Lex Ferenda

Book review of this collection of essays, written at the request of the Journal of Common Market Studies (after the jump, version as submitted but with added hyperlinks for the web version; will add citation after publication).

I retain copyright but was required to grant ‘an exclusive licence to publish (the review) in printed and electronic form, in all languages, and to administer subsidiary rights agreements with third parties for the full period of copyright and all renewals, extensions, revisions and revival‘. Permission to publish on my own website is explicitly included in the agreement; what’s more, the fact that this license exists does not take away from any user rights such as fair dealing, educational use, etc. Then again, it is a book review by a graduate student so I don’t think anyone really cares about the IP rights in it…
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Hah, now you’re paying attention.

The Book Depository are giving away free books, but this week’s batch is gone and I’m getting one of them! They are promising future giveaways for bloggers and others so keep an eye on the enthusiastic editor’s blog.

Eoin Purcell’s blog (bibliophiles, subscribe to his feed, please) also mentions the offer and he’s getting a book too.

3G’s Gift To Humankind says technology journalist Karlin Lillington, today. Blogger and writer Damien Mulley wrote (back in May) that the end was nigh for overpriced wifi (and more!) We’re talking about broadband Internet access over 3G networks (with a fallback to GPRS out of coverage). With a cute little box you can add to your desktop or laptop or whatever (i.e. it’s not necessairly via a phone).

Right now, I live on a university campus, where I have *free* Internet access in my room, and a good wireless network across the campus. Therefore I’m not really in the market for paid always-on access. However, what Karlin, Damien and others are saying is particularly persuasive - I would be especially full of joy at the ‘taking it on the train’ and ‘using it to avoid paying €15 an hour hotspot charges’. There are some sceptical comments to Damien’s post, though, wondering what happens when the great public comes on board - will there be a significant drop in quality at that stage?

Effectively, we’re at ‘four pipes’ in Ireland now (to borrow the US anxiety about creating a ‘third pipe’), with DSL, cable, fixed wireless access (WiMax and other such services - Clearwire, Digiweb, and so on), and 3G. The most recent ComReg stats on broadband below are interesting, wonder if 3G takeup will have much an impact in the next round?

DSL 436,000
Fixed Wireless Access 94,100
Cable 64,500
Other 7,400 (satellite etc)

Source: Key Data June 2007

The Examear website has been replaced with a simple text notice. Perhaps something to do with the range of stories mentioned in this summary. Hard to believe this is for real.

Thankfully, the Internet Archive has preserved the original site (snapshot at 12 May 2007).

Just a sample:

Our spy wireless earphones are great for:
Students. Both high school and post secondary students. (Tests, Exams, presentations, group projects, speeches)
No more breaking your head over a difficult tests or exam
No more memorizing long and boring speeches
No more screwing your friends or group members
No more thinking about getting caught by using old notes - paper techniques
Listen to music whenever you want, at any time - in class.

Ofcom’s huge report on the communications markets in the UK (pursuant to statutory duty - see, it’s useful putting those odd sections into reforming statutes!) is just out.

For the researcher, this is a great report - it has statistics, overviews, summaries, and more. Dive right in. There goes my weekend.

Oh, and it’s not just market data - the title is just Ofcom-speak for ‘a bloody big report about media, telecoms, Internet, etc in the UK’. It’s a little-known rule in the Communications Act that says you have to use the work ‘market’ or ‘liberalised’ in every sentence

Start here…

Tongue-in-cheek but also with some great insights and statistics:

Daily Mail Diet (video) from Current TV.

Brave man. I could never do this!