Yup, folks, it's all a load of CRAP designed to lock you to one company or another's proprietary toilet.

Quoted: ZDNet Executive Editor David Berlind suggests that CRAP or Content, Restriction, Annulment, and Protection, is a catchier phrase than DRM - Digital Rights Management. Why does he think this technology is crap? Once you've bought music or other content to play on one device, it won't play on any other device because of the proprietary layer of CRAP.

More cross-country bicycle touring info. No, I don't really have the bug yet, I'm just planning for the day when I do. ;-)

Quoted: The best way to start a cross-country bicycle trip is to pretend you're not doing it.

SxSW for your MP3 player. Gotta love (legally) free music, especially if it helps you figure out which shows to go see. I hope this keeps happening...

Specific pricing aside (almost there, but not quite), this concept is hot. There are so many interesting web app startups that could be incubated by having this sort of infrastructure readily available.

For the second time during my troll through Brad's dots during tonight's insomniadic spree, I question why I'm spending my time writing software for consumer electronics rather than cool web applications. Oh, yeah...I forgot; it's fun, and it pays the rent. Don't forget the strange machismo of embedded development.

Without having yet worked out the details, I smell a third application of the "difference-map algorithm" to circuit synthesis given its dual-constraint problem of connectivity and timing (distance). Perhaps I shouldn't blog potentially patentable ideas at 2:30 in the morning...