Friday, April 05, 2002

Nullsoft Considers Charging for Advanced Player [BetaNews.Com] I keep telling you guys, when someone offers you something for nothing, check your wallet. Looks like WinAmp may be the next to morph away from freeware in an attempt to find profitability. Fat chance.   Cheers,   Dusty 8:10:42 PM

Watch out for snooping spam. Watch out--your e-mail could be watching you. Marketers are secretly implanting software into junk e-mail so they can track unsuspecting surfers' Web activity. Experts say it's a threat to privacy. [ZDNet Tech News] Can your e-mail spy on you? You betcha. This is one of the reasons I leave the preview pane turned off in Outlook and OE. Find out how to protect yourself.   Cheers,   Dusty 8:07:15 PM

Can tech detect college cheaters?. Students tempted to plagiarize have a bounty waiting for them on the Web, where it's easy to copy research and to buy term papers. Now professors are getting savvy and using software to track down copycats. [ZDNet Tech News] All you UT folk better watch out. Your prof may not be as easy to scam as you think, thanks to new software that helps even tech illiterate teachers spot cheating.   Cheers,   Dusty 8:05:39 PM

Is This Really Office .Net? - http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/office_ngo_preview.asp Here's a frame by fram analysis of the Flash animation making the rounds that is purported to show the first glimpse of the next generation of MS Office, Office .Net. Cheers, Dusty 7:24:22 PM

Why, Hello, Mr. Chips. An FDA decision that implantable ID chips are not medical devices clears the way for anyone and everyone to get chipped, and for any reason under the sun. By Julia Scheeres. [Wired News] Here we go. It’s only a matter of time until this technology is put to use to track people. First they’ll use it to track criminals, but it won’t be long before they’ll be tracking everyone with a chip and requiring chip implantation at birth.   Cheers,   Dusty 6:50:01 PM

REM star cleared of air rage assault. UK latest: REM guitarist Peter Buck cleared of 'ransacking' first class cabin on a flight to London. [Guardian Unlimited] A London jury today cleared Buck of charges stemming from a highly publicized “air rage” incident on a flight to London last April after a series of high profile celebs offered character testimony.   Cheers,   Dusty 6:47:15 PM

Entertainment: They're lining up for 'Star Wars: Clones' - April 5, 2002. 08:29 ET - CNN [NewsBlip.com] If you’re a hopeless ‘Star Wars’ geek, better get in line. Lines for the May 16 opening of ‘Episode II: Attack of the Clones’ have already formed at the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd.   Cheers,   Dusty 6:44:14 PM

NASA spacecraft set to reenter Sunday. A NASA spacecraft and its upper stage are predicted to reenter the Earth's atmosphere... [spacetoday.net] We'll keep an eye on this and let you now where the possible viewing locations are as data becomes available. If you've never seen a re-entry at night - either of space junk or the shuttle - it's a spectacular sight. Cheers, Dusty 6:40:49 PM

Washington Ex-Mayor Ends Campaign After Drug Incident. Marion S. Barry, who has served four terms as mayor as District of Columbia mayor announced that he would end his campaign for city council. By The New York Times. [New York Times: Politics] Gee, a little crack, a few whores... What's the big deal? Cheers, Dusty 6:38:36 PM

Bush's Statement on the Middle East. Following is the complete text of the statement by President Bush today in the Rose Garden of the White House regarding the situation in the Mideast as recorded by The New York Times:. [New York Times: Politics] No comment, just thought you might like to see the entire text of Bush's latest policy 180. Cheers, Dusty 6:37:46 PM

Stewart L. Udall. "We have, I fear, confused power with greatness." [Motivational Quotes of the Day] Sounds like the Bush White House in a nutshell. Cheers, Dusty 6:36:45 PM

Mars study raises life hopes. Tentative evidence of chlorophyll, which Earth plants use to get energy from sunlight, is found in the Red Planet's soil. [BBC News: sci/tech] Is there life on Mars? A re-evaluation of data collected by Pathfinder in 1997 suggests there may be chlorophyll in the soil near the landing site.   Cheers,   Dusty 6:35:56 PM

August Strindberg. "I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven't got the guts to bite people themselves." [Quotes of the Day] 6:33:58 PM

