Thursday, February 05, 2004

Good Experience: Bit literacy: an overview. Obviously, bits have become more important to the average technology user since then. In fact, I find that the essay - although it predates those developments - is even more relevant in 2004. Thus I plan to write more about bit literacy this year. [Tomalak's Realm] 8:26:28 PM    comment []

Crank it! iTunes sells sounds of silence--for real. Silence may be golden, but now, thanks to Apple Computer's online music store, it can be downloaded for a mere 99 cents. [CNET News.com - Front Door] 6:45:06 PM    comment []

MP3 version of oral arguments in the Grokster and Morpheus federal appeal 2:23:01 PM    comment []

How do homing pigeons navigate? They follow roads. By Caroline Davies, The Telegraph (UK). Zoologists now believe the phrase "as the crow flies" no longer means the shortest most direct route between two points. They say it is likely that crows and other diurnal birds also choose AA- suggested routes, even though it makes their journeys longer. Some pigeons stick so rigidly to the roads that they even fly round roundabouts before choosing the exit to lead them back to their lofts. Animal behaviouralists at Oxford University are stunned by their findings, which follow 10 years of research into homing pigeons. For the last 18 months they have used the latest global-positioning technology, allowing them to track the ground the birds covered to within one to four metres. It really has knocked our research team sideways to find that after a decade-long international study, pigeons appear to ignore their inbuilt directional instincts and follow the road system, said Prof Tim Guilford, reader in animal behaviour at Oxford University's Department of Zoology. For long-distance navigation and for birds doing a journey for the first time, they will use their inbuilt compasses and take sun and star bearings. But once homing pigeons have flown a journey more than once, they home in on a habitual route home, much as we do when we are driving or walking home from work. In short, it looks like it is mentally easier for a bird to fly down a road and then turn right. They are just making their journey as simple as possible. (And if the link above doesn't work, try this one: How do homing pigeons navigate? They follow roads.) There are illustrations, too: 1:22:52 PM    comment []

Court records have been unsealed revealing some of what material was taken from the "main house" on Michael Jackson's sprawling Los Olivos estate, Neverland -- The Smoking Gun has 'em, of course. 11:22:35 AM    comment []

Yaaar! The music pirates' manifesto By Annalee Newitz, San Francisco Bay Guardian. With a groan, I peeled the transparent sticker off my brand-new iPod. In the clean, cute font for which Apple is known, it read, "Don't steal music." Even the wrapping paper on my smooth little machine was full of antipiracy propaganda. But the software wrappings Apple places around the music the iPod plays are far worse than propaganda: they enforce, with no subtlety or charm, the licensing preferred by corporate copyright holders. Once upon a time, Apple's slogan "Rip. Mix. Burn." meant "make as many copies as you want of your legally purchased music." Now it means "make the limited number of copies we deem appropriate." All that's being ripped, mixed, and burned are fair-use laws . . . 10:21:33 AM    comment []

When a Search Engine Isn't Enough, Call a Librarian. With the public expectation that answers can be found almost instantly with an Internet search engine, librarians are trying new approaches to retain their relevance. By Jeffrey Selingo. [New York Times: Technology] 6:20:02 AM    comment []

Xeni notes that Former US President Jimmy Carter has a blog (and thanks Jean-Luc). 6:18:06 AM    comment []

Tasmanian blogs + digression on blog definitions. I've started compiling a list of Tasmanian blogs. My current results are at the top of my right-hand blogroll. If anybody knows of any others, please let me know about them. I want to list all of them - even... [explodedlibrary.info] 6:11:46 AM    comment []