Wired News: Dutch Court Throws Out Kazaa Case

Wired News: Dutch Court Throws Out Kazaa Case: "The makers of Kazaa, the world's most popular computer file-sharing program, cannot be held liable for copyright infringement of music or movies swapped on its free software, the Dutch Supreme Court ruled Friday. "

FLIGHT 001

FLIGHT 001: nat took me, and tree found it on the net! wikkid travel gear!!!

Slashdot | SpaceShipOne Rockets To 68,000 Feet

Slashdot | SpaceShipOne Rockets To 68,000 Feet: "According to Space.com, Scaled Composite's SpaceShipOne flew its first rocket-powered flight today, the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' 12-second first flight. SpaceShipOne's engine burned for 15 seconds, pushing it to Mach 1.2 (930 mph) and a peak altitude of 68,000 feet. To win the X-Prize they need to reach 330,000 feet twice within 2 weeks."

Slashdot | 55 Operating Systems On A PowerBook

Slashdot | 55 Operating Systems On A PowerBook: " found an article called 'Many Systems on One Machine' over at Kernelthread.com that shows over 55 operating systems running on a 17inch Powerbook. The article includes screenshots and descriptions of each system, and also hacks and tips on getting the nasty ones installed. The author Amit Singh (the Hanoimania guy, covered earlier on Slashdot) explains his reasons for all this in a related FAAQ (frequently asked anticipated questions) ... In all a very interesting read, specially the FAAQ, where he calls the setup 'the iPod of operating systems'. Now thats an Apple Power User! I wonder what Steve Jobs would say if he sees people doing such things to his machines!!"

Wired News: No, Really, You Can't Copy These

Wired News: No, Really, You Can't Copy These: "Philips Electronics said on Tuesday it was six months away from launching a system against illegal copying that will allow consumers to play digital video and music on any digital media player. "

John Squire back with concept album - NME.COM

John Squire back with concept album: "JOHN SQUIRE will release a new solo single and album in the new year."

Slashdot | Technology Quarterly: "There is an unusually interesting Technology Quarterly available for free from The Economist where they discuss some of the more interesting new areas in the area of science and technology. Of most interest to Slashdot might be Open source's local heroes, or perhaps playing Pac-Man on thought-controlled computers. Among the other articles this month: Predicting microweather, transparent magnetic memories, smart robotic transplants, how to bake the perfect chip, and Benoit Mandelbrot - the father of fractals."

Canada deems P2P downloading legal: "Downloading copyrighted music from peer-to-peer networks is legal in Canada, although uploading files is not, Canadian copyright regulators said in a ruling released Friday"

New P2p From RIAA Members: "A new file-sharing standard designed to distribute copyrighted music and movies legitimately has been developed by a technology consortium. The system could deliver any content format to any computer, and users might even earn rewards points for sharing the files. The Content Reference Forum (CRF), founded by Universal Music Group and backed by technology companies including Microsoft, released the first specifications for the standard this week."

OPSWARE INC. / On the record: Marc Andreessen

OPSWARE INC. / On the record: Marc Andreessen at the sfgate!!!

The Hello World Project

The Hello World Project: send a msg!!!

MacSlash | All-in-ones: Apple Vs. Gateway

MacSlash | All-in-ones: Apple Vs. Gateway: "The Mercury News has done a comparison of the iMac to Gateway's newest all-in-one computer, the 610XL. Surprisingly, the iMac WINS on price! The only place the Gateway wins is that it comes with a TV tuner and wireless networking by default. The iMac wins on almost every other option. (They compared 17' models. The 20' iMac is slightly more than the 17' Gateway. Gateway doesn't offer a 20' model.) At the end, they even discuss 'cheaper' models, with the 15' iMac winning over a cheaper flat panel Gateway, and the eMac winning over a CRT Gateway. Just goes to show you that Apple can be cheaper in the consumer market."

