Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Bon PDG Bad CEO

I've been back home for the last few weeks so I've fallen back in to some of the good old Quebec culture. The reference is to one of the more recent Quebec movies: Bon cop bad cop. A bilingual movie where a murder scene set on the Quebec - Ontario border opens the story of both provincial police forces working together.

For those of you who know a bit more about me you may also notice that if I'm back home (proverbial stepping stone) and not in Waterloo right now it's because I'm getting ready for yet another move. A few personal circumstances came together in an odd way; I'm about to head back down to California to work at the VMware mother ship on something really really cool (tm). No, I'm still not quite done school yet. Yes, this really really cool (tm) thing is Mac related. Can't say more right now but you can be sure I'll keep you posted the minute I can :)

What prompts this post though is an interview synopsis I just came across: http://www.smarthouse.com.au/iPods_And_Portable_Players/Industry/G7M3G3G2?page=1. I've criticized executives and companies for ignoring competition on this blog before. Some of those companies I've worked for. Also, less on this blog but definitely if you have me at a dinner table with a glass of wine in hand, you can see me in a very passionate speech about the sad state of the music industry. I've had variations of the "fix that shit" talk with friends of the family and even high-ups at Sony Music for at least 3 years now.

Well, for the first time in a while and most notably since Sony's root-kit debacle I've started to have a bit of restored faith in the company. If they have a CEO that truly can mix passion, humility, determination, and humour the way he seems to in the interview then things can't be all bad. To be an occidental CEO at the head of Sony is also no easy feat. This guy seems to get how software should play with hardware and he gets digital media. Hopefully some of that can trickle down to Sony BMG (their music business).

Just like "Bon cop bad cop" is very close to home for more than just superficial reasons so is Sony. I'll be keeping an eye out for them. They did after all invent the Walkman and I kind of sort of remember that being a big deal (I wasn't around when it first came out and very young still in the hay day of it's popularity).

Friday, March 16, 2007

Daring Fireball on Thurrott & Paul Kedrosky on Jobs on DRM & Music

Over the last couple months I was beginning to loose faith in Gruber's ability to present a good solid argument. In one of his more recent posts Gruber does an excellent job at addressing key issues concerning the open letter from Steve Jobs about removing DRM from music: http://daringfireball.net/2007/02/command_option_control.

He does a better job than I could have at getting at the crux of the matter. I still really wish he would do away with calling people jackasses. You hear me John, you are a better writer than that and can do a much better job by convincing people with solid research and well composed arguments.

It's well worth the read.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Bone Chilling Beats

Hot off the presses at TUAW is a new way to enjoy your tunes.

The author seems skeptical but I would definitely go for one should it be sold in North America (for biking not running in my case). When your heart is pounding at 170 BPM and you're breathing heavy the last thing on your mind is the quality of the sound. If I'm sitting at home enjoying some jazz or house it's a completely different matter. When I'm running or biking though if I could just have a nice beat going in the background and still be able to hear oncoming traffic I would be more than happy.