Monday, March 22, 2004

Ten groups pitch new top level domains. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has received applications for 10 new sponsored top-level domains (sTLDs), helping to expand the Internet's pool of Web site addresses by catering to narrower online communities. [InfoWorld: Top News] 9:08:07 PM    comment []

And speaking of The confessions of a semi- successful author, know that Gawker's on the case to figure out who it is. 9:00:33 PM    comment []

Those Embarrassing Ills. If certain problems worry you and you do not feel comfortable discussing them with friends, family members or even a doctor this book may bring help. By John Langone. [New York Times: Science] 8:58:28 PM    comment []

WiFi Bedouin: Wearable WiFi Access Point. It's not just a WiFi Access Point, it's a wearable mobile hotspot! And it doesn't connect you to the Internet. It connects you to ANOTHER cyber-reality. The entire WiFi.Bedouin site merits further exploration. it is its own web, an apparatus that forces one to reconsider and question notions of virtuality, materiality, displacement, proximity and community. WiFi.Bedouin is meant to suggest that what are often considered two entirely separate realms - virtual and physical worlds - are actually a much more entangled hybrid space. (Thanks, Julian!) [Smart Mobs] 8:46:44 PM    comment []

MSFT European Vacation EU planning massive fine against Microsoft. European regulators plan to levy a record fine of more than $600 million against Microsoft as part of a strongly worded rebuke of the company's business practices. [CNET News.com] Microsoft: EU fine too big. BRUSSELS - Microsoft. will be fined €497 million (US$610 million) by the European Commission on Wednesday for abusing its monopoly in computer operating systems, a person close to the company said Monday. [InfoWorld: Top News] 8:41:56 PM    comment []

Shallow Electorate's Deep Flaws: When will we seek out leaders, not photogenic 'pals' who appear no smarter than we are? By Marge Piercy, in the L.A. Times. The worst thing that a politician can be called is elitist — and what do we mean by that? In Iowa, Howard Dean was labeled that — a sushi-eating, PBS-watching, Volvo-driving man; not macho enough to win the vote of working men. But who determines the massive layoffs and the movement of corporations abroad that gut the economies of so many cities and drive families from comfort into chaos? Those are the members of the real elite, and they aren't defined by eating sushi or watching PBS. There is a class of people who send their sons to the "best" private schools and the Ivy League universities, who join the interlocking boards of corporations and become their CEOs. These are the people who move the jobs to India and to China and to Guam. They are the people who support the notion that intellectuals are dangerous and intelligence is elitist. Their political propaganda claims that people who own oil companies and drive up the prices you pay at the pump are just regular guys who love NASCAR and football and eat barbecue and Big Macs. These power brokers are just luckier, more photogenic versions of you. Often the Bible gets quoted in political contexts. But do the people who quote it actually read it? Those Bible stories resonate for us because they are often about leaders and people with important destinies — but these men and women are not cartoon heroes. Saul would be in danger of commitment to a mental institution. David not only had an affair but got rid of the husband. Jacob deceived his father on his deathbed. But they also overcame their flaws and in the long run they carried forward a vision. It is that vision that makes them memorable, and for that moral vision we still tell their stories. Surely we could learn to vote in favor of those who will fight for our good, rather than the welfare of those who contribute heavily and profit from many government decisions. (If the link above fails, try this one.) 3:28:37 PM    comment []

The confessions of a semi- successful author: I've published several books, won adoring reviews, and even sold a few copies. But I've made almost no money and had my heart broken. Here's everything you don't want to know about how publishing really works. By "Jane Austen Doe," in Salon. 10:27:49 AM    comment []

More Troubles Await Microsoft in Europe. The company's legal problems in Europe are far from over and appear to be accelerating, antitrust lawyers and officials said. By Paul Meller. [New York Times: Business] 6:58:14 AM    comment []

Papers Blog. I didn't get as much philosophical work done this weekend as I should have, but I did find a way to cut $1500 off my summer travel costs, so it wasn't entirely wasted.  . . . Gil Harman has posted a couple of photos of Donald Davidson from the late 1960s, but they take forever to load. Still, it's fairly cute to see everyone from back in the day. But was it normal to have an all-male department as late as 1968, as Princeton apparently did? I don't know the relevant history here, so maybe this was still fairly standard at the time. Oh, and the break-up lines post, to which I contributed hardly a word, has become the first post on TAR to get 50 comments, and is now #3 Google search for break up lines. [Thoughts Arguments and Rants] 6:54:34 AM    comment []

R.I.P., J.J. Jackson, Early MTV Video Jockey, Dead at 62. J.J. Jackson was one of the five original MTV video jockeys and an influential black broadcaster on rock radio and on television. By The New York Times. [New York Times: Business] 6:49:09 AM    comment []

Operation Gumwash. Long enough have you dreamed contemptible dreams. Now I wash the gum from your eyes. You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the light and of every moment of your life. That's one of my favorite Whitman lines, and it comes to mind when I think about the challenge of making clear why Dave's "ask not what the Internet can do for you" line remains a prime business, cultural and political imperative in the networked world. In a perfect world — one in which I get to go to every event that interests me — I'd be heading from here at PC Forum to the Internet Commons Congress in Washington. Well, even if I can't, maybe you can. The price is right ($0) and the cause could hardly be more worthy: saving the Net's global commons from those working to replace it with a supply-controlled industrial plumbing system for "content." The about page explains: The question of who owns the Internet seems in the same category as who owns the oceans or who owns outer space. Governments or private interests might own individual elements of the Internet, but the power of the Internet comes from collecting these contributions as a unified commons. By definition, the global Internet commons belongs equally to everyone. Each new application of the Internet inevitably gets attacked as trespass against the jurisdiction of some status quo interest, but movement away from equal ownership diminishes the Internet. The Internet Commons Congress provides a venue for users of the commons to educate each other, discuss ways of expanding the reach of the Internet as a commons, and organize resistance to the tendency of public and private interests to assert dominion over the Internet commons. Looking forward to coverage. Something I'd like to see people talk about, if it's possible at all, is success stories at washing the gum from eyes of those who don't get what the Net was built for in the first place. Bonus link: BloggerCon II grid draft. (Another great conf I'll hate missing.) [The Doc Searls Weblog] 6:44:43 AM    comment []