Slashdot | AT&T Wireless Fumbles Number Portability

Slashdot | AT&T Wireless Fumbles Number Portability: "The FCC is demanding that AT&T Wireless Services explain their number portability failures. Apparently, tens of thousands of customers are having their number portability requests delayed because of computer system problems at AT&T Wireless. Sadly, the FCC did not say they were going to be imposing fines for this breach of regulations yet but I'm sure that will follow if things don't improve quickly.' Reader (54)T-Dub adds: 'As many of you already reported on wed, there have been some pretty serious delays for people switching cellphone providers according to this NYTimes article (free reg required). Most notably former AT&T customers can expect to wait up to a week for their number to switch."

Slashdot | Buzz Advocates Lagrange Point Spaceport

Slashdot | Buzz Advocates Lagrange Point Spaceport: "Buzz Aldrin has an editorial in the New York Times (free reg req) advocating a spaceport at a Lagrange point between the Earth and the moon over simply more moon missions. He emphasizes the cost and practicality of such a station, as well its potential as a 'bridge to the heavens.'"

Slashdot | McBride's New Open Letter on Copyrights

Slashdot | McBride's New Open Letter on Copyrights: "An open letter was posted today by Darl McBride, where he restates his claim that the GPL violates the U.S. Constitution, patent laws, copyright laws, and the DMCA. Mostly he just builds up a false image of the Free Software Foundation and open source supporters claiming that they have no respect for intellectual property and believe copyrights should be eliminated, then attacks that image, AKA the straw man attack. Nothing we haven't seen before"

'Space Invaders' to alight on U.S. soil | CNET News.com

'Space Invaders' to alight on U.S. soil | CNET News.com: "Japanese game machine maker Taito said Friday that it plans to restart sales of 'Space Invaders' in the United States, almost 25 years after the video game first appeared in arcades."

:)

Google wants ruling on search trademark law | CNET News.com

Google wants ruling on search trademark law: "The Mountain View, Calif.-based company filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 24. It centers on a dispute with American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, an interior decor specialist, over the sale of keyword-advertising within search results that appear on Google and across the Web. American Blind has insisted that Google stop selling keyword phrases that the company claims violate its trademarks."

Slashdot | AOL's $299 PC

Slashdot | AOL's $299 PC: "Internet.com reports 'Looking to attract households that still aren't online, AOL is offering new customers a $299 PC system if they sign a one-year $23.90 dial-up Internet service contract.' A click through AOL's ecommerce site reveals the the specs as 1.7 GHz Celeron with 256 MB RAM, 40 GB hard drive, 56K modem, 10/100ethernet card, 17' monitor and Lexmark printer. The PC is running Windows XP, and includes 'AOL Office Powered by Sun'. Also of note is the fact that the $299 appears to be financed at around 22%. The math ( (12*23.90) 299 ) seems to suggest that you can get a $699 computer for $585.80 plus any finance charges. Setting aside the question of whether this is a good deal or not, one has to wonder whether AOL is desperate for new customers and resorting to bribery, or just progressing to the next step of branding. With this action AOL controls everything from the OS to the Word Processor to the web sites their customers browse."

sounds like a good deal!!!

Should ISP subscribers pay for P2P? | CNET News.com

Should ISP subscribers pay for P2P?: "A trade group representing Canadian songwriters and music publishers argued in front of that country's Supreme Court on Wednesday that ISPs should pay into a nationwide pool--similar to a tax now imposed on blank tapes and CDs--to compensate copyright holders for widespread music downloading. "

Nanotech bill gets Bush's approval: " President Bush approved a bill that will provide $3.7 billion to nanotechnology projects over four years. "

meet box here we come!!!

Slashdot | Economic Analysis of the Nanotech Future

Slashdot | Economic Analysis of the Nanotech Future: "Economic Historian and Berkeley Professor Brad DeLong has created an analysis on his Web Log on the economic implications of Nanotechnology. His observations are based on what previously happened with the Industrial Revolution (and other economic shifts in general) and using this to speculate what Nanotech will do to the economy: who wins (technical/knowledge workers), who loses (manufacturing), and what changes (costs of products)."

Slashdot | California Bans Genegineered Fish

Slashdot | California Bans Genegineered Fish: "California regulators have announced that they are blocking the sale of genetically engineered fish. The arguments of the regulators seem to echo some of those discussed earlier here."

no more glowing gold fish :( !!!

