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There's the original paper, written in 1992.

There's the Wired article by Charles Platt which goes into detail exactly what happened after he published the first paper.

And finally there's a web site on Gravity called Quantum Cavorite. It seems to be rational, although somewhat optimistic. The main lanl.gov site also has some great material on the two big approaches to G: spin foams & loops (general relativity guys) and noncommutative string geometry (particle physics guys).

What I find really strange about this paper is that after being ignored for years, not having anyone being able to repeat his results reliably and refusing to help out NASA in verifying his methods, the guy is not only back for more, but he's proposing a theory which he says invalidates General Relativity. This looks as suicidal as <obSlash>a startup company proposing to wipe out Microsoft</obSlash>...

Apple is beginning to support two-button mice. Read this article. Or, copy and paste:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,39773, 00.html

The obvious counter-example is the Irish cryptographer Sarah Flannery.

She's undeniably smart and talented, but not the prodigy she was made out to be.

I don't think these '15 year-olds' are really THAT brilliant

The obvious counter-example is the Irish cryptographer Sarah Flannery.

And RSS developers might recognise Aaron Swartz.

A lawsuit will take that much time or that the might of the "big five" will be able to fight this out, because they've been nailed for this before

• Xerox Alto
• Apple Lisa
• Apple Macintosh

Go ahead, use your ugly clones.

Once more time proving that Microsoft can not innovate, just copy.

There are a few other outfits that should be included in this investigation, as discussed in this article (somewhat dated now) about how the MPAA was trying to screw lyricists out of royalties using the same argument that Napster used.

Tell it to Max Butler (aka Max Vision). He did the same thing for the bind worm, releasing a worm that fixed the hole.

Butler's worm also left a backdoor on all the systems it "fixed." Hardly synonymous with nebby's intent. However, I do think releasing another worm to counter Code Red is a bad idea. It's likely that doing so would result in as much ill will as good for the author of the patching worm.

See this Wired article for more info about Butler's case.

-Javit

It seems Code Red not only duplicates itself, but duplicates articles that talk about it!! ..
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6786199.html? tag=mn_hd
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/08/05/code.r ed.ap/index.html
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,45845, 00.html

and Ofcourse...
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/08/05/162022 0&mode=thread
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/08/05/043321 9&mode=thread

I was just in the process of acquiring a dial-up account through Qwest... I should have known better than to feed the conglomerate, I guess I'll stick with the small ISP that costs more but isn't a MegaCorp. There's no way I would want to put any money toward MSN. I had my fill of Hotmail, as this Wired article describes.

anonymously posted by yet another karma whore

At least according to this article published in March this year:

http://www.reforma.com/ciudad_de_mexico/articulo/0 78598/ (Reforma, Spanish language)
or
http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,42456,00.ht ml (Wired, English language)

Also, last I looked the Linux for Schools Project is pretty active, and I know there are equivalent projects around the world that are focusing on multilingualising stuff like this.

-Tristan.

But Cringely's real point is that Microsoft is a very powerful company with a long history of turning its own technical shortcomings into market strengths. Microsoft's PR machine is incredibly effective - witness the FUD that kicks into high gear any time MS announces anything.

It's also instructional to remember a few Microsoft projects that didn't go off as planned. Ever wonder why journalists never bring up those failed efforts, or points to the millions of wasted dollars MS has spent over the years on vaporware?

Remember how Microsoft Bob was going to "personalize" the computing experience? Well, it failed not once, but twice!. Remember how Chrome was going to "revolutionize the industry," according to the drooling press?

Because Microsoft is the 800-lb. gorilla of the software world, even when they fail, they get the benefit of the doubt. It comes with the territory. Also, because the Microsoft culture is fantatical about continuous improvement, they have a long history of sucking hard at v1, sucking at v2, becoming fairly usable at v3, and taking over the market by v4 and beyond.

Microsoft has been doing this long enough to realize an opportunity when they see one. Cringely is reminding us that unlike all of you Slashdot readers out there, Microsoft is driven not by desire to build cool, useful technology, but by the desire to control marketshare. That's the be-all, end-all of their existence.

So whether Cringely is correct about raw sockets or the demise of TCP/IP doesn't really matter. Almost every company that has gone toe-to-toe against Microsoft in a market segment has failed because they continually underestimate and miscalculate Microsoft's strengths (IBM, Novell, Apple, WordPerfect, Lotus).

Microsoft has an overarching vision of the computer marketplace that is far more evolved than any of their competitors, with the possible exception of Sun.

