Submit and View Problem Reports
IMS is undertaking a review of the IMS Learner Information Package v1.0 and Accessibility for LIP v1.0 specifications. This web site has been set up to collect problems, and if you're curious (like me), this site lets you view the publicly available problem descriptions. More...

Low-tech Case Has High-tech Impact
Good analysis of a recent decision by a Canadian court on copyright law, one which, while it asserts that case summaries are subject to copyright (as they should be, since summarization is creative work - I know), a wide latitude ought to be granted to assessment of fair dealing (a.k.a. fair use), essentially fashioning "exceptions to copyright infringement as new copyright rights — users' right — that must be balanced against the rights of copyright owners and creators." Moreover, the court also "allows the providers of equipment to presume their equipment will be used lawfully," a ruling that makers of software that might be used to infringe - such as Kazaa - would welcome. More...

Novell Sets Sights on 'Complete Linux Desktop'
Some people have been asking how my Linux project is going. I have been meaning to write it up, but you know how it is. My office and home desktops are Linux, as is my wife's desktop. My web server is, of course, Linux. My laptop remains Windows because no wireless internet driver is available for the special Dell built-in wireless PCI. More...

Microsoft, America Online to Play MLB Games
This is being reported as a content deal, and of course it is. But look a little deeper and you discover that the streaming video feeds are being used to bolster Microsoft's software streaming service and content networks. And it comes just after Real media ended an agreement with the league (which, of course, immediately dropped support for the Real Media format). More...

It's A Blog World After All
Blogs are now solidly mainstream, as this article describing the corporate use of blogs illustrates. Some good description of Robert Scoble's blog, which represents (quite well) the Microsoft view of the world. More...

Want Some Springsteen With That Big Mac?
This is getting mainstream, and I will soon stop covering further instance of this (though no doubt people will continue to question my take on this well into the next decade). McDonald's has made a deal with music distributor Sony where "those songs would then be offered to McDonald's patrons for free with the purchase of certain menu items, with customers receiving codes they can use online for the downloads." As I have been trying to say for a long time now, it's another case of content being used to sell a higher value product. More...

The Guerra Scale
You will notice, at the very bottom of the Guerra scale of levels of user experience, at the worst level possible, is PDF. So of course I'm going to cite this paper, no matter what else it says. More...

What's Going On
I was going to link to the Strategy+Business item on Power Laws and complexity, but they wanted me to fill out a form demanding to know everything but blood type (which they probably have on file from Microsoft), so I decided to link to Jay Cross's discussion instead, which requires no registration and is probably more accurate. Anyhow, Jay gave me some lemons when he came to visit the other day. More...

Confused on the Trail to the Learning Objects Summit
If you found the instructions on how to access the Learning Object Summit a little confusing (and to judge by my email, many did), then check the comments on this post. Basically, it's like this: if you intent to show up in person, please call ahead (that's so we know how many Tims to order (*)). More...

PEI (Pigeon Enabled Internet) is FASTER then ADSL
One of the very first links I ever ran - it even predates my current file system - was regarding the CPIP (carrier pigeon internet protocol). It was eleven years before this important protocol was implemented by the Bergen Linux Users group. Today, it was established that carrier pigeons are faster than ADSL. More...