Just attended a forum sponsored by my alumni association (UPLSAA) on Web 2.0. The speaker was Jonas de los Reyes of Yehey.com’s ecommerce unit. Jonas is also a blogger and a very active one, unlike me. (more…)

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p2pnet MPAA News | RIAA News:- “The RIAA may be merging with the IFPI,” p2pnet posted at the beginning of the year, going on, “No, this isn’t a p2pnet spoof similar to the one in 2004 where we had the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) merging with the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).”

The RIAA and IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry) are nought but Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG enforcement outfits, so putting the two together doesn’t require a huge stretch of imagination.

And when you get right down to it, an RIAA / MPAA merger isn’t so far-fetched either. After all, the two entertainment cartel ‘trade’ associations are mirror images of each other, working to plant dis- and misinformation in the minds of the general public, and scam the media into carrying heavily spun, and highly inaccurate, PR puff pieces dressed up as press releases.

The two often pool resources for the common bad and now, “Yesterday, while researching an old New York Global Times edition of April 1, 1910, I discovered this amazing article, which I can reproduce here, not because the article’s copyright has expired (they never do) but because the New York Global Times no longer exists due to the collapse of paper based newspaper readership in America,” says a p2pnet Reader’s Write.

Slugged RIAA Aand MPAA join forces against music sharing, it goes >>>

Reporter for New York Global Times: Robert Von Haggard

The Restaurant Industries Association of America (RIAA) and the Music Performers Association of America (MPAA) have, we have learned, joined forces to prevent the sharing of music though the new device known as vitrola, an invention of Thomas Edison and radio, an Italian invention, a fact denied by most Americans.

Mr. Al Capone has been hired to represent RIAA and MPAA.

John Rice, a restaurant owner and the president of RIAA, and Bill Singer of MPAA have issued a joint letter to the membership of RIAA and MPAA. We have obtained a copy of the letter from a RIAA employee that asked that his name not be given because he has not been authorized to speak of the letter. This is the text of the letter

Dear RIAA and MPAA members:

Our industry and jobs depends heavily on the music performed at restaurants to bring in customers. We see this new device invented by that phony and unschooled inventor, Edison, as a threat to the livelihood of the artists and chefs that we develop and work in our restaurants. Our consultant, Mr. Albert Capone of Capone Law (Capone), of Chicago tell us that each song shared to the public by the recording companies will result in 10 less customers visits to a restaurant, as customers stay at home to listen to music. The customer loss could be as much as 100 customers per record sold, Capone tells us, if that other new invention, the radio, is purchased by as low as 10 percent of the population. We, and the American economy, could, says Capone’s statistics, loose 44 percent of restaurant customers and jobs.

While Capone advises that it is very unlikely that radio will be successful he suggests that we be on the watch, just in case.

Because the livelihood of musical performers that work in restaurants is at risk, the Restaurant Industries Association of America (RIAA) and the Musical Performers Association of America (MPAA) have joined forces to fight the illegal sharing of music through new technologies such the vitrola and the radio. Capone estimates that about one million music performers will loose their jobs as restaurants and clubs and piano bars are shut down as customers stay home to listen to a vitrola to satisfy their crave for music.

Therefore we announce that we have designated Capone as our congressional lobbyist and legal representative. Capone will also advise us on tax and general legal matters. We picked Capone because of their experience and reputation. Capone’s mission will be to obtain changes in the copyright law and judicial decisions to make sure that sharing music through new inventions is prohibited. Capone will also identify and make settlement offers on our behalf to persons that may already be sharing music by playing their vitrola or radios in public places such as offices, workplaces and living rooms. Settlement offers will be made too to companies that manufacture the vitrola and radio devices and the records played therein.

Capone will pursue, in the event that vitrolas and radios are allowed to share music, legislation to add a Restaurant and Performer tax levy to the devices.

Capone will also advise us on the possibility of buying the vitrola and radio patents. We then would not license anyone for manufacturing the devices. This of course would be a temporary solution, as patents, unlike copyrights, do expire in a reasonably short time Capone is already negotiating with the inventors.

We are defending the rights of performers and chefs and our investments in their careers as well as protecting the American economy from a possible depression due to reduced eating by the American public.

As Capone makes progress on this pursuit, we will keep you informed.

Please keep this letter is confidential.

Sincerely

John Rice (RIAA) and Bill Singer (MPAA)

The New York Global Times tried to contact RIAA and MPAA for comment and were referred to Capone Law. The New York Global Times tried to contact Mr. Albert Capone.

A Capone Law employee who answered the telephone said Mr. Capone was doing time on some tax matters and was unavailable.

Stay tuned

Jon Newton - p2pnet

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On Friday night, I went to the Cherry Hill Linux Users Group monthly meeting. The main reason I went was because David Bicking was presenting his thoughts on OLPC. Also on the agenda was a presentation by Dave Harding on The Gimp. Although I have my own OLPC, I wanted to hear someone else’s thoughts on it, and even more so, wanted to try the application sharing feature. Once we shared a document, it was really neat to see how you could really work together with it. I’m sure there are ways to do this with other GNU/Linux distros (and probably OS/X or Windows) but it is so easy with the OLPC’s SUGAR interface. I really liked how it worked. I personally find the OLPC quite usable, but Dave Bicking wasn’t as impressed with its usability, but we both agreed, or at least I think we did, it was a nice piece of equipment for the target audience and showed a lot of promise.