Microsoft remains unconcerned with business ethics, is unafraid of censure by the government, and wouldn't hesitate to use the ubiquitous of their own flawed products as an excuse to move the foundation of the Internet to a proprietary framework.

Microsoft doesn't give a shit about the history of the Internet and the spirit in which it was created. They don't give a shit about letting everyone in.

If Microsoft believes they can make the Internet a proprietary environment that they can control, they will work relentlessly toward that end.

But all hope is not lost. Hardware compatibility problems have been solved, and the idea to adopt an open-source platform still stands. This year, 1,400 schools will be equipped with external modems, and Ibarra plans to install Linux on those computers.

Ewing [the creator of Tux] grants everyone permission to use and modify the Tux image as they see fit

In Issac Asimov's third novel in the Foundation series, Second Foundation, mathematicians used a video wall projector to display their equations. As described in the book, the Prime Radiant did not cast a shadow, yet the walls were covered with equations. The coolest thing was, you just thought about a part of the equation and those lines marched down the wall to eye level. So combine this video wall with the mind-activated cursor talked about in this issue of Wired and we're almost there.

I thought I recognized this guy's name. It's not the first time we've heard from this guy. A while ago, Torricelli was working on spam legislation that effectively made spamming legal.

Bill Joy suggests that the weapons of mass destruction of the 20th century - nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) - pale in comparison to the possible 21st century weapons - genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics (GNR).

Hey! Two of those Zenith Data Systems monitors are sitting in my garbage right now. They both work!

Want 'em? Come scoop 'em, they're at the curb. 1352 Victoria Park Avenue, Toronto, halfway between Eglinton and St. Clair on the west (southbound) side of the road.)

It doesn't really have to be said...

but....

Imagine a beowulf cluster of these!

~zero

• I have a right to install software on my computer that alters the content i access and view in any way i want, as long as i have permission to view that content in some form.
• Third Voice has a right to maintain a database where people can comment on various URLs for purposes of commentary or critisism. The fact they display the comments on top of the webpages being commented on makes no difference*, as long as the customers are either clearly aware of what is original content and what is 3rdvoice content or have consented to having the content altered for them. (Yes, of course, the fact KaZaA customers were not fully aware of what it meant that TopText was being installed, or informed during the installation process what the yellow links would mean in future makes everything different, and makes the inclusion of TopText with the KaZaA program, whether legal or no, definitely immoral on the part of KaZaA.)

Benjamin Woolley, "The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron's Daughter"

Betty A. Toole "Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers : A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and Her Description of the First Computer"

Here's more books about her.

Apparently, women are trending away from computer science careers, so a book about Ada in the library might be a good influence on some young minds.

We can forgive her for introducing the idea of using punchcards! ;-)

This is true. It is claimed that over 90% of spam is sent through open relays, meaning that the spammer uses multiple RCPT TO commands and sends the identical message to each recipient. Most spammers don't have the bandwidth that it takes to send each user a personalized message, because they are almost always on a throwaway dialup. Only the professionals can afford to send unique messages, because they often have a DSL line and a pink contract with their ISP (which permits them to continue spamming).

Well, the first underwater telegraph cable that was laid was caught within a month by a fisherman who thought exactly that - that it was some heretofore undiscovered sea creature. More recently, while laying a cable off the coast of Taiwan, the Chinese went out and helped themselves to a repeater section. Neal Stephenson wrote a kick-ass article for Wired a few years ago about the laying of the FLAG cable from Japan to England. Give yourself a few hours and read.

Mother Earth Mother Board

Mandatory reading for N.S. fans.

The Southern Cross Cable is completely redundant, so they are justified in making their claims about uptime, but by some strange twist of fate, the second cable running out of Sydney was down for maintainance at the time of the break. The broken cable is still down, and they simply brought the second cable back up to fix everything. In any case, it didn't stop Internet connectivity for Australian users as some posters are suggesting; ISPs routed traffic onto other cable/satellite links, and while it was slower for users affected, it wasn't like Australia suddenly became broken off from the rest of the world.

If you're interested about how they lay and fix these types of cable out at sea, you should read this great article from Wired in 19996 by Neal Stephenson. It takes a while to read, but it covers everything from the development of the technology, to installing and maintaining it, how it's all linked up, and the economics behind it.

Wired magazine has in its archives a (long) article by Neil Stephenson on the laying of undersea fiber.

Wired magazine has in its archives a (long) article by Neil Stephenson on the laying of undersea fiber.

