Staying Connected During Labor

Once again I'd like to point out a new feature added to my blog. This one however, will do more than simply tell you guys what music I'm listening to on my Zune and which movies I'm renting from Netflix.

Over on the right at the top of my sidebar you will notice a heading which reads "Luke Sonnier says..." and beneath it there are five updates written at various times regarding my whereabouts. This is my Twitter feed.

From the wiki for Twitter:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service (SMS), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

One very cool feature of Twitter is that when I send an update (which I can do on the Twitter.com website or via text message), members who are following my Tweets can choose to receive updates on their cell phones via text message alerting them to my new message.

I hate to ask all of you to go and open an account with Twitter, but I think this will be a great way for me to keep you all informed when Lindsey goes into labor and Sam is born. Rather than sending out a million text messages and making a million phone calls which I'm pretty much hoping to avoid, I can simply update Twitter via text message from the hospital and you guys will be in the know immediately. Obviously, do not sign up if you aren't interested. I just thought I would make the suggestion. We will still be making phone calls and updating people as much as we can in the traditional ways.

If you are interested, sign up at Twitter.com.

You can read the general FAQ on Twitter here.

And the FAQs on how Twitter works with your cell phone here.

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Your Mother Should Know

How Viral Works

This is a pretty cool visual representation of how internet memes grow.

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The Ipod of Reading

I've long been a defender of both technological advances in every aspect of daily life, and the tactile pleasure provided by reading a book (who can forget the audio book debacle back in May 2005?). One problem I've mulled over constantly as I've slowly digitized my entire CD collection into MP3s, and now that I am in the process of doing the same to digitize my DVD collection as MPEGs is what could ever possibly help to do the same for books? How can I replace a wall filled with books with one hand-held device? I'd do it if there were a good solution available. I think that solution might be here. If not here, it's close.


There is something almost indescribable about books that almost anyone who reads a lot will tell you they do not want to give up. That is, the touch and feel and enjoyment of reading a book. Add to that the eye strain that accompanies reading from almost any kind of screen and you will find that the digitization of books seems difficult at best.

If you visit the Amazon.com homepage today you will see a letter from CEO Jeff Bezos discussing many of the same concerns. It seems amazon has created a new product which it hopes will move the act of reading into the 21st century. Meet Kindle.

I hope to see some reviews pop up on Cnet and other places soon so that we can get a feel of how the Kindle is going to be received, but just doing a little bit of reading about it, and watching a few promotional videos, I so want one. Its going on my wishlist without a doubt.

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You Know, This Just Isn't Cool

Gizmodo has the full story.

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No DRM: Can it Be?

It's about damned time.

Record Labels Contemplate Unrestricted Digital Music

Executives of several technology companies meeting here at Midem, the annual global trade fair for the music industry, said over the weekend that at least one of the four major record companies could move toward the sale of unrestricted digital files in the MP3 format within months.

I completely understand the purpose and use of DRM (Digital Rights Management) on music files, but I don't believe that the use of a product I purchase should be restricted to what some suits at record labels say it should. In a few years when the next hot Portable Media Player comes along to beat out the iPod, all those folks who've spent hundreds (thousands?) of dollars on files purchased through iTunes are going to be pretty pissed that they can't listen to their libraries on anything but an iPod (at least, not without a lot of wasted time and effort.)

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New Find

It seems I'm constantly searching the internet for specific movie quotes. What I usually do is run a Google search for the script for that movie. This produces mixed results. Most of the time I can find what I need, but sometimes not.

As I was writing that last post, I wanted to use the quote I used and couldn't recall the precise wording (anyone recognize the quote?). In my search for it I came across The Internet Movie Script Database (new link added to right sidebar).

This is a very cool resource if you're into quotes.

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Ask That For You Chreesmus

If you've been looking for a good excuse to toss that old, cluncky TV of yours in order to replace it with one of those increasingly less expensive 46-inch flat, widescreen, wall-mountable-LCD HDTVs (I know I have), then you are in luck. Before too long, television broadcasters will be required to stop broadcasting analog signals. These will be replaced by 100% digital signals. Full article after the jump.



