9:18 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Child's birthday party ends in adult brawl in Pembroke Pines

And to think someone once tried to convince me that there were no rednecks in Florida.

[link courtesy of The Obscure Store]

9:03 AM CST     0 comments

Bzzzap: Use Lasers to Connect Homes

The big problem with light-based transmissions is that they require line-of-sight between each communication point in the network. Trees, telephone poles, signage, and more often provide huge headaches when attempting a line-of-sight connection. Weather is also a big issue.

That said, it's still pretty cool stuff.

8:54 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: 8:47 AM CST     0 comments

Ugh: US pulverized as appeals court denounces Judge Jackson

Will this trial never end? It's gone from moot to ridiculous.

8:42 AM CST     0 comments

More: Gilmore, Hedrick differ on anti-CPRM gameplan

I tend to fall more toward the Hendrick side of this argument. As I said previously storage device manufacturers will stop at nothing to gain a foothold in the DRM arena. It's nice to know that not *everyone* has their head up their ass on this issue.

4:35 PM CST     0 comments

Pimp: Grayscale

There's a brief journal update for those who remain interested.

1:41 PM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Absolute Zero

Does the female lead in this little movie remind anyone else of the lovely and talented digiFox? Maybe it's just the hair, but I swear those shoes look familiar too. Regardless, it's worth a look if you have a few minutes to spare. (requires flash)

[thanks to Goatee Style for the link]

8:40 AM CST     0 comments

w00t: Nvidia GeForce 3 is go

Fully anti-aliased Quake III at 1024x768 in 32-bit colour runs to over 70fps

Damn. That's pretty fast.

8:36 AM CST     0 comments

Ick: ISPs asked to unplug Napster clones

"It's a bit like calling the phone company and saying that one of your customers is making phone calls and telling secrets about everybody, so we want you to turn off his phone service."

Yes it is. The difference is that a judge is likely to understand how a telephone works and understand that the injunction request being made is ridiculous. With Napster and it's ilk, that is certainly far less likely to be the case. From what's happened in the courts so far it's blindingly obvious that all the RIAA has to do is show the *possibility* of copyright infringement and the judge toes their line.

Until the courts are staffed with people who are able to understand new technologies, such travesties will continue. Having "expert witnesses" talk to the court has proven it be completely ineffective. The experts must reside on the bench before things will change.

8:26 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Napster alternative - hack people's hard drives

This could be really big if it takes off. I suppose it's bitter medicine for the folks who have accidentally created an open share on their system, but in the long run this just may force Microsoft to address the inherent flaws in NetBEUI's security model. And that, as they say, would be a Good Thing.

4:21 PM CST     0 comments

Whoa: Washington CEO

Josh's boss is certainly hardcore, isn't he?

9:23 AM CST     0 comments

Woo: File not found!

One of the best 404's I've ever seen. Truly brilliant.

9:00 AM CST     0 comments

Duh: Group to issue standards for bigger Web ads

These cretins seem to believe that the reason people don't click on ads is because they can't see them. They feel that making an ad roughly three times the size of the article it's embedded in will "revitalize" the internet advertising market. This whole thing has the stench of a dying industry all over it.

What's really sad is that people will eventually get used to the new size and shape of these ads and mentally screen them out just like the old banners. If this cycle continues, we will be left with nearly unusable news sites. It may even force people to start reading newspapers again and that would be the biggest irony of all.

8:33 AM CST     0 comments

Silly: Ssh! Don't use that trademark

I guess this would be an inopportune moment to mention that I own a trademark on the word "proxy"? Give me a break.

8:17 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: MSN to charge for portal content?

Yeah. That'll work.

8:15 AM CST     0 comments

w00t: The Jakob Nielsen Drinking Game

Such beauty leaves me speechless.

12:18 PM CST     0 comments

Update: plaintive wail

For anyone who hasn't checked recently (like, say, me) Stee is back to semi-regular updates.

