Saturday, April 03, 2004

EFF dream gig: technical director [bOing bOing] 4:14:15 PM    comment []

Mogi: augmented reality gaming on Tokyo. Mogi, an augmented reality game from Newt, maps a variety of digital creatures onto the streets of Tokyo. According to Justin Hall's article about it in The Feature, players track and collect fantastic beasts, based on their habits and location, determined by Web information and GPS. A Web browser supplementary version is in the works. In-duce finds MMPORG forms likely. (thanks to Benjamin!) [Smart Mobs] 9:48:53 AM    comment []

Memorial Notices for Joel Feinberg have been collected by the Arizona Department here.... [The Leiter Reports: Editorials, News, Updates] 9:40:46 AM    comment []

This is a bad thing?. So there seems to be widespread agreement that what Google did by releasing news about G-Mail on April Fools Day was a stroke of PR genius (as well as a torpedo into the broad side of Yahoo). A sign that I've long since lost my PR edge is that I first thought it was a joke and then advised the whole world against saying important things on the one day in the year when people are likely not to take what you say seriously. [The Doc Searls Weblog] 9:31:05 AM    comment []

Lynda Barry: Employee training program. [Salon.com] 7:48:40 AM    comment []

Strike Averted Not only did the Giant and Safeway employees vote overwhelmingly to accept the new contract, but it's being described as a model for the entire nation. Both sides were anxious to avoid "the elephant in the room" -- i.e, a replay of the grueling, much-pain-no-gain California strike.  The companies offered a deal which was better than expected -- pay raises, no worker contribution to insurance premiums -- and which trims costs mostly at the expense of new hires, in what is becoming a great American tradition of stiffing the future for the sake of the present. Management welcomed the news with officious garble: The objective of these negotiations was to design ways of managing labor costs in response to the changing competitive realities of the retail food industry. Through good-faith collective bargaining, the unions and the companies drafted an agreement that protects the excellent wages and benefits of our employees while addressing the issue of rising health care costs and a changing competitive marketplace... Wonderful, ain't it? The employees were more succinct: "All that worrying for nothing!" exclaimed a co-worker, Ruth Donaghy, 33. How do I respond as a consumer? It makes me see Giant and Safeway in a more favorable light, but will this translate into a change in shopping habits? We don't visit either store regularly -- Weiss, down the street, is less expensive, plus there's the Korean supermarket about a half hour's drive to the north. And -- admit it! -- the box stores, the warehouse clubs. We're part of the ongoing trend that created the labor issue, so I guess I feel some guilty relief. [Global Suburb] 7:47:19 AM    comment []

So, who didn't see this coming? Andrew May Be Moving. California, here I come. Maybe. Not a sure thing yet, but I've been offered/asked to take a transfer to our San Jose group. The move would be sometime in July, probably. I haven't definitively made up my mind, but ... [Andrew Bayer is Dreaming of China] 7:41:23 AM    comment []

Reuters email-an-article-TOS BoingBoing reader Steve Portigal says, Reuters offers a link in every story to email the article to someone. After you fill in the usual info, there is a line that says I confirm that I have the recipient's consent to provide their email address for this purpose, followed by Send and Cancel. This is very strange for a couple of reasons. . . . . (thanks, Xeni!) 7:38:55 AM    comment []

DVD copy company appeals ban. 321 Studios appeals a couple court rulings that bar the company from selling its DVD-copying product. [CNET News.com] 7:34:53 AM    comment []

Philosophy Talk Radio Online. Ken Taylor and John Perry -- chair and professor in the philosophy department at Stanford University -- now have their own radio program, Philosophy Talk. Ken and John talk about current and perennial "hot button" issues -- genetic engineering, Bush's doctrine of pre-emption, and drug legalization. But John and Ken take these issues and run them through the filter of great thinkers from Socrates to Rawls, with pit stops for Kant, Hume, Mill, and Nietzche. [Learning the Lessons of Nixon] 7:32:49 AM    comment []

Sun Enters Microsoft's Orbit. For a tidy $1.6 billion, Sun Microsystems settles all outstanding grievances and signs a 'broad operating agreement' with its longtime antagonist. See what a little financial desperation can do? [Wired News] 7:30:41 AM    comment []

Taking the Liberalism Out of Liberal Arts. The author David Horowitz has mounted a campaign for an "academic bill of rights" promoting conservative viewpoints on the college campus. By Yilu Zhao. [New York Times: Education] 7:27:17 AM    comment []

China Jails Woman for Internet Posting - Report (Reuters) 4:19:09 AM    comment []

MSBlast epidemic far larger than believed. Researchers previously estimated that the virus infected hundreds ofthousands of computers. The latest information from Microsoft indicates that the worm compromised millions of systems. [CNET News.com] 12:42:04 AM    comment []