4:41 PM CST     0 comments

Hehehe: Charmin

Call me silly, but I simply love that Charmin commercial with the bears visiting the proverbial woods. This site makes good use of the theme from that commercial. Mouse around a little!

[requires flash]

1:19 PM CST     0 comments

It has just occurred to me that there is one very big disadvantage to having a holiday-based design. After that holiday ends you have to come up with something new.

Damn.

9:40 AM CST     0 comments

Cool: MP3 player puts new spin on tape decks

Now this, on the other hand, is a viable melding of digital and analog sound technology. If this thing fails it won't be because of a shaky concept.

9:38 AM CST     0 comments

Unreal: Do-it-yourself broadband stereo

This guy is "too lazy" to use cds, but he'll spend several days and several hundred dollars to set up a less than fm-quality sound system? Whatever.

10:13 AM CST     0 comments

Interesting: Cost of Living comparison calculator

Apparently it is cheaper to live in Indianapolis than Evansville where I now live. That surprises me given that my salary would nearly double if I moved to Indy. Hmm.

8:53 AM CST     0 comments

Not likely: Coming Soon - Fiber to the Home

Don't get me wrong here... I'd love to see this work, but the sad fact is the math doesn't work. According to this article it will cost Winfirst $2000 up front per customer. That customer will then be offered "either a single service at an industry standard price or a combination at a discount".

Industry standard pricing for broadband internet is $30-50 per month. How many months before they recoup their $2000 investment and start making a little profit? Just because it worked for cable tv doesn't necessarily guarantee that broadband internet will follow the same adoption curve. There are a lot more tv's than computers out there.

I'd call this one a definite long shot.

8:41 AM CST     0 comments

Eep: Doomed by eBay

I literally had no idea that the "professional eBay trader" even existed. I suppose any failed plan looks silly in retrospect, but this one seemed doomed from the start. Perhaps I'm just overly cynical.

8:30 AM CST     0 comments

Sheesh: Quokka Shaky After Events Down Under

I'll never understand the stock market. Microsoft gets spanked by a trojan horse (through a known vulnerability in their own software) and gives up source to an unknown assailant. Result? Their stock jumps up 3 or 4 points. Quokka hosts a website for the Olympics that not only doesn't buckle under the strain, but actually makes people happy. Result? Their stock crashes.

I just don't get it.

1:11 PM CST     0 comments

Classic: Lego Cinema presents Monty Python's Holy Grail

This is simply wonderful. I can't begin to imagine the amount of time invested in this. The only thing that bothers me is this one:

For the life of me, I can't seem to decipher what scene this is supposed to represent. Anybody have a clue?

[link courtesy of Bryan who stole it from rebecca]

11:41 AM CST     0 comments

Odd: Just Shoot Me

So... I'm watching Just Shoot Me last week and I notice a few software boxes on a shelf behind Jack's desk. After closer inspection they turned out to be InoculateIT and Jasmine from Computer Associates. Last night that same shelf held InoculateIT again but this time it was joined by a Unicenter TNG box.

So that got me to thinking... what the hell would those boxes be doing in a CEO's office? Those are both products that would be installed and supported by an IT staff. I mean, user-oriented apps like Word or Excel I could understand, but Unicenter? Give me a break.

I have no real adversion to discrete product placement during primetime, like John Carter's Revo Sunglasses on ER last night, but let's try and keep it within the realm of possibility here. Jack can barely operate a golf club, much less "build, test and deploy an intelligent ebusiness solution".

11:07 AM CST     0 comments

Good Stuff: Coaster-Free Burning with IDE CD Writers

This article is co-written by one of my favorite tech writers, Robert Bruce Thompson. I've linked up part 1, but part 2 is available and future installments are forthcoming. If you've ever considered delving into the uncertain science that is CD burning, this is the article for you.

8:38 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Gore Wounds Self in 'Fuzzy Math' Battle

These guys should take a clue from the Daily Show and express their figures in Lira instead. It would make just about as much of an impact.

8:24 AM CST     0 comments

Blah, blah, blah: New software directs members to AOL home page

Either get a real ISP or quit whining. No... on second thought, why not try both?

2:10 PM CST     0 comments

Ugh: Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS00-072)

This would be funny if it wasn't so stupid. The vulnerability is based in the Windows 9x implementation of NetBIOS authentication. When a client requests access to a shared resource which requires a password, the host responds with a password request. This part works fine. What's stupid is that in Windows, the host allows the client to set the length of the password.

