Dave Morin

Popularity: 3% [?]

I just had to go get an ethernet cable from the front desk. This is a Hilton.

I’m in Austin, Texas doing some meetings at my company’s offices here. This being my first time in town at this location, I found out we usually stay at the Hilton Garden Inn right down the road.

There are a million tech companies around here. Trust me, I saw them.

After dinner, I got back and headed to my room. Usually, I love taking a look at how a hotel first presents the room to you. The Garden is one of Hilton’s more moderate sub-chains, along the lines of your standard Holiday Inn. As I looked around the room, I headed over to the desk to check out the internet situation.

1. Plug your P.C. High Speed Cable (I assume they mean ethernet cable) into the Network Jack.

I look around for the “P.C. High Speed Cable”. No where to be found. This is odd I think to myself. Although I work in tech, everyone I interact with works in tech. I don’t know anyone that actually carries an ethernet cable with them. So, I called the nice attendant down at the desk to ask if they had one. Sure enough, no problem. So I headed down 4 stories, picked up the cable and came back to my room.

This strikes me as borderline ridiculous. I’m sitting in the middle of the Texas Silicon Valley. There should be an ethernet cable in every single room. Why take the time to call up to the room and ensure I am having a great stay, when I just had to walk back downstairs and get the one thing that most everyone staying in this hotel needs..internet access?

Perhaps the marketing people at Hilton are too worried about releasing the next copy of “One Night in Paris”…

Popularity: 3% [?]

Popularity: 3% [?]

I’m packing to head to Austin, Texas tomorrow morning early. It will be my first “real” trip to the lonestar state. Whoa.

Mark Cuban is on fire. With the MGM vs. Grokster case, there is a potential for massive precedent to be set. I love that Cuban is supporting the EFF. I am strongly on the side of advancement of technology in cases such as this one. Technology does not steal music. People do.

Media will only continue to become more digital, more on-demand, more pervasive, and more integrated into our daily lives. Music will be created and distributed in increasingly complex and simplified ways. Movies will become on-demand, in the home, and wherever we want them to be. The need for a physical transactional medium will be exacerbated.

This all being said. The RIAA, and many other content protection organizations are freaking out. They blame technology. This is flat out wrong.

I love buying my music from the iTunes Music Store more than I ever thought I would. Most of my friends do as well. I think that as we move into the future, technology needs to be given free reign to develop better and more sophisticated DRM methods, along with more advanced distribution vehicles. Trying to stop the development of file sharing and peer-to-peer networks, will only hinder the ability of these content organizations to adapt to a paradigm shit that has already begun.

People will share media. Digital media is the future. Content is king, and will be shared freely. This can not be stopped. The media companies need to step down from their ivory towers and recognize the need for technology development moving into the future. Don’t hinder it, it will only hurt everyone in the end.

Popularity: 13% [?]

I’ve got a lot of people asking me where this picture of Jill Bennett was taken, and what exactly is that thing reflecting in her glasses. In case you’ve never been to town, the picture was taken at the Palace of Fine Arts here in the Marina of San Francisco. The Palace is part of the Presidio of San Francisco, which is part of our great national park system. It was originally built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Now, they are trying to raise around $16m to completely restore it. Let’s hope they do, it’s an amazing sight at night from all over the city.

Popularity: 3% [?]