One of the things that Comcast’s Cable service does poorly is their TV guide. It’s takes up too much screen space, displays too little information, and is slow.

There are hundreds of winamp skins. Most of them are awful, but a few are really good. What I want, is a way to write a “skin” for my Television.

The most important part of the skin would deal with Program Info, but imagine a skin for actual program content. Al Jazera could be made to look like Fox, or NBC to look to like CSPAN. Of course the networks are likely to object because want to preserve a “brand” identity, but I maintain that the networks should only get to choose the “default” and the viewer should have the final say.

(I hear Direct TV offers skins but I don’t have any details.)

A month ago, I became the official owner of an ’89 Ford Taurus. The transaction took place at a local car dealer which also serves as a public notary. A few days later, I received the title in the mail.

Ownership Society

In his forthcoming State of the Union address, President Bush is expected to describe his vision of an “Ownership Society”. He’ll use Social Security, HealthCare, and Education accounts as examples of individual ownership. I’d like to use the occassion to focus on Intellectual Property Ownership.

“Royalty Compliance” vs “IP Participation”

Currently, most IP Policy focuses on enforcing “Royalty Compliance“. A better approach would emphasize “IP Participation“.

Technology standards like the “broadcast flag” (distribution flag) and copy prevention technologies make negative assertions about distribution.

But imagine instead, a positive standard. One that allows me to prove that I own what I paid for. One that allows me to transfer ownership to someone else.

What do we really believe about “Federation”?

It’s not a word we use anymore except on Star Trek.

There’s “federalism” — a philosophy grounded in deep thinking about who we are and what we should fear.

But what are the practical consequences of a “federalist doctrine” if the deep thinking hasn’t been done in a while?

Related

• compare with “unilateralism”