So if the client tells the host the password is only a single character then the host only validates the first character of the password. If there is a match then the host allows the client to access the shared resource. Since Windows also allows unlimited password attempts for shared resources, it becomes rather simple to write a program to crack into passworded resources. After eliminating the 'invalid' characters, you really only have to try 30 or so characters before you'll hit a match for the first character.

I'd love for someone to explain to me how things like this get coded. I really would.

8:46 AM CST     0 comments

Interesting: SDMI Challenge FAQ

This is a FAQ compiled by the researchers who may have broken the SDMI watermarks. It addresses several key questions which I had about the whole process.

8:34 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: College Crime Data Posted on Internet

One of the cardinal rules of statistics is that in order for your data to be useful it must be presented in a manner consistent with its use. In this case we have a chart which seems to indicate that San Jose State has a lower crime rate than other California colleges. What's missing is a weighted score which could be easily calculated by dividing the violation count by the size of the student body.

Sure the base counts are low, but if there are 6 motor vehicles thefts among 100 students rather than 100,000 it paints an unfair image of the school in question. This assumes that their intent was to educate rather than influence. The other, less publicized rule of statistics is that you can usually make the numbers support whatever predetermined conclusion you wish.

8:23 AM CST     0 comments

Mac OS X: As Windows as you wanna be

In the tradition of giving equal time to both sides of a debate, I offer this article from Salon. Although the tone of the piece is positive on the surface, I got a feeling the author was a bit more distressed by the interface changes than she was letting on.

8:13 AM CST     0 comments

Mmmmm: New Dell laptop doubles up on disc drives

I'll take one in Royal Purple please...

9:32 AM CST     0 comments

Odd news: Acer to bring PlayStation games to DVD players

This is certainly an odd announcement. Hardware based Playstation emulation in DVD players... and from Acer of all people. It just gets curiouser and curiouser.

9:16 AM CST     0 comments

Ok: Gore Daughter Was Joking in Capital Flub

Oh! So she's a dumbass on purpose! That makes me feel *so* much better.

9:14 AM CST     0 comments

Oops, they did it again: Windows Me knocks out DSL

"Subscribers who are tech-savvy enough can usually download the drivers for the modem they have directly from the equipment manufacturer."

Uhm... excuse me? My DSL is dead and I'm supposed to *download* new drivers? How does that work?

8:49 AM CST     0 comments

Whatever: Microsoft sallies forth with new Explorer

Microsoft's constant failures in dethroning AOL have less to do with the quality of their services and more to do with the fact they are, first and foremost , a software company. I think Marc Andreessen said it best, AOL execs never talk about software during meetings... Microsoft execs, even MSN execs talk about nothing but software. To compete with AOL Microsoft will have to change its focus from freeware and feature sets to content and community building.

I, for one, don't see that happening any time soon.

8:44 AM CST     0 comments

MoodWatch: How stupid can an e-mail program be?

Personally, I think Mr. Sussman is taking this a bit too seriously. MoodWatch is simply a throw-away feature added by Qualcomm to get press coverage. Taken as intended I'd say it succeeded.

8:31 AM CST     0 comments

Gleeming the Cube: G4 Cube & Cinema Display

John gets his hands on a maxed out G4 Cube and a 22" Cinema Display for review purposes. Nothing like a computer that costs more than a car, eh?

8:58 AM CST     0 comments

Uhm, yeah: New filter scours servers for illicit content

Maybe the Paris police would be interested in this bridge I've been trying to sell...

1:07 PM CST     0 comments

Hell Yeah: Developing the Monkey

"No lesbians... and even less talk about the Lord, Jesus Christ... just hijinks and antics the like of which you haven't seen since Mallrats"

I may not be the first in line, but I'll be damn close.

[link shamelessly pilfered from Bryan]

8:53 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Tractor Treads on Amorous Couple

Two possibilities here... either that was one quiet tractor or they were one loud couple. Take your pick.

8:50 AM CST     0 comments

Whoa: There's no computer like no computer

This is exactly what I was saying below. Any solution that makes you think about the tool is, by definition, broken.

8:45 AM CST     0 comments

Yessir: Keep the customer dissatisfied

Ahhh... a wonderfully refreshing commentary from Scott Rosenberg.

