Overpeer and Media Defender are two of about a dozen tech companies developing software that would “sabotage the computers and Internet connections of people who download pirated music”, according to the New York Times. Programs, developed for record companies, include 'silence', which searches for and deletes music files from hard drives, 'freeze' which locks up […]

This just in — now the mainstream media knows what everyone else does!. Did Bush know? An article in today's New York Times (link to mirrored site with no reg. req.) pieces together data that the author claims proves that Bush and his inner circle were well-aware that they were using false “evidence” of Iraqi […]

Who should own comments?. If nobody owns the writing (or if each entry is owned by its author), that pretty much guarantees that the whole lot will be tossed into the garbage sooner or later. [Mark Bernstein] It isn't rendered worthless, but the subjective value does not get transformed into objective value. Thus when the […]

Skinning Our Tools. The Banff Centre is in one of the most beautiful locations you could ever hope to see, and since I really enjoyed the Banff New Media Institute summit I attended last year, I'm thinking of going to Skinning Our Tools: Designing for Context and Culture, October 2-5, 2003″Computer game players trade and […]

The Intruder. The most fun I've ever had playing a Jorge Luis Borges story!The Intruder by Natalie Bookchin. “A story in 8 games. Shoot, score, catch, hit a ball or kill an alien! All in the name of love.”Hmm. According to the artist, it's “like a game but . [Purse Lip Square Jaw] This is […]

Life-sized toy car. You see model cars based on real cars all the time, but how often do you see a real car based on a toy car? GK, our Tokyo correspondent, writes in that: Takara Toys, maker of a popular Japanese line of toy cars (think Japanese Matchbox cars or penny racers) has built […]

Wiktionary. William Gibson mentions the really cool Wiktionary site (“a wiki-based Open Content dictionary”; neologisms here) in a very brief interview…. [Fragments] this is nifty.

More on Matsushita's new long-lasting e-book. More information, and a picture, of that new e-book from Matsushita we mentioned on Friday, the one that lasts for six months on two AA batteries. Read [Translated from Japanese using Babelfish] [Gizmodo] this looks nice….

CHEF Project: The Comprehensive Collaborative Framework Initiative, Univ. of Mich.. This announcement about the CHEF Project appeared in the April 8, 2003 issue of the Distance Educator Daily News, (http://www.distance-educator.com/dnews/?name=News&file=article&sid=8805). The CHEF Project is one more important development in steps toward shared, open-source education tools. _______ “The CompreHensive collaborativE Framework (CHEF) initiative has as its […]

always like these linux kernel bits An interesting linux-kernel thread on why there will never be open source drivers for non-obsolete 802.11 cards. [Hack the Planet]