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Ars Technica
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| 1. |
European music stores brace for iTMS arrival. OD2 has announced partnership with Microsoft and a half-sale price on some downloads as iTMS is expected to be launched tomorrow. How will the battle for online music sales in Europe shape up? By Eric Bangeman. |
| 2. |
China blocks Wikipedia. Ten days ago the Chinese government blocked Internet access to the Chinese version of the Wikipedia, a community-built encyclopedia that polices itself with a policy of political neutrality. By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
| 3. |
AMD completes dual core design, targets 2005 for server and PC. AMD's press machine is struttin' its stuff today, announcing that the chip design process for its dual-core CPUs is finished. Now that the AMD64 design has "taped out," the company will start working to create actual parts for release within a year. By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
| 4. |
HD-DVD specs to include Microsoft codec. The DVD Forum announced that it has selected Microsoft's Windows Media Series 9 VC-9 as one of the codecs to be included in the next-generation HD-DVD spec. This is the first time Microsoft had submitted one of its technologies to a standards-setting body By Eric Bangeman. |
| 5. |
Science.Ars. Science.Ars returns in a very big way. There's news from outer space, inner space, medicine, and much more. By Eric Bangeman. |
| 6. |
DirecTV to ease use of DMCA hammer. DirecTV will no longer file lawsuits against people that simply purchased smart card readers and writers. It is unclear how this move will affect thousands who have already received letters that have threatened lawsuits. By Fred "zAmboni" Locklear. |
| 7. |
Gambling on voting machine security. The New York Times' visit to the Nevada Gaming Control Board and finds that gambling machines have more restrictive rules and testing in place than for electronic voting machines. By Fred "zAmboni" Locklear. |
| 8. |
iTunes Music store launches in Europe. As expected, Apple launched the iTunes Music Store in Europe today. iTMS will initially be available in the UK, Germany, and France, with availability in the rest of Europe by October. By Eric Bangeman. |
| 9. |
Akamai DNS outage causes problems. DNS server problems at Akamai lead to several major sites being unreachable. By Eric Bangeman. |
| 10. |
Yahoo responding to Gmail with you guessed it, more storage. Yahoo has upped its e-mail storage limit to 100MB, with Mail Plus subscribers now getting up to 2GB. Where does this leave Hotmail? By Andrew "andyfatbastard" Brennan. |
| 11. |
Ask Ars: spontaneously-rebooting Athlon XP 1700+. Pharmacy Doc writes in with this question: "I have an AMD Athlon 1700+ with a MSI K7T266 Pro2 motherboard. It has been spontaneously rebooting after the computer has been running for a period of time. It will reboot, run for a while, then reboot again." By Eric Bangeman. |
| 12. |
Microsoft to enter Anti-Virus market. While they have waivered in the past, yesterday a company spokesperson said that the company is now on track to deliver its own anti-virus software. By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
| 13. |
Microsoft distances itself from Alexis de Tocqueville Institution Linux study. Microsoft is distancing itself from an Alexis de Tocqueville Instution study which attempted to cast doubts on the origins of Linux. By Eric Bangeman. |
| 14. |
Et Cetera: catch-up edition. Round up, plus: I'm working on my HD TiVo review. IF you have questions you'd like to see me address, post 'em or send 'em on in. By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
| 15. |
Ars Technica sits down with Scott Collins from Mozilla.org. During this past Spring's Penguicon, Ars had a chance to sit down with Mozilla.org's Scott Collins to talk about all things Mozilla. By Jorge "whiprush" Castro. |
| 16. |
Et Cetera: brisket made in a slow cooker is not heresy. Round up! Plus: Be careful with that last think. There's some mightily hilarious pictures in there, and before you know it, you'll be predicting the results in seconds. By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
| 17. |
When telecommuting is hard to do: the work club. The advent of the Internet and mobile communications has made working from home possible for millions more people than before, but as it turns out, not everyone wants to or even can work from the comforts of their home. By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
| 18. |
Napster offering free mp3 player to lure subscribers. Napster has announced a promotion where those signing up for a one-year subscription will get a free 128MB digital music player. Will it be enough to close the gap with Apple? By Eric Bangeman. |
| 19. |
What's up with the PlayStation Portable?. Should Sony have spilled the beans on the PlayStation Portable already? Game.Ars doesn't think so and will tell you why. By Eric Bangeman. |
| 20. |
Using our bodies as a power source: the Matrix begins. While we're quite far away from the stage when The Machines might make us into batteries , we may be able to recharge batteries ourselves. No, you won't be charging your laptop by harnessing your underarm heat (yet). By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
| 21. |
US considering improved anti-spyware legislation. The US House of Representatives is slated to consider new laws that would require "spyware" makers to disclose the presence and function of their software more clearly to users. By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
| 22. |
French government looking at Microsoft alternatives to save a few Euros. France has announced that it will consider open source alternatives to Microsoft in future purchasing decisions as an attempt to bring down costs. Is Microsoft starting to see real competition, at least in Europe? By Eric Bangeman. |
| 23. |
MPAA and RIAA urge states to protect consumers from P2P scourge. After being handily defeated in their quest against P2P applications such as Kazaa in Federal Courts, the lobbyists would now like states to consider action against such software on the grounds that they harm consumer interest. By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
| 24. |
Xbox has got Next. As SDKs consisting of a Power Macintosh G5 running a customize NT kernel ship to developers, more information about the Xbox 2 is becoming available. By Eric Bangeman. |
| 25. |
Induce Act seeks to eliminate innovation. Anything that "aids, abets, induces, counsels, or procures" others into actions that constitute piracy would itself be culpable. This is essentially an end-run around the Kazaa and Grokster ruling. By Ken "Caesar" Fisher. |
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Boing Boing
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| 26. |
French "Blog your music" online blogosphere shindig. The second annual Blogue Ta Musique is under way. "This is a volunteer and non-profit music sharing event, and a important collaborative moment for french-speaking bloggers (and others)," says Jean-Luc in Paris. "Download the beautiful small BTM logo, and more information (en Français) is here." |
| 27. |
LED flashlight hack. Popular Science has a simple hack for replacing a flashlight's bulb with bright white light-emitting diodes.