8:40 AM CST     0 comments

Uhm, no: Is the tech industry out of ideas?

There's a problem with this kind of thinking. It assumes that once the excitement dies down then the industry will die with it. This, as most people know, is pure drivel.

If you study the history of technology from the industrial revolution forward, it becomes clear that only when a technology reaches a boredom stage does it truely take root. Just think about the telephone or the microwave oven. Once everyone just accepts a device as an everyday part of their lives, that's when the technology is entrenched.

In short, less excitement is a good thing.

8:25 AM CST     0 comments

Public Service Announcement

Ok, maybe I didn't pay enough attention in Government when I was a senior. Actually... no maybe to it: I barely passed. Be that as it may, I've never really understood how the electoral college works, nor why it exists at all.

The Federal Election Commission offers an article titled How the Electoral College Works which contains the relevant points, but is a bit terse for my tastes. For a more general description try this lesson from How Stuff Works. Lastly, the lovely and talented Lynda offered up a link to a Time magazine article which discusses a few outside chances given that most folks aren't crazy about any of their options this time around.

11:07 AM CST     0 comments

IE Only: Face Generator

I've seen a few sites like this before, but this one has a dizzying array of options. Major time suck. Unfortunately you'll need IE4+ to get in on the fun.

9:43 AM CST     0 comments

Coool tech: Screen magic

Ok, I know this may be a tremendous scientific break-through and all, but... doesn't it look just like a LiteBrite?

9:36 AM CST     0 comments

Tech VisasThe scourge of Silicon Valley

I truthfully don't have enough information to decide whether H-1B or "Tech" visas are a good idea or not. What I do know is that nearly every company I've ever worked for would jump at the chance to pay less for their "labor resources". Add to that the fact that H-1B workers are generally very loyal and tireless workers and the companies are nearly salivating.

9:31 AM CST     0 comments

Who knew: NBCi president expected to resign soon

Perhaps I'm behind the curve here, but I hadn't ever even heard of NBCi until NBC started running commercials for it in prime time. There must have been twenty spots for it on last night.

Either way, it's hard to succeed when nobody knows you exist.

9:28 AM CST     0 comments

Grmpf: Technology bills fall short in Congress

Wasn't line item veto part of the republican "Contract With America" a few years back? Then why doesn't the President have it yet? This article explains the main reason why he doesn't.

3:51 PM CST     0 comments

Whoa: Astronauts Horrified as Toilet Backs Up

Horrified is perhaps too gentle a word. Can you imagine the mess something like that would make in a zero g environment?
Ugh.

10:21 AM CST     0 comments

Amazing: Rambus puts all its eggs in two baskets

Intel has finally gone on record admitting that partnering with Rambus was a mistake. Too bad consumers will be forced to wait another 6-8 months for Intel to reverse their engineering and revert to using SDRAMs. Perhaps by that time the P4 will be faster than the P3.

10:13 AM CST     0 comments

Silly: Massachusetts takes step toward requiring college laptops

Let's sidestep the argument over whether it is even beneficial for students to have laptops. Let's just concentrate on the math for a second. This bill sets up $54 million for laptops and there are 176,000 students.

That works out to just over $300 per laptop or roughly 20% of the actual cost. Even if you assume you are giving laptops to just the 30% of students who don't have a computer already, that's still only $1000 per unit. Who makes up the difference?

9:40 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Web browser offers incognito surfing

This seems like an interesting idea, but from a technical standpoint it's really not feasible. As long as their user count stays reasonable low things are going to work fine, but there is going to be a point where there won't be enough resources in the world to serve secure connections to that many people.

The other thing that interests me is how their software can block cookies "set by online profilers for tracking purposes", but allow "electronic tags if used for the purpose of remembering a password or personal preferences". It would seem to me that distinguishing one from the other would be nearly impossible.

9:35 AM CST     0 comments

RDF Alert: Despite woes, Jobs promises faster chips, cheaper Cubes

"Most of the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive."

Hmm... that certainly hasn't been my impression. Most of what I've read so far is decidedly negative. Admittedly, the reviews I've seen of the OSX Public Beta have all been from the standpoint of an entrenched Mac user. It's likely that if someone from the *nix world were to review the UI, things might be a little different.

Even if that is the case and Appl eis courting the *nix set, I think it's a huge mistake for Apple to discard its loyal Mac following in the process.

