Friday, October 24, 2003

Witch wins government grant Of course, this award was contingent upon her not trying spells that might hurt anyone.
Check what pop-upped in federal bankruptcy court: X10 files for Chapter 11
Who says that the federal government doesn't have a sense of humor? Their move to uncover illegal immigrants working at Wal-Marts was code-named Operation Rollback. They did discover 250 in 61 stores in 21 states.
Douglas Bowman presents some fancy looking navigation using text and CSS: Sliding Doors of CSS

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Why personalization hasn't worked
I 've been overhearing a lot of people saying how much they hate our government. You know, it's easy to do when you read an article like this one: Student charged in airline box cutter scare and realize that the ineptitude of the security forces is being covered up by a serious effort to prosecute the student involved as if he were a criminal.

The real question isn't whether you prosecute this young man for a lack of judgment. It's why did it take more than a month to discover the items palnted aboard planes, and would they have evedr been discovered if he hadn't called attention to them.
Art from 200,000 years ago, by another species of humanity? Ancient carved 'faces' found
I'm not sure of the merits of this announcement, but it seems that a new method of generating electricity has been discovered: Water sparks new power source

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

This is good. Chris Miller: The Ulysses Project
The Recording Industry goofs again in pursuit of truth, justice, and the American way as the Electronic Frontier Foundation Defends an alleged filesharer.
One of the major keys to learning something new is to find a good teacher. The maxdesign folks are here for us. I'm going to squeeze in a few minutes and take their Floatutorial: Step by step CSS float tutorial
I'm going to have to rekindle my plans to put together a combination computer boot camp and holiday cruise in light of this CNN article about Execs who are tech dummies seek secret training

Saturday, October 11, 2003

EdTechPost: Matrix of some uses of blogs in education Archives
Artificial “agents” modeling complex systems
Escaping the organisation chart on your intranet
Color Symbolism
A new model for publishing scientific research, and the Public Library of Science
A close look at the lack of standards, ignorance of users needs, and a need for industry wide segment marketing in what might be called an autopsy for the Handheld Computer
Quite a bit to learn about George Orwell, and about writing in Jeffrey Meyers' article titled Orwell on writing
In the good news department - good sense strikes, and the decision to initiate a lawsuit against Princeton student by CD protection software company is dropped.
Joel on Software is carrying an excellent essay oncharacter encoding. If you build web sites, and you want to know more about what that content type tag does, it's worth a read.

Friday, October 10, 2003

Creating a Killer Product
Edgar Governo, Historian of Things That Never Were
Studies are wonderful things. Always pay attention to whom funded ones you look at. For instance, a recent study that tells us work stations with multiple monitors at each computer make for a much more efficient office. Give you one guess what the company that paid for that study manufacture.
Wharton Business school has some terrific articles, like this one on whether or not suing your customers is a good business strategy. The Henry Ford comparison is priceless.

Thursday, October 09, 2003

The world doesn't have to be homogenized for the masses. Different cultures and different people have a lot to offer America. We should seriously consider letting them do that. There's probably a lesson in the following article for the Mattel people to ponder. My expectation is that they won't. See: Muslim doll offers modest alternative to Barbie
A Brief Overview of the Linguistic Attributes of the Blogosphere (pdf)
Microsoft looking at browser injunction? Eolas files motion to enjoin IE
An excellent summary on The Eolas matter

Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Digital-rights group knocks 'trusted' PCs | CNET News.com
CNN.com - Song swappers flock to invitation-only Internet - Oct. 6, 2003
Mid Pass Filter
The Pace and Proliferation of Biological Technologies (pdf)
Addiction a handicap? Limits of disability act tested | csmonitor.com
The Deployment of VeriSign "Site Finder" and ISP Response
Court's call: Hands off VoIP | CNET News.com
Wired News: Charter: Hands Off Song Swappers
CNN.com - Study: Classical music a money magnet - Oct. 7, 2003
Linux vs. Windows Viruses
For anyone interesting in online communities, and post rating systems: kuro5hin.org || Comment Rating Changes
The FCC has been having a rough time lately: Court Rules F.C.C. Erred in Decision on Net Access
The Philly Inquirer comes clean, clearing up their confusion over Klingons and evil monomaniacal humans: Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/07/2003 | Clearing the record
A look at the antics and adventures of Elizabeth Spiers: An unlikely new source of writing talent: Blogs
Legg Mason Told to Pay Newsletter (washingtonpost.com)
Seems that there is a class (action) of people who think thatBono is fucking brilliant.
Alphapage.html - University of Maryland
Six Log: TypePad's Official Launch
CD-copy protection system said to have simple flaw
Wanted: A Legible Voting Ballot

Saturday, October 04, 2003

Boston.com / Business / Technology / Coca-Cola Unveils High-Tech Billboard
No real surprise here:

This effort sounds like an attempt to dumb down computers, and make them less of a "computer" and more of a vehicle for the offereings of big business: ZDNet UK - News - Microsoft moves to integrate Windows with BIOS
Laptops are the new recording studio: The Incredible Shrinking Studio
Cheap solar power?
Good Experience - Four Words to Improve User Research
FLASH TOY UPDATE!!!
Redskins Can Keep Trademark, Judge Rules
The Morning News - How to Write a Thank-You Note
OJR article: Copyright Issues Present Ongoing Dilemma: To Link or Not To Link? 

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

The professor is a punk
Inventor of the three-fingered salute
A boomtown rat and his daughters read together
Small Business Survival Committee | News & Features
Press release: Opera announces strategic licensing agreement with Adobe
SimpleBits | Accessible Image-Tab Rollovers
Google Frequent Searchers
FBI bypasses First Amendment to nail a hacker
I described a few months back Larry Lessig's notion about a bounty on spammers to some friends who misunderstood, and thought it was my idea. They believed I was getting militant on the subject.

I wasn't, but spam is such a pathetic business model, that you would wish all of these spammers would just find something else to do. They also need to know that people will get militant if they continue to do things like described in Wired News: Spam: This Time It's Personal
Bruce Sterling's take on technology is always worth a listen or three. So open up your ears and listen closely as he tells you about Ten Technologies That Deserve to Die
Coke to track winners by Satellite

Sunday, September 28, 2003

In the face of the US government monitoring Whisky of Mass Destruction, I'm tempted to write to the IRS and ask for a refund of my tax dollars. I don't think that is how that money was to have been spent.