Slashdot | TunA and Socializing via MP3 Player: "Wired is carrying a story about a new program in development called TunA. It will allow you to view other users playlists on their MP3 Player and also stream the music to your Player. Works through WiFi so it limits to mostly laptops for now. "

sounds like itunes ;) !!!

Slashdot | Mame on the Nokia N-Gage: "The Nokia N-Gage has now joined the club of consoles for whom the excellent MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) was ported to. Staffan Ulfberg has ported EMame over to the N-Gage - the emulator supports a mass of games"

wahoooo, tron deadly disk handheld!!!

Jack White almost joins The Stooges: "The White Stripes star was in the frame for a collaboration after the garage legends reformed to play a number of tracks on frontman Iggy Pop's new album, 'Skull Ring'."

Spiritualized to release a second album of rarities : "Almost all of the 26 tracks are not available on any previous Spiritualized album, and date from 1995 to 2002, taking in the sessions immediately before this year's 'Amazing Grace'."

Slashdot | President Bush To Call For Return To Moon?: "According to the National Review: 'When President Bush delivers a speech recognizing the centenary of heavier-than-air-powered flight December 17, it is expected that he will proffer a bold vision of renewed space flight, with at its center a return to the moon, perhaps even establishment of a permanent presence there. If he does, it will mean that he has decided the United States should once again become a space-faring nation.' Here's hoping. The article also includes talk of nuclear engines and using the moon as a testbed for going to Mars."

Slashdot | Japanese Train Sets A Speed Record Of 581 kph: "Last night, on December 2, a high-speed Japanese train set a new record of 581 kph, breaking its own previous record. The new Maglev high speed had real passengers on board this time. They proved that the distance between Osaka and Tokyo can be covered in one hour's time. However, we wouldn't see real trains for a while now since the cost is prohibitively expensive at this time. However, they expect that the cost would come down over the next 20 years. This seems to be the future of transportation, at least in Japan. Here is a detailed article from The Japan Times."

Slashdot | Nanotechnology: Are Molecular Assemblers Possible?: "Two experts in the field of nanotechnology, K. Eric Drexler, Ph.D., cofounder of the Foresight Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., and the person who coined the term 'nanotechnology,' and Richard E. Smalley, Ph.D., a professor at Rice University and winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, exchanged open letters about 'molecular assemblers' -- devices capable of positioning atoms and molecules for precisely defined reactions in almost any environment. These letters are making the -- long -- cover story of the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News. At the end of this rich exchange of four letters, they still disagree about the issue. Drexler thinks 'molecular assemblers' are possible while Smalley denies it. Who is right? Don't count on me to give an answer. This summary contains some forceful quotes from the original letters."

Group seeks political power for P2P | CNET News.com

Group seeks political power for P2P : "A new nonprofit organization aimed at welding file-swapping and open-source computing advocates into a political force is launching online this week. "

Ananova - Ballet featuring Radiohead may play in London : "Radiohead hope to play live when a ballet production they're providing music for comes to London."

Rotation Archive

Rotation Archive:
Clone Wars Micro Series
D4
Friendster
HeadPhoneRecord
Hüsker Dü
Red v Blue
Sigur Rós
The Beach Boys
The Clash
The Postal Service
Trail Of Dead
Transistor Lounge

Ananova - Marilyn Manson faces stage act criminal inquiry: "Marilyn Manson is under criminal investigation in Switzerland after a religious group made a formal complaint about his stage act."

Slashdot | Who Owns The Facts?: "With all of the furor over the Patriot Act a truly scary bill that expands the rights of corporations at the expense of individuals was quietly introduced into congress in October. In Feist v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co. the Supreme Court ruled that a mere collection of facts can't be copyrighted. But H.R. 3261, the Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act neatly sidesteps the copyright question and allows treble damages to be levied against anyone who uses information that's in a database that a corporation asserts it owns. This is an issue that crosses the political spectrum. Left-leaning organizations like the American Library Association oppose the bill and so do arch-conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly, who wrote an impassioned column exposing the bill for what it is the week after it was introduced."