X-NAS-Bayes: #0: 0; #1: 1
X-NAS-Classification: 0
X-NAS-MessageID: 1915
X-NAS-Validation: {E681C936-E9F0-4DDC-9901-74301AF33E67}
 A flashlight ... hacked to use three 2300-millicandela LEDs will be as bright as an incandescent and last 5 to 10 times longer. Of course you can add up to 20 LEDs (as long as they fit in the reflector) if you're planning to, say, man a lighthouse with the thing.
Link |
| 28. |
John Battelle visits Applied Minds, a Willy Wonka-esque nerdvana. John describes his mind-blowing tour through Applied Minds, a Glendale, CA consultancy started by former Disney Imagineers Danny Hillis and Bran Ferren.
After chit chatting for a few minutes, he took me to a small room - no wider than my outstretched arms - at the far end of which stood one of those classic red English phone booths. We stepped inside - a bit cramped - and Danny lifted the receiver and dictated a passphrase of some sort. Presto - the rear wall of the booth opened, and we stepped into - nerdvana.
From a cramped phone booth into massive pure-white-lit space two-stories high, adorned with all manner of things strange and beautiful. Over to one side stood the Terminator-like skeleton of a forty-foot dinosaur, its 15-foot pneumatic legs gleaming and exposed. Nearly blending into the walls, itself painted movie-set white, was a tricked out Hummer-like RV refitted as a communications/command center - complete with built-in kitchen and bedroom. The space was a great big project lab, with happy geeks combing over various assemblages of wiring, motors, processors and plans like ants on a summer picnic. It's Willy Wonka's chocolate factory for geeks.
Link |
| 29. |
New Cool Tools: iPal and tool lending libraries.   The latest Cool Tools newsletter is out, with amazing stuff as usual. My favorites this time are a battery-powered amplifier-speaker that you can plug an iPod into for blasting music, and a description of "tool lending" libraries. Link (If you don't see them on the Cool Tools site, wait a couple of hours, Kevin sends the emails before updating the site. Better yet, sign up for the list) |
| 30. |
A new kind of ratfish. 
This species of fish, the Hydrolagus matallanasi, has been swimming around for perhaps 180 million years. Apparently, it was first discovered by Brazillian fisherman in 2001 but the photo was just released today. According to researchers, this species of chimaera (or ratfish) is over a foot long and is related to sharks. "It's like if we had an animal as old as the Tyrannosaurus rex still alive," Jules Soto, curator of the Oceanographic Museum of the Universdad do Vale do Itajai, told Reuters. Link (Thanks, G!) |
| 31. |
Why Microsoft should get out of DRM. I gave a talk at Microsoft Research today on why Microsoft should get out of the DRM business and what they could do instead. Here's the text of it:
Here's what I'm here to convince you of:
1. That DRM systems don't work
2. That DRM systems are bad for society
3. That DRM systems are bad for business
4. That DRM systems are bad for artists
5. That DRM is a bad business-move for MSFT
It's a big brief, this talk. Microsoft has sunk a lot of capital
into DRM systems, and spent a lot of time sending folks like
Martha and Brian and Peter around to various smoke-filled rooms
to make sure that Microsoft DRM finds a hospitable home in the
future world. Companies like Microsoft steer like old Buicks, and
this issue has a lot of forward momentum that will be hard to
soak up without driving the engine block back into the driver's
compartment. At best I think that Microsoft might convert some of
that momentum on DRM into angular momentum, and in so doing, save
all our asses.
Link
Update: Anil has created a pretty html version, and Trevor's created a purple version |
| 32. |
Pretty iPod Mini condoms. 
Tunewear makes these sexy Icewear cases for the iPod mini out of transparent ribbed silicon -- the same stuff used in diving masks.
Link
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| 33. |
Flatpack furniture crossed with airplane model kits. 
These punch-and-stick chairs ("3 chairs are routed out of one sheet of 8x4 15mm Birch faced ply-wood or MDF. 126 flat pack units will fit on a standard euro pallet. The excess wood is its own packaging. Easily assembled in minutes by the end user. Chairfix was inspired by Airfix model kits and is easily assembled by the consumer useing a mallet") are amazing -- so much smarter than traditional hex-key-and-swearing flatpack furniture.
Link
(via Gizmodo)
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| 34. |
Desk-lamp with an ignition key. 
Fun Furde founds these pretty, design-y lamps with War of the Worlds styling that you turn on by means of an ignition key.
Link
(Thanks, Fun Furde!)
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| 35. |
Everything we know about traffic-calming is wrong. Mind-blowing article about the European and Chinese challenges to the received wisdom on traffic planning and calming, arguing that the separation of peds and cars leads to less-safe streets:
"The more you post the evidence of legislative control, such as traffic signs, the less the driver is trying to use his or her own senses," says Hamilton-Baillie, noting he has a habit of walking randomly across roads -- much to his wife's consternation. "So the less you can advertise the presence of the state in terms of authority, the more effective this approach can be." This, of course, is the exact opposite of the "Triple E" traffic-calming approach, which seeks to control the driver through the use of speed bumps, photo radar, crosswalks and other engineering and enforcement mechanisms.