1:54 PM CST     0 comments

Whoa: NatureServe - An Online Encyclopedia of Life

I can't imagine the labor required to produce such a resource. Unfortunately it's of little use for the casual user because you must know the name of the plant or animal you are looking up.

What would really be cool is a quesion and answer site that would narrow down the search results. Things like "does your plant have thorns?" or "how many berries are on a single stem?"

1:07 PM CST     0 comments

Genius: BNL Music

"If you think of her as Catherine the Great then you should be the horse to help her meet her fate."

Go Home by Bare Naked Ladies

12:13 PM CST     0 comments

Hehehe: New Website Probes Paranormal Activity in Trailer Parks

"I don't know whut it wuz... me and Wilbur were just sittin' on the deevan watchin' Jerry when we heard this noise. Sounded like a coon bangin' aroun' in a haf' empty feed jug! So wilbur, he grabs his 40-40 from the coffee table and shoots out the back door t'ward the hog lot. I reckon that did it cuz we ain't heard hide nor tail of it since."

11:57 AM CST     0 comments

Buq Alert: Underground targets MS server flaw

If you run IIS4 or IIS5 you need this patch. It's unbelievable this exploit has been around so long and was never reported on.

11:48 AM CST     0 comments

Ugh: Chip Implants

Although there are beneficial uses for such technology, I can't help but imagine its possible abuses as well.

10:08 AM CST     0 comments

Historical Sims: isometric screenshots

This is kinda cool.

[link courtesy of Ars Technica]

9:08 AM CST     0 comments

Exactly: This music will self destruct in 5 plays

The last two paragraphs of this article express exactly what I was trying to say last week.

8:54 AM CST     0 comments

Finally: Pop the cork on broadband bottlenecks

I'll be interested to see if this model can be supported outside of a metro area. The wire cost might simply be too high for more sub-urban applications.

8:44 AM CST     0 comments

Whoa: 'The Garage' Sold for $1.7 Million

They really are going back to The Garage. Wicked.

8:39 AM CST     0 comments

Cool: Dream machine

It's interesting to see that there's a productive use for Tetris getting stuck in your head.

8:36 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Gnutella Development Gnotted

What's wrong with Gnutella? Depending on who you talk to it could be everything or nothing. The real answer, as is generally the case, lies somewhere in between.

The biggest hurdle I've seen when dealing with Gnutella is the slow response from peers using modem access. What needs to happen (if it hasn't already) is that each peer needs to be assigned a weight based upon connection speed and cpu load. When a query is generated it would start with a very high weight. If a peer receives a query with a weight higher than its own it simply passes it on to its peers which have a higher weight. Each negative response from a high speed peer (i.e. one with a high weight) would lower the weight value of the query itself.

This scheme effectively removes slower peers from the pool until all of the high speed peers have been eliminated from the search. The query would start with the peers which are able to respond fastest and work its way down the chain. This also improves the chances of connecting to a high speed peer for the download phase.

1:56 PM CST     0 comments

Amen: 3-D or not 3-D that is the question

I've been trying to get this point across for years. If I want to see a display of pretty Flash animation, I'll go to a site which specializes in entertaining me. When I want to buy something I want to 1) find it fast, 2) read more about it, 3) see a picture if applicable, 4) buy it with minimum download time.

I recently bought some CD's from Columbia House to fulfill my membership agreement. Putting things in my cart wasn't horribly slow, just slightly below par for such sites. But then after filling out the ship to address, credit card, etc. I clicked "Submit" and it sat. And sat. And sat. I could tell it was downloading something because the traffic indicator in the system try was simply going like mad.

After twenty minutes I decided to find something to eat. At around the 35 minute mark it finished. It had downloaded 7MB to display a simple "this is what you bought" page. Since I wanted to print a copy for my records, I clicked print. 45 minutes and another 7MB download later it printed. All I can figure is that their graphic files must have been 1200dpi, because the printed output was not nearly as jagged as most web pages.

Anyway, my point was that just because you can make things complicated is not a reason to do so.

8:46 AM CST     0 comments

Woo: Ease Up on the Gas, Highway Patrol Told

Is this really what we want? Naked, Xeroxless policemen with extra time on their hands?

8:43 AM CST     0 comments

Ugh: Web Site Offers Women Fertility Alerts by Phone

"Hello! Welcome to Ovumphone!"

8:28 AM CST     0 comments

Surprise: SDMI cracked!

Oh well.