Sony ships blue laser optical drives: "Sony Electronics on Monday said it is shipping blue laser-based optical storage drives and related products to equipment manufacturers and system integrators. The new Professional Disc for Data products include media cartridges that store up to 23GB of data, Sony said. The new devices should appeal to customers seeking more capacity than is possible with 9.1GB magneto-optical discs, according to Sony. Magneto-optical discs are used in drives that feature both a laser and a magnetic read-write head. Sony said its new technology is ideal for applications such as document and medical imaging, e-mail archiving and multimedia projects"

IKEA: super dope site!!!

Sony Global - QRIO

QRIO: abio's human :)

Slashdot | Will TiVo Destroy Ad-Supported TV?: "According to a column in Television Week, the increasing popularity of digital video recorders will actually cause a decline in ad revenues in the next few years. 'The rollout of DVR-type technology ... will reach critical mass with 11 percent penetration of U.S. television households by 2005 and 15 percent by 2006...As a result, five-year earnings growth for TV station groups could fall from as much as 10 percent to as low as 4 percent.' Why? DVR users skip at least two-thirds of commercials and the 'collective impact represents a threat to revenue and cash flow growth that cannot be offset ... Fifteen percent DVR penetration implies that 9.1 percent of all ads would not be watched and that advertisers would be overpaying by 9.1 percent, or $6.6 billion as calculated from projected 2006 total ad revenues of $72 billion.' And another business model goes down in flames."

REDCAT: The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater

REDCAT: The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater @ Walt Disney Concert Hall!!!

The Darkness | Men What Do Rock, Baby

just saw The Darkness on mtv europe's awards show. oh my god!!! these fuckers are amazing!!!

Slashdot | Lost Disney Rides Recreated in CGI: "Disney closes the rides, but the CGI geeks love them too much to let them disappear. 'Adventures thru Inner Space,' the Disneyland ride in which you shrunk down to the size of a molecule, ran from 1967 to 1985. Atommobiles.com is a fan site which includes this elaborate CGI recreation. The Walt Disney World version of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride closed in 1967. Virtual Toad is in the process of re-building it.' I was born after 1967, and I've ridden MTWR many times, so perhaps they're talking about an older version."

Red vs Blue: dope!!!

Online Status Indicator for AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN and Yahoo: "is a service that lets you put a small image on a web page to show if you are online on AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, Jabber, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. Use the default icons or create your own status icons."

JavaScrypt: Browser-Based Cryptography Tools: "JavaScrypt runs entirely in your browser--nothing is sent to any Web site when you use it. You can, if you wish, download JavaScrypt to your own computer and use it when not connected to the Internet. "

Slashdot | Economics of File-Sharing: "The Red Herring's got an article by me about the economics of file-sharing, which argues that the music industry should provide insurance...against itself. This is because the contract listeners sign with labels is risky - it lets labels shirk on their end of the bargain. That's why file-sharing isn't just 'theft', it's risk-sharing. The original, longer, version of the paper is here, which argues that this a situation economists call double moral hazard."

The Shower Project

The Shower Project: just briliant!!!

Scotch v Whiskey: learn all you ever didn't want to know :)

Mutant mice chill out on ecstasy: "Mice that lack a key protein stay cool after ingesting ecstasy1. Therapies to treat potentially fatal overheating associated with the club drug may follow."

wonder if these bloskers can be added to a mdma dose?!?

Slashdot | MPAA, RIAA Seek Permanent Antitrust Exemption: "Webcasters sued RIAA two months ago in an antitrust case for anti-competitive behavior. The response? An exemption from antitrust laws. Today's Register tells about RIAA/MPAA's efforts to get just such an exemption written into law. They could become permanently exempt from such a suit, if the bill passes. They snuck it into a bill sponsored by Orrin Hatch called EnFORCE Act (Enhancing Federal Obscenity Reporting and Copyright Enforcement Act of 2003). Orrin Hatch says this bill contains 'First... an antitrust exemption in the Copyright Act [for] record companies and music publishers' Why? Because of 'market realities.' Which ones? The 12-year-old girl? The 15-year-old girl? Or the 66-year-old Grandma with a Mac?"