The "self-reading street" has its roots in the Dutch "woonerf" design principles that emerged in the 1970s. Blurring the boundary between street and sidewalk, woonerfs combine innovative paving, landscaping and other urban designs to allow for the integration of multiple functions in a single street, so that pedestrians, cyclists and children playing share the road with slow-moving cars. The pilot projects were so successful in fostering better urban environments that the ideas spread rapidly to Belgium, France, Denmark and Germany. In 1998, the British government adopted a "Home Zones" initiative -- the woonerf equivalent -- as part of its national transportation policy.
"What the early woonerf principles realized," says Hamilton-Baillie, "was that there was a two-way interaction between people and traffic. It was a vicious or, rather, a virtuous circle: The busier the streets are, the safer they become. So once you drive people off the street, they become less safe."
Salon Link (Reg/Ads Req'd)
(via Kottke) |
| 36. |
Fornicate and run marathons to beef up your brains. Fascinating Australian Broadcasting Co science piece on the latest research in neuron production:
we do know a couple of things that stimulate brain cell production. One of them, of course is anti-depressants, which we now know probably the key molecule by which this acts, because we’ve been able to purify these cells that make neurons and we know what are the receptors that bind molecules. And one of these receptors turn out to be a receptor for a neurotrophine, a molecule that keeps nerve cells alive traditionally. But we know that anti-depressants raise the molecule that binds to this receptor and we now know that this is the factor that can stimulate the production of new nerve cells. So we think we’ve made the connection between anti-depressants and production of new nerve cells. But there are many other ways of stimulating the production and some of them are pretty damned interesting. One is if you put an animal on a wheel and let it run ad libitum and they run up to about 10 kilometres overnight, they make about twice as many neurones.
The other thing is that certain molecules produced during sex also appear to be highly stimulatory of neuronal production. Prolactin levels, which pregnant women have enormous amounts of, also stimulate large amounts (of neurons).
Link
(Thanks, Adrian!) |
| 37. |
From keywords, art. NYT story on an interactive art installation that toys with the surreal, free-association results of Internet keyword searches. David Ayman Shamma of Northwestern University, and Kristian J. Hammond of Northwestern University have created "Imagination Environment," currently on display in Chicago. [The exhibit] starts with a live television news broadcast that is displayed at the center of a wall-mounted array of nine computer monitors. A software program scans the broadcast's closed-caption stream and selects keywords that prompt Internet searches for images. Seconds after the live audio is heard, the news broadcast is surrounded by pertinent photographs and illustrations on adjacent screens, as well as some images completely unrelated.
"The words tend to be linked to a strange combination of images that are on point and strikingly bizarre," Professor Hammond said.
For instance, during a recent televised briefing by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a reference to troops was as likely to retrieve a photograph of Girl Scouts as one of soldiers. But a mention of the secretary's title only generated a cartoon drawing of an administrative assistant.
Registration-free Link, and Link to artists' site (thanks Tony) |
| 38. |
SpaceShipOne blog: part 3. In which our protagonists are asked,"So, you got a license for that spaceport?"
 Hi all, Not sure what the hitch is, but the designation of MHV as the first commercial inland spaceport didn't happen by the FAA as expected yesterday... stay tuned.
Regarding broadcasts and webcasts of the launch: CNN is reportedly going to do a live broadcast, don't know if that'll reach Europe. Local radio station KLOA FM 104.9 has the exclusive radio rights to direct feed, and it now sounds as if they'll be live webcasting the audio here. There is now a map of the public parking area up on the the airport site here. There really is no other news to report this morning. It's a gorgeous, if somewhat warm day.
-- Alan Radecki
Link to part one, Link to part two. (Thanks, Todd Lappin) |
| 39. |
"Metroblogging" regional group weblogs launch. Sean Bonner says, "Jason DeFillippo and I have launched Metroblogging which is the first step of global expansion of our LA blog, blogging.la. The first cities live are New York City, Chicago and San Francisco. Like b.la, we're hoping these sites will become a good street-level view of life in these cities." Link |
| 40. |
Web Zen: Paper Model Zen. 
papermoon | origami | paper plate origami | design a paper box | boxbots | papercraft | ivor the engine | paper toys | nasa paper models | video game characters | paper arcades | flying pig.
Links to web zen home, web zen store, (Thanks, Frank). |
| 41. |
Thing Knowledge. 
My friend Alex at University of California Press gave me a review copy of the book Thing Knowledge: A Philosophy of Scientific Instruments by Davis Baird. Sounds heavy, but on first glance it seems that Baird has balanced deep philosophy with fun machine history! The illustrations and vintage photographs are a treat too. I'm looking forward to digging into it. From Peter Galison's blurb on the back:
"Grappling with a wonderful assortment of objects--from antique orreries to modern spectrographs--Davis Baird draws the reader deep into fascinating questions about the nature of knowledge. As lucid on the semantic account of theories as it is on the inner workings of the cyclotron, this book that brings the laboratory to philosophers and philosophy into the laboratory."
Warning: At $65, it's a pricey book, probably due to a limited print run. Link
Update: BB reader Nate has a good point: "If you think it will be too pricy for individuals to purchase, you should encourage people to ask their libraries to purchase it. More sales for U. Cal. Press, far more potential readers." |
| 42. |
Bush's plan to dose Americans with expensive antipsychotics. President Bush's family has made a lot of money from drug companies and still has very close ties to the pharmaceutical industry. (Bush Sr was on Eli Lilly's board of directors and Bush Jr appointed Lilly's CEO to a senior position on the Homeland Security Council.)