11:22 AM CST     0 comments

Fang you very much: Spike hits the web

If you can resist the urge to skip the flash intro, take a look at the clock. I can understand why it might be running backward, what with vampires being immortal and all, but why would the minute hand continue to move forward as the hour hand moves back? I'm completely stumped.

10:11 AM CST     0 comments

Uhm, yeah: I can Dance if I want to!

Make Paul get jiggy wit it. An interesting, if frivolous, use of flash. I particularly like the addition of backup dancers to his "posse".

10:04 AM CST     0 comments

Stupid people: Car Thief Gets Baby Into the Bargain

As far as I'm concerned people this stupid deserve everything that happens to them. My only regret is that the baby will likely be subjected to such stupidity for the rest of her life. Nobody deserves such a fate.

9:46 AM CST     0 comments

Spin control: UPS software delivers a surprise to your browser

"Features" like these are driven almost exclusively the marketing people within an organization. Now that customers are upset, the PR people blame it all on the programmers. I can almost 100% guarantee that at some point a programmer protested adding this feature and was shot down by his management.

I see this sort of thing everyday, but it never fails to irk me.

9:36 AM CST     0 comments

w00t: 'Automatic Professor Machine' Is Unveiled

Yet again life imitates fiction.

"Very good. You may now press the button..."

9:26 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Napster case triggers record industry moves

Regardless of how fruitful their actions may prove to be, the RIAA seems to still believe that they can sue everyone involved in the free trade of music. I'm having difficulties believing that they are that naive. My guess is that they are fully aware they are spitting in the ocean, as it were, but are hoping against hope that if they scare enough people that the problem will just go away.

9:07 AM CST     0 comments

Sheesh: Lookout for major Outlook bug

All those poor long-suffering Outlook users... it's a shame really. Perhaps someone should mention Eudora to them?

2:09 PM CST     0 comments

Deja vu: To Hell With Bad Browsers

hmm... where have I seen something like this before? Once again Lance proves himself to be far ahead of the bleating horde.

9:32 AM CST     0 comments

Uh, oh: Microsoft said to mull sale of Corel stake

This could be very bad news for Corel. Microsoft's sell off could be interpreted as a loss of confidence by investors and Corel's stock could plummet even farther.

9:14 AM CST     0 comments

w00t: IBM withdraws CPRM for hard drives proposal

This is certainly good news, but I don't think it's any cause to relax. Manufacturers are all clamoring to become the standard provider for digital rights management (DRM). They know that whoever can deliver an effective and inexpensive DRM solution which is acceptable to the public will be granted the lion's share of a very lucrative market segment.

Just because this particular DRM proposal has been withdrawn doesn't mean the fight is over. It's merely a minor battle in the larger war.

8:59 AM CST     0 comments

Whoa: Why the proposed Napster settlement won't fly

Jon "Hannibal" Stokes from Ars Technica explains why he thinks the RIAA will shoot down Napster's latest settlement offer. Unfortunately, I can't really rebut any of his points.

12:44 PM CST     0 comments

Awww, yeah: Metababy

Now I know ya'll be lovin this shit right here...
M.E.T.A. baby is right here.

9:36 AM CST     0 comments

Uhm, yeah: Squirrel Fishing

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

9:33 AM CST     0 comments

Cool: firebox.com

1. Take equal parts of ThinkGeek and The X Show


2. shake vigorously


3. enjoy

8:51 AM CST     0 comments

w00t: Napster's $1 billlion gambit

A service allowing limited numbers of downloads per month would likely cost between $2.95 and $4.95 per month, while an unlimited download service would likely cost $5.95 to $9.95, Barry said.

That's a lot cheaper than I expected. I assumed they would need at least $30/month. Hmmm.

8:43 AM CST     0 comments

Damn: Can John Doe Stay Anonymous?

Yet another instance of a case being dropped to avoid setting a legal precedent.