Wired printed a pretty cool version of the rocket car story a while back. man i wish they'd put more articles like that in the mag again, it would be worth buying rather than browsing the web archive occasionally.

.NET and Passport are just functions and noone is required by law (yet) to use them.. Example? Ebay now uses them, if they require it then I stop using ebay and I tell them why.

That being said, there is a limit to EBay's ability to control how their customers pay each other. They obviously would like everybody to use their Billpoint system. (Payments amount to $251 per second. That a lot of "collection float" and banks would kill to process it.) But you still see a lot of people using Paypoint. There are even technophobic sellers who still insist on money orders.

Bottom line: third-party implementations of .NET definitely will help Passport increase its market share. Whether this will force everybody to start using Passport remains to be seen. Given the amount of scrutiny Microsoft is under, and their general ineptitude, I'm sceptical.

__

They're gonna rename it The Butthead-Director Scalpel.

The phone company owns the wires that carry your conversations. So I guess they have the right to "listen in," since you're using their equipment?

It's not quite that bad, yet, but the courts have ruled the the phone company has the right to sell your phone records; i.e. who you call, how often, and so on. This got some coverage on EPIC , where somebody did their homework and linked to these articles on Wired, MSN, and The New York Times.

Back to the issue: The boss, who "owns your time," wants to make sure he's getting all he's paid for. What's next? No posting of Dibert cartoons on your cubicle, since your co-workers will waste precious man-hours chuckling? No newspapers in tne bathroom, since they tend to encourage extra-long bathroom breaks? No more decaf?

I'm not saying that companies should or shouldn't have an absolute right to record your phone calls, read all your email, and require you to be fingerprinted. I am saying that micro-managerial, reactive approaches to eliminating "wasted time" seldom work. Happy employees free to spend a few moments surfing the web or answering a personal email will be more productive than unhappy employees living in fear of a draconian computer use policy.

Boston write-up and pictures, Wired article on the protests, On-line petition, IDG story, CNN copy of the original Reuters story (better late than never!), ironic page on the AAP website (the AAP issued a press release defending Adobe and the DMCA).

I have to agree that the NC 100 is a marvellous little PC. My only problem is an occasional loss of (it's) memory and I'm having great difficulty finding PC Card SRAM's for anything less than about $200 Australian.

I thought I had read about the Tandy 100 before - here's a similar item from Wired March 2000 where they cover the same ground plus more on the favourite PCs of the past.

Eric

This is relatively old news. There is a previous Wired article from Friday discussing this virus. I would say the only thing new is that all of the anti-virus house have come to an agreement about its name, what it does, and how it does it.

Apple posts a $61 million profit this quarter (when other high-tech companies are having huge layoffs), has $4 billion in the bank, and releases several new, wildly successful products this year and Wall Street still doesn't like them.

Of course, you forgot to mention that Apple reported a net profit of $200 million in this same quarter last year. So Apple did post a $61 million profit, but their profits are down 70%. And now Steve Jobs is stoked to unveil his expensive, unproven retail stores. Unfortunately, Wall Street is not nearly as stoked on Apple retail stores..

Source: Apple Juiced on Earnings

Nope. MS wasn't that smart. Though they could have made a bunch of money, take a gander at this quote from Wired.

(Three years later, Maffei also admitted to me that although Microsoft had bought $150 million in Apple shares as part of the deal - "We invested in the company when people had lost faith," Gates would boast - he had hedged Microsoft's bet by simultaneously shorting the stock.)

The compressed air engine designed by engineer Guy Nègre (CQFD Air Solution Sarl) is even better than zero emission as it consume CO2. He calls it negative pollution ! And he is selling plants to build them. Here is some info :
english : http://www.e.volution.co.za/. Go see it, it is worth !
press : wired article, very good like every wired article.
home : http://www.mdi.lu/ (french).

Now that's not to say he should be held accountable to US laws, but his actions are deemed criminal by the DMCA.

You're right, this patent is ridiculous. This whole thing is just as ridiculous as British Telecom believing that they own the patent for hyperlinks, and that they can license the techology and thus collect on its use.

Well the original article in Wired over a year ago (partial article here) stated that the machine rooms would be in the legs of the tower, and would be filled with nitrogen gas to prevent electrical fires. So you wouldn't be staring at those blinkenlights for long.