According to this British Medical Journal article, "Lilly made $1.6m in political contributions in 2000—82% of which went to Bush and the Republican Party. "
So it's not surprising that the President announced a plan to screen the entire US population for mental illness and pump lots and lots of people full of expensive Eli Lilly drugs. Bush's commission has recommended that the federal government adopt a model based on the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) a medication treatment plan that recommends Zyprexa as a first line antipsychotic drug for patients. Bush was governor of Texas when the plan was adopted, and Zyprexa coincidentally happens to be made Eli Lilly. It's the drug company's top seller, grossing $4.28 billion dollars last year. According to the article, "A 2003 New York Times article by Gardiner Harris reported that 70% of olanzapine sales are paid for by government agencies, such as Medicare and Medicaid."
But the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, sparked off controversy when Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, revealed that key officials with influence over the medication plan in his state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm (15 May, p1153). He was sacked this week for speaking to the BMJ and the New York Times.
Mr Jones told the BMJ that the same "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that generated the Texas project was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which, according to his whistleblower report, were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab."
Link |
| 43. |
Choppa Style.  This photo is amazing. I wonder if that cord provides power for the "blades" to move in some way? Link (to higher res image) (Thanks, Carlo!) |
| 44. |
Lessig speaks on tech IP law and indie filmmaking at LA Film Festival. Not tomorrow, but next Saturday June 26 at the Directors Guild in Los Angeles from 10AM - 1PM:
Symposium on Copyright, Piracy, and the Future of Independent Filmmaking: The MPAA's screener ban was a wake-up call to the independent film community. With our future threatened, the community joined together and was eventually successful in defeating the ban in federal court. But policy is being created every day, at every level, that impacts the channels for distribution, access to independent films, and the protection of creative rights. This symposium (the first of two parts) offers a forum for critical analysis and debate about these important issues -- issues that are not easily or often addressed among the very people they impact most: independent filmmakers. Our goal is to form strategic alliances that will help us maintain and extend a production and distribution environment where independent filmmaking can continue to thrive. Part II of the Symposium will take place at the IFP Market in New York on September 26.
Join Lawrence Lessig, named one of Scientific American's Top 50 Visionaries and author of The Future of Ideas and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace examine copyright and anti-piracy policies affecting the motion picture industry today and the future of the independent filmmaker. Following a coffee break, a panel of experts and advocates will join him, including Robert Greenwald, (Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War, Burning Bed), producer, director and documentary filmmaker.
$15, located at 7920 Sunset Blvd. @ Fairfax. More on the fest: Link
|
| 45. |
SpaceShipOne blog, part 4. Ground crew member Alan Radecki says:
Hi All, The FAA spaceport license came through today, and
almost immediately, signs went up at the airport. Pics are now up on the Mojave Airport Weblog as well as a couple
aerials showing the parking & RV areas that I shot
this morning from our helo. For those who'll be in the RV park, sounds like the
NASA interns will be throwing a big party with a band
and all.
Link to part 3, Link to part 2,
Link to part 1. Handy overview photo that shows the Mojave Airport scene where the ship will launch on Monday: Link. (Thanks, Todd Lappin) |
| 46. |
Mario and Zelda Big Band: NES music with Latin beats and Japanese lyrics. Someone just posted a track by the "Mario and Zelda Big Band" on a private file-sharing site I'm on. This is a Japanese big band fronted by a singer whose delivery reminds me of the frontwoman for Orquesta De La Luz (my favorite Japanese salsa band), and backed by a huge horn and winds section. They've got a CD of a live performance of music from classic Nintendo games, with invented Japanese words and super tight Latin jazz melodies. I've just ordered the scorchingly expensive CD and while I wait for it to arrive, I guess I'll just keep this one track in heavy rotation. It's fantastic.
Link |
| 47. |
King's new Dark Tower novel. Today I finished Song of Susannah, the next-to-last volume in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, books that King started as a teenager and that he claims will end his career -- he's vowed that the final volume in the series will also be his last book.
I believe him. He's doing the thing that Asimov and Heinlein did at the ends of their careers, tying in the loose ends of all his old work and name-checking and referencing all the writers who influenced him.
But unlike bad end-of-career novels like Heinlein's Cat Who Walks Through Walls, Song of Susannah is a sharp and tight book, a comparatively slim book of only 400 or so pages. I raced through it in just a couple sittings, devouring the yarn at speed and wanting at once for it to be over and for it never to end.
For King's Dark Tower quest is an astonishing series of novels, rich and wide and deep, drunk on prose and on the best characterization of King's creer. There's plenty King's written that I haven't cared for, but I'd crawl on glass to get my hands on the final installment of the series.
This volume in the story is about itself as much as it is about the characters and their quest. King's theories on writing are very sound, and this story is as much about how we read and understand and use stories as it is a story in and of itself.
But it's never preachy and it's never dull. King's story, which has all the hallmarks of
cliche, manages to be both startingly original and utterly sane and crazy.
Link |
| 48. |
Tressed to Kill.  BB reader Katrus informs us that the "Choppa Style" hair-do I posted previously is a "signature creation of Detroit hairstylist Mr. Little - and yes, the blades do spin." The information comes from Detroit Metro Times article about Hair Wars, a "three-hours-plus extravaganza of blooming, towering, blinking, spinning, smoking, cartoon-like hair creations" where Mr. Little and his rivals show off surreal sculptures like the spider style (left) and other fantastical coiffeurs:
"A model in a kimono has two dragons, sculpted out of braids, perched atop her head. When she reaches the end of the stage, billows of smoke emit from the dragons’ mouths, and the audience oohs and aahs. Backstage, Mz. Jade reveals the secret: inside each dragon is a bottle of aerosol sheen spray, rigged by remote so a press of a button triggers the spray. Under the bright lights the mist looks like smoke."
