Blogging Nick Piggott

I’ve got back to a “proper” wired connection to find much furore over a sequence of hexadecimal digits. Apparently there’s some connection between those digits and the copy protection on BluRay DVDs, and there are threats of invoking the US’s DCMA law to contain the spread of these numbers.

But how far can you go to control digits? I’ve given this post a title of a series of hexadecimal number. Does this mean I might have done something wrong, even if I’ve just plucked those digits randomly? It’s just a sequence.

Combined with other information, for example the starting digits of the controversial sequence, and it might be possible for the educated to extrapolate a conclusion. But then who has erred in the eyes of the law?

As the value of abstract concepts soars, the stakes in protecting apparently arbitrary information becomes far higher. Submarine patents and software patents are other dangerously precidential areas for dispute. How do you draw the line between protecting an investment in content or technology, and protecting people’s freedom to exchange information without fear of inadvertently transgressing the law?

I’ve been shocked in the past at the breadth of patenting of what I would consider “plain common sense” technology. I’ve seen ideas I’ve just “chucked about” with people, patented. There appears to be a seedy side to patenting which is opportunistic and underhand, and discredits the genuine intent to protect investment in innovation.

As to this specific example? My view is that all DRM is merely shoring up dykes against a huge pressure to allow content to move about freely, and the lawyers are little Dutch boys running around plugging the holes. That might be what the DCMA demands, but who wants a career based on sticking their fingers in dykes?

This is the first chance I’ve had to really experience Twitter via SMS, and it’s not been much fun. Usually I’m logged in on IM somewhere, and the inbound messages cause little distraction. Maybe it’s indicative of how ‘connected’ I’ve been recently that I’ve maybe only had one or two texts from Twitter prior to this weekend. And I recently started to use some of the higher traffic feeds.

I ought, of course, have MGTalk running on the Nokia, but the memory on this phone is so small that if I start the camera it tends to shut all the other apps down, so effectively the IM is out.

So it’s been a beeping weekend. I can’t even customise the alert tone based on sender. I could turn it off, but I don’t want to lose it entirely. Maybe it’s my phone’s fault for not having customisable SMS alerts. But I do wonder if it’s worth the probably considerable expense to the Twitter project to enable SMS alerts? (On a similar note this week, I was in the bizarre situation of receiving Twits from James C whilst going and buying us both a beer. I remarked then that proximity detection would save some money).

Now that I’ve been on the receiving end of Twitter via SMS, I’m reconsidering how useful it is. I’ve had some ideas for Twitter apps that would be really cool on IM, but an absolute disaster if someone got them via SMS.

I’ll have a fiddle with my Twitter settings when I get back, but I suspect I might be deciding to turn SMS Twits off….

This is my first shot at mobile blogging entirely from the mobile (Nokia 6680) on GPRS. The reason is that I’m camping in North Devon (just a short skip from home, compared to those poor Londoners who arrived at 2300 having spent 6 hours on the motorway), and everyone else is watching the Manchester derby match in the bar. This is wrong in a big way, as it’s a glorious day here on the beach. I may be blogging on the mobile, but my tan is great and I’m topping up my karma.That’s something that some people misunderstand. I enjoy playing with technology, and it’s as relaxing as it can be stressful. This is a bit of play time, with a beer on a beach in the sun. I expect to play some beach cricket once the footy ends. That’ll be equally as fun, despite my appalling bowling.

I know opinion over mobile interaction are sharply divided between those who beleive in the uniform availability of content and functionality across mobile and fixed platforms (that’s me) and those who see mobile as merely an awkward shopfront for ringtones and wallpapers. The basis of their argument is that mobile screens are so small as to make serious use unlikely. The way that I’m persevering typing this blog entry using predictive text designed for SMS probably does nothing to dispell that. I also expect to spend twenty minutes or so linking this entry to the photo I just uploaded to flickr from this same mobile.

But this will change. New text entry systems, better browsers, larger screens, and a more mobile generation will even out the differences between the wired and wireless modes, and blogging from the mobile on the beach will be the norm. Until then, it’ll be an interesting way for geeks (like me) to kill time in the sun waiting for boring football matches to end.

James Cridland is leaving Virgin Radio to join the BBC. It’s probably a superb move for James, as I suspect the BBC is infinitely more resourced and inclined to support experimentation and innovation than Virgin Radio will be in the future.

It’s disappointing for commercial radio though. Through his work at Virgin, commercial radio did get some great press coverage for innovation, and he is/was a darned useful sounding board and foil for ideas that should benefit all commercial broadcasters. Hopefully that insight will still be available over beer (but no longer at the Midas Touch, thank goodness), but it’ll be a different kind of discussion now.

I have always felt that James embraced the principles of “agree on technology, compete on content”, and I hope he’s allowed to continue doing so within the Corporation.

Meanwhile commercial radio has lost a star, albeit not one in front of a microphone. There’s historically been a talent drift from commercial radio to the BBC, as the BBC offers platforms and opportunities on a bigger scale than commercial radio. In the past that talent drift has mainly been presenters and programmers; I wonder if this is the beginning of a similar process for smart technologists?

Paul Brown presented what he was very consistent in referring to as “Pandora Radio”, but to a slighty more
empty theatre than I expected (Rod from Channel 4 packed it out on 4oD. TV sexier than radio?).

Pandora – It’s about discovery of music. Feeding back your thoughts through Thumbs up/thumb down – You never know what you’re going to get. It’s a Musical journey.

(Similar to how mi-XFM is described).

Apparently an average user creates 25 stations.

Paul made heavy emphasis on “Discovery through radio”; “Unparalled music discovery.”. Does that keep the record industry happy?

‘Backstage’ coverage of artists (Licensed from AMG Music Guide) has been popular, and now there is Pandora station sharing / user profiles. Click to other people listening to this kind of music.

The Music Genome Project identified 400 genes in music. Not genre orientated.

They employ 48 human analysts – coding guys;. 20 mins analysis of each song. 500,000 songs, 15,000 songs a month. (Compare that to what we do in the radio industry).

Music genome project seems almost separate – is this the ultimate meta tagging for music?

An ambition to be a Multi-platform Pandora – usual list of platforms.

Pandora users meeting – 50-200 users on Tour/on the road, face to face meetings. How much time do radio stations spend with listeners engaging over music.

Growth: 6.141m reg listeners to Mar 07. Very linear growth,

How’s it funded: “It’s a free service, it’s advertising supported, it’s radio.”

Business Model in more detail:
* 1 to 1 context sensitive ads (not audio) ( Usual blue chip advertisers / Nike customised radio).
* Non-intrusive
* Subscription product
* E-commerce

Other issues:
Licensing is a problem.
Pandora mobile has a cost.
Classical music is coming (Classic fm ?).
Consumer electronics partnerships
Evolution of the Radio Experience