I didn’t quite expect that I would be allowed to watch the DVD, but I also wasn’t counting on being given the option to change my computer’s region code. Not that this makes me happy — region codes are just another bullshit way that Hollywood tries to control culture in the name of profit.

(Photo of Detalle de la conexión al MacBook by iBuffet under a Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution-ShareAlike License.)

What does this mean? Well, High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is an insidious form of DRM that prevents video sources from transmitting to non-compliant receivers. Conventionally speaking, it was designed so that new generations of disc players would only output to HDCP-compliant TVs and projectors — and not a DVR, computer, or general-purpose recording device.

To my limited knowledge, it works by encrypting the video coming out of the device’s port, then having the devices “know” what’s on the other end of the cable. If the player doesn’t “recognize” the device that’s displaying the movie, then the player stops*. (In the screenshot in the Ars article, the MacBook error message tells the user: “This movie cannot be played because a display that is not authorized to play protected movies is connected.”)

It’s extremely vexing to see Apple implementing DRM on its display ports — and it’s pushing me even further away from choosing an Apple laptop as my next computer.

* Depending on the devices being used, the player may instead simply lower the quality of the image, completely ignoring your hard-earned dollars of investment in “high definition.”

My three observations about the iPhone:

1. It’s not an open platform and there’s no development kit (yet). For now, Apple is the only company that can make applications for the iPhone, apart from what developers can make work from a web browser. But what makes a computer great is the ability to freely utilize its storage ability and processing power to solve problems. In general, Apple can be trusted to provide good, flexible solutions (You can customize fields in Address Book, for example), but how much can Apple afford to program to the idiosyncratic needs of bloggers, photographers, DJs, stock traders, teachers, and students? An open platform is the way to allow unique solutions and people-powered innovation to come to light. Solutions require innovation, innovation demands creativity, and creativity is fostered by openness. Apple is enlightened enough to know this, but they unfortunately realize that they would be undercutting their own short-term revenue potential and business relationships with the wireless carriers if they opened the iPhone up for public development.
2. No tactile feedback. I’m sure you can eventually learn how to type without looking at the “screenboard,” but please don’t argue that the learning curve isn’t going to be significantly higher than a device with a dedicated, physical input component.
3. AT&T? For now, you can only get the iPhone by signing up with one carrier for two freakin’ years. And have you seen any of this or that?

Meanwhile, the leading-edge of the revolution in phones is quietly bubbling up in the shadow of the almighty iPhone. Nokia recently announced the stateside availability of the E61i, a open-platform phone running on Symbian. You can buy it unlocked from Dell. And then there’s the Neo1973, being offered via Internet order on July 9th, running the open-source, Linux-based OpenMoko.

Computers got “big” when everyone had a chance to play. Isn’t it time we got to have the same fun over our handheld devices?