RMG205 - Controlling your ears

Today on Radio MacGuys we look at laptop living, explore the maze of digital rights management and media consolidation and how it might effect the pod-O-shpere and answer some listener questions. It's Radio MacGuys.



First off, a special shout-out to the product specialists who answer the phone at 1-800-SOS-APPL. AppleCare continues to be a part of my technology risk management portfolio and if recent experience is any indication, well worth the cost. At a slightly higher cost, but equally worth is is AppleCare Help Desk Support.

Images in this post are from Wikimedia.org. Click on an image for attribution information.

Speaking of Apple, it's time to start planning your trip to WWDC, the World Wide Developers Conference. It's running from June 11th to 15th in San Francisco. We have a page of hints and tips for those of you lucky enough to be going to the meeting. We cover WWDC hotels for folks on an expense account and those who are traveling on their own euros.

Laptop Nation!



I am making a recommendation to look at laptops first.



Steve Jobs weighed in on digital rights management last month. Responding to the concerns of European legislators, Jobs suggested distributing music without DRM. Meanwhile, the last mile providers are working hard to assert their control of the Internet. Comcast made the news by sending out letters telling certain users, who signed up for "unlimited usage" that they had been abusing the system and were about to lose their access.



It's all about controlling the internet. One solution are community networks. FreeNetworks.org is tracking community networks. While many of these are WiFi or MESH networks, there are some excellent examples of communities building out their own DSL.

Listener Tom Watson has a great photo set from MacWorld Expo up on Flickr. Thanks Tom.

The podcast ends with a tune from a UK band, Aidy. The tune is "Seattle's Filled With Stars" and comes to us from GarageBand.com where you can find their new CD.