Slashdot | MPAA Sued Over DVD Screener Ban: "Fourteen small movie houses are suing the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) trying to stop the ban on DVD 'screeners'. 'It will chill the financing of independent films by limiting the awards they can receive', say the plaintiffs, who include Talking Wall Pictures, Sandcastle 5 Productions and Salty Features. They feel they are being treated differently because several 'specialty' indy film shops are still allowed to send out 'numbered, encoded videocassettes' to Oscar voters. This ban was issued by MPAA President Jack Valenti initially to stop the illegal distribution of DVD screeners on the Internet."

Wired News: Congress Expands FBI Spying Power: "A provision of an intelligence spending bill will expand the power of the FBI to subpoena business documents and transactions from a broader range of businesses -- everything from libraries to travel agencies to eBay -- without first seeking approval from a judge. "

Test Your Digital IQ: see how you stack up. thx tree for the link on your blog!

i got a 160 but it think it mis scored atleast 2 questions. i was going to point it out to the authors but they seem to have no email link. eithter they don't like criticism or have low digital iqs!!!

:: Douglas Rushkoff and PsychicTV : The next incarnation of PsychicTV - PTV3 - will debut at the Coral Room in NYC on December 5. According to the press release:

"The line-up ov PTV3 is Douglas Rushkoff, Lady Jaye, Electric Eddie, Isaiah Singer,Alice Genese, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. With video sculptures presented by HONEYGUN LABS, and live sound mixed by Scott Reiter. This event is cosponsored by BBgun Magazine whose new issue features Breyer P-Orridge and Psychic TV ideas. With host Lyle Derek,deejay sets by Nick from the YEAH YEAH YEAHS and more."

what ever happened to fred? good luck kids we missed you!!!

Recycling TV Ads: "According to this article in the Denver Post a young entrepreneur has gotten into the business of recycling junked TV commercials for clients with low budgets. TV ads cost anywhere between $50,000 and $1 million and small businesses usually cannot afford an original production. The company, Thought Equity, wipes off all references to the earlier company and makes the junked commerical ready for reselling with a price tag less than $10,000. Also businesses that want their ads on the air as soon as possible are approaching the company seeking recycled ads because producing original ads takes time."

New Supersonic Jet Test Less Than Successful: "The BBC is reporting in this story that the first test of Japan's supersonic jet didn't go quite as planned when it crashed into the ground seconds after takeoff on its test rig. It looks like a successor to the world's only supersonic passenger jet, Concorde (built jointly by the British and French in the 1960s) is still some way off.' Reuters has more pictures.

word!

Decoding the Algorithm for Pop Music: "Over at Modplug, they have an article describing a mathematical algorithm to predict if a given song will become a hit or not. Paraphrasing the article, a Spanish company called Polyphonic HMI has made a business out of analyzing song submissions and predicting their 'hitability'. Here's their description of the algorithm and here's their FAQ. They claim to have predicted the commercial success of Norah Jones through this method. Here's my question (which is not fully answered in their FAQ): if they (music company executives) are currently using the algorithm to screen submissions for their 'hitability', can we (people who listen to music) use the same algorithm to reject recycled tunes and encourage originality? I for one, still like the fresh talent and community feel of the tracking scene."

the other day my professor said no one has "ears" and there are not "hitmen" but masybe there are they just go by the names of asciq, big mac, and deep blue!!!

The Register

DVD Jon Unlocks iTunes' Locked Music: "Jon Lech Johansen, better known as DVD Jon for his authorship of the DeCSS decryption software, has turned his attention to Apple's locked music format."

it appears jon has created a stream ripper / audio hijack like program that while saving removes all drm header info. for now the program is not entirely useful becase resulting files can't be played without a valid header, but as a proof of concept it is interesting. the theory, i guess, is that one could build such an application that writes the new unprotected file with out a header containing drm and instead replaces it with a valid header without drm.

seems to not bode well for the idea of locked files of anykind let alone music!!!

Vivendi to Destroy MP3.com archive: " Vivendi Universal recently sold the MP3.com domain to CNET. That in and of itself is a yawner. MP3.com doesn't really fit the Vivendi profit model, so it's understandable that they're dumping it. Why this matters is they're not selling the archive, containing more than a million songs by 250,000 artists. As of December 3rd, they're destroying it."

