Not everyone loves Apple. In fact a lot of people loathe the company for reasons both compelling and idiotic. But mention of Apple almost invariably elicits an unusually strong reaction one way or the other. This in itself explains why so much is written about Apple in the media. People who love the company will read along to bask in the glory and possibility of a new earth-shattering way to give up their money and ignore/transcend their immediate surroundings; people who hate the company will follow along so they know what to rail against, to identify that which threatens their values or worldview, and to plan ahead for a day when a more suitable, somehow less evil global corporation can provide them with a reasonable copy. In between the extremes, plenty of intelligent and rational people find other reasons to follow Apple’s every move. Educators and policy-makers, journalists and media companies, graphic/web/industrial/fashion designers, software developers, artists, authors and musicians, activists and advocates, enterprise IT managers and small business owners alike; all have something at stake because they all accept the premise that Apple is leading the way forward (not to assign a moral or prognostic value to that particular direction).
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I spend a lot of time reading and posting (on Twitter and elsewhere) about the politics of the Internet, particularly issues regarding online speech and the open architecture of the web. I am vocal about my positions on many “offline” political matters as well, and try to back them up with action, but there’s something about advocating for the web that feels more communal, more urgent, and maybe ultimately, more effective. I don’t mean this…
Judging by my Google Analytics, I get a lot of hits on this site from people looking to learn about Thomas Jefferson and his views on the free press and newspapers. My bounce rate, perhaps combined with an active imagination, suggests that such visitors are just downright pissed that this site is even returned as a search result and maybe even that I would have the temerity to claim a domain name that could be…
Let’s get one thing out of the way now: I believe that copyright serves a legitimate purpose in our society. If an artist or creator puts their labor into a work, they deserve some degree of control over that product, including over distribution, sales, and so on. This article (and all original works on this site) use a Creative Commons license that reserves certain rights of copy, while forfeiting others in manner that seems sane…
Collecting Records and Walter Benjamin I recently picked up a copy of Walter Benjamin’s Illuminations. I was completely struck by the first essay, “Unpacking My Library”, where Benjamin discusses book collecting. And while I myself take pride in my ever growing personal library, I almost immediately began to translate all his references to books as pertaining to record collecting. Not only this, but Benjamin’s words somehow summed up, far more eloquently than my own I…
