This post will probably end up on the about page, eventually, but I wanted to explain why the Blog is called what it’s called, because someone seems to have been wondering.

The original concept for the Blog, which then gave birth to the name, was to create a tech blog for the common man. The idea was that I would “dedicate” some of my mental “bandwidth” each day to finding all the tech news I can, which I already do. I’d then disseminate the bullet points that mattered for the public at large. I’d be doing the heavy lifting so you don’t have to. I’m dedicating the bandwidth, not you.

But before that even got off the ground, it evolved into a blog about my quest to find a job and infrequent personal musings. I still love tech, and you’ll see that come out in my posts frequently, but right now this blog is more personal. But if you need advice about technology, feel free to shoot me an email or IM.

When I haven’t been working on schoolwork, I’ve been knee-deep in job searching. So much of it is talking with yourself to figure out what you’re looking for, and that answer is constantly changing. A few weeks ago I decided that under no circumstance would I seek a job in Delaware. I want to move. It’s non-negotiable. So with my sights laser-focused solely on the Bay Area of San Francisco, I had to begin expanding my view of what I want to do and where, exactly, I’d like to do it. It had to be more than just Apple.

Continue reading ‘Search Your Feelings’

So the tech world got a friendly reminder today why DRM is bad and I’m passing it on to you. The story I’m referencing is here. First a quick note for our readers: What is DRM? DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is data that is added to a digital music file to prevent you from using it in certain ways. For example, a song you buy from the iTunes Music Store can only be played on 5 computers at any one time. The file literally “phones home” to get permission to do things. In other services, it prevents you from burning the music to a CD to listen to in your car. It can also function as a “kill-switch” as it is in the case of this story. Let me explain. Continue reading ‘When DRM goes AWOL you’re SOL’

Here it is! Sorry for the YouTube quality. I can send you an iPod-compatible file upon request!

I don’t plan on posting much, if at all, this weekend. I’ll be busy doing research for my video project and other homework. But stay tuned, as I hope to put up a teaser trailer for that project in the next 24 hours. Edit: Trailer is up!!!

So I typically don’t talk very publicly about politics or otherwise enter into a discussion about such things: too many people have too many strong feelings about government and it often gets too emotional, which is not the way to have an interesting, intelligent debate. In that vein, I have paid as little attention as possible to the primaries. The way I see it, my vote in the DE primary doesn’t matter (and I wasn’t even here, actually) so why worry about the candidates until there’s only one on each side and it’s time to vote for real? It’s especially easy when I have every intention of simply voting for whoever the Democratic Party candidate is. This all came up today, which is why it’s made it to a blog post. Continue reading ‘A Rare Bit of Politic’

So I live in Delaware. Small Wonder, 1st State, Diamond State, whatever. It’s all the same, boring, 2nd smallest state in the union. While living in said East-Coast locale, I’m trying to get a job in the Bay Area of San Francisco. This being on the opposite coast where there’s no guarantee the earth will stay still for much longer. But that’s the price you pay and the risk you take to work with the best and brightest, to be surrounded by hot, new technology, and to work at Apple.

No, Apple hasn’t returned any of my calls lately. But that doesn’t stop me from applying. Continue reading ‘State Discrimination’

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately about piracy in the digital age, its historical roots, and avenues for dealing with it in the future, and it’s all very distressing. It’s all background to help me develop a short documentary video project I’m working on for a seminar on modern-day notions of copyright. My idea was to show students talking nonchalantly about stealing multimedia and explaining how they copy, share, and create media, and how modern law doesn’t mesh with what they’re trying to do. I didn’t realize how easy it would be to find a hook. Continue reading ‘Arrrrrrrg! Piracy, Ahoy!’