Robert Byrne. "Partying is such sweet sorrow." [Quotes of the Day] 6:33:52 PM

Sentencing commission considers hackers' motives. Is curiosity an act of terror? [The Register] It’s nice to see some sensible ideas arise in US legal policies for hackers, even if we hear about it from the foreign press first. Would this have helped Kevin Mitnick? Probably not, as the government claimed he stole credit card numbers and “valuable” software.   Cheers,   Dusty 6:33:35 PM

Terror Castles Made From Sand - http://poetry.rotten.com/mother-of-all-sandcastles/   Gee, ya think these assholes won first place?   Cheers,   Dusty 5:46:55 PM

PT Cruiser Mouse - http://www.nkok.com/details.asp?prod_id=75 Saw this one cruising the groups. They have other models, too. Cheers, Dusty 4:36:12 PM

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-017: Q311967: Unchecked buffer in the Multiple UNC Provider Could Enable Code Execution [ActiveWin] Yet another item from the "MS Security Holes" file, this security update is for NT, Win2K and XP Pro.   Cheers,   Dusty 3:01:14 AM

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS02-016: Q318593: Opening Group Policy Files for Exclusive Read Blocks Policy Application [ActiveWin] From the massive, "MS Security Holes" file, here’s a brand spanking new security update for Win2K sys admins.   Cheers,   Dusty 2:59:34 AM

Music Companies Sue Technicolor Over Pirated CDs. LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A recording industry trade group said on Thursday it has sued Technicolor Inc., one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of music and video programming, for allegedly producing pirated CDs of major artists. By Reuters. [New York Times: Technology] Napster may well be piracy, but this is the real deal. If the RIAA can’t stop their own partners from stealing from them, how do they expect to stop tens of millions of computer users?   Cheers,   Dusty 2:57:40 AM

A Minister Says His Father, Now Dead, Killed Dr. King. A minister is contending that his father not James Earl Ray fatally shot the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. By Dana Canedy. [New York Times: National] It seems every few years some nut crawls out of his hole to claim credit for the murder of Martin Luther King. Odds are this one will turn out to be a nut, too. But you never know. One day one of ‘em might just be telling the truth.   Cheers,   Dusty 2:55:24 AM

Windows XP Patch: CD Burning Update [ActiveWin] Here's the latest XP update. It should also be available through Live Update. Cheers, Dusty 12:52:23 AM

All Fiction, and All-Clear. New Mexico officials reassured television viewers that a fictitious radioactive waste accident could not happen in real life. By Michael Janofsky. [New York Times: National] In this day and age of ridiculous color coded warning systems and nebulous warnings of non-specific, but we-really-mean-it  threats, do we really need high ranking government officials to sound the all clear after a fictional incident? Cheers, Dusty 12:50:16 AM

The 'Star Wars' Effect, and the Part That's Art. How did I get the idea that "Star Wars: The Magic of Myth" at the Brooklyn Museum of Art might be a lark and not a witless fiasco? By Michael Kimmelman. [New York Times: Arts] Is ‘Star Wars’ art? Maybe so, but the literati sure don’t seem to think the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s ‘Star Wars: The Magic of Myth’ merits that designation. Cheers, Dusty 12:45:38 AM

Senator Insists Ridge Testify Before Congress. Senator Robert C. Byrd would not accept the idea of a briefing on the strengthening of domestic security from homeland secruirty chief Tom Ridge. By Elizabeth Becker. [New York Times: Politics] You gotta hand it to those lovable whackos in the White House. Their idea of a compromise with a Senate committee was Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge would make a report to Congress, but not under oath and no questions, please. IOW, “We’ll treat you like mushrooms if we damn well feel like it.” The issue here is whether Ridge is just another White House staffer – no different than a press secretary or advisor – which is what Bush claims, is he a Cabinet level official or somewhere in between? By claiming him as a staffer Bush is hoping to avoid any Congressional scrutiny of Ridge’s mission, budget or power. Charming bunch. Cheers, Dusty 12:41:46 AM

Microsoft preps content locks for devices. The software company prepares to upgrade its anti-piracy technology in an effort to link online music subscription services and portable gadgets. [CNET News.com] Separately both MS and DRM make me nervous. Together they scare the crap outta me. Cheers, Dusty 12:27:31 AM

© Copyright 2002 Dusty Rhodes. Last update: 4/5/2002; 1:27:32 AM.