Davis

Last Friday, not long after I posted my comments about the controversy associated with the appointment of Dr. Andrew Burt as chairman of the Copyright Committee at SFWA (the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America), Dr. Burt stepped down. He was replaced by Russell Davis, a member of SFWA's board and a former chairman of SFWA's Electronic Piracy Committee.

The statement by SFWA president Michael Capobianco announcing the change, as well as a statement from Davis explaining his plans for the committee, has been posted on LiveJournal.

It sounds like Davis will be effective in this position, … Read more

SOMERVILLE, Mass.--Reddit, the social news site, hosted one of its meet-ups Wednesday night at the famous local Irish pub, The Burren, in Davis Square here.

Reddit users can post links to news stories of interest that readers then vote up or down. The site also maintains a section for niche communities interested in special topics called "Subreddit."

Alexis Ohanian, a Reddit co-founder, came as...what else...the Reddit alien.

Also in attendance were many of Reddit's all-time leading users (posters get "karma" points for well-read articles), as well as several other entrepreneurs from small … Read more

On Tuesday night at an event space across the street from the Jacob Javits Convention Center, DigitalLife convention parent company Ziff Davis Media held its press kickoff event, but it might as well have been a Guitar Hero III party.

Members of the media could obtain their semi-coveted credentials; New York City technology commissioner Paul Cosgrave gave a brief talk officially designating September 24 to 30 as "Digital Technology Week"; and a set of "Hot Five" featured products--Trend Micro's Internet Security Pro, electronic music company M-Audio, the HD DVD Alliance, the Ford Sync voice-activated … Read more

Maria Schneider is a jazz composer, but on "Sky Blue" (artistShare) her music doesn't immediately sound like jazz--it's more meditative and expansive than what you might expect--it glides more than grooves. On paper her group, which has been together since 1988, looks like a big band, but it definitely sounds like an orchestra.

I recently spoke with Schneider about her music and she said "I want to create beauty and hopefully each time you listen to the CD, you'll hear something new." Well, with arrangements as densely layered as Schneider's that's … Read more

"A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it's not open."--Frank Zappa

We all tend to like what we like--the music we know--but finding new music that breaks through can be almost impossible for some folks. I'm always on the prowl for something different, it's just that too often the new music that immediately grabs my ear bores me in a week or two. I've learned over the years the music that doesn't instantly connect is the stuff that sometimes sticks around for the long haul. I remember when … Read more

Scott Davis came to work for Alfresco a month ago, and the open source air seems to be getting to him...in a positive way. A recent blog entryreveals that there's more to open source than just a development methodology. In fact, that actually may be one of the lesser attributes of open source.

Having been in the industry for 17 years -- the last 10 working for vendors -- the notion of "transparency" that comes with applying an OSS style to one's business model makes for more than a slick marketing slide. It permeates … Read more

Ziff Davis Media announced Thursday plans to sell its enterprise group for approximately $150 million in cash to a New York-based private equity and venture capital firm.

An affiliate of Insight Venture Partners of New York is snapping up Ziff's publications EWeek, Baseline and CIO magazines, according to Ziff's announcement.

But before jumping to the conclusion that CIO magazine has been sold, keep in mind that CIO is owned by rival IDG. The CIO magazine Ziff is selling is CIO Insight.

Ziff is also selling a number of online publications as part of the deal. These include EWeek.… Read more

For every person who loves the idea of 6-foot tower speakers at each corner of the room, there are 20 others who prefer their home theater to be heard but not seen. It's for that latter group that the Sony DAV-IS10 Micro Home Theater System was designed. The system crams an entire 5.1 home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) down to Mini-Me proportions: the 2-way 100-watt subwoofer barely outsizes a couple of phone books, the DVD/CD player head unit is a bit larger than a Mac Mini, and the five satellite speakers are--as Sony's press kit helpfully points out--"about the size of a golf ball." Despite the minuscule size, the DAV-IS10 will include the much of the same impressive features found on Sony's trio of Bravia HTIBs: DVD upscaling to 720p and 1080i via the HDMI output, automated speaker setup (which Sony calls "Digital Cinema Auto Calibration," or DCAC), and HDMI-CEC capability (the ability to control compatible TVs via the IS10's remote when connected via HDMI--"Bravia Theater Sync," in Sony speak). The system also features a Digital Media Port, so it can interface with Sony's quartet of proprietary digital audio accessories--though that's less of an enticement, now that we've been underwhelmed by the first two we've reviewed, the TDM-IP1 iPod dock and the TDM-BT1 Bluetooth interface. … Read more