Friday, October 21, 2005

Distributed, Collaborative... Microfinance. The microcredit concept is based on the idea that a small loan to an individual, family or community in the developing world can kick-start a business, allowing the loan recipient to become a self-reliant economic actor; in time, the loan will be paid back, with a modicum of interest, thereby enabling the microcredit institution -- generally an NGO -- to underwrite another start-up. While there is some debate about the potential of microloans to affect the lives of the very poor, the concept is generally considered to be a success. Microcredit NGOs have a goal of reaching 100 million people by the end of this year. But the notion of do-good institutions doling out money to recipients has something of a 20th century character. While there are open-source models for microfinance, they generally seem to be intended to assist the creation of more microcredit NGOs. A new microfinance group, Kiva, intends to take a different course: they've built the world's first peer-to-peer, distributed microloan website.  [WorldChanging: Another World Is Here] 5:51:11 PM    comment []

Einstein's Miracle Year at NY Hall of Science. This year marks the 100th anniversary of what's been called Albert Einstein's "miracle year" or "wonder year." It was the year he presented three ideas that rocked the world. [WNYC New York Public Radio] 7:17:27 AM    comment []

DeLay Quietly Surrenders to a Texas Sheriff. Representative Tom DeLay, forced by criminal charges to step aside as House majority leader, was fingerprinted and released on $10,000 bond. By BILL DAWSON and CARL HULSE. [NYT > Washington] 7:16:55 AM    comment []

Cliff Notes From the Blog World. Memeorandum doesn't just cut through the clutter to highlight the buzz in the blogosphere, it's changing how some people interact with the web. By Ryan Singel. [Wired News] 7:12:42 AM    comment []

Lawrence Lessig on Interoperability, DRM How to make money on your news content website Bruce Sterling's "Shaping Things" [unmediated] 7:12:34 AM    comment []

Former Powell Aide Says Bush Policy Is Run by 'Cabal'. Lawrence Wilkerson said that President Bush has made the country more vulnerable, not less, to future crises. By BRIAN KNOWLTON. [NYT > International] 7:12:24 AM    comment []

From Cult of Mac: Via Fscklog, a slow-loading video of the world's longest startup sound. The anticitpation is funnier than the payoff, but worth a look. 7:08:35 AM    comment []

ASCIIMoviePlayerSample [unmediated] 7:06:09 AM    comment []

Private Webcams and the Police. Our surveillance society marches on: Commercial burglaries have risen in Corona in the past few years. At the same time, security-camera technology has improved, allowing business owners to use Web sites to view their shops or offices from home or while on a trip. Now the Corona Chamber of Commerce and the Police Department are encouraging businesses with such systems to provide police dispatchers a password so they can see what's going on during an emergency. How soon before there's a law requiring these webcams to be built with a police backdoor? [Schneier on Security] 7:06:02 AM    comment []