April 18, 2002

IBM, Microsoft could make you pay Investigative Analysis: The two giants have been setting the stage to potentially collect royalties on most if not all Internet traffic. Find out how their game plan shapes up on ZDNET. Behind the scenes of the Web services revolution, IBM and Microsoft are placing themselves in a position from which they could collect royalities on Internet traffic via the control of key, next-generation Internet protocols. The basis for that potential power play lies in ownership by the two giants of intellectual property within specific Web services protocols. The collective strength of IBM and Microsoft could be enough to render Internet standards consortia, such as the W3C, powerless to stop them. 1:53:00 PM

Man caught speeding home so food would be hot -- The Associated Press CHATHAM, Ont. (CP) -- How important is it to get your fast food home hot from the take-out window? For a Chatham man, it is apparently important enough to drive almost double the speed limit. Police said a 23-year-old man was clocked driving a Dodge pickup 156 kilometres per hour early Wednesday morning. That's 76 kilometres above the posted speed limit. Police said the man's excuse for driving so quickly was that he had just picked up food from Taco Bell and didn't want it to get cold.  The man is to appear in court May 14. 11:39:05 AM

A small Piper plane has hit a skyscraper in Milan, Italy, setting the top floors on fire. Full Story at CNN.com 11:20:26 AM

Bill Shatner's weblog I talked about this on the radio spot this morning.  Kinda neat, this is the "Captains log".  He writes it himself, and seems to be having a great time with it.  10:35:06 AM

General Public Realizes KaZaa is Spyware "Virginia Watson unwittingly authorized a company she'd never heard of to install software that would help turn her computer into part of a brand-new network. The software, from Brilliant Digital Entertainment, came with the popular Kazaa file-swapping program. But the 65-year-old Massachusetts resident--who has a law degree--didn't read Kazaa's 2,644-word "terms of service" contract, which stated that Brilliant might tap the "unused computing power and storage space" of Watson's computer. " [Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters] 9:21:46 AM

Microsoft's crystal ball. It's been just six months since the software giant shipped Windows XP, but the company is already looking ahead, with a list of trends it says will reshape computing as we know it.  Remember this is the company that DIDN'T predict the internet... [CNET News.com] 7:43:07 AM

Modular PC Downsizes the Computer A little-known San Francisco company called OQO Inc. announced on Tuesday a "modular" computer that crams processor, memory, battery and storage into a package the size of a paperback novel. This is the story I was supposed to talk about on the air at CJOB this morning, but I took over the interview and talked about nothing but weblogs and this website....Sorry Larry. 7:17:43 AM

U.S. bombs kill Canucks Four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight injured when an American plane bombed them in Afghanistan in what Canadian authorities termed a tragic accident. In CNEWS 'Friendly fire' kills 4 Canadians  - CNN Errant Bomb Kills Canadian Soldiers  - Guardian, UK U.S. bomb klls Canada troops  - Miami Herald 7:05:07 AM