08 August 2002

Sighting: WiFi Monitor PANASONIC -- Panasonic's new MDWD (for Mobile Data Wireless Display) eliminates the cable that connects the screen to the computer. The result is a thin, flat, self- contained touch screen that communicates with the guts of the computer wirelessly, from up to 150 feet away. The MDWD runs 800 by 600 pixels on a 8.4-inch viewing area. The compact dimensions of the screen ensure ease of carrying, handling and even wearing: thanks to the black strap on the back, you can wear it on your hand like a very expensive football glove. The MDWDisplay and its companion Panasonic Toughbook 07 Mini-PC will incorporate the Intersil PRISM WLAN chip set. The two units are ruggedized for use in harsh environments like factory floors or police patrol cars. Toughbooks are available for purchse in B2B channels by contacting sales support.

Sharing is a Community Responsibility McGEE's MUSINGS -- Jim McGee writes, "The sharing of knowledge, and the cooperative application of new technologies are part of the responsibility of belonging to a community of practice." This has always been an underlying philosophy of the Irish Open Mailing List. On that list, the notion of knowledge sharing is articulated as a responsibility of community membership.

Reporter Fired for Blogging RADIO FREE BLOGISTAN -- David Watson, David Copeland, and Dave Winer write that a reporter in Texas has been told to shut down his personal weblog by his employer, the Houston Chronicle. The reporter was later fired.

Translucency and Selective Disclosure JON's RADIO -- The blogosphere gives substance to discussions by converging on truth. An acquaintance of [Jon Udell, Bruce Epstein, has for some years been evangelizing OpenData which envisions a world of user-contributed self-correcting databases.

Take Action. Send a Message EFF -- Representative Howard Berman has introduced legislation that would grant copyright holders near-immunity from the law while attacking a citizen's computer. The bill protects copyright holders from legal action stemming from denial-of-service attacks on people whom they suspect of using material in an unauthorized way on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. Exempting a single industry from civil and criminal penalties is unprecedented. This kind of vigilantism is explicitly prohibited by law; Rep. Berman wants to make sure that the law doesn't apply to copyright holders. Make your voice heard and object to this legislation.

Sighting: XHTML W3C -- The XHTML Working Draft specifies the XHTML 2.0 Markup Language and a variety of XHTML- conforming modules that support that language. Mark Pilgrim summarises the changes.