11:03 AM CST     0 comments

Interesting: Gigabeat Gigaspirals

This is pretty cool. Drop in the name of your favorite artist or even just a favorite song and the site displays a gigaspiral. The closer a band/song is to the middle of the spiral the more likely you are to like it.

What I really like is that the top of the spiral is made up of famous groups whereas the bottom shows lesser known acts. Most of these "we think you'll like" sites just show popular groups and ignore a lot of good bands. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I dig the concept regardless.

8:38 AM CST     0 comments

Ack: Get ready for IM spam!

Ah, well... AIM and ICQ were fun while they lasted.

8:37 AM CST     0 comments

XBah: Speed Is Name of Game With Xbox

Every time I read an article about the Xbox the author seems surprised that Microsoft is having any success. Make no mistake, friends and neighbors, Microsoft is doing it's damnedest to avoid the 3.0 curse which has dogged it through product after product. Microsoft wants control of your living room and is willing to take a potentially huge loss on the hardware to do it.

I look at it this way... the market for new PCs is dropping off because most people are fairly happy with what they have. The .NET "software as a service" idea sounds good, but will take years to get off the ground if it ever makes it out of the chute. That leaves Microsoft with a reasonably large "revenue gap" in between.

Wouldn't Xbox, and more importantly UltimateTV, fit wonderfully into that gap?

8:23 AM CST     0 comments

Uhm, no: Microsoft struts into Net security market

That's ok, Bill. I believe I'll shop elsewhere for a firewall.

In all fairness, even if the Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server did turn out to be the most secure firewall on the planet, any small vulnerability would instantly be published to script kiddies world wide. Microsoft is simply has too high a profile to be in the security biz.

That said, if they ship it as part of Blackcomb then it's likely to be quite popular regardless of it's security. People love free schtuff.

8:16 AM CST     0 comments

Splash: The Liquid PC

The Reg takes a shot at demystifying the installation of a water-based cooling system for your CPU. It seems rather risky to me given that the performance is only marginally better than a standard heatsink.

6:48 PM CST     0 comments

RIP: Earnhardt dies following Daytona 500 accident

Dale was more than just a great driver, he was a great man. My heart goes out to his family and to his team. It just won't be the same without the black number 3 out there.

We'll miss you, Dale.

9:21 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Motorist Who Knocked Girl Down Wins Stress Damages

Overall a throw-away story, but I thought this was priceless:

"he was unable to run his scaffolding business, which collapsed"

9:01 AM CST     0 comments

w00t: BattleBots.com

Not only is Battle Bots a cool show, their website uses Adobe SVG to deliver flash-like animation, but with far less overhead than Flash. Read more at C|Net.

8:53 AM CST     0 comments

Finally: Senator Hatch rides to Napster's rescue

I've long been a fan of Mr. Hatch mostly because he seems to try to gain some understanding of how the laws Congress makes affect real people. I applaud his latest statements on the matter. I don't think anyone believes that Napster-style exchange of copyrighted material could continue indefinitely, nor should it.

The real struggle is arriving at a compromise that doesn't tip the balance to far in favor of the copyright holders or the public either one. Right now the public has the upper hand. Soon the copyright holders may end up with a complete lock on digital media and thus eliminate the fundamental usage rights of consumers. Neither direction will end up benefiting anyone in the long term.

[update: there's an even better article at Wired]

8:44 AM CST     0 comments

Schweet: PC upgrade board makes mobos 'obsolete'

This is a really cool idea. The article doesn't do a very good job of explaining how the upgrade works though. I'd link Hypertec's website if it was working, but it's not.

To upgrade using this card all you have to do is disconnect the hard drive, floppy drive, and power supply from the old mother board and reconnect them to the upgrade card. The old processor, RAM, etc. stay in the machine, but aren't actually used. The upgrade card replaces the functionality found in all the old separate components.

It's a bit wasteful for the individual user, but I can certainly see an advantage to enterprise shops. Popping in one of these upgrade cards would take somewhere around 15 minutes, whereas a more traditional mother board upgrade might take more than an hour per machine. That's a huge time savings and time, as they say, is money.