Full article at Engadget

Mark your calendar for February 17, 2009. That's the date set by Congress, as part of a sweeping budget-cutting bill, that broadcasters will be mandated to shut down their analog broadcasts (both the Senate and broadcasters had previously agreed to the date, so the bill now only awaits the President's signature to become law). However, if you can't bear to part with that old Philco or Admiral, you won't have to toss it. The government will be setting aside $1.5 billion in subsidies to help consumers get converters to allow older analog sets to receive digital broadcasts. And, no, you can't request a piece of that to pick up a 60-inch plasma, so don't even think about it.

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Y'all Read Good

Google has got to be one of the best things to happen to the internet since its inception. To be honest, I kind of wish I worked for them. The company is constantly in motion, developing all kinds of crazy new features, and most of them available for free.

Check out the now-in-Beta Google Book Search.

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Hello Google....Can You Do This?

Wow. This is pretty impressive.

Microsoft's response to the super cool, awesome and incredibly useful Google Earth is now live (in something of a beta test version) here.

Who needs to see simple aerial views of the Puget Sound when you can look at that same aerial view while simultaneously looking at the view through the windshield of your race car, or the view while walking around Downtown Seattle?

Check out the new and improved Microsoft Windows Live Local. Serious cool.

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Can the IRS Tax You on Assets That Are Not Real?

IRS Taxation of Online Game Virtual Assets Inevitable

A recent panel discussion saw the topic of the taxation of virtual assets in games like Everquest, World of Warcraft and others talked about heavily. I have never played these games, but my understanding is that there are a multitude of assets within the game that are or can be very valuable to the player in possession of them.

But can (or should) the IRS tax players on acquiring these assets? I say until the virtual assets provide some real-world benefit or something resembling real-world income, what justification is there in taxing them? Does this mean that someone can take a Sch. A deduction for the mortgage on his or her incredible house in the Sims? Can I deduct contributions to virtual charities in Sim City 4? You bet I can't, but why not?

By Daniel Terdiman
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: December 3, 2006, 9:45 AM PST

NEW YORK--If you are a hard-core player of virtual worlds like World of Warcraft, Second Life, EverQuest or There, IRS form 1099 may someday soon take on a new meaning for you.

That's because game publishers may well in the not-too-distant future have to send the forms--which individuals receive when earning nonemployee income from companies or institutions--to virtual world players engaging in transactions for valuable items like Ultima Online castles, EverQuest weapons or Second Life currency, even when those players don't convert the assets into cash.

Most governments are only beginning to become aware of the substantial economic activity in online games, but the games' rapid growth and the substantial value of the many virtual assets changing hands in them is almost certain to bring them into the popular consciousness.

"Given growth rates of 10 to 15 percent a month, the question is when, not if, Congress and IRS start paying attention to these issues," said Dan Miller, a senior economist with the Congress' Joint Economic Committee, who is also a fan of virtual worlds. "So it is incumbent on us to set the terms and the debate so we have a shaped tax policy toward virtual worlds and virtual economies in a favorable way."

Miller's comments came during a Saturday panel called "Tax and Finance" at the State of Play/Terra Nova symposium, the fourth annual gathering at New York Law School of academics, lawyers and other scholars to talk about the legal, social and economic issues surrounding virtual worlds.

The panel was formed in the context of recent questions, which were first raised by author Julian Dibbel in his book Play Money and in an article he wrote earlier in Legal Affairs magazine, about whether the transfer of virtual assets, or players' acquisition of virtual loot by, for example, killing monsters, creates taxable events.

"If you haven't misspent hours battling an Arctic Ogre Lord near an Ice Dungeon or been equally profligate spending time reading the published works of the Internal Revenue Service," Dibbell's article began, "you probably haven't wondered whether the United States government will someday tax your virtual winnings from games played over the Internet. The real question is: Why hasn't it happened already?"