Link (Thanks, Katrus!)
|
| 49. |
Jason Kottke reads my DRM talk. Woohoo! Jason Kottke has recorded himself reading my Microsoft DRM talk and dedicated the result to the public domain. I'm unbelievably flattered by the result, a 36.4MB MP3, and it was great to listen to him read it. Now I'm just waiting for the mashup mix.
Link
(Thanks, Jason!) |
| 50. |
Highly-evolved race cars. Researchers at University College London are using genetic algorithms to evolve the best tunings for race cars. From New Scientist:
"Genetic algorithms mimic the principles of evolution to breed solutions to a problem. A population of potential solutions is tested for fitness and the best are cross-bred and mutated. The unfit members of the next generation are weeded out, simulating natural selection, leaving the fittest solutions to go on to breed."
Interestingly, the researchers tested their work virtually through repeated games of Formula One Challenge videogame. Link
|
| 51. |
Sister Machinegun's singer on downloading music. Here's an excerpt of a speech given by the singer from Sister Machinegun at a recent gig at Jamie Zawinski's DNA Lounge. It speaks for itself:
Anyways, everything we've played in this set up to this juncture, this crossroads, this... interlude... is released on Positron Records, which we own and operate, the representative of which [at the merch booth] will be happy to supply you with a fix in that regard, for a modest fee which will go toward letting us sleep in a hotel room instead of the van...
Everything after that juncture (that interlude) is released on Wax Trax Records. which means it's owned by -- actually it's not owned by TVT Records, it's owned by Credit Suisse. so technically speaking, the first four Sister Machine Gun albums are released on Credit Suisse, a Swiss bank, which is kind of cool when you think about it.
The point being, I don't get fuckin' paid for that shit, not a dime, not a single red cent. So you can go ahead and go home, and -- hey, you can download it right the fuck here, they got WiFi. Just get up on Morpheus or some fuckin' thing and get that shit for free.
Link
(via Oblomovka) |
| 52. |
Fahrenheit 9/11 opens Friday. Scott sez: "Next Friday, June 25th, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 opens in a reported 417 theaters across the United States and Canada. An amazing feat given the fact that just a few weeks ago filmmaker Michael Moore was still trying to figure out who would distribute his latest documentary, despite winning Cannes film festival's prestigious Palme d'Or. Various conservative organizations (including "Move America Forward" and the RNC) have launched a preemptive attacks against the movie and are urging movie theaters to drop the anti-American film from their movie lineup." Link
See pics from the NYC premiere here
Support the film by buying advance tickets here
You can find scenes from the movie here
Watch the trailer here |
| 53. |
Ricky Jay revealed.  The June issue of Smithsonian magazine features a profile of Ricky Jay, magician, author, and collector of odd antiquities. I'm fascinated not only by Jay's unparalleled talent as a prestidigitator, but also his insatiable curiosity for the wonderful, obscure, and strange--from the freaks and fringe-dwellers featured in his newsletter/book Jay's Journal of Anomalies to his comprehensive knowledge of old-time grifts and scams. From the Smithsonian article:
“The idea of crime based on wit is kind of wonderful,” Jay told me. “There’s not much admirable in a guy who comes at you with a gun and says, ‘Give me your money.’ But a guy who makes you sign a piece of paper, and then you find out you’ve bought the Brooklyn Bridge—the con is enormously appealing. And it’s theatrical. The con—the big con, especially—is an entire theatrical orchestration for an audience of one. It’s both lovely and diabolical at the same time.”
Link
|
| 54. |
Nerdy typefaces. 
This site has a great collection of free TT typefaces inspired by media from Gilligan's Island and Buffy. I love the videogame dingbats.
Link
(Thanks, brecht!)
|
| 55. |
Live audio coverage of SpaceShipOne on Monday morning. The Space Show --an online talk radio program about space commerce, tourism, R&D, and the like -- will broadcast the Space Ship One launch from the Mojave Airport this Monday morning, June 21 at 6:00 a.m Pacific time. Host David Livingston says, "
Listen to the live webcast here. An additional streaming site has been provided Space Show listeners by Jeff Birk at Pioneer Radio in the UK, here. After the live broadcast, the report will be archived TheSpaceShow.com, and it will be streamed for ongoing play at Live365.com."
Previous SpaceShipOne-related BoingBoing post: Link |
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Dilbert
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| 56. |
Dilbert for 17 Jun 2004.  |
| 57. |
Dilbert for 18 Jun 2004.  |
| 58. |
Dilbert for 19 Jun 2004.  |
| 59. |
Dilbert for 20 Jun 2004.  |
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Penny Arcade!
