Jacob Christensen

Big Brother Feedjit is now watching you.

Some weeks ago, my external harddisk started acting up: It simply cut the connection to the computer at inappropriate moments. This meant that playing music on iTunes became a rather erratic experience (with a 60 GB (i.e. 55 GB) internal harddisk, I had to put my 40 GB music library on another disk) and that I couldn’t be certain that I would be able to access my backups in case something nasty happened to one of my computers.

What to do? Buy a new 500 GB (i.e. 450 GB) external harddisk and copy the archives on the old disk to the new one. Piece of cake.

The only problem was that iTunes wouldn’t accept the new position of the music library, so I had to technically “reimport” the music and videos – which meant that I lost information about when the individual numbers were added, how many times they’ve been played and so on. It is not that big a deal – I mostly use this to administer my iPods (hmm – two computers, two harddisks, two iPods … do I lead a double life…?) – but still a minor annoyance.

But there is one more problem: The AppleTV now needs to be re-synchronised. Sure, I could just use the streaming option and listen to or watch music and podcasts via the computer, but it is nice not to have to turn on the computer when I want to watch TV or listen to music. Electricity bills, environmental protection and stuff like that.

The strange thing is that that synchronisation has turned out to be a messy affair. I’m able to synch 200-300 MB of archives before iTunes shuts down the connection – that means restarting to continue syncing. Shut down. Restart. Etc, etc. Right now, I’ve managed to get some 10 GB of archives on to the ATV during a couple of days with 30 GB to go.

Computers are strange.

The Humpty-Dumpty Administration – referring to Bush43′s claim that if the president says it’s not torture that means that it is not torture.

The Bush43 administration will provide political scientists with plenty of research topics for the coming decades. The impact of applied discourse analysis on public governance is one.

(But did Bush43 really say this? Okay, the administration definitively has acted on that premise).

Paul Krugman on the return of the rentier city:

Anyway, it continues to amaze me how the 21st century is starting to look like the 17th century with fancier technology: tax farmers, mercenaries, and now rentier cities.

(Where does Bush43 fit in? Is he a 21st century version of Charles I?)

We should always be careful with analogies – especially when they have an immediate appeal – so the question is: Is there any way we can systematically show, or disprove, the hypothesis that the role of the post-1990 state, or post-1990 political system, has moved in the direction of the pre-glorious revolution state?

In any event, if the analogy holds we should be in for a century of the enlightenment at some point in time.

Update: Richard Florida also has a perspective on this.

• Universitets- og bygningsstyrelsen: Frafaldsanalyse
  (tags: University academic education postgraduate denmark)
• Unlocking Apple’s iPhone is legal, ethical, and just plain fun. – By Tim Wu – Slate Magazine
  Apple’s aggressive upgrade strategy is not just blocking unlocking but also shutting down its “Think Different” customers.
  (tags: apple iphone software)

Even if it’s only 1 o’clock in the morning, this must be the quote of the day:

Apple is not happy with its customers.

Steve Jobs might want to consult the modern classics and quote the guy who recommended that as the government had lost its faith in the people, it should dissolve the people and elect a new one.

I’m looking at six years and two months of increasing misery. But then … (Hat tip: Paul Krugman)