Tyler Vann-Campbell's Weblog

There are people who are taking this Sony Boycott seriously, and I’m getting a metric ton of Google Searches for “sony boycott”. So I’m going to do my own version of “Sony Detox”, reviewing a different independent artist every week for a month. Last week it was Laura Love, we’ll make this week’s artist Nickel [...]

I wasn’t the only one who saw this coming. A security firm has identified a Sony DRM virus that hides using Sony installed technology. So, when they said “creates no inherent security threat,” Sony meant to say, “puts out the welcome mat to any unsavory software that doesn’t want to be seen.”

In (possibly) unrelated news, [...]

If you’re a thirtysomething USF grad that’s still riding the HARTLine bus for free with your old-as-dirt student ID (cheater!) get ready for a rude awakening.

As part of re-negotiations on the UPass program, HARTLine is considering installing card readers on HARTLine buses, to insure that people riding the bus for free with their USF [...]

Looking to get started going cold turkey on Sony’s oppressive music, but don’t know where to start?

Well, try Laura Love for a great start. She was in Tampa last week with her unique amalgamation of blues, folk, and funk with inflections of jazz. From the politically charged “I Want You Gone” to her mellow bass [...]

So I downloaded this SharpMusique application to give it a shot as an iTunes interface. Turns out it’s the application written by DVD Jon famous for breaking DVD CSS encryption and later cracking through the Apple iTunes DRM.

So every song I buy from iTunes on SharpMusique lands on my hard drive in a DRM free [...]

Sarah, along with 4,294 others, is talking about Sony’s draconian DRM strategy. Sarah suggests a boycott of all things Sony.

This response is exactly what I was hoping for. Sony is too invasive, and we as consumers should start voting with our wallets.

Of course, I find myself personally in a troubling position. If I agree [...]

It appears that the negative publicity surrounding this invasive DRM software, which employs methods more commonly used by virus writers, has driven Sony to offer a patch returning your computer to a non-crippled state.

Sony’s official statement is that there is no inherent security threat in an operating-system level redirecting of function calls to hide any [...]

Alaska gets a $223-million bridge to nowhere, Tampa gets a $129-million bridge to everywhere. From the Crosstown Expressway to the Port to I-4, this new elevated tribute to motorists sounds like it holds real promise in relieving congestion. Lets just hope they do a better job on it than on the infamous Lee Roy Selmon [...]

DRM keeps getting more sophisticated, but in the good old days a simple Sharpie or the shift key would circumvent most measures. It appears that’s not enough for Sony.

Sony’s latest DRM measure, reported by Sysinternals, actually patches Windows APIs, hijacking functions in order to completely cloak a driver/software combination which is far more nefarious. [...]