefully Creative sorts this out. It will be more than a bit annoying.

Solution; delete all DRM files from the device and copy them across once more. A new license will be issued for the next two weeks (?) and you are back on the road. Naturally, with a 1" HDD inside this takes a while...

The best place to get answers to any question relating to Norway and numbers is Statistics Norway, the governments statistics branch, which every year publishes the Statistical Yearbook, hundreds of pages of numbers about Norway.

The answer to our question could be found in table 365 Export of principal commodities. A quick look-through and we see that oil products, metals, ships and fishery are the main export items.

I am tempted to use mod_security to redirect it to some random page and ask for an explanation. :)

can't play cd computer no tracks only exe

Well, sorry to say you probably bought a CD with copy protection.

It is quite simple; open up the connection preferences of the connection you want to pipe through SIMP, change server host to localhost or 127.0.0.1. Recycle the connection.

PS: SIMP supports piping of multiple connections! So if you have two separate MSN accounts both can be proxied throug one instance of SIMP! Neat!

Take note of the two sudden and sustained peaks. The graph shows incoming SMTP connections. Now the next graph shows messages delivered.

The increased number of incoming SMTP connections seems to have no impact on the number of messages delivered locally and remotely. So what is it? The peaks are a few thousand of Zafi.B viriis being directed at the server. With Qmail-Scanner installed the SMTP connections are dropped, and my users can sleep well.

Still, quite interesting to see how these viruses seemingly attack using address lists sorted by domain.

In short OTR gives paranoid instant messagers authenticated secrecy and repudiation. According to the authors this is perfect for the paranoid chatter that wants to engage in casual conversations online, wants to keep them secret, but wants to be able to deny its contents if necessary.

It works by generating a common shared secret that is used both to 'sign' and encrypt the messages. The shared secret is generated using a version of Diffie-Hellmann. As each message is signed by the shared secret and not the private key of the sender there is at all times two people knowing the shared secret. Hence they trust each other, but they cannot use the conversation to prove legally what the other said.

Neat. But useful? Maybe. Ok, so the protocol is reputiable, and if the keys are disposed of in a proper manner it is also confidential. Atleast if you don't store a chat history. Even if you can legally repudiate what was in a transcript I sense that if you leaked confidential information this way hiding behind repudiation is somewhat weak a defence.

Interesting question; does anyone know if this "new protocol" diffrentiates radically from what SecWay has implemented in their Secure Instant Messaging Protocol product - more specifically in the Authenticated mode?

Lately I have been introduced to Ringo and Bebo. Previously Plaxo has been somewhat popular. Before that I used Sixdegrees and Planet All. The two latter disappeared after a short while. I expect the new joiners to do the same. The problem; no critical mass. I have a few friends on each, mainly because they invited me. But a few friends doesn't solve the big out-of-sync address book. And it never will. And then Ringo, Bebo and Plaxo will disappear too. The right product, the wrong crowd.

Hopefully someone with more clout steps up to the bat. This must be something for MSN Hotmail, Google or Yahoo! to sort out. Only with sites that large can we hope to solve the out-of-sync address book problem...

PS: With regards to Bebo and Ringo; their creativity is limited; they seem to run on the same software. So much for competitive edge. Geez.

The law effectively bans copying copyrighted material, including music and movies, making it illegal to up/download copyrighted music to/from the internet, something which has not been forbidden until now due to several loop holes in the current legislation. The general

Both the old and the new law allows you to take copies of purchased copyrighted material for private use. If you have bought an ordinary CD you are allowed to make a backup copy of it, or to stream it onto a magnetic tape for use in your old car stereo - or as it is most common to do these days; to rip the CD, convert the music into MP3 (or a similar format) and to save it onto a portable MP3 player. So far so good.

Only one small problem...

As a result, the CD I bought in October 2003 would now be illegal to rip into MP3 - but it would be legal to use Easy CD-DA Extractor to make a defect-free CD copy. Makes no sense at all if you ask me.

I am left with many questions. I buy a CD in the stores. I want to use it with my Zen Micro. I am not allowed to. (Well, maybe I am, probably depends on which country I am in when I do it.) I guess the music industry's great hope is that you will go onto Napster/iTunes and buy the CD there instead. But why would you do that? And what if the music is not sold online? Many great artists still refrain from selling their albums on the net. Would that ban their music ever to be heard on an iPod? And the great paradox; if you buy the album online you are generally allowed to make a CD out of it. So WMA/AAC to CD is legal, the other way around is not?! Wonderful. Only a lawyer could have invented this.