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| 60. |
Initiative.  |
| 61. |
Next Time, On True Tales.  |
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BBC News | Technology | UK Edition
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| 62. |
Pac-Man tempts mobile gamers. Catch up with the latest news from the world of video gaming. |
| 63. |
Napster gives away music player. Download service Napster entices new customers by offering free MP3 players. |
| 64. |
Coke song site reacts to iTunes. Coca-Cola's online music site reacts to the launch of iTunes, emphasising its top position in Europe. |
| 65. |
Japan tech guru predicts slump. Japan's top-rated technology analyst says waning demand for computers will trigger a fresh slump in tech stocks next year. |
| 66. |
Teleportation breakthrough made. Scientists teleport the properties of one atom to another without using any physical link. |
| 67. |
Four million homes have Freeview. More than four million homes in the UK now have the digital service Freeview, according to new figures. |
| 68. |
Irish Windows software developed. Microsoft and the University of Ulster join forces to develop computer software in the Irish language. |
| 69. |
Glaxo releases drug trials on web. The UK drugs giant - which is accused of withholding harmful information about Seroxat tablets - is to release its clinical trials online. |
| 70. |
Nano silicon boosts tumour fight. An innovative drug delivery system based on silicon could prove effective for tumour treatments. |
| 71. |
Surf the net while surfing waves. A wi-fi surfboard has been developed to let you surf the waves and the net at the same time. |
| 72. |
Top green car motors into the UK. The world's best-selling electric car, the Gem by Daimler Chrysler, has made its UK debut. |
| 73. |
US moves to rein in spyware. US law-makers move towards controls on hidden software that can secretly spy on online habits. |
| 74. |
Countdown to historic space trip. The first private spaceship makes final preparations for a historic trip to an altitude of 100km on Monday. |
| 75. |
Galleon sails into high seas action. The long-awaited game by the man behind Lara Croft offers an innovative game-playing experience. |
| 76. |
Cheap broadband lures surfers. The number of people in the UK taking up broadband has almost doubled in a year, official figures show. |
| 77. |
Top honour for robot heroes. Five stars of the robot world are to be honoured for their contribution to robotic history. |
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CNET News.com
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|
| 78. |
Oracle v. DOJ: Oracle president backpedals. special coverage When he said SAP, Oracle and PeopleSoft were an "oligopoly," Charles Phillips meant it colloquially. |
| 79. |
Controversial Accenture deal moves ahead. An effort to block a homeland security contract awarded to the company, whose parent is based in Bermuda, stumbles in the House. |
| 80. |
Briefly: Controversial Accenture deal moves ahead. roundup Plus: Open-source screening company hires legal muscle...Blockbuster builds up to Viacom split...Paid search predictor launched...IBM fires up hosted design apps. |
| 81. |
Oracle president backpedals on 'oligopoly' report. Justice Department plays up market observations Charles Phillips made in previous incarnation as analyst.
|
| 82. |
Week ahead: Tech takes the stand. Ongoing Oracle antitrust case and a SCO hearing should provide plenty of action for tech industry's peanut gallery. |
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Yahoo! News - Technology
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|
| 83. |
Intel Entertains a New Strategy (washingtonpost.com). washingtonpost.com - "Digital home entertainment" is a hot buzzword this year in the tech sector, with companies from Hewlett-Packard to Apple trying to transform computers into one-stop shops for music, movies and watching TV. Now Intel is joining the gang with a new set of chips. |
| 84. |
Oracle's President Downplays 'Oligopoly' Comment (Ziff Davis). Ziff Davis - Oracle's Philips answers the DOJ's questions about a 2002 report he wrote that described a back-office applications provider "oligopoly" composed of Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP AG. |
| 85. |
Witness Sees Oracle Gaining Control (AP). AP - A key Justice Department witness testified that business software maker Oracle Corp. will control a broad swath of two narrowly defined markets if the company takes over rival PeopleSoft Inc., driving up prices for large U.S. businesses. |
| 86. |
Munich Makes the Move to Linux (PC World). PC World - City government drops Windows in favor of open-source software. |
| 87. |
Gold Rush Is on in Mobile-Music Sector (Reuters). Reuters - The international mobile-music market
is dancing to the beat of new business ideas. |
| 88. |
Intel Unveils PC chips (NewsFactor). NewsFactor - Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) has launched two new chipsets for consumer and business PCs,
adding support for entertainment and multimedia applications, and
offering the most significant changes to the company's PC platform
architecture in years. |
| 89. |
Hotmail, Yahoo Step Up The Mailbox Rivalry (washingtonpost.com). washingtonpost.com - The Web mailbox wars escalated last week when Yahoo expanded its free e-mail accounts from 4 megabytes to 100 MB, and Microsoft confirmed that it, too, will raise storage limits soon on its free Hotmail accounts. |
| 90. |
PeopleSoft Top Restraint on Oracle -- Economist (Reuters). Reuters - More than half of the time that
Oracle Corp. (ORCL.O) has cut prices on its business
applications software it has done so in the face of competition
from rival PeopleSoft Inc., an economist said in federal court
on Friday. |
| 91. |
Computer Makers Gear Up for Back-To-School Sales (Reuters). Reuters - Graduation ceremonies may still be
taking place around the world, but computer makers are already
gearing up for the lucrative back-to-school season. |
| 92. |
France Challenges Microsoft in Software Re-Fit (Reuters). Reuters - France's cash-strapped government is
giving alternative software firms the chance to win state
business from Microsoft in a pioneering drive to challenge the
U.S. software giant in the public sector. |
| 93. |
Italy School Foils Cheats by Blocking Phone Signals (Reuters). Reuters - Mobile phone-savvy teenagers tempted to
cheat on exams by sending text messages or scanning pictures of
tests could be thwarted by a device that jams signals inside
the school walls. |
| 94. |
