When Apple launched iPhoto for iPhone, it quickly became clear that there was something odd going on with the maps in the application. Even though Apple never talked about this publicly, the data Apple used to render these new maps was clearly not from Google anymore. Instead, most experts agreed, Apple was using a number of different sources to create its new map tiles without giving proper credit to groups like OpenStreetMap, the Wikipedia-like crowdsourced mapping organization. This week’s update to iPhoto for iPhone, however, finally gives credit where credit is due. → Read More
Seriously, I’m about to move to Japan. I think they should stop calling their phones “phones” (or the Japanese equivalent) and call them “Tricorders” (or the Japanese equivalent). Because where else in the world can you point your phone at someone else’s shirt and have one just like it sent to you? I’d love to use Nota’s intriguing service here in the US, but I’m afraid flux capacitors don’t come standard in phones like they do in Tokyo. Or if you don’t quite like the design, you can modify it however you like because the design has a Creative Commons license? There’s a whole freaky interface for adding public flickr photos, adding text and graphics and so on (for example). Once you’re done, it’s made public and people can comment, make edits, and so on — wait, did I just get tricked into recommending a Web 2.0 mashup site? Damn your eyes, Nota! → Read More
The five year old Creative Commons nonprofit organization announced a new CEO this afternoon as founding CEO Lawrence Lessig steps down: Joi Ito. The organization is devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to legally build upon and share by creating consensus driven copyright license forms. Users can set terms for copyright usage without complex negotiations using CC approved licenses. These licenses restrict only certain rights (or none at all) of the work. The initial set of Creative Commons licenses was published on December 16, 2002. In 2007 Lessig announced that he would be defocusing his attention on copyright law, and announced Change Congress, an organization to build support for government reform. Joi Ito, who was born in Kyoto, Japan, is a well known investor and Creative Commons board member. Founding board member and Duke law professor James Boyle will become chair of the board, replacing Ito. The full press release is below. document.write(”); http://documents.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=2419495&access_key=key-2fqodaeagtjy0puvt6u5&page=1&version=1 Read this doc on Scribd: cc leadership and funding var scribd_doc = new scribd.Document(2419495, ‘key-2fqodaeagtjy0puvt6u5′); scribd_doc.addParam(‘height’, 500); scribd_doc.addParam(‘width’, 560); scribd_doc.addParam(‘page’, 1); scribd_doc.addParam(‘mode’, ‘list’); scribd_doc.write(‘embedded_flash_2419495_1iwcp2′); → Read More
How different are things now that Bill Gates at Microsoft has made his symbolic hand-off of power? Microsoft tonight announced a new partnership with Creative Commons, the organization dedicated to providing content producers a legal alternative to “all rights reserved” copyright law, to offer a new tool for easy insertion of Creative Commons licenses into works created with Microsoft Office. For more info and background on Creative Commons, check out this interview I did off-site several months ago with the organization’s CTO, Mike Linksvayer. → Read More
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