August 4, 2003

Digital Photography Review links to a series of pictures showing the internals of $10.99 Dakota Digital disposable digital camera. If it’s developers think that hiding access to the cameras’ internal memory by placing a sticker on top of the internal port is going to prevent people from reusing the camera, think again. Getting access to the camera’s memory might prove to require more expensive equipment than the cost of a better resusable camera but it seems that many people are ready to give it a try. Many will do it just for the fun of getting the camera to work will their PC. 10:24:32 PM

The Boston Globe’s Jeff Jacoby notes that the US-Sponsored ''road map'' to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is a simple but very misunderstood document. Unlike what Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has claimed it makes no mention of prisoner releases by Israel or any mention of the separation fence between Israel and the West Bank. What it does mention but Abbas has said he will not implement is the Palestinian’s part of the plan. Jacoby writes: By contrast, it says a great deal about what the Palestinian Authority is supposed to do. The PA's foremost obligation, more critical to the road map's success than anything else, is to crush the terrorists who have shed so much blood. The language is explicit: The PA must ''declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism.'' It must ''arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere.'' It must end ''all official ... incitement against Israel.'' Above all, it must carry out the ''dismantlement of terrorist capability and infrastructure.'' These are not goodwill gestures. They are mandatory commitments the Palestinians must fulfill if the road map is to go forward. So far they have fulfilled none of them. The anti-Israel incitement continues. Terrorism has not stopped. As for the dismantling of terrorist groups, Abbas says bluntly that it will never happen. ''Cracking down on Hamas, [Islamic] Jihad, and the Palestinian organizations,'' he said on July 23, ''is not an option at all.'' It is the Oslo farce all over again: Israel weakens itself through concessions on the ground. The Palestinians pocket the concessions, then break their promise of peace. 7:30:43 PM