8:24 AM CST     0 comments

Hehehe: Amazon Tastes Its Own Patent-Pending Medicine

Isn't it ironic? Doncha think?

4:21 PM CST     0 comments

Oops: Want toys? Amazon gives you dildos and Disney

I suppose this is one of the drawbacks Amazon critics have been talking about. hehehe

2:13 PM CST     0 comments

I've started using the bathroom next door.

Our office has one unisex bathroom. (Before you start thinking we're all enlightened and Ali McBealesque, let me clarify by saying that, while it is unisex, there is also only a single toilet and thus it is a single occupancy environment.) There are currently a minimum of 25 employees here for an eight hour shift on any given day. For the sake of argument I'm going to say everyone uses the bathroom four times a day.

So let's do the math:

25 people X 4 times per day = 100 bathroom visits
8 hour shift / 100 visits = 12.5 visits per hour
60 mins per hour/12.5 visits = 4.8 mins per visit

The thing that really kills us is that our office population is barely 25% male. So... I've starting walking next door and it's simply done wonders for my morale.

1:54 PM CST     0 comments

Whoa: Singer IZEK System

Ok... not everyone needs or wants a sewing machine driven by a Gameboy. What intrigues me about this idea is that it could be used in any number of situations where you need and inexpensive yet powerful CPU. Think about it... the game boy has a CPU, a reasonable amount of RAM, cartridge-based software for durability, a well documented operating system, and a built in communications port with basic network capabilities.

Singer most likely saved millions of dollars by starting with the Gameboy rather than designing their own single-use processor for this project. I'm impressed.

[link courtesy of zannah lannah ding dong]

12:03 PM CST     0 comments

[clarification of previous post]

After re-reading the below post, I can see where someone might assume I condone piracy. This is certainly not the case. I think anyone who has ever been in a position to receive income based upon software sales will tell you how big an issue piracy really is.

My point in the below post was that Microsoft has written its End User License Agreement (EULA) in such a manner as to make nearly every computer user a "pirate". They did not do this to curtail piracy by the Hong Kong duplicators, but to restrict the activities of its paying customers. If that's not the very definition of monopoly, then it should be.

10:51 AM CST     0 comments

Blah, blah: Microsoft makes nice with pirates

"Microsoft is committed to helping our customers avoid the risks of the illegal software," says Julia Phillpot, anti-piracy manager for Microsoft.

Yeah. It's all about the consumers. Uncle Bill weeps each time he thinks about one of his precious flock being denied tech support.

Give me a break.

10:34 AM CST     0 comments

IT bites: Cubicle Blues Blamed on IT

"So the network can't ever go down -- not for a minute, the server can't ever get overloaded, and all software installations must be swift and glitchless. And every manager has suddenly discovered their 'inner nerd,' or so they think. For me, IT has gone from a fun gig to incessant grinding aggravation."

Amen. Preach on brother.

10:28 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Yahoo promotes its own stock plunge on messenger

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls..."

4:43 PM CST     0 comments

Wow: Ask Tog Home Page

This page is run by Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini and is simply chock full of helpful interface design articles. Bruce was apparently involved in developing the standards espoused in The Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines at Apple. Not only is the content highly useful, it's also quite humorous at times.

[link courtesy of /usr/interface/goddess Ceej]

10:44 AM CST     0 comments

Ugh: FCC Seeks to Pressure TV Stations to Go Digital

I'm a big supporter of digital TV. I do not, however, support such heavy-handed legislation. The FCC is in danger of creating a broadcasting environment where only the rich can afford to receive TV service.

It's madness to assume that legislation will force manufacturers of digital-capable sets to sell them below cost. What would likely happen is that manufacturers would halt production which would lower viewing percentages, which leads to less advertiser income, which eventually kills "free" TV completely.

10:34 AM CST     0 comments

You don't say: AOL Restrictions Alleged

Is anyone surprised by this? Anyone? Bueller?

10:32 AM CST     0 comments

Well, well: Microsoft's funny money

It looks like the anti-trust case had some effect after all. Granted, it's not what most pundits had in mind when they considered possible outcomes of the trial.

10:28 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Net policy critic elected to Web names organization

It's kind of funny that ICANN is spending all this time with elections and such. When it comes down to it Network Solutions will likely ignore any changes ICANN attempts to make. The way I understand it, unless the courts rule that Network Solutions doesn't own its database, ICANN can only make suggestions not dictate changes.

