Monday, March 01, 2004

Banned DVD copiers get spam treatment. Film-copying software from 321 Studios, deemed illegal by the courts, is now showing up in in-boxes. [CNET News.com - Front Door] 11:15:46 PM    comment []

Network World: Doubts dog Microsoft spam plan. To underscore the challenges presented in creating a standard for authentication of e-mail senders, the IETF had no luck with six other specifications that addressed the issue. But interest is high, with more than 8,000 companies testing or having implemented SPF alone... [Tomalak's Realm] 3:51:48 PM    comment []

Harvard Plans Center to Grow Stem Cells. Harvard plans to open a multimillion-dollar center that could be the largest privately financed stem cell research project in the country. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Education] 6:54:28 AM    comment []

Domain Names Are Big Again. Dot-com domain names are fetching respectable prices again, after more than three years of attracting scant interest. Some are crossing the million-dollar threshold. By Bob Tedeschi. [New York Times: Technology] 6:53:24 AM    comment []

LISTENING TO EXPERTS. Brain Weatherson at Crooked Timber points to a paper by University of Melbourne philosophy professor Neil Levy titled "Open-Mindedness and the Duty to Gather Evidence; Or, Reflections Upon Not Reading the Volokh Conspiracy" (Hat Tip: David Bernstein). This gist of the paper, according to Brain, is that "it can be a bad idea to approach a topic as an expert when in fact you're not one." ... I was going to read this paper, but after the first paragraph I'm not so sure (and it might have been a mistake to even read the title, never mind the first paragraph of the abstract). If the paper is correct on the arguments, after all, then it means I shouldn't have read the paper in the first place. Who am I, merely a pedestrian blogger who doesn't have a degree in epistemology, to judge whether Levy is correct? He seems to be an expert, so I should take his word. But what if the paper is not correct on the arguments? If Levy is indeed an expert, then I should read his paper, because his argument that I shouldn't is wrong. If Levy is not an expert, then I should read his paper also, because I shouldn't be trusting what non-experts tell me anyway. So the conclusion seems to be that I shouldn't read Levy's paper unless I can be sure that it's wrong. This is also the recommendation I would give to BTD readers, though I don't think that the one logic class I took in college makes me an expert logician. Consult an expert. [Begging To Differ] 6:52:08 AM    comment []

EBay Seller of Fake Artwork Again Upsets the Auction Site. Kenneth Walton, who tried to sell a fake Richard Diebenkorn painting on eBay for $135,000 in a shill-bidding scam, has run afoul of eBay again. By Bob Tedeschi. [New York Times: Business] 6:46:41 AM    comment []

Change Your Input, Get an Earful. Switching from standard earbuds to Shure's E3c -- which fit in the ear canal -- is an aural revelation. A product review by Leander Kahney. [Wired News] 6:43:18 AM    comment []