8:29 AM CST     0 comments

Ack: How MS plans to dominate digital music sales

This article has a much more in-depth preview of Microsoft's Secure Audio Path (SAP). I personally find the prospect quite repugnant, but as the article states we will only be able to delay the inevitable not stop it from happening. If music companies are allowed to progress unchecked, we will eventually have a pay-per-play system and consumers will have a "music bill" to pay each month.

4:52 PM CST     0 comments

Mm, mm, good: Life Serial

Perhaps if we are all good boys and girls we'll grow up to be half as entertaining as Lance. It's not likely, but a nice dream nonetheless.

Oh, and by the way, my next band is going to be called "Better Than Carl". Priceless.

2:19 PM CST     0 comments

Woo: /usr/bin/girl

Happy Birthday, zannah!

May you never lie, cheat, or drink. But if you must lie, lie in each other's arms. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink with all of us because we love you.

11:32 AM CST     0 comments

Heh. I used 'patently' in the previous post without noticing the (quite obvious) pun. I apologize to those with delicate sensibilities who might have found this disturbing.

8:56 AM CST     0 comments

Good grief: Barnesandnoble clips Amazon in ruling over '1-click'

It's patently incomprehensible that this case is still going on. This is a perfect example of how our courts are failing to support the high tech industry. By the time a decision is made the market has moved on to bigger and better things, rendering the decision moot.

8:49 AM CST     0 comments

Whoa: FEED Video Games 2001

The Carl plays Quake? You could knock me over with a feather.

8:46 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: XP Just Another Apple Clone?

"We did not steal any ducks from Apple," he said.

That is the best Microsoft quote in years. Pure gold, baby.

8:39 AM CST     0 comments

Uhm: Microsoft readies "Hailstorm" against AOL

It seems to me that this headline sort of misses the point. Microsoft is aiming a lot higher than just unseating AIM. A truly robust and secure messaging platform would be quite a boon to developers. It's unfortunate "robust" and "secure" are traditionally two of Microsoft's weaker points.

8:29 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: ICANN explains 'thinking' behind top domain decisions

If the quality of the application didn't matter, then the question then becomes what, exactly, did matter to ICANN? I suppose just the privilege of paying $50K and making a three-minute pitch should have been good enough for anyone. Remember when everyone was still optimistic about how cool ICANN was going to be? *sigh*

8:21 AM CST     0 comments

Sniff: AOL lays out legal defence over version 5.0 class actions

Anybody else smell an out-of-court settlement? If it's not dismissed early on, AOL certainly won't risk actually losing this case. Setting a legal precedent would forever damage the viability of their market as a whole.

8:58 AM CST     0 comments

Woo: Rent-A-Relative - The best in surrogates and stand-ins

Product or parody? You decide.

8:48 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Customs Officers Pounce on Smuggled Panties

Pounce. Heh.

8:39 AM CST     0 comments

Urgh: Start-up's technology puts new face on e-mail

Ok... I've had it. E-mail vendors listen up and listen good. I want *text* e-mail. No colors. No fonts. No chili peppers or voices or Sims characters. Just plain fixed-width text.

Why is that so frelling hard to understand?

8:32 AM CST     0 comments

Taps: Deja UI too costly to save

It looks like Deja diehards will have to start getting their usenet fix elsewhere. It's a shame, but I can see where Google is coming from. Then again, I never used Deja, so I'm probably not the best person to analyse the Google effect.

2:49 PM CST     0 comments

Shudder: Let Me Talk To A Supervisor!

This is an absolutely fabulous article about the world of tech support. If you've called for support, but never been in a job providing it, please read this. I've had honey dippers tell me they'd never work tech support again.

11:15 AM CST     0 comments

Whatever: Cyberspace Taking the 'Sneak' Out of Sneak Previews

The real problem is not websites leaking information. The real problem is that about 95% of new movies just suck. Hiding that fact from the public until enough people have seen the movie is the key for Hollywood.

