HP joins Intel in pulling its home WiFi networking product and exiting the market [SF Chronicle]: "The margins are very, very thin," said Schelley Olhava, a home networking analyst with Mountain View's IDC, a technology market research firm. "There are so many players in the market, and not all of them can survive."
10:54:11 PM  #   your two cents []

AOL awarded millions in spam case. A federal court awards America Online nearly $7 million in damages as part of the Internet service providers' legal victory over a junk e-mail operation. [CNET News.com]
9:59:19 PM  #   your two cents []

From today's GMSV:

Some independent analysis of recording industry market data suggests that a decline in new releases, and not Internet piracy, is to blame for the industry's sales slump. "There were almost 12,000 fewer new releases for the consumer to choose from in 2001 than 1999," writes George Ziemann in RIAA's Statistics Don't Add Up to Piracy. "If the record industry had gone forward with the 12,000 releases that it cut back over the past two years and only sold 3,000 copies of each title (a loser in record company terms), both the units shipped and total sales would have continued to climb as they had in previous years."

5:57:46 PM  #   your two cents []

This afternoon is reserved for vinarterta. This is a time-consuming, layered pastry recipe that comes from my Icelandic grandmother and her sisters, via their mother, who immigrated from Iceland in the 19th century, eventually settling in the Icelandic immigrant town of Gimli in Canada. I found this comment on Gimli on one website:

If you can pronounce Islendingadagurinn without hesitating, you must be a Gimli resident, or at least have an Icelandic background. If you know the difference between Ponnukokur and Vinarterta and love drinking coffee made in a sock you are in the right place.

I grew up without the sock! But with plenty of very strong coffee, the way Icelanders like it -- I confess I have to add hot water to the coffee cups of friends sometimes when I make the coffee ('strong enough to trot a mouse' is how my half-Icelandic father describes the proper strength). The women in my family make vinarterta every Christmas and sometimes for Thanksgiving as well -- it has to be done a few weeks in advance of when you want to eat it for best flavour. My aunt taught me the sacred process many years ago [grin] and I've been making it ever since. 

It's one of those recipes that has to be taught, as it is involved and requires little tricks that must be demonstrated (but you can try it yourself here... this is close to my recipe. You can have up to 9 layers -- Lillingtons [nee Jonnsons] do a modest five). I get asked for the recipe all the time and people don't believe me when I say they'll really need to come around the next year when I make it! Most people cannot guess the ingredients, either -- an elusive blend of cardamom (typically Scandinavian!), cinnamon, almond, vanilla and a secret prune filling that no one ever guesses is prunes. Sounds weird but it sure is good...

1:40:49 PM  #   your two cents []

Lots of bloggers are linking to Tim O'Reilly's thoughtful essay on why file-sharing is not piracy, and why it is important not to let Hollywood dominate and choose the language for this important debate on copyright and the internet.
1:24:24 PM  #   your two cents []

The Observer's John Naughton profiles Google's founders. Meanwhile, over on his blog, he points to an analysis of why the US sees WiFi as a homeland security risk.
1:18:25 PM  #   your two cents []

Only NINE people were on my American Airlines flight last Friday between Mexico and LA. They moved all of us into the business cabin -- showing both a sense of humour and a sense of class (especially when the woman at the gate said, "We'll now board our business passengers first" and we all stood up and then laughed) -- but it was really odd to be in a largely unpopulated jet. I wondered if it was empty due to jittery Americans fearful of flying American on Friday the 13th? More fools they -- a great flight, great service, and about as safe as you could get with only 9 of us to put through security.
11:10:41 AM  #   your two cents []

I missed this while away last week, but Danny O'Brien has a great Danny-esque summary of the Sklyarov (or Elcomsoft) trial in San Jose, where he failed to stifle his laughter and also listened to The Man give evidence. He also points to an excellent New Yorker piece on what writer Philip K. Dick would have thought of the US govt's proposed Total Information Awareness citizen surveillance program...
11:05:03 AM  #   your two cents []

CNN has been playing Darth Vader theme music during its reportage on Iraq. Why not simply stop pretending to 'report' and instead just editorialise?
10:55:41 AM  #   your two cents []

ICANN board okays plan for new top-level domains. A "limited number" of sponsored domains will be added [InfoWorld: Top News]
10:50:02 AM  #   your two cents []

In the World of the Very Small, Companies Make Big Plans. This may be remembered as the "Alice in Wonderland" decade for new technology. More and more businesses are moving into the world of nanotechnology. [New York Times: Technology]
10:48:47 AM  #   your two cents []

The Business of Star Trek [Slashdot]
10:48:11 AM  #   your two cents []

Web Calling Roils the Telecom World. Alongside the telecommunications industry's search for its direction are trends that threaten to destabilize global telecommunications further. [New York Times: Technology]
10:46:48 AM  #   your two cents []

Here's a weird one, via Boing Boing: Sex-changed celebs.  Gender-reassignment-via-Photoshop of various celebrities. Link [Boing Boing Blog]
10:44:18 AM  #   your two cents []

How the world fell out of love with the moon: "One of the stranger consequences of this space inertia is that an entire generation has grown up viewing the moon landings as little more than a quaint piece of modern history, like flower power or the cult of Elvis." Guardian Unlimited]
10:41:22 AM  #   your two cents []

James Thorpe. "Household tasks are easier and quicker when they are done by somebody else." [Quotes of the Day]
10:37:47 AM  #   your two cents []