2003 October

“As Hollywood wins one court case after another, one Republican senator is suggesting that maybe it’s time for some new laws — that protect consumers instead of entertainment companies….
Verizon has thrown in its support for an eight-page document that, in civil liberties circles, is referred to simply as the ‘Brownback bill.‘ That phrase is, technically, [...]

“A vulnerability in the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) classloader may allow an untrusted applet to escalate privileges.
Sun acknowledges, with thanks, Last Stage of Delirium, for bringing this issue to our attention. For more information, see the LSD website at http://lsd-pl.net.” These LSD guys are making a splash - that’s the second or third time [...]

They’re all true!

“Japan has lost contact with the Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-2 (Adeos-2), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced Oct. 25.
The Earth observing satellite, which was launched in December, failed to make a scheduled data transmission Oct. 25 and engineers subsequently discovered that the craft had turned off all of its observation equipment to minimize power [...]

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“…there appears to be a problem with chkdsk recording false positive errors when run from a command prompt. I can find no reference to this problem in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. To quote from this article reportedly sourced from Microsoft, ‘This problem [...]

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I wonder what’s going to happen.
Last week, I reported that Microsoft is going to hold off and release security patches once a month (unless there’s a big, pressing problem). This week, there’s a big, pressing problem. Many of them, in fact. [...]

In a widely publicised experiment at Duke University, North Carolina, recently, monkeys given a brain implant learnt how to control a robotic arm with just their thoughts. Meanwhile, Chicago researchers at Northwestern University have fused the brain stem of an eel to a robot the size of a dollar coin, creating a crude cyborg, or [...]

” ‘Thwump’ sounds happen in boxing matches, not offices. So when a loud thwump bounces off the exposed-wood ceiling in an office in San Francisco’s once trendy south-of-Market district, every head turns. Programmer Jed Burgess is flat on his back next to a blue fitness ball. Burgess gets up, pulls his socks off for traction, [...]

Some of the best 3D models around are currently on show at an exhibition which has just opened in London called Perfectly Real: Women in Bits and Bytes.
But they raise questions about what people might be able to do with the models if they get too realistic and we cannot tell the difference anymore.

Nokia has released intial sales figures for its N-Gage portable game deck/cell phone combo. According to Nokia, 400,000 units have been sold to retail outlets since the product launched on October 7. In addition, they claim that follow-up orders have begun trickling in. Calling the debut “strong,” Nokia says it is pleased with the initial [...]

Apple Computer’s iPod is learning how to play well with others.
The iPod, which turned two years old this month, spent its first months focused on doing one thing–playing music. Apple added other features, such as address and calendar information, the ability to store notes and a couple of games. Now, the computer maker is [...]

We need to get the facts straight about identity theft and the Internet and stop scaring consumers away from the antidote to a $47 billion national problem.
A consumer stands a greater chance of being struck by lightning than falling prey to identity theft after paying a bill online. In fact, individuals actually reduce their [...]

Pretty neat site where you can get a glimpse of the latest concept cars from around the world. Features the latest concepts, prototypes, exotics, vintage, and classic vehicles.

Every autumn, so it seems, Microsoft rolls out a new version of its Works Suite. This fall, once again, the low-end home-office package is bolstered by an almost overwhelming number of high-powered extras. At the core of the five-CD Microsoft Works Suite 2004 ($99.99 list) is Works 7.0, comprising a database, spreadsheet, calendar, and task [...]

Today we’ll be looking at the newest offering from Cooler Master, the Jet 7, a heatsink that offers both distinguishable style as well as what we hope proves to be quality cooling temperatures.
Some of you may be looking at the Jet 7 and thinking that it looks vaguely similar to the Aero 7+ that I [...]

“This week, speaking at a Gartner conference in Orlando, Florida, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said some fascinating things about Linux and about Open Source software in general. And thanks to those remarks and the blinding realization they caused for me, I finally understand exactly why Microsoft doesn’t understand Open Source.
Ballmer asked, “Should there be a [...]

“Google is considering holding a massive online auction of shares early next year in an initial public offering that investment bankers predict could value the internet search-engine company at more than $15bn.”

“A consumer class action lawsuit accuses AOL of deliberately double-billing hundreds of thousands of customers through a deceptive scheme involving multiple screen names. The suit also names ICT Group, which operates customer service centers for AOL, a division of Time Warner.
The lawsuit alleges that over the past two years, AOL has regularly double-billed many of [...]

“Microsoft Corp. announced on Wednesday that it is expanding its shared source program by opening the doors for eligible customers to the nuts and bolts of the company’s source code for Windows. It’s a move that one industry analyst said takes Microsoft closer to embracing open-source, while at the same time allows the company to [...]

“An Austrian firm is developing a giant video-conferencing system that will be deployed in public spaces in London and Vienna next year, allowing people in the two cities to meet and talk eye-to-eye.”