And while Miller's committee began examining these issues in October, his comments Saturday suggested there could be wider future congressional oversight and a revised IRS tax policy. That's in spite of the fact that Miller said his committee, and Congress in general, is not out to gouge virtual world players.

"The Joint Economic Committee is not seeking to impose a new tax on virtual economies," Miller said. "We have a very clear record of supporting lower taxes in free market."

Meanwhile, Miller's fellow panelists also weighed in Saturday on Dibbel's question, and came at it from several different perspectives.

First up was William LaPiana, a wills, trusts and estates professor at New York Law School. He approached the question by examining whether estate taxes would accrue on the transfer to an heir of a sizable collection of valuable virtual assets.

LaPiana said that there is little question that the transfer of such assets could be taxable, since it is property. However, he did say that the taxes would accrue only if the total value of the estate's assets exceeded the limit set by the state in which the deceased had lived. In most cases, he said, that amount is $2 million, though some states, like New York and New Jersey, have lower limits.

Thus, there are not that many instances in which someone has that level of assets, though the recent news that Second Life land mogul Anshe Chung had amassed $1 million in virtual land and other holdings certainly puts her heirs at risk if she dies.

More problematic, LaPiana said, would be laws that require estate administrators to take on responsibility for the proper transfer of assets to beneficiaries. And because most virtual assets are locked behind password-protected accounts, it would be incumbent on the administrator to try to figure out how to get access to those accounts.

"Whoever is going to run your estate...has an absolute obligation to collect all your property and make sure that it goes to the (proper) people," LaPiana said. "How do I make sure my trustee has access to this stuff after I die? These are all problems we're going to have to face."

Next up, Texas Tech University School of Law tax professor Bryan Camp addressed Dibbel's question with a warning.

"Be careful what you ask for," Camp said, "because tax is always behind the corner. Tax is the shadow life" to many issues.

Camp said that that section 61 of the U.S. tax code, a 1913 provision, stated clearly that all income, "from whatever source derived," is taxable.

Thus, the question of whether the transfer of virtual assets is taxable boils down to determining if there is a profit afterward.

As an example, he explained that if two people were to exchange copies of books, one of which is worth $30 and the other worth $24, the person ending up with the more expensive volume would have acquired $6 of taxable income.

Another example, he said, was Kyle MacDonald's much-publicized quest to trade up from a red paperclip to a house, which was ultimately successful.

"He has massive tax issues," said Camp of MacDonald. "He started with (the value of) a paperclip and ended up with (the value of) a house."

MacDonald is Canadian, though, which puts him under Canadian tax law, which Camp did not address.

His point is well taken, though: in determining tax liability--regardless of whether the IRS would likely try to collect--it is necessary to figure out how much profit has derived from a transaction.

However, Camp also said he is working on a legal journal article in which he will argue that at least some profits from transfers of virtual goods are not taxable.

For his part, Miller--who spoke last on the panel--said the Joint Economic Committee is expected to produce a report early next year that will address three goals.

First, he said, the report will address the areas, such as tax, cybercrime and education, where virtual worlds connect with public policy and will therefore educate the committee's staff members about such issues.

Next, the report will seek to identify future uses of virtual worlds, including those by commercial, nonprofit and governmental bodies.

And lastly, the report will specifically investigate the tax issues raised by virtual worlds.

"We will look at factual technical questions," Miller said, "like what is a taxable event in a virtual world."

And that's where the answer to Dibbel's question is likely to come into clear focus, he suggested.

"The key takeaway for the people" at State of Play," Miller said, "is that congressional and IRS interest in this issue is simply a matter of time."

Continue reading "Can the IRS Tax You on Assets That Are Not Real?"

Your iPod is Empowering the Terrorists

A lot of you know me very very well. If we've known each other long enough you may have at some point heard me swear a few times, and so you know that I am certainly capable of my share of foul mouthy-ness.

However, I cannot seem to come up with enough appropriate adjectives to describe the way I feel about Bill O'Reilly. The guy makes my blood boil, and in my head the names that I call him stop making sense when the expletives reach the double digits. I'm not even sure I can properly justify why I feel this way, but boy do I.