12:10 PM CST     0 comments

Reference: Restoring Databases

[note to self]

This is a good article about SQL backup and restore for later study.

9:37 AM CST     0 comments

Cool: MS submits to Digital Divas

It's good to see the little guys win one.

9:21 AM CST     0 comments

That smell: Motorola demands your consumer data

Man, this stinks. It reminds me of the good old days of Apple Education sales. As long as a computer store operator was willing to invest in having a well-trained staff Apple would allow that vendor to sell Apple hardware to schools. This arrangement benefited the schools, by providing a local resource for service and support, the vendor, who could sell a reasonalby exclusive product line, and Apple itself, who nearly locked down schools nation-wide.

Then, as always seems to happen, Apple decided that the vendor wasn't really necessary and started selling directly to schools. Because the prices were lower, the schools didn't object initially. By the time school officials figured out that their local vendor wouldn't support then anymore it was too late. As a result schools started looking elsewhere and Apple lost its most profitable sales sector.

This, of course, was long before the internet, but it stands as an object lesson for any big company who thinks they don't need troops in the field.

9:09 AM CST     0 comments

Woo: Amazon's Bezos: We're not flawed

I don't really have anything to say about this article. I was just caught off-guard by that picture of Bezos... talk about Manson lamps.

8:58 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: The Mojo solution

This is just crazy enough it may actually work. I particularly like the idea that the busiest sources earn the most Mojo for their investment of storage and processing power. That's one of the major problems with Gnutella is that there is little impetus to share files from your machine. This model solves that issue and a few more besides.

8:51 AM CST     0 comments

Ick: Travel sites aim discounts at first-timers

This is going to get much worse before it gets better. I can see these sites wanting to earn new customers, but earning them at the risk of losing repeat business is a fool's game.

1:46 PM CST     0 comments

Facinating: Social Customs and Cultural Differences

I stole this link from zannah who swiped it from Anita. It's simply too interesting to pass up.

You simply must read it. I had no idea our lives were so complicated. I can't imagine how unsettling changing your behaviors so drastically would be.

1:14 PM CST     0 comments

Sigh: JournalCon 2000

Everyone who hasn't already left is leaving for JournalCon today. Somebody raise a pint for me, okay? I'll be there in spirit.

9:33 AM CST     0 comments

Whoa: NASCAR UAW-GM 500 on TBS

This is the best news I've heard all week. TBS is going to use 'picture-in-picture' technology to provide NASCAR fans with the first flag to flag coverage of a race ever broadcast. I fervently hope that this experiment becomes standard practice for next year's season.

9:14 AM CST     0 comments

Hehehe: Timex Sinclair 1000 back from the dead

This is too funny. I'm sure they will sell their entire inventory though. Geeks love techaeology.

8:45 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Please Don't Call Us PC

Is the PC dead? Not as dead as some folks seem to think. There's a tremendous proclivity in this industry to ask what the top 5% want and then attempt to force that solution on the entire computing community.

It's like Microsoft saying DOS is dead. When you look at how the top 5% use their computers then it's easy to come to that conclusion. The real picture is a bit murkier. In the insurance industry, for instance, I would estimate more than 75% of the software used for rate calculation is DOS based. That number is declining, yes, but it will be a good long time before everyone jumps on the Windows bandwagon.

There are plenty of other examples of areas where DOS is a much more stable and lower cost alternative to Windows. The same could be said for PCs. Even if Gateway isn't making PCs in five years, there will still be a need for them for a long time to come.

8:32 AM CST     0 comments

Yep: Is Cube all it's cracked up to be?

"Those look like cracks to me, Bob."

8:30 PM CST     0 comments

Woo: Barenaked Ladies

More BNL links that you can shake a stick at!

9:33 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Give us MacOS X or give us death, Intel users demand

If anyone believes Apple doesn't already have OSX running on Intel boxes in-house, then I have a bridge you might be interested in. Jobs, regardless of his shortcomings, never forgets a lesson learned. NeXT eked out a few years by putting OpenStep on Intel and doing it well.

Apple is perhaps waiting for the timing to be right before announcing a release. Given their classic mis-steps in the past, they will likely wait too long and their thunder will be stolen yet again.