RIAA Threatens 15-Year-Old: "It looks like the RIAA is still going after teenagers--this time, 15-year old Megan Dickinson was caught sharing 1,100 files. At the maximum statutory damages for copyright infringement, this makes Megan's liability at least $825,000, at most a mere $165,000,000. Naturally, the RIAA benevolently offered a $3,500 settlement to avoid these moderate, legally sanctioned damages. As we can hardly forget, the RIAA has already used this technique to settle with a 12 year old. Megan's unsurprising take: 'Yeah, it seems ridiculous.'"

iPod-Jacked: "In a story on Wired, entitled Feel Free to Jack Into My iPod, an iPod owner shares experiences he has had with other iPod owners, namely the plugging of his headphones into a stranger's jack. It began when a woman in her 30's walked up to him while he was on a walk, unplugged her headphone jack from her iPod, and motioned for him to plug his in. They then listened to each other's music for about 30 seconds. He has then shared with about a dozen iPod listeners, with most of the strangers reciprocating. According to the article, the practice has also cropped up in other communities. Listeners acquire tastes for different kinds of music, just like on internet/LAN file sharing networks. An interesting read."

Yahoo Reminds Users That 'No' Doesn't Mean 'No': "Looks like Yahoo is resetting their 'Marketing Preferences' again. In an email I received from Yahoo today it states, 'Starting January 1, 2004, Yahoo! will begin to send you messages, via email or postal mail, about our own products and services. You can control the types of messages you receive by visiting your Marketing Preferences at any time'. It also states, 'And, as always, you can delete your Yahoo! account altogether at any time, for any reason, by going to the deletion page.' I deleted my Yahoo account a month ago. I guess they are lying, because I'm still getting their SPAM."

sounds like its time for joe to get 17200 on their ass!!!

AppleCare for iPod: "Apple is now offering AppleCare for the iPod from their online Apple Store. The new service from Apple costs $59.00 and offers two years of coverage for the 'iPod and its original included accessories (excluding the carrying case) that are defective in materials or workmanship or for battery depletion of 50 percent or more from original specification'."

Radiohead To Headline Coachella 2004?: "RADIOHEAD are strongly rumoured to headline the COACHELLA FESTIVAL next year in INDIO, CALIFORNIA."

UPDATE:
tom york via urb via jenn, radiohead will be playing the opening slot before headliner the PIXIES!!! ;)

Bill Joy On His New G5: "Rock Solid": "In an interview with Wired, Bill Joy (ex-Sun) says that he 'just got a new Mac with two 2-gigahertz processors, 8 gigabytes of memory, and a half a terabyte of internal disk.' Joy admits being underwhelmed with Linux and has even less time for Windows but with regard to Mac OSX he says 'Mac OSX is a rock-solid system that's beautifully designed. I much prefer it to Linux.'"

Techno DJ Is Hot, Hot, Hawtin: "Based in Berlin but constantly on the move, Hawtin juggles DJing, recording and running a record label with the help of a couple of laptops, several cell phones and a network of business partners based all over the world. "

SoundScan Adds More Stores: "Nielsen SoundScan said Monday that it added four online music stores to its tracking service, a move that will increase the survey's accuracy in following the nascent but fast-growing industry. "

Recording Industry's Unexpected Benefit from P2P: "Yahoo / AP is reporting that the record industry is using the files traded on Kazza et al. to track where music is popular. It turns out that they even pay for this information. 'It's the most vast and scalable sample audience that the world has ever seen'' Now if they could only use this data to somehow put out better music..."

sounds like non-infringing uses to me!!!

Tokyoflash LED watches , Directly from Tokyo Japan

DMCA Doesn't Protect Garage Door Remotes: "A federal judge in Illinois has ruled that a univeral remote garage door opener does not violate the DMCA. 'Consumers have a reasonable expectation that they can replace the original product with a competing universal product without violating federal law,' Judge Rebecca M. Pallmeyer said. 'This was an attempt to expand the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to where it had never gone before,' said Andrea B. Greene, attorney for privately held Skylink, the manufacture of the garage door opener in question. '[This is] very good news for consumers.' Additional coverage at Wired and Security Focus."

