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Slashback tonight brings you updates on the current doings (and name) of J. Jovan Philyaw, the man behind the :CueCat, the alleged worldwide infestation of file-trading computers with an RIAA-sponsored worm (not true, they say), the privacy implications of GeoURL markup, and more. Read on for the details.

When pranksters float your trial balloons for you. ninenet writes "A follow-up on the story posted earlier on Slashdot ... The RIAA has now officially stated that the claims of an elaborate P2P worm are 'a complete hoax.' A story on eWeek quotes an RIAA spokesman as saying, "Someone forwarded the message to us and that was the first we heard or read about it.""

<Location>,<location>,<location > A few days ago, we mentioned the interesting geographic lookup / markup system of GeoURL. Joshua Schachter, the fellow who runs GeoURL (and editor of memepool, to boot), writes with "some responses of mine to comments posted:

Q: "Why not use the WHOIS database for address information?"

A: GeoURL is geographic content markup. Nobody cares where your server is - where are YOU? That said, I'm waiting for someone to hook their GPS into their web page and keep GeoURL updated.

This way different URLs can have different coordinates, as well.

Q: "Blah blah blah blah privacy."

A: If you want privacy, don't put your location on your web page.

Q: "You're evil and you're going to steal this information and go private, just like CDDB did."

A: The content is marked up on the pages and not entered into my database. Anyone could easily write a similar service (and I hope they do.)

I plan to create a page containing lessons learned and useful code snippets for other people who would like to implement similar stuff."

Most importantly, I hope this helps the development of distributed speed-trap logging and mapping!

Making this up would be too easy. An anonymous reader writes "Egomaniacal former Dot.Bomb 'entrepreneur' J. Jovan Philyaw has escaped the asylum and is back with even bigger delusions of grandeur. When last we saw him, J.J. was trying to shove the misbegotten :CueCat/:CRQ combination on unsuspecting users. Now, he's apparently writing a couple of books, selling his 'power crystals' that adorned the offices of Digital:Convergence, and changing his name: his sites refer to him now as J. Hutton Pulitzer. Apparently the utter and complete failure of Digital:Convergence (loss of at least $185M) hasn't dented his ego one bit. In his bio, he actually compares himself to Thomas Edison. A hilarious must-read for those who followed the :CueCat debacle (and for those of us who worked there)."

I hope all these things can be adapted for recumbents. Jamie Briant writes: "Saw your update to the slashdot story on games for exercise bikes. I'm a developer for exertris.com that makes a bike with LCD screen built in, which we sell primarily to gyms, but you can buy in the UK at Harrods. We write and tune the games specifically to motivate you to exercise."

smirkleton writes "The San Jose Mercury News has a story about the current struggles of CueCat manufacturer DigitalConvergence. One of several interesting factoids within the article: CueCat is trying to procure product endorsements from Apu Nahasapeemapetilon and Lisa Simpson. Mr. Groening, for the love of Flanders, don't do it! 'The Simpsons' once dissed on Apple's Newton (hilariously)- and it had an actual purpose and loyal following. Endorsing this utterly useless and universally despised advertising toy would constitute a sellout of Dilbertian proportions."

mfdii writes "Apparently Digital Convergence has changed their EULA. This EULA has been modified to include the CueCat reader in an attempt to shutdown those tinkering with their cats. The old EULA can be seen here." Meanwhile a dozen or so really excellent programs utilize the childishly simple protocol (or, if you're DC, their "Intellectual Property")... and as if that isn't enough, apparently their service was cracked. Anyone who used DCs CueCat software has had their information stolen from the DC servers! This comes from an e-mail being sent in by zillions of people warning them (and also apologizing by giving a $10 gift certificate).