Microsoft's Other Founder Finds the Limelight (Reuters). Reuters - Paul Allen, one of the world's more
reclusive billionaires, is suddenly more visible than ever
these days. |
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Slashdot
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|
| 95. |
Intel 3.40EE & 3.60E - LGA Arrives |
| 96. |
Star Trek: New Voyages, Downloadable Video |
| 97. |
Terraform Humans First, Then Mars? |
| 98. |
TV Tuners For The PC: Internal Or External |
| 99. |
Beastie Boys' New Album Silently Installs DRM Code |
| 100. |
Rio Rancho, New Mexico: 103 Square Miles of WiFi |
| 101. |
Novell-SUSE Sponsors Openswan |
| 102. |
Seattle Wireless TV Releases June 2004 Show |
| 103. |
C-3PO Joins R2 in the Robot Hall of Fame |
| 104. |
RF-Blocking Wallpaper |
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InfoWorld: Top News
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| 105. |
Wal-Mart promises RFID will benefit suppliers. Wal-Mart wrapped up its three-day RFID event for suppliers this week in Springdale, Ark., with additional RFID product tag compliance dates for tier one and tier two suppliers and some optimistic words about the benefits of RFID for its supplier network. |
| 106. |
Red Hat Linux tops 300,000 subscribers. Red Hat Inc. now has over 300,000 subscribers to its Red Hat Enterprise Linux support service, the company said Thursday, during a conference call reporting the results of its first quarter of fiscal 2004. The company reported revenue of $41.6 million and net income of $10.7 million, or $0.05 per share, for the quarter, which ended May 31. |
| 107. |
Cisco's Chambers would welcome Nortel partnership. Cisco Systems Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer John Chambers said Thursday he would welcome a partnership with telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. |
| 108. |
Teacube PC promotes open embedded standard. SINGAPORE -- Japan's Personal Media Corp. demonstrated at CommunicAsia a functional computer called the Teacube, measuring 2 inches (5 centimeters) on each side, to show the potential of the T-Engine platform for embedded systems. |
| 109. |
Cisco plucks Procket assets for $89 million. Cisco Systems Inc. this week announced a definitive agreement to acquire the intellectual property, a majority of the engineering team, and select assets from privately held Procket Networks Inc., a maker of routers and routing technology, for $89 million in cash. |
| 110. |
Rest in peace: Yahoo Business Messenger. MIAMI - Yahoo Inc. has decided to ditch its fee-based instant messaging service for business users, acknowledging that the development of this type of offering lies beyond its core strength as a provider of consumer-oriented Internet services. ADVERTISEMENT  Download Strategic Value of Moving to Linux Business White Paper
Find out how your company can reduce IT costs or improve efficiency, you are probably considering Linux and what role it will play in your company.
|
| 111. |
Update: IBM to launch e-mail filtering managed service. MIAMI - IBM Corp. is partnering with MessageLabs Ltd. to provide a managed e-mail security service that filters messages for viruses, spam and inappropriate content before they reach a company's network and that uses a predictive technology designed to identify threats not yet defined. |
| 112. |
Cisco to unleash security plan. Cisco next week will announce availability of its Network Admission Control security technology for Cisco routers, and lay out a road map for adding NAC capabilities to its lines of LAN switches. |
| 113. |
Salvaging e-mail for the enterprise. CTO's looking for a solution to e-mail's many woes will have more tools to ponder this week, as the ETC (Email Technology Conference) wraps up its first show in San Francisco. Vendors including Cloudmark, Barracuda Networks, FrontBridge Technologies , and BorderWare Technologies used the conference to introduce tools for fighting spam, spoofing, and e-mail viruses. |
| 114. |
IBM delivers product life cycle service. IBM on Tuesday launched an on demand-flavored PLM (product life cycle management) service designed to help standardize the design practices and improve collaboration across the breadth of a manufacturer's supply chain. |
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InfoWorld: Security
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| 115. |
U.S. House subcommittee approves spyware bill. WASHINGTON - A U.S. House subcommittee has approved a spyware bill that would allow fines up to $3 million for collecting personal information, diverting browsers and delivering some pop-up advertisements to computer users without their consent. |
| 116. |
Effective IT calls for intelligent urgency. If you’ve been CTO at the same company for a few years, things ought to be running fairly smoothly. All major systems should be stable, and overall uptime should be solid. Your sys admins’ pagers and cell phones should be mostly silent through the night. You’ve probably dispensed with what I call “wasted urgency” in your IT organization — the frenetic activity so often wrongly conflated with actual forward movement toward problem solving. |
| 117. |
The Google PC generation. The Google supercomputer is changing how we think about Internet-scale software. |
| 118. |
Redline and NetScaler unburden networks. The load-balancing market grows more complex every year. Appliances that used to simply distribute incoming client requests to a virtual cluster of Web servers for improved fault tolerance and better scalability now provide several types of Web-site acceleration, security, and more. |
| 119. |
In praise of having a Plan B. The DoS attack against Akamai Technologies’ DNS servers a few days ago surprised many. The company has long been regarded as having one of the most robust infrastructures, and the fact that someone was able to tie up its servers for even a little while was unexpected. |
| 120. |
New candidates line up for 2004. Some folks dinged my patch-management column, commenting that Redmond doesn’t really release as much new code as all that. Well, I’m wondering where they were on Monday, June 14 -- a busy night in Redmond -- when the company unleashed release candidates of Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2) and of Virtual Server 2005. I’ve got this mental picture of Microsoft employees scurrying around like Keebler elves publishing release candidate after release candidate into the eager, cherubic faces of worldwide systems admins. ADVERTISEMENT Download Strategic Value of Moving to Linux Business White Paper