The result is naturally that an entire generation of Norwegians will turn into petty criminals in the weeks after the introduction of such a law. The sad part is that those who might have bought the 'CD' legally now might just say "why care? I can rip it and become a criminal, or I can download it and become a criminal" - talk about a catch 22.

At the end of the day this should've been an easy law to write. I think most people know what is fair use and what is not. According to my standard it is atleast. When you buy copyrighted material you buy the right to listen to it, and also to store it in any form desireable. You are not allowed to give it away. If you rent music then your right to listen to it ends when the subscription runs out.

The weeks ahead will be interesting. Will the law pass? Will someone remove the right out dumb legal protection of silly copy protection mechanisms? Will anyone dare to sell copy protected 'CD's? Or even more interesting; who will be the first one to dare to sue a teenager a.k.a customer that bought a 'CD' and then ripped it onto his iPod?

First impressions: It is small, beautiful and cool. Most design principles have been stolen from Apple, but well, who cares. Compared to my old Nomad Zen 20GB version I this is a tiny little thing that is just a dream after hauling the 20GB harddrive around the world for more than two years.

The device operates more or less as the old Nomad. Having had the opportunity to compare the Zen Micro with a iPod Mini I must say that when it comes to design the iPod wins, and when it comes to useability the Zen wins - by far. (The iPod menu structure, with only one possible button, is a nightmare.)

Well, the Zen is playing - already hooked up with Napster To Go. More news will follow...

It has become exceedingly popular to compare Napster to iTunes. As far as I can see it the basic Napster product is close to identical to iTunes. There is no subscription and no music. Then you can add either your own CDs to the library, or choose to buy music off the online stores of either Napster or iTunes. Prices are more or less the same. Napster sells WMA whereas iTunes sells AAC. It is a matter of taste, and is most likely heavily influenced by the MP3-player you own. iTunes goes with iPod, Napster with the rest.

On top of the basic media center Napster has two subscription services; "Napster Subscription" and "Napster To Go Subscription". The former allows you to stream/download as much music as you desire, but you are limited to play it on a set of three machines with Napster installed. No burning. No portable devices. Napster To Go takes away the last limitation for a 50% increase in the subscription fee. For both subscriptions your music is gone if you stop paying.

Exactly that last sentence is the core of the debate. The music goes away. You don't own it, you merely rent it. For many that is unacceptable. Fine. It is all about how you listen to music. If you are a collector that likes to have a set of CDs in a shelf, for you to use for the rest of your life then this is not the product for you. (You'd probably go out and buy the physical CD in the first place, so this debate is not really about you.) And yes, there is a limitation to what you can do with the music. You can't burn it (legally), and you can't move it freely around.

On Investment

In the long run it is also a question about return on investment. Josh Lewis has created a Napster & iTunes Cost Calculator after his critical article on Napster. Josh's model isn't all too bad, but it forgets a few things; with Napster To Go you have a rapid accent into music heaven, the entire online catalog is available to you immediately. With iTunes you own nothing, and have to buy album by album, only after many years you reach the level where you own the same amount of music that you would keep in a decent Napster subscription library. AND; if you love music you are most likely to buy one album (or equivalent) pr. month, and that roughly adds up to what a monthly subscription costs. So, as long as you pay "forever" you will have infinite music availability "forever" too. For me personally it is a non-issue.

If you love music you will never consider to sell your music collection; hence it is not really an investment. (You can't sell your iTunes music anyways.) Ok, maybe the ones who come after you will look at it that way, but if they buy music as well then their average montly cost will probably be in the same range as a subscription.

In the end...
... it is all about feelings. I don't need to own my music. I love to browse the catalog, dig out random links between artists and then see what I find. There is no risk, no dangerous bill at the end of the month. It is pure fun. There are downsides, and I accept those. For me this is the product. For those who wants more freedom it might not be the product. Maybe buying the tracks from Napster/iTunes will do what you want, but even those tracks have limitations. Maybe you have to go out and buy the piece of plastic.

BUT; even if a product isn't for you doesn't mean it is a bad product and anyone that buys it is stupid. That is simply too narrow minded. I don't know how many people use the Napster subscription services, but I am a very happy user, and will continue to use the services as long as they are around. If they one day disappear I will try to find another service, I am sure one will be around.