This has nothing to do with politics or taking sides, Republican vs. Democrat. I simply hate Bill O'Reilly.

Weird huh?

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The Zune, It Sails at Dawn

So today is the day that everyone has been waiting for. Microsoft's Zune launches today. You guys can sort it out in the comments regarding who should rush out and buy mine today. Once you get it all sorted, here is a convenient link to buy the one I want (the brown one).

Zune 30 GB Digital Media Player (Brown)

Continue reading "The Zune, It Sails at Dawn"

More on Zune

Today, Microsoft announced the launch date and official pricing of the Zune.

Zune To Launch Nov 14, at $249

Today we're issuing a press release about Zune's launch date and price: November 14 in the U.S.; $249.99. Many people have asked about Zune Marketplace: A ZunePass (giving you access to millions of songs) will cost you $14.99 per month. If you want to buy a song individually it'll cost you 79 Microsoft Points (or 99 cents).
My buddy Richard and I have talked before about pre-loaded content. Here's the full list:

Audio Tracks

• Band of Horses, “Wicked Gil” (Sub Pop Records)
• Bitter:Sweet, “The Mating Game” (Quango Music Group)
• CSS, “Alala (Microsoft edit)” (Sub Pop Records)
• Darkel, “At The End of The Sky (edit)” (Astralwerks)
• Every Move a Picture, “Signs of Life” (V2)
• Small Sins, “Stay” (Astralwerks)
• The Adored, “Tell Me Tell Me” (V2)
• The Rakes, “Open Book” (V2)
• The Thermals, “A Pillar of Salt” (Sub Pop Records)

Music Video

• 30 Seconds to Mars, “The Kill” (Virgin Records)
• BT, “1.618” (DTS Entertainment)
• Chad VanGaalen, “Red Hot Drops” (Sub Pop Records)
• Coldcut featuring Roots Manuva, “True Skool” (Ninja Tune)
• CSS, “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above” (Sub Pop Records)
• Fruit Bats, “Live: The Wind That Blew My Heart Away” (Sub Pop Records)
• Grandaddy, “Elevate Myself” (V2)
• Hot Chip, “Over and Over” (Astralwerks Records)
• Kraak & Smaak featuring Dez., “Keep Me Home” (Quango Music Group)
• Kinski, “Live: The Snowy Parts of Scandinavia” (Sub Pop Records)
• Paul Oakenfold, “Faster Kill Pussycat (Featuring Brittany Murphy)” (Maverick Records)
• Serena-Maneesh, “Drain Cosmetics” (Playlouderecordings)

Film Shorts

• 5 Boro: “A New York Skateboarding Minute” (Skateboarding)
• Radical Films: “Kranked — Progression” (Mountain Biking)
• TGRTV The North Face (Skiing/Snowboarding)

Images

• A variety of images to personalize a Zune device, including 12 classic rock posters from “Art of Modern Rock”

Sweet. And I have some prices of accessories here for you. First the packs, then the accessories sold individually. From the press release:

• Zune Home A/V Pack. The Home A/V Pack includes everything you need to amplify your Zune experience. This set of five products integrates Zune with your big-screen TV and the best speakers in your house. The wireless remote puts you in control from virtually anywhere in the room. When you buy the Zune Home AV Pack, you’ll get the AV Output Cable, Zune Dock, Zune Wireless Remote with Lithium Battery, Zune Sync Cable and Zune AC Adapter for $99.99.

• Zune Travel Pack. The Travel Pack includes everything you need to travel with your Zune device in style. This set of five products is designed to keep you and your friends and family entertained while you travel. When you buy the Zune Travel Pack, you’ll get the Zune Dual Connect Remote, Zune Premium Earphones, Zune Gear Bag, Zune Sync Cable and Zune AC Adapter for $99.99.

