Frances E Allen

Finally, the top award in computing has gone to a woman, Frances E Allen:

Retired IBM Corp. computer scientist Frances E. Allen, whose work helped crack Cold War-era code and predict the weather, today will be named the first woman to receive her profession's highest honor.
The Assn. for Computing Machinery has granted the A.M. Turing Award for technical merit to no more than a few people each year since 1966. Winners include Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, who helped create the underpinnings of the Internet; Marvin Minsky, an artificial intelligence guru; and Douglas Engelbart, inventor of the modern computer mouse.
When Allen receives the award, which comes with a $100,000 prize, at the association's annual banquet in San Diego on June 9, it won't take a computer scientist to wonder: What took so long?
Allen's achievement comes long after women toppled barriers in other professions. Marie Curie became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in 1903. Edith Wharton won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1921. Sandra Day O'Connor joined the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981, two years before Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.
But computer science still is dominated by men. Fewer than one in five bachelor's degrees in computer science were given to women in 1994, according to the Computing Research Assn. Ten years later, that figure remains about the same, at 17%.

Hats off lads, about time don't you think?

Media Foundation

Concern as Microsoft announces that Vista will be handling sound and audio files differently than XP did:

Buried deep in the bumf for Microsoft's new Vista release is a line that says it handles sound very differently. This kind of jolly PR spin is enough to chill the blood of those who rely on Windows running their audio production software reliably.

Whenever a new version of Windows hits the street it tends to roil up the murky waters of the music and audio production world. Prospects of having to get new device drivers and new versions of otherwise perfectly reliable software is just a hassle most of us could do without. There has been some panic that it might be the case with Vista as well, but at first glance it doesn't appear to portend any major problems for music and audio software users.

...

The crack about the way Vista handles sound is not complete moonshine, though. This refers to a new way of handling audio called "Media Foundation", which is clearly aimed at Media Centre type systems. This looks like it adds a lot of fancy audio processing stuff into the operating system. As most dedicated music production software avoids the operating system's built-in audio facilities, the impact of going "Vista" should be minimal for anyone working seriously with music.

It's probably not as bad as people fear: Vista seems really to be a version of XP that actually works, in the same way that Win 98 was one of Win 95 that actually could be used to do something.

 

Technorati tags: Windows, vista, xp, win 98, win 95, media foundation

WalMart and Pirate Bay

Oh dear, something of a boo boo here. WalMart ads are turning up on hte world's largest illegal download site:

 

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is unintentionally funding the world's largest illegal file-sharing network, Sweden-based Pirate Bay.

According to Variety magazine, several Wal-Mart banners have appeared on the site, including an ad for the eighth season of The Simpsons on DVD, The Sopranos, Smallville, Desperate Housewives and the movie Office Space during the crucial Christmas selling season in November and December. Many of these titles are also available illegally as bit torrents.

It's not just the illegality: I'm sure that the boys from Bentonville won't be happy at wasting their advertising dollars on a site where people can get the things for free.

 

Technorati tags: WalMart, Pirate Bay, illegal, downloads, advertising

Zune Royalties

Microsoft seems to have made a very strange arrangement indeed to pay royalties on the Zune music player.

Microsoft's private deal with Universal Music to pay the record label a voluntary royalty of $1 for every Zune player it sells has raised eyebrows across both the technology and music industries. But it might not be the last payment Redmond owes from Zune, we've discovered.

Recently, Steve Gordon, entertainment attorney and Reg music columnist, took a skeptical look at where Universal's Zune dollar might end up. He reminded us of a little known US tax, which harks back to the "Home Taping Is Killing Music" era. Under the Audio Home Recording Act of 1982, recording devices carry a small royalty which is then divvied up between the performing artists involved. The royalty is administered by the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies, AARC.

(Steve explained the details here.)

You don't hear too much about AHRA or AARC, because as a consequence of a 1999 court settlement over the Diamond Rio player, it's generally assumed that all MP3 players are exempt.

But not so fast, AARC's executive director Linda Bocchi reminded us.

"People tend to throw that Rio decision around a little haphazardly," she told us. "Rio didn't say that all MP3 players are exempt. The decision was based on the fact the Rio could not record unless via the hard drive of your computer."

"But Zune is going in another direction. People can record off of FM radio, and share from one Zune player to another. It's moving away from the direction set by the iPod, and it's a grey area."

This could actually be really a rather large problem for them. How amusing if they do get into trouble with the law?

 

Technorati tags: microsoft, Zune, RIAA

Nokia 8270

The Nokia 8270 is a mobile phone for the US market.

Details and technical specs are as follows:

Voice
	One-touch dialing
	Outgoing voice muting
	Call waiting, call forwarding and conference call
	Automatic answer with headset

Mobile Messaging and Data
	Predictive text input
	User-changeable profiles
	5-line display

Organization
	Phonebook with up to 250 contacts with phone number and e-mail address for each entry
	Calendar with up to 30 entries
	Internal vibrating alert
	Alarm clock with snooze
	Calculator

Personalization & Fun
	40 ring tones with 10 downloadable tones 1,2
	Bright blue screen and keypad
	Xpress-on™ color covers
	New and exciting games (Snake 2, Pairs 2, Space Impact and Link5)

Connectivity
	Wireless Internet (Openwave 4.1 browser) 1
	Hearing aid support with the LPS-3 Accessibility Loopset

Specifications
	Weight: 3.07 ounces
	4.02 inches long x .85 inches thick x 1.78 inches wide

Service
	CDMA 1900 MHz

For further and fuller information please visit the Nokia 8270 web page.