The Elegant Universe, Now Available Online: "PBS has made available online all three hours of the NOVA program on unified theory. Formats are QuickTime and RealVideo with each hour broken up into eight chapters each.' I watched the whole thing, and while it's clearly for a lay audience (no math required), it was fun and informative. I was pleased to note that dissenting views on whether string theory was science were presented, and even brief discussion of what constitutes science. "

First Reproducing Artificial Virus Created: "USAToday is reporting that Craig Venter's research group has synthesized a virus from scratch and that it 'became bioactive' (started reproducing). Particularly interesting is that it only took them two weeks to build, rather than several years that previous attempts had taken."

New Animated Dr. Who Series: "To celebrate the doctor's fourtieth anniversary, the BBC and Cosgrove Hall Films are webcasting a fully-animated adventure starring Richard E. Grant. You can watch the first episode of Scream of the Shalka and new episodes will be launched every Thursday. Enjoy.' It requires Flash 4, but also looks pretty damn cool."

Yahoo! Mail - markfriedlander@yahoo.com

Quote of the day: "How do you know when your drunk? Perhaps when u spill your drink all over the bathroom floor - flail"

Laying Down the Virtual Law: "A collection of the brightest thinkers and best designers of games like EverQuest, and metaverses like There and Second Life, will be talking in New York starting Thursday. They're gathering for the first State of Play: Law, Games and Virtual Worlds conference. "

ITunes Undermines Social Security: "As if it weren't hard enough to be cool already, Apple Computer has introduced a new way for people to ruin their social standing."

pretty crazy implications i never considered, but feel free to check mine, i stand by everything in my crate!!!

Ritz Disposable Digital Camera Hacked: "The $10.99 Dakota reusable digital camera announced in July was usefully hacked on November 6. First attempts to extract picture data took 10 hours to read out 16MB, but new code for Linux and Mac and Windows lets you get pictures quickly over USB and view or print them without Ritz's help (and with fewer of your $$)."

Bombardier's Hot Wheel: "Following the release of the Segway, Bombardier (the makers of such things as Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles) announce their prototype Embrio - a motorcycle-like unicycle that uses gyroscopes to balance itself and runs off hydrogen fuel cells. It also features a landing gear that automatically retracts once you reach 12 m.p.h. The story is at Forbes. You can also get more information directly from their website."

CMU Unveils Robot Hall Of Fame: "Carnegie Mellon University has just unveiled the Robot Hall of Fame. Along with that announcement, MSNBC has an article about the first honorary inductees, including R2D2 and Mars Pathfinder. You also have the chance to nominate other robots."

The World of the Droids: "Long before their famous adventures with the Rebel Alliance, R2-D2 and C-3PO were assigned to many different masters by the Intergalactic Droid Agency.

In this animated series, the droids encounter many unforgettable people: greedy villains set on conquering planets, terrible space pirates, and brave heroes."

Radiohead To Run BBC: "They will run digital service BBC 6 Music for a week over the Christmas period, choosing music, artists and programmes."

Disordered Assemblies: "Jim Tour, of Rice University says 'Our research shows that ordered precision isn't a prerequisite for computing. It is possible to make memory circuits out of disordered systems.' The article on www.e4engineering.com says the team has made 'NanoCells', self assembled devices made from gold nanowires and organic conductive molecules. These NanoCells are the first devices of their kind to be made into working microelectronic devices, apparently.' Yep. Let an untold number of machines try to create NanoCells, and statistics says you'll find the most efficient kind. "

Star Wars: Clone Wars on Cartoon Network!!!

Captured! By Robots: Videos, don't ask. just go see!!!

iTunes Music Store - 'Coolest Invention of 2003': "Time Magazine has just named the iTunes Music Store as their Top Coolest Invention of 2003. Also among this year's favorites are 'fish-skin bikinis, a new love drug, the car that parks itself, and the invisible man'."

one word: cupertino!!!

A Peek Inside the Secret World: "Fun can be discovered at the new International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C."

:)

Matrix 3 Breaks Box Office Records: "The final part of The Matrix trilogy has taken £120 million at cinemas around the world in a record-breaking opening weekend."

Not bad since imdb reports a budget of $110 million.

