Americans could be microchipped if this Florida firm has its way.
2:13:55 PM  #   your two cents []

IBM supercomputer looms large. The hefty system weighs nearly two tons in a full-fledged configuration. [CNET News.com]
2:00:59 PM  #   your two cents []

Pencil-lead sculpture. Dalton Ghetti is a sculptor who carves miniscule sculptures out of the leads of pencils, by hand, without a magnifying glass. Link [Boing Boing Blog]
2:00:08 PM  #   your two cents []

Microsoft filing shows losses in four divisions. But Windows remains big money maker [InfoWorld: Top News]
1:55:21 PM  #   your two cents []

Lynda Barry. Zombie Girl [Salon.com]
1:49:30 PM  #   your two cents []

Famine in Southern Africa. Recently, the Christian Science Monitor finished a four-part series on the famine that is affecting 14.5 million people in six Southern African countries. CSM staff writer Danna Harman and staff photographer Andy Nelson spent three weeks traveling the area looking for the causes of the food crisis. Her conclusion is that it is not the same "drought leads to famine"problem as there has been in the past. She explores fourissues: corruption, Western trade barriers and subsidies, concerns about genetic modification, and AIDS. [kuro5hin.org]
1:48:46 PM  #   your two cents []

George Bernard Shaw. "It is dangerous to be sincere unless you are also stupid." [Quotes of the Day]
1:47:26 PM  #   your two cents []

W3C Rejects Patents on Net Tech. The World Wide Web Consortium, which develops Internet protocols that ensure access for all, says after long deliberation, it won't allow companies to retain patents on standards it approves. [Wired News] This is an extremely interesting development. On one side, the desire of companies to have their product become a standard approved by this important group. On the other hand, loss of financial benefit of having your product declared a standard. The question is, will companies quit seeking to establish standards thru W3C? Or will this decision mean standards battles settle more quickly and efficiently, to the benefit of developers/consumers?

'Critics of RAND licensing say it will allow large companies to essentially place a toll on Internet software. "If we have the situation where, to intercommunicate, you have to license someone's patent, that not only locks out small companies, it locks out open source," said free-software advocate Bruce Perens.'

1:44:58 PM  #   your two cents []

Privacy Groups Turn Screws on DOJ. The American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Privacy Information Center hope a federal judge will force the Justice Department to cough up details on how it's using surveillance technology under the USA Patriot Act. [Wired News]
1:40:41 PM  #   your two cents []

Slashdot reports on some guy whose wife's Mac iBook had an ant nest inside. Either hilariously grotesque or a clever attempt to start an urban myth. Switch, indeed. Read it yourself and decide.
1:40:02 PM  #   your two cents []

Dan Bricklin has been trying out tablet PCs.
1:34:57 PM  #   your two cents []