Category Europe

European and EU-centric matters

European Union Copyright Directive

It is less than a year since the European Software Patents law was finally defeated in the European Parliament, after a long and troubling history with the European institutions. This article is about the EUCD (European Union Copyright Directive), the European version of the U.S. DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). This controversial law aims to […]

America's pushy on GM.

Will Europe budge? "The State Department tries to twist arms through rather undiplomatic letters of protest, like the one it sent to Nicosia in July when new EU member Cyprus proposed to put GM food on separate shelves at grocery stores."

ΕΡΤ Ψηφιακή και DTT στην Ελλάδα.

Μετά το ολιγόημερο ταξίδι μου στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο, όπου μπορεί κανείς να απολάυσει ποιοτική (και τεχνικώς αλλά και από πλευράς περιεχομένου, ιδιαίτερα εν συγκρίσει με τα δικά μας χάλια) ψηφιακή τηλεόραση, επέστρεψα στην Ελλάδα και είπα να ρίξω μια ματιά στο τι συμβάινει εδώ.

Downfall (2004)

Μόλις διάβασα πως το Downfall, κέρδισε το Βραβείο του Παγκοσμίου Κινηματογράφου του BBC 4. Ήταν όντως μια ιδιαίτερα καλή ταινία, τόσο κινηματογραφικά όσο και ιστορικά καθώς παρουσιάζει με πρωτοφανή ειλικρίνεια και ανθρωπιά την αλλοφροσύνη του Χίτλερ στις τελευταίες του στιγμές, την πίστη που είχαν σε αυτόν κάποιοι κοντινοί του συνεργάτες, το χάος και τον τρόμο […]

Ελληνική ΒικιΠαιδεία.

Το Downfall κέρδισε το βραβείο παγκοσμίου κινηματογράφου του BBC 4 και η Ελληνική ΒικιΠαιδεία χρειάζεται επειγόντως εμπλουτισμό και διορθώσεις...

The EU Patents review process restarts…

Well, go there and read this. Apparently : Brussels, 2 February 2005 – The Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (JURI) has decided with a large majority to ask the Commission for a renewed referral of the software patents directive. With only two or three votes against and one abstention, the resolution had overwhelming […]

The Imperial Institute

Once upon a time, in the place of the ‘South Kensington Campus of Imperial College London’ stood an architectural masterpiece known as ‘The Imperial Institute’. A small, yet quite revealing, sample of that work still remains in the form of the 85 metre Queen’s Tower, rising high above the ‘backyard’ of Imperial College, currently a […]

Galileo Global Positioning threatened by the US Military?

I just read this article in The Register regarding the potential effect/degradation of the Galileo Global Positioning System by the US Military; apparently they are not that happy about its 1m resolution that is to be publicly available. I sincerely hope that no such demands are accepted by the EU. Galileo is a fantastic project and it's utility to Europeans and everyone else is paramount, both in civilian and military contexts. Unfortunately, I can see how the US military is concerned about this and how they will use their military and political muscle/influence to 'convince' the EU that Galileo should be degraded to a toy-GPS.

ADSL in Greece revisited once again.

I was just about ready to go to bed when I read this transcript from a session in the Greek Parliament regarding ADSL. (it is in Greek). I thought it is time to revisit the subject. I’ve got ADSL in Greece since this summer when it was announced. I can safely say that for as […]