Last month, Brazil allowed public comment submissions on copyright, and apparently at the last minute, a large group of artists groups and consumer rights groups put together a proposal to “end” the “war on copying” (found via IP Watch). Basically, the plan has a few parts, but the big one is the idea of legalizing non-commercial file sharing in exchange for a broadband levy of 3 Reais — or about $1.74 US.

определенно звучит, как индульгенция.

впрочем, хороша Бразилия не только этим — смотрите:

Three years ago, we wrote about the phenomenon in Brazil of “technobrega” music, and how the musicians involved had embraced piracy to help spread their music, and then capitalize on other business models, including free.

и дальше:

So why are the artists so eager to give away their content for free? Because the bigger your reputation, and the more people know who you are and like your songs, the more money you can make with live shows. Quite similar to the history of Jamaican music in the 1950s and 60s, the technobrega musicians and DJs have built up traveling soundsystems.

так все и есть, кстати. недаром я тщетно пытаюсь отыскать курсы португальского в своем захолустье.

Because there is a law such as gravity^[1], the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist

прямо в точку:

It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.

оно и верно, к чему тут Б-г, если даже мы вот-вот^[2] справимся:

The fact that we human beings – who are ourselves mere collections of fundamental particles of nature – have been able to come this close to an understanding of the laws governing us and our universe is a great triumph.

заодно и видео, кстати.

–
^[1],^[2] — хотя не все так уж очевидно, разумеется.

Back in June Akai Professional released SynthStation for the iPhone / iPod touch, and we got excited. Very excited. Why? Because we love synths, especially when they are the old school type (cue Terminator soundtrack). And it just so happens to be that Akai has got a rather large name for itself when it comes to synths, especially the old school type.

или, скажем, драм секвенсор — все, как у взрослых. если не хуже.

а iPad… ну, что iPad — тяжелый он, как черт. хоть iOS сейчас и лучшая мобильная операционная система в мире.

AirPlay lets you stream music throughout your entire house — wirelessly. AirPlay wireless technology will be fully integrated into speaker docks, AV receivers, and stereo systems.

иными словами, раньше надо было покупать AirPort Express, а теперь осталось только дождаться моделей с поддержкой AirPlay — где они, кстати, эти ресиверы и стереосистемы?

Co-founder and President Jeremy Bornstein said the company is experimenting with a new model for publishing books. The traditional model of paying for content may not hold up when the content “be canned and sent around to your friends for free,” he said, but people will hopefully still to pay for content if “the experience is so much more rich, so much more involving.”

когда же вы поймете?

The Mongoliad is a serial novel, the kind of thing that Charles Dickens wrote. It’s also an experiment in fiction and technology… Fast Company said that we may be “the future of the novel.” The Mongoliad is set in the thirteenth century of a universe very much like ours, a world we call “Foreworld.” We publish chapters every so often (about weekly), and every chapter has associated discussions and other ways for readers to interact with each other and with us. Sometimes we’ll also have graphics to share as well, or movies, or music. There is a user-editable ‘Pedia with information about Foreworld-related topics, general-purpose user forums, and soon we hope to have easy ways for people to contribute their own stories, art, and music to our shared Foreworld experience.

не без огрех, да и вообще:

<...> оur iOS apps are still in review by Apple, so we’re not 100% certain that you’ll be able to get the full The Mongoliad on your iOS device for the same subscription fee you are most generously about to pay us.

тем не менее, вполне ожидаемо и совершенно понятно:

Stephenson said in an interview that this material is an extension of what many science fiction and fantasy novels already offer.

“I can remember reading Dune for the first time, and I started by reading the glossary,” he said. “Any book that had that kind of extra stuff in it was always hugely fascinating to me.”

впрочем, Стивенсон не одинок:

There’s a team led by a writer Mark Teppo; it also includes Greg Bear, author of Blood Music and other science fiction novels.

именно, “Музыкой, звучащей в крови” я зачитывался еще во времена журнала “Квант” — другого моего детского фрагмента.

что до “Монголиада”, то обещают, конечно же, и продолжения:

Stephenson compared the experience to writing a TV show, and not just because it’s a team of writers. The Mongoliad will have an ending, but there’s room for sequels and other stories set in the world, so it’s kind of like season one of a show.

и это прекрасно.

Ученые экспериментально доказали, что крестное знамение убивает микробы и изменяет оптические свойства воды.

коротко и ясно.

500 Years of Science, Reason & Critical Thinking via the medium of gross over simplification, dodgy demarcation, glaring omission and a very tiny font.

The map of modern science was created to celebrate the achievements of the scientific method through the age of reason, the enlightenment and modernity.

к слову, другая столь же успешно забытая мной книга — это великолепная “Антарктическая одиссея” Реймонда Пристли о судьбе Северной партии второй экспедиции Роберта Скотта.