11:12 AM CST     0 comments

Ick: Windows XP Can Secure Music

"Where the consumer would know something is going on is if they don't use a trusted soundcard," said Gary Schare

I'm sure Microsoft will come up with an equitable way to assign "trusted" status to sound card manufacturers with no strings attached. Uhm, yeah, and monkeys might fly out my butt.

10:36 AM CST     0 comments

w00t: Doom, Marathon back from the gaming grave

A pity this is just for the Mac. I'd love to try OpenGL Doom.

10:19 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Maxtor in disk mounting spindle shake-up

Ah, memories... this reminds me of the good old days when you had to run a PARK utility on your drive before moving the machine.

1:36 PM CST     0 comments

I've started using two browser windows when I'm reading blogs. I use the first one for normal blogs and the second for blogs infected with the blogVoices virus. That way even though it takes five to ten minutes for blogVoices to load, I can still be happily reading in the other window.

I'm left to assume that this performance issue is caused by something on my machines. If not, then why would anyone even consider using blogVoices? Inquiring minds want to know.

8:42 AM CST     0 comments

Ick: The Napster parasites

Tell me again why we need marketers?

8:37 AM CST     0 comments

Uhm: BlueLight to drop free ISP business

"The free unlimited model is dead," said BlueLight.com spokesman Dave Karraker.

Was it ever alive?

8:35 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Yahoo auction observers see dive after fees start

This seems a little iffy to me. I can see charging a nominal fee when an item is sold, but a listing fee doesn't seem particularly fruitful. It seems like Yahoo is just trying to pull the plug on it's auction business without appearing to be the bad guy.

10:38 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: The Joy of Tech

Cute.

10:22 AM CST     0 comments

Whoa: Sega president goes mad

Talk about paying the piper. Ouch.

9:55 AM CST     0 comments

Cool Tech: Floppies Are Not Dead

I like this idea, but I agree completely with the guy quoted in the article. Unless this new format proves to be just as stable as the 1.44 format, then I doubt the drive will be met with much success. I also agree with his opinion of zip disks. They're great for quickly transferring a file between two systems, but not so great for actually *storing* data.

9:44 AM CST     0 comments

Still sick, but at least I'm at work today. It remains to be seen if I will be at all productive.

4:44 PM CST     0 comments

Ungh. It looks as though I'm getting sick again. Hopefully this time it will pass quicker and with less delirium.

[wanders off to find medicine]

9:50 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: The Scary Baby Conspiracy

I think the domain name says it all.

9:34 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Woman who poisoned boss' soda says she wasn't trying to kill him

Further proof that life imitates fiction.

[link courtesy of The Obscure Store]

9:10 AM CST     0 comments

Not bad: Intel's Grove calls for high-tech tax break

While it's true that Andy might have an ulterior motive for his request, it is very true that small to mid-sized businesses would benefit tremendously by making an investment in technology. A lot of the offices I visit these days are still running 486's or sub-200MHz Pentiums. The more advanced ones have Windows 9x, most are still running Windows 3.1 under DOS. Internet access is almost always via modem and more often than not via AOL.

The tech revolution is leaving Mom and Pop behind. A tax incentive could certainly help even the odds a bit.

9:00 AM CST     0 comments

Sheesh: MS Users May Experience Pain

This is getting silly. I was under the impression that once a Activation Key was generated for your PC that it could be used to install the software any number of times one that *one* machine. It looks like I was mistaken. Micrsoft apparently will require users to call for a new activation code each time they reinstall the software. Can you imagine the phone system required to support such a system? Not to mention the labor overhead.

What's doubly silly is that anyone who is really costing Microsoft money (i.e. mass reproduction plants) will just bypass the activation scheme entirely. That just leaves you and me dealing with the madness. In the end, the true definition of copy protection is proven once again.