Find out how your company can reduce IT costs or improve efficiency, you are probably considering Linux and what role it will play in your company. |
| 121. |
Applying patch management. At one time, the concept of patch management merely meant keeping an owlish eye on Microsoft’s download site. But in recent years, Internet security has steadily deteriorated. Anti-virus vendor Sophos reported a staggering 959 new viruses and worms discovered in the month of May alone, and the number of Windows exploits and vulnerabilities seems to have grown exponentially. |
| 122. |
A network secure enough for a bank. If there were ever a defining case for the need for a well-designed patch management strategy, the Federal Reserve Bank is it. In its New York location alone, the Fed maintains more that 10,000 discrete devices, including AS/400, HP-UX, Linux, Novell NetWare, and Sun Solaris servers, as well as a huge installed base of Microsoft Windows. The awesome responsibility of managing these assets falls on the shoulders of Sean Mahon, the New York Fed’s vice president of system management. |
| 123. |
Cisco to unleash security plan. Cisco next week will announce availability of its Network Admission Control security technology for Cisco routers, and lay out a road map for adding NAC capabilities to its lines of LAN switches. |
| 124. |
Salvaging e-mail for the enterprise. CTO's looking for a solution to e-mail's many woes will have more tools to ponder this week, as the ETC (Email Technology Conference) wraps up its first show in San Francisco. Vendors including Cloudmark, Barracuda Networks, FrontBridge Technologies , and BorderWare Technologies used the conference to introduce tools for fighting spam, spoofing, and e-mail viruses. |
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LinuxSecurity.com
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|
| 125. |
Open Source Leaving Microsoft Sitting on the Fence? |
| 126. |
Baiting the Hook to Catch the Hacker |
| 127. |
Open source Internet protocol security project gets nod from Novell |
| 128. |
Linux Advisory Watch - June 18th 2004 |
| 129. |
Application Denial of Service (DoS) Attacks |
| 130. |
SuSE 8.0 To Be Discontinued |
| 131. |
Debian: www-sql Buffer overflow vulnerability |
| 132. |
Turbolinux: kernel Denial of service vulnerability |
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The Register
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| 133. |
Millennium debuggers cry foul. Letters Plus NHS data, DirecTV and BBC fridges By Lucy Sherriff . |
| 134. |
Italian stud seeks US sugarmamma. Eterosexual, bisexual or eventual overweight - it makes no difference By Lester Haines . |
| 135. |
Strange but charming new particle found. Scientists deploy leaky bucket analogy By Lucy Sherriff . |
| 136. |
UK DQ use slides. Service improves and costs fall, apparently By Tim Richardson . |
| 137. |
Blaggers lift 60 CCTV cameras. 'Seriously sophisticated' security system goes walkies By Lester Haines . |
| 138. |
US and Europe clash over online hate. Stalemate after two-day conference By Lucy Sherriff . |
| 139. |
BT to cut broadband prices for punters. Possibly within two weeks, industry sources claim By Tim Richardson . |
| 140. |
Intel builds laptop into surfboard. Truly daft Wi-Fi beach project By Lucy Sherriff . |
| 141. |
Big Bruv aggro is recipe for Web success. Hits = hits By Tim Richardson . |
| 142. |
Firm trials cancer-zapping nanobots. Nanoscale silicon drug-delivery system By Lucy Sherriff . |
| 143. |
Harvard man provides musical solace for bereft bloggers. Blogicide BPM By Andrew Orlowski . |
| 144. |
Software maker runs screaming from Itanium. and into Xeon's arms By Ashlee Vance . |
| 145. |
Nokia 'invests in Mozilla'. Browser options open By Andrew Orlowski . |
| 146. |
Intel intros 775-pin Pentium 4s. 90nm Extreme Edition Q4 launch confirmed By Tony Smith . |
| 147. |
Intel i915P, G and i925X chipsets. Review Grantsdale, Alderwood rev up consumer, business desktops By Trusted Reviews . |
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Wired News
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| 148. |
Costs of Warming on the Rise. Scientists say climate change is upon us, and the longer we wait to do something, the more expensive it will be. Also: New York air is getting worse.... Coral reefs gain protection. By Stephen Leahy. |
| 149. |
Google Expands Paid Search. Google is now letting Internet publishers get a cut of advertising sales if they host its search engine on their websites. The new feature is an extension of Google's AdSense service for posting text ads on content sites. By Joanna Glasner. |
| 150. |
Pentagon Seeks U.S. Spy Powers. The Department of Defense is asking for an exemption from the Privacy Act, which outlaws secret databases on Americans. Civil-rights activists are asking why the military wants to get into the domestic spying business. By Ryan Singel. |
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Help Net Security
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| 151. |
Q&A with SecurityFocus' Alfred Huger |
| 152. |
IP phones can create network security risk |
| 153. |
Time to dump Internet Explorer |
| 154. |
IT security is a top priority at the Olympics |
| 155. |
TSA tries biometric checks |
| 156. |
NewsIsFree: Your own Advanced News Reader and Feed Publisher. Read news from thousands of news sources updated every 15 minutes on the most powerful news aggregator.
Create custom feeds with more items, descriptions, select your version of RSS...
Check out NewsIsFree's services!
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NewsIsFree: Security
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|
| 157. |
Thieves lift PCs from security show |
| 158. |
Complacency is a serious security threat |
| 159. |
Survey Finds Enterprises Deploying Strong WLAN Security |
| 160. |
Attack forces name server host to increase security |
| 161. |
One in three PCs hosts spyware or Trojans |
| 162. |
Stealth wallpaper could keep LANs secure |
| 163. |
Security spending to peak within three years |
| 164. |
SuSE 8.0 To Be Discontinued |
| 165. |
IP phones can create network security risk |
| 166. |
Experiences with GNOME 2.6 |
| 167. |
Free Hotspots Need Free Security |
| 168. |
GPS cellphones blank out during 911 calls |
| 169. |
Microsoft prepping Hotmail to counter e-mail storage moves by Google |
| 170. |
F-Secure: Cabir.A Pictures "Caribe worm can reach only mobile phones that support bluetooth, hav... |
| 171. |
Re: Unprivilegued settings for FreeBSD kernel variables |
X-NAS-Bayes: #0: 3.86263E-043; #1: 1
X-NAS-Classification: 0
X-NAS-MessageID: 1922
X-NAS-Validation: {E681C936-E9F0-4DDC-9901-74301AF33E67}