IBM's Project eLiza technology, which Big Blue plans to release in batches over the next few years, is aimed at allowing large-capacity computer networks to run virtually unassisted.
The eLiza-enabled machines run background software that continuously monitors operations, sending warning messages to technicians when problems appear, said David Turek, vice president for deep computing at IBM's Somers, N.Y.-based Server Group.
...
"It sits and runs in the background and observes and draws conclusions," Turek said. "If medication doesn't work, it routes work around the ailing mechanism, then literally makes a phone call to the home of an employee and tells him the problem and the spare parts that are needed."
(From Wired

Granted, the version of Maya required to do broadcast-quality work costs in the region of $25,000, but if you're doing broadcast-quality work, chances are you have that kind of budget.

Then again, maybe not. Your mentioning this reminded me of an article I had read in Wired a while back. Had to go through my stacks of mags to find it. Anyhow, this is the story of one fella who managed to produce some very cheap graphics that were film quality.

The Back-Door Director

The sad part is that the bulk of his work was done on an NT box several years ago. If this same fella were to try and pull off the kind of work he did on NT back then with Linux today, he wouldn't have gotten anything done. He wouldn't have been able to afford it!

The point of my blabbering here is that there seems to be a number of nice apps filling in the low end of the spectrum for Linux. The Dreamworks article illustrates the fact that there's some serious porting going on at the upper end. What's missing is all that stuff in between those two extremes.

What I don't understand is why companies like Macromedia, Autodesk, and Adobe don't recognize the market niche that their product line would fill in? If any of them made moves to seriously support Linux, between their wide variety of products and market leadership, both Apple and Microsoft would be getting REALLY nervous about the desktop market. Just the sales to the entertainment industry alone would seem to justify the move.

Moving away from my tangent... $25,000 is a pretty steep investment for an independant studio. It'd be great to see Linux pushing the envelope in the mid to lower range movie projects as well.

This? http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ fftransparent.html. (Posted by someone else in comment #148.)

As Windows licenses get more and more expensive, that value proposition gets shakier and something like Linux that's free (as in beer) looks a heck of a lot more attractive.

Actually, I suspect that Microsoft will have to compete on price within the next 1-3 years. Look at how Sun has changed its Solaris pricing ($75?) to react to Linux. As physicists know, when you have a zero in your equation (ie $0), you are bound to get some crazy answers.

Microsoft crushed Netscape with a free IE (poor Spyglass licensed its browser code to Microsoft for per-sale royalties, there's another equation with a 0). Might Microsoft dare to give Windows away for free, now that the DOJ heat is cooling off? With a free Windows, Microsoft could continue is Office monopoloy and profitably reach for its upcoming Hailstorm/Passport/.NET stranglehold.

1- Most databases are publicly available.
2- Many bioinformatics groups DO cooperate
"Many and most" is not all. Is Celera really cooperating with the HGP? I know Celera has a Consensus Human Genome site, but that is that everything they know? How does that compare with the UCSC data? Is the patenting of gene sequences and techniques inhibiting research? I'm not asking these to troll, but simply because I'd like to know the answers. Unfortunately, everybody has a different view of what is a gene and how to find them. Probably in part because we don't know as much yet about genetics as we'd like to think. Is "junk DNA" just that? Or some subtle part of the design that we have yet to understand?

So if people want privacy on the Net, they should be very responsible and careful about what information they commit to it in the first place (i.e. once you email your super-secret password to your girlfriend, you should consider it as good as public) or they shouldn't be on the Net.

This would have been news 3 years ago. Actually, it was news 3 years ago. For instance, Wired had a article on this on June 16, 1998. Xerox and IBM have had machines to do this job for ages, so I don't see why this is big news now. I recall that Borders was planning to offer this service in their bookstores (obviously, this did not happen).

There are still unresolved issues. For example, convincing numerous copyright holders to allow on-demand printing. A former colleague worked on a startup with similar goals, but never got past the legal and funding issues. If even Borders could not pull this off, who could? There is also the problem of contracts. Many publishers' agreements with authors have clauses that depend on when the book goes out of print. In electronic publishing, the title never goes out of print.

I would love to see books-on-demand really take off ... 3 years ago. I'm still waiting.

The primary problem with the net2phone box is that it uses the Internet as transport, and there is no end-to-end management of the internet. So, the packets that contain your voice have to compete on an equal footing with other peoples packets, despite the fact that yours are much more time-sensitive.

Check out this article for information of smart routers that prioritize packets based on their contents. The claim is that packets containing temporal information (e.g., audio, video) will be passed more synchronously that packets containing less temporally-dependent information.

You all seem to have missed this article in Wired in april about the Iraqis "supposedly" hooking a shitload of these bad-boys together to make a cheap-man's supercomputer. Check it out!