Viruses Are Good for You: "Spawn of the devil, computer viruses may help us realize the full potential of the Net."

The Psychology of Virus Writers: "BBC Technology reports on the psychology of virus writers and the work of security researcher Sarah Gordon, who has been studying this area for 20 years. ''The stereotype that virus writers are all young teenage boys with no social life, hiding in their basement is not accurate,' she said. In contrast, she said, most virus creators are typical for their age, are on good terms with friends and family and are often contributors to their local community.' The story is an interesting contrast to a previous BBC report about why people write viruses."

MIT's Sensetable: "Sensetable is a system that wirelessly tracks the positions of multiple objects on a flat display surface quickly and accurately. The tracked objects have a digital state, which can be controlled by physically modifying them using dials or tokens."

i love new guis. looks like media lab is still rockin it!!!

O'Grady's PowerPage - Your Mobile Technology Destination

PowerPage says: "Wireless Number Portability comes on November 24th"

WHAHOOOO your all clear kid!!!

Mammoth Is Open: We have a base of 2-3 feet, with Discovery Chair and Broadway Express and now ThunderBound Express operating today! Face Lift and Stump Alley are expected to be added for this weekend!!!

let the season begin!!!

Penguins for President?

Penguins for President?: "Is there any significance to what Web server/platform combinations 2004 presidential candidates are using?"

for the super geek but kinda cool!!! :)

Playstation Portable Pics Pop Up: "Sony Computer Entertainment chief Ken Kutaragi yesterday revealed the company's prototype design for its upcoming Playstation Portable (PSP) handheld gaming console."

BRMC Forced To Call A Halt To Leeds Show: BMRC litteraly blows the buinding apart!!!

McDonald's To Give Away iTunes Songs: "Apparently, McDonald's is going to start giving away iTunes songs. Except instead of the hundred million that Pepsi will offer, the fast food giant is planning to offer a billion. Look for me rumaging through the trash at your neighborhood Micky D's.' Look for new signs saying '1 billion songs downloaded."

Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence: "I spotted on Ain't it cool news that Mamoru Oshii's new anime Innocence Ghost In The Shell 2's website is now open! The trailer is beautiful!"

Slashdot | Killing Cancer With a Virus

Killing Cancer With A Virus: "The U.S. National Cancer Institute has just decided to fund multiple human clinical studies to test the reovirus. This naturally occuring virus has a remarkable ability to infect and kill cancer cells, without affecting normal, healthy cells. Here is a before and after picture of a terminal patient with an actively growing neck tumour that had failed to respond to conventional treatments. This tumour was eliminated with only a single injection of the Reovirus. Researchers at Oncolytics Biotech have shown that the Reovirus can kill many types of cancer, including breast, prostate, pancreatic and brain tumours. Human clinical trial results indicate that there are no safety concerns and that the reovirus shrinks and even eliminates tumours injected with this virus. Numerous other third party studies show that the reovirus should be an important discovery in the treatment of 2/3 of all human cancers."

holly shit, you must see this!!!

Xbox To Switch To PowerPC: "Microsoft's next-generation Xbox will ditch its Intel chip in favor of the same kind of chip used in Apple's Macs"

first they take on cray and make 'big mac' (currently #3 in the world), take on rio and sony making the ipod (#1 in the world), take on the big 5 making itms (#1 in the us), now they may back door the xbox!!!

Spammed By Bluetooth: "BBC News is reporting a new craze - using Bluetooth to send unsolicited messages. Apparently lots of phone owners are leaving Bluetooth switched on, meaning that anyone within range can send a short message. The phenomenon is known as 'bluejacking'. It's not clear at present that this is being done by anyone other than pranksters, but one can't help wondering, how long before commercial spammers catch on."

zipping's next!!!

Slashdot | MIT's Music Net Shut Down Over License Issues

MIT's Music Net Shut Down Over License Issues: "MIT's LAMP music-over-cable initiative has been shut down due to licensing concerns, as reported on The Boston Globe. Ars Technica has a good summary of the story. It appears that Loudeye did not have the rights to sell music to MIT for distribution over cable, although they apparently assured MIT that they did in fact have those rights. Murky, unexplored legal quagmire or RIAA influenced revisionism?"