Monday, March 03, 2003

China will colonize the moon. China's announced an ambitious project to explore and exploit the moon. Ziyuan said exploring the Moon "probably holds the key to humanity's future subsistence and development". Chinese officials have previously said that some sort of permanent, most likely unmanned, base could be established on the Moon's surface by 2010... "The prospect for the development and utilisation of the lunar potential mineral and energy resources provide resource reserves for the sustainable development of human society," he told the newspaper. Link Discuss [Boing Boing Blog] 7:30:04 PM    comment []

New Web Cameras Allow Spying by Subscription. A Japanese company has unveiled two new series of network cameras that can be controlled from personal computers over the Internet. The cameras, from Kyushu Matsushita Electric Co. Ltd., come equipped with a Web server function and an Ethernet port. Users can connect to the Internet with the camera device through a cable or ADSL modem. [osOpinion] 6:58:53 PM    comment []

The Future of 3D E-Commerce. 3D e-commerce is a pair of jeans seen from every angle. It is the ability to mix and match shoes, dresses, coats or belts; to explore the nooks and crannies of an entire home; and to capture the most realistic, detailed view possible. It is also entering the mainstream as companies strive to win consumers' hearts and pocketbooks. Are customers ready? [osOpinion] 6:57:01 PM    comment []

Infineon Touts Plastic Chips for Smart Tags. A research team at Infineon Technologies has claimed that plastic chips will be cheaper than their silicon counterparts, and could offer as many potential applications. The demand for plastic chips is greatest in the RFID (radio frequency identification), or smart tag, area, project leader Guenter Schmid said. [osOpinion] 6:54:48 PM    comment []

Surveillance of U.N. Security Council. An article in The Observer has caused quite a stir. It reveals NSA plans for surveillance, including intercepting phone calls and e-mails, of UN delegates in New York. Of curse the delegates from the countries that are likely to not agree with the U.S. position. The Observer had at first posted an e-mail purported to be from a top NSA official, but which used British spelling and date format. They still insist that it is authentic, but that they at first had 'translated' it for a British audience, and now they changed it back. That's a bit fishy, of course. I'd like to see the real message with its headers. Regardless, I'm sure that something like that is going on. [Ming the Mechanic] 6:55:43 AM    comment []

How Mr. Rogers Saved the VCR In ruling that home time-shift recording of television programming for private use was not copyright infringement, the Supreme Court relied on testimony from television producers who did not object to such home recording. One of the most prominent witnesses on this issue was Fred Rogers. The Supreme Court wrote [1/17/84]: " Second is the testimony of Fred Rogers, president of the corporation that produces and owns the copyright on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The program is carried by more public television stations than any other program. Its audience numbers over 3,000,000 families a day. He testified that he had absolutely no objection to home taping for noncommercial use and expressed the opinion that it is a real service to families to be able to record children's programs and to show them at appropriate times." (Excerpt from Mr. Rogers' trial testimony: ) "Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the 'Neighborhood' at hours when some children cannot use it. . . . I have always felt that with the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the 'Neighborhood' off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the 'Neighborhood' because that's what I produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their family's television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been 'You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions.' Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important." 6:43:09 AM    comment []