• Zune Car Pack. The Car Pack includes everything you need to hit the road with your Zune device. With AutoSeek, setup is easy, and you can enjoy your music on the go and charge at the same time. When you buy the Zune Car Pack, you’ll get the FM tuner with AutoSeek and the Zune Car Charger for $79.99.
Sold Individually

• Zune AV Output Cable. The A/V Output Cable lets you connect your Zune device to a TV and home stereo. Ideal for listening to music and showing pictures and video, the A/V Output Cable is simple to set up and use, and will retail for $19.99.

• Zune AC Adapter. The AC Adapter lets you charge your Zune device without a PC. For convenience, the AC Adapter will charge your Zune device in about three hours and will retail for $29.99.

• Zune Sync Cable. The Sync Cable lets you connect your Zune device to your PC or the Zune AC Adapter (sold separately). It works as a replacement for your original sync cable or as a spare for travel and charging, and will retail for $19.99.

• Zune Car Charger. The Car Charger lets you charge your device in the car while listening to your favorite music and even while using the FM tuner with AutoSeek (sold separately). The Car Charger will retail for $24.99.

• Zune Dock. The Dock elegantly displays your Zune device anywhere in your home or office. Featuring a connector port and an audio/video output, the Dock is ideal for syncing, charging and connecting with home A/V equipment. (A/V connectivity requires the Zune A/V Output Cable, sold separately.) The Dock will retail for $39.99.

• Zune Wireless Remote for Zune Dock. Designed for use with Zune Dock (sold separately), the Wireless Remote lets you control your device from across the room. The Wireless Remote gives you quick access to your current playlist as well as full control over menu navigation and volume. The Wireless Remote will retail for $29.99.

• Zune Dual Connect Remote. The Dual Connect Remote offers convenient playlist control and two headphone jacks with independent amplifiers and volume controls so you can listen with a friend or family member. The Dual Connect Remote will retail for $29.99.

• Zune FM tuner With AutoSeek. The FM tuner with AutoSeek lets you wirelessly listen to music through your car’s stereo through the FM radio. AutoSeek automatically finds the optimal station so it’s easy to set up, and will retail for $69.99.

• Zune Gear Bag. The Gear Bag lets you bring Zune and related accessories with you wherever you go. The Gear Bag comes with a rugged exterior and fitted compartments to protect your device while you travel. The Gear Bag will retail for $29.99.

• Zune Premium Earphones. Designed exclusively for use with Zune, the Premium Earphones produce superior sound and feature a noise-isolating, in-ear design. With a convenient storage case and three earpiece sizes to choose from, you can listen to your music with added comfort and quality. The Premium earphones will retail for $39.99.

So there you have it.

Source: ZuneInsider

Continue reading "More on Zune"

Have You Met Zune?

So Microsoft finally announced their contender in the MP3 player market, with the hope of challenging Apple's market-dominating iPod. I've been following the progress of this thing from the concept stage. If you haven't already dear readers, meet the Zune:



The Zune has not hit the market yet, but Microsoft plans for it to be available this holiday season, which means they need to get on the ball. I for one would love to be an early adopter for the Zune. I think there are some really interesting features available for it such as wi-fi, file sharing (this includes pictures and music), customizable wallpaper, and a number of others. The downside is, as with many tech products, especially those made by Microsoft, the first gen model will probably have some bugs to be worked out, while Apple has smoothed most kinks in the now 6th gen iPods. I'd be willing to bet that the second and third gen Zunes (if they do well enough to last that long) will be really top notch. Plus, by that time the Zune Marketplace (Microsoft's answer to iTunes...which also sounds cool) will have grown quite a bit I imagine.

If you want to know more about the Zune, I've done a lot of the work for you. Below you find a chart with spec comparisons (Courtesy of ZuneInfo.com) and a host of links to sites with info.

Zune Insider
Zunester
ZuneGuy

Those three are Microsoft employees who have inside info on Zune. They are blogging about the development of Zune with Microsoft's knowledge, so they aren't really spilling the beans on anything they aren't' allowed to, but they all have pretty good info about the Zune. The rest of the links are tech review or music sites.

Stereogum's Sneak Peak at Zune
Tech2
Zune Scene
Zunerama
ZuneGroove
ZuneInfo
My Tech Lists

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