Wednesday, December 22, 2004

New forms of media delivery. Santa Delivers New Forms of Media Delivery: Nice summation of some of the interesting going-on's over the past year. Podcasting, iPods, Digital Media Servers/Centers, Juice boxes and more.. It has definitely been an interesting one. [unmediated] 10:23:49 PM    comment []

Europe Rejects Microsoft's Bid to Preserve Bundling Plan. The court's order is the first time since antitrust challenges to Microsoft began that the company will be forced to alter its strategy of bundling software. By STEVE LOHR and PAUL MELLER. [NYT > Technology] 10:22:17 PM    comment []

Minnesota Public Radio reports on Time's Blog of the Year, which is from Minnesota. I learned about it from MPR's RSS 2.0 feed. [Scripting News] 10:22:07 PM    comment []

E-Mail Doesn't Take a Holiday. For those who dread coming back to an e-mail overflow, the solution is often to take time off from leisure to weed the in-box. By JOYCE COHEN. [NYT > Technology] 5:48:24 PM    comment []

The Long Tail - A Blog. Wired contributing editor Chris Anderson has obtained a book deal following the wide distribution of his now-infamous Wired article on the long tail of blogs. He's also started a blog to help him think out what he'll write (and keep interested parties advised and interacting along the way to the book) ... stretching out his own tail, as it were. [Qumana Blog] 5:44:41 PM    comment []

Learning Through Comic Books. Comic books are a rite of passage for most kids. But one local educator also thinks they have potential "superpowers" for learning. The Comic Book Project is an after school program that's trying to improve literacy by teaching kids to make their own comics. [WNYC New York Public Radio] 10:59:45 AM    comment []

And, according to the Times, it is Down to the Wire on a 13-Year Streak for Legg Mason Mutual Fund. This is the fund, famously run by a philosopher, that has beaten the S&P 500 for thirteen years -- and now seems poised to make it 14. 7:26:39 AM    comment []

Maternal Deaths: the Tabloid Picture vs. the Big Picture. While the talk shows and tabloids and respectable papers leave the Scott/Laci trial behind and latch onto the case of the Kansas woman who killed and cut open a pregnant woman to steal her baby, the Washington Post has been running a series on Maternal Murder, trumpeting it as the leading cause of death for pregnant women. The statistics are worse than murky -- read Slate's Jack Shafer pulling them apart-- and the whole premise misses the point. The leading causes of death for women in their 20s and early 30s--pregnant or not-- are accidents and homicide, and, according to an FBI study, most are victimized by intimate partners. The larger risk factor for homicide-while-pregnant is really just being young and female. Pregnancy risk is a subset of the whole picture. Violence against women--homicide, assault, rape--is concentrated on the young. While we recoil in horror from the psychotic act of the Kansan woman, the larger issue is how to protect women in their own homes, often from their own close relations. Handgun control is a good place to start. Slightly less than half of all American female homicide victims are killed with a gun, and the gun wielder is most likely to be a husband, boyfriend or other intimate partner. American women are 11 times more likely than women in 25 other industrialized countries to be killed by a gun. Here's more on the big picture. [Girl in the Locker Room!] 7:26:39 AM    comment []

Brian has some worth-the-reading-and-consideration thoughts on Ethics and Neurology. 7:19:40 AM    comment []

EU upholds penalties against Microsoft. Judge orders company to unbundle Windows Media Player and to share server technology. Appeals aren't over yet, though. [CNET News.com] 7:12:29 AM    comment []

Why Students Struggle When Pressure Is On. Psychologists are reporting that intense exam pressure is actually more likely to impair the performance of very good students than mediocre ones. By BENEDICT CAREY. [NYT > Education] Regression to the mean, and the good students have farther to go. 7:12:24 AM    comment []

Bleary Days for Eyes on the Prize. The 14-part series documenting the civil rights movement is in jeopardy because the rights to much of the archival footage in it have expired. Documentary filmmakers say securing clearance rights is a growing problem, and it will get worse. By Katie Dean. [Wired News] 7:09:53 AM    comment []

Tech person of the year: Nature. From DNA's data storage to space tourism, CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos says science is stealing the spotlight. [CNET News.com] 7:09:35 AM    comment []