Saturday, January 18, 2003

Eric Eldred Act: A bookkeeping change that would feed the public domain [bOing bOing] 12:54:44 PM    comment []

Peter Ford: "I offered parents at our school a basic half-day weblogging course. Fifty have already signed up, an overwhelming but exciting response." [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog] 12:51:54 PM    comment []

And since we've been talking about reality television, it's probably worth noting that CBS has announced the next batch of contestants (these for Survivor Amazon). There's a swimsuit model. Another is deaf. And one wrote a senior thesis on the impact of reality TV. Oh, one is an abstinence counselor (from my metro area, no less). An Atlas-Shrugged-loving rocket scientist. Really! Another guy is a fan of the Houston Rockets. Coincidence? Another guy was one of People Magazine's Top 50 Bachelors last year. One is Vice President of Estimating. I kid you not. And a Vietnam vet, to boot. Several profess to like interesting beers. Two guys are from Ellicot City, Maryland. Four or so have St. Louis or Missouri connections. And they're a pretty white bunch. The rumor mill says it's gonna be boys-against-the-girls. 10:41:54 AM    comment []

A little over seven years ago I wrote a glowing review of the then-new Pointcast system. The review ran in Wired, and in huge type at Pointcast's tradeshow booth. And for the next seven years, after Pointcast's quick demise, we've been rebuilding the system, with open formats, choice, two-way-ness, and with a better scaling proposition. People who love the network that RSS forms will recognize this story. [Scripting News] 8:58:40 AM    comment []

Court: Network Associates can't gag users. In a victory for free-speech advocates and product reviewers, a New York state judge has ruled that the security software company can't prevent people from talking about its products. [CNET News.com] 8:58:16 AM    comment []

"Samaritan" by Richard Price. The author of "Clockers" tells the story of a rich guilty white guy who tries to help the kids in the housing project he grew up in, with dire results. [Salon.com] 8:57:54 AM    comment []

Paul Boutin: "A few alert Googlers have noticed that dozens of local newspapers from Boston to Honolulu have run the same letter under different names nationwide." [Scripting News] 8:57:25 AM    comment []

Microsoft's privacy officer resigns. The company says its corporate privacy officer has decided to leave, and Microsoft will search for a new person to head the privacy component of its Trustworthy Computing initiative. [CNET News.com] 8:56:58 AM    comment []

Lynda Barry. Marlys wisdom for if you are sick. [Salon Headlines] 8:56:15 AM    comment []

After the copyright smackdown: What next?: Don't despair at the Supreme Court's gift to Disney, says one expert. The fight has really only just begun. By Siva Vaidhyanathan, in Salon. 5:41:07 AM    comment []