Dave Harding’s talked about The GIMP was very well done. Maybe we can get him to do it at LUG/IP sometime!. Dave started off with a good introduction to his topic by talking about the idea of photos expressing in one image what would take many, many words to explain. He started off with talking about the ideas of layers, and the use of the opacity feature. One of the neat hints Dave gave was talking about paste people’s faces over another was to line up the eyes.

After that, he discussed Fuzzy Select (Dave calls it Magic Select). It find patterns in images. This is helpful if you want to erase things in the background.

He also showed off filters. I liked the embossing filter he showed. There are many different filters to try. I must admit I never really played with them, but Dave showed some neat thing that can be done with them. He also showed Script-Fu options. Script-Fu appears to be similar to filters, but works slightly different. Like filters, there are some neat possibilities.

After the meeting we went and had some pizza and talked more about Free and Open Source software. All-in-all, a enjoyable evening.

Update! Last month I commented on some developments here in Canada that saw a closed end fund converted into an ETF. I asked if that was the beginning of a trend.

Maybe not a massive trend, but I now see that First Trust is doing the same with one of their closed end funds. It’s the First Trust Value Line® 100 Fund (FVL) and here’s the press release discussing the conversion. First Trust must really be commended for providing A LOT of information on their funds online.

Unlike the Claymore conversion in Canada that has a truly active manager with a classic active management mandate, the First Trust closed end fund seems to fit the model of other rules-based “quasi-active” ETFs such as their own new AlphaDex funds as well as the IntelliDex and fundamental weighted (FTSE-RAFI) funds both from PowerShares.

The question is if and when we’ll see more traditional closed end funds converting into exchange traded funds? Furthermore, if by doing so, would we hopefully see a minimal spread (premium/discount) between the funds’ market price and the underlying net asset value.  I’m sure that many investors who have exposures to the various country specific funds and thematic funds (infrastructure, for example) on the NYSE would be interested to see a structure, if possible, that would reduce, if not eliminate, this problem with closed end funds.

I’m fairly sure that a part three in this series will follow quite soon.

In June the Meadville Public Library circulated a record 30,068 items. That averages an item being checked out every 31 seconds that the library is open. This is the first time in the library’s 127-year history in which over 30,000 books were circulated in one month.

John Brice, Executive Director, comments that “The last two weeks were especially busy in June. Every time I walked through the library there were many patrons using computers, reading newspapers and checking out lots of items. The Children’s Room has been especially busy this year.â€

In one category alone, Children’s picture books, circulation rose from 2,775 items in May to 8,646 books in June. The library also saw increases over May in fiction, magazines, videos, and YA Fiction.

In June the Non-Fiction Department checked out 6,090 items. Pat Bailey, Adult Services Librarian said that “not only books but foot traffic into the library has increased. We are seeing more and more people use our Internet computers and we have seen large increase in the number of patrons connecting to the web through our Wireless hotspot.â€

Fiction’s 7,183 circulation was an increase of over 1,200 books from last year. Joice Imel, Fiction Librarian hearing the news exclaimed, â€Cool, that makes seven months of increases for the Fiction Department! I am especially pleased to see Young Adult circulation rise. We have been expanding the YA collection for over a year and the kids are really responding to the new books.â€

Children’s circulation for June was 16,795 items up over 3,000 from last year. Mary Lee Minnis, Children’s Librarian was unavailable to comment because “it is just to busy to think up something clever to sayâ€. Once she caught her breath she said, “Summertime is always such a pleasure because the the children are enthusiastic and take great pleasure in exploring new things to read. I can always sit down again after the the ten weeks of summer reading club are over.â€

The previous monthly circulation record was set in June 2004 when 29,371 books circulated. The past 12 months circulation for the library now stands at 247,244 which is 4,523 items higher than last year.

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Poor Han Solo, originally uploaded by Kreg.

A crisp new edition of a classic biochemistry text is now available from booksellers in college towns and online. And that means that four people on the UW-Madison can put their feet up for a while. (more…)

The latest version of a property-tax plan offered by House and Senate Republicans giving Hoosiers an immediate 30-percent cut in homestead property taxes is still not enough for some Democratic lawmakers in East Central Indiana.
Among those opposing the plan is State Senator Sue Errington from Muncie, who voted against House Bill 1001. With property tax caps on homesteads based on assessed valuation instead of income, wealthy homeowners will get more of a break while middle income people with lower valued homes will see less while still paying an extra 1 cent in sales taxes.

It’s easy to start a blog. Not so easy to be successful. But what is success? Especially for a business blog?   Some of the measurable outcomes from business blogging include:

• Media attention
• Speaking requests
• Customer loyalty
• Inbound links to the blog
• Search engine ranking for the corporate site
• Corporate website traffic
• Leads/sales initiated
• Volume of blog traffic
• Technorati and other credible rankings
• Search engine ranking for the blog
• Increased company visibility within the industry
• Increased media coverage
• Improved customer loyalty
• Increased sales leads/revenue/new customers

And there are more depending on the purpose of the blog, whether it’s to create thought leadership, announce new products, offer SEO friendly content for a troublesome CMS or ecommerce platform, generate leads, support media relations initiatives or simply serve as a sounding board for ideas.  The true measure of success for a business blog is entirely predicated on its purpose.

Once defined, implemented and measurements are put in place, any business can create a successful blog. It’s simply a matter of time, resources and a willingness to try until “what works” reveals itself.   Here’s a more detailed exploration of this idea as well as a long list of considerations that companies need to be aware of when starting a company blog. If you’re into checklists, then be sure to read Stephan’s “Essential Checklist for Starting a Blog“.