9:26 AM CST     0 comments

Silly: ISP gets mad with 'abnormal' users

What part of 'unlimited' don't these guys understand? If you want to run an ISP that limits people to a fixed amount of time online then do it like AOL did. Don't pussyfoot around and blame your network's deficiencies on users who take 'unlimited' at face value.

8:55 AM CST     0 comments

Bravo: County Bans Driving and Talking

Widespread adoption of such policies can't happen fast enough for my tastes.

8:53 AM CST     0 comments

Yeah, right: Red Hat invented open source

...and Al Gore invented the internet.

8:49 AM CST     0 comments

Ugly: Sega wants to silence advice on hacker sites

What a lot of people don't understand is why console makers like Sega and Sony get so riled up about piracy. Most people feel that even if you copy a few games that you still have to buy the console itself, so no harm no foul. The problem is that Sega, Sony, et al don't make any money off their hardware, in fact they most often lose money on every unit they sell. It's called subsidizing. Sony has said they will lose several billion dollars when they launch the PlayStation2 this fall.

Anyway, the point I was endeavoring to make here is that Sega can contuinue to exist only if they receive royalties from game sales. If everyone continues to pirate games eventually there won't be any more new games to pirate. I'm certainly not a Sega fan by any means, but having a three horse race, even as lopsided as it has been, has been really beneficial to the industry as a whole.

Damn... I guess I had more to say than I thought.

3:11 PM CST     0 comments

Worthy: Tetra2000 Custom Wallpapers

Although it suffers a bit from casting its categories toward a UK audience, this site has a wide variety of wallpapers. Some of which I hadn't seen a million times before.

9:00 AM CST     0 comments

Odd: FBI releases first Carnivore data

I fail to see why these documents were even released. If this article paints an accurate picture of the document content, then the FBI would have been better off not releasing anything.

8:54 AM CST     0 comments

Eh: Is the SDMI boycott backfiring?

There must be something I'm missing regarding the SDMI 'watermarking' system. My understanding was that their equipment embeds an inaudible digital pattern into the music so that SMDI-compliant players can either allow or disallow playing of the tracks. MP3 compression technology works, at least in part, by *removing* sound in the inaudible ranges.

The more you crank up the compression, the more 'sound' you lose. So it seems to me that once an SMDI protected track was converted to a digital file (e.g. .WAV) and compressed to an MP3 the watermark would be completed obliterated. Since SMDI equipment will have to be able to play older CD's it would be close to impossible to detect these 'cleansed' tracks from older unprotected tracks.

12:08 PM CST     0 comments

Daaaamn: Earthlink whacks game fan with $24,000 bandwidth fine

I feel sorry for this guy, but really... he had to know that if even a handful of folks downloaded his 45MB movie that he would exceed his 500MB limit. Speaking of which, don't most ISPs just shut down your account when you exceed your transfer limit? Or at the very least warn you? Sheesh.

12:04 PM CST     0 comments

Hehehe: Fake Durons tip up in Taiwan

"I don't think adults should have to constantly rearrange their lives because of what kids and stupid people might do."

-- Bill Maher

11:58 AM CST     0 comments

Woo: Microsoft cans open source NTFS threats

Color me surprised. I really expected Microsoft to take TRG to court, even if it would have been extremely hypocritical of them. They perhaps couldn't risk losing their only link to NDS integration.

Regardless of their motives, this decision will benefit managers mixed-platform networks far into the future.

8:57 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: House gives privacy patrol thumbs down

So let me get this straight... $5-million for 17 people over 18 months? It's no wonder the bill failed. Why not round up a group of bums and pay them a buck a day? You'd end up with the same results.

8:49 AM CST     0 comments

Uh-oh: Chip sales climb 53% to hit record high

So chip sales are through the roof and Intel is issuing warnings of a "slow quarter"? The times they are a-changin'.

8:46 AM CST     0 comments

Thttpt: Microsoft invests $135 million in ailing Corel

Perhaps now Microsoft will have some decent image editing applications. More likely Corel will produce a mediocre version of the Word Perfect suite for .NET and keep the feds off of Microsoft's hide. It's sort of like those little birds that ride on a rhino's back... there's no illusions on either side about who is in control, but both sides benefit in the long run.

8:41 AM CST     0 comments

Ars Technica: Mac OS X Beta

John Siracusa runs down exactly what the latest itineration in the OSX saga includes and what was left out or bunged up. The article itself is quite long, but certainly worth scanning for the Mac or NeXT enthusiast.