Tuesday, July 02, 2002

More on Riemann Hypothesis [Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters]  Fun that nerds love math: Anonymous Coward writes "The NYTimes has a little story on a recent conference at New York University's Courant Institute where mathematicians gathered to discuss potential attacks on the Riemann hypothesis. The Clay Mathematics Institute had announced an award of a million dollars for a proof (or refutation) of the Riemann hypothesis during the millenial celebrations. That million dollars won't be worth much if it takes as long as that Last Theorem by Fermat to solve. There were some interesting observations such as the statistical distribution of the zeros looked just like calculations on the energy levels of large atoms." We did a related story on hard math problems two years ago. 9:30:45 AM

TCPA / Palladium FAQ. Quote: "Seen in these terms, TCPA and Palladium do not so much provide security for the user, but for the PC vendor, the software supplier, and the content industry. They do not add value for the user. Rather, they destroy it, by constraining what you can do with your PC - in order to enable application and service vendors to extract more money from you. No doubt Palladium will be bundled with new features so that the package as a whole appears to add value in the short term, but the long-term economic, social and legal implications require serious thought. " Comment: Nicely written FAQ [Serious Instructional Technology] I took a quick look and did think that it is a great FAQ -- useful materials to pull together to educate colleagues and friends about the platform of control that the internet is being pushed towards. 9:26:53 AM

A musician defends file-sharing, debunks the RIAA. Depending on your perspective, Janis Ian is either a struggling new science fiction writer or an established and well-respected recording artist with 17 albums to her credit. She's written a powerful debunking of the RIAA's claims about the effects of file-sharing on music-sales. Highly recommended reading from a music industry person who is far more articulate than, say, Courtney Love. Free exposure is practically a thing of the past for entertainers. Getting your record played at radio costs more money than most of us dream of ever earning. Free downloading gives a chance to every do-it-yourselfer out there. Every act that can't get signed to a major, for whatever reason, can reach literally millions of new listeners, enticing them to buy the CD and come to the concerts. Where else can a new act, or one that doesn't have a label deal, get that kind of exposure? We'll turn into Microsoft if we're not careful, insisting that any household wanting a copy for the car, or the kids, or the portable CD player, has to go out and "license" multiple copies. As artists, we have the ear of the masses. We have the trust of the masses. By speaking out in our concerts and in the press, we can do a great deal to damp this hysteria, and put the blame for the sad state of our industry right back where it belongs - in the laps of record companies, radio programmers, and our own apparent inability to organize ourselves in order to better our own lives - and those of our fans. If we don't take the reins, no one will. Link Discuss (via Yawl) [Boing Boing Blog] 9:25:24 AM

Managing and Using MySQL: Second Edition [Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters]  This reference might come in handy when I try out MySQL. 9:10:54 AM

Entertainment industry should hack with impunity. Representative Howard Berman (D-California), legislator for the entertainment industry, is said to be preparing legislation that would let copyright owners hack into their customers computers to stop file-swapping activities. Berman claims that his constituency needs legal protections to combat piracy and should be immune from prosecution under anti-hacking laws. “While P2P (peer-to-peer) technology is free to innovate new and more efficient methods of distribution that further exacerbate the piracy problem, copyright owners are not equally free to craft technological responses,” said Berman’s public statement. “This is not fair.” Berman has yet to introduce his proposed bill. When he does, I’ll have an analysis. [ARTS & FARCES internet] 9:08:59 AM

Facts, Figures From AIDS Report. The new United Nations report on the AIDS epidemic predicts that nearly 68 million people will die of the disease through 2020. Jordan Lite reports from New York. [Wired News] 9:08:09 AM

Staggering AIDS Report From U.N.. The AIDS epidemic is worse than was ever considered possible and isn't close to being controlled, a report from the United Nations says. Jordan Lite reports from New York. [Wired News]  I barely understand the scale of the AIDS epidemic....   9:07:47 AM

Harriet the Online Book Reviewer. ncreasingly, people are turning to the Web to seek advice from amateur reviewers and self-proclaimed experts. What motivates these people to offer their opinions for free, and why do people trust them? [elearningpost] I think that the rise of amateur and skilled book reviewers' getting attention is a  rather amazing (and wonderful)  development of the Web. 9:04:40 AM

© Copyright 2002 Raymond Yee.