8:49 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Amazon to charge for book promotions

This move could lead Amazon into profitablility. It's likely, however, that publishers will want real results for their money. If Amazon can't prove that higher placements sell books then publishers will go elsewhere.

8:32 AM CST     0 comments

Interesting: The Little People VS. America Online

I've often wondered how AOL's volunteer labor didn't fall under standard employment laws. This law suit could change that and force AOL to pay minimum wage rather than just offering free accounts to volunteers.

[link courtesy of Ars Technica]

9:53 AM CST     0 comments

Heh: Groundhog Day Special Report

Leave it to NOAA to provide such a complete set of data on the predictive skills of the groundhog. I think they're sort of missing the point of the exercise, assuming for the moment there is one.

9:48 AM CST     0 comments

w00t: Bawls

By using an extract from the Guarana berry, Bawls contains roughly 25% more caffeine than an equal amount of Jolt Cola. Sounds like just the thing for those midnight programming runs. They've even got a Bawls-themed Quake Arena.

It's no "Jug O' Spunk", of course, but then what is?

9:29 AM CST     0 comments

Whatever: Microsoft and open source - Lessons learned?

Give me a break. Microsoft's definition of open source is "you can look, but don't touch". I'm hard pressed to see how that fits anyone's idea of a true open source arrangement.

The only good I can see from such a move is that third-parties may be able to document some of Microsoft's notorious internal APIs. Assuming the Microsoft NDA doesn't prohibit such a treasure hunt, of course.

9:13 AM CST     0 comments

Whoa: Group seeks ban on some Net tracking measures

What? A congressional group that talks sense? Can it be?

"As far as I'm concerned, we ought to put in law an outright ban" on Web bugs, Barton said.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

9:10 AM CST     0 comments

Here are a couple of followup stories to my posts from yesterday:

Amazon backpedals on trash-talking clause
Juno to harvest wasted PC power

Both companies have attempted to put a positive spin on their actions, but the whole thing reeks of damage control.

9:03 AM CST     0 comments

Pfft: Apple rattles lawyers at DesktopX over Aqua

This sort of thing really puzzles me. It makes it seem as if Aqua is the main thrust behind OSX when that couldn't be further from the truth. Not only that but it draws attention to Stardock and DesktopX when that's the last thing Apple should want right now.

8:46 AM CST     0 comments

PM: 2001 NAIAS - Concept Vehicles Report

Popular Mechanics dishes out pics of a few concept cars from the 2001 NAIAS show. I looks like bubble-shaped concept cars are a thing of the past. Almost all of these are very angular. They're also all quite ugly in my opinion. Still worth a look for the car fanatic though.

[link courtesy of Ars Technica]

1:27 PM CST     0 comments

Gag: Juno Service Agreement

Check out section 2.5! I feel like the constable in the Monty Python sketch about lark's vomit in the candy. There should be a huge red label warning:

"We will use your computer however we please and you can't stop us. So nyah."

I'm wondering how many unsuspecting rubes were suckered into agreeing to this travesty?

9:02 AM CST     0 comments

Ick: 'A lot of disbelief' as laid-off Amazon workers told to zip lips

Even if this sort of thing is perfectly legal, it isn't ethical. Companies which disregard the ethical connotation of their actions are often met with a consumer backlash. Amazon has proven themselves to be consumer-hostile with their ever-shifting privacy policy and now it seems even their own staff is treated as the enemy.

Amazon supporters often claim that they do business with the company because it makes buying quick and painless. This may very well be true, but how long will it be before other retailers can match or even exceed Amazon's current capability? Once the playing field is a bit more level I predict that Amazon's predatory practices will come home to roost.

[thanks to The Obscure Store for the link]

8:31 AM CST     0 comments

Hmm: Access your VPN remotely without a laptop

This sounds like a neat idea, but I think the security concerns are likely to outweigh the benefits. Also, I doubt many sysadmins will want people accessing their VPN's from insecure locations. The possibility for abuse is ridiculously high.