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Funds could move on C&W, says chief (FT.com)FT.com - Richard Lapthorne, chairman of Cable and Wireless, on Tuesday signalled the UK's second-largest fixed-line telecoms network operator could become a takeover target for private equity funds following a recent profits warning.U.S. wireless carriers take aim at adult content (Reuters)Reuters - With Internet and video more readilyavailable on wireless phones, the major U.S. carriers onTuesday unveiled guidelines aimed at limiting children's accessto adult content and services.Samsung Denies Plans for Music Service (PC World)PC World - Online store isn't in development, just a new interface, company says now.Microsoft sees up to 3 mln early Xbox 360 sales (Reuters)Reuters - Microsoft Corp. onTuesday said it expects to sell as many as 3 million Xbox 360sin the first three months after its launch -- a strong start inits battle to dominate the market for next-generation gamingconsoles.Worm Targets Linux Systems (NewsFactor)NewsFactor - A new worm that attacks Linux systems and exploits several vulnerabilities in the operating system has been reported, and security firms are urging caution among users.Analyst: Security Will Drive Windows-to-Mac Switch (NewsFactor)NewsFactor - A financial analyst predicts that the ubiquity of computer viruses, and Apple's success in its music ventures, will drive more and more Windows users to switch to Macs.Quest Software Shares Rise on 3Q Results (AP)AP - Shares of Quest Software Inc. rose sharply, a day after the company reported third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations.Verizon Reduces Prices for Phone Service (AP)AP - Verizon Communications Inc. sharply cut its prices for unlimited telephone service across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday, including markets where Cablevision Inc. has just boosted broadband Internet speeds.FCC Clarifies VoIP Disconnection Deadline (AP)AP - The Federal Communications Commission won't require Internet phone service providers to cut off customers who don't have reliable 911 emergency call service.

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Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 4th 2005 #253Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 4th 2005 #253From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Monday October 10th 2005 #257Daily Source Code for Monday October 10th 2005 #257From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Friday October 7th 2005 #256Daily Source Code for Friday October 7th 2005 #256From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotes

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Daily Source Code for Monday October 17th 2005 #261Daily Source Code for Monday October 17th 2005 #261From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Tuesday October 4th 2005 #253Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 4th 2005 #253From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Tuesday October 11th 2005 #258Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 11th 2005 #258From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotessafe in sf15:30, arrived safely at the Curry Condo in SFDaily Source Code for Monday October 10th 2005 #257Daily Source Code for Monday October 10th 2005 #257From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Monday October 3d 2005 #252Daily Source Code for Monday October 3d 2005 #252From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Thursday October 6th 2005 #255Daily Source Code for Thursday October 6th 2005 #255From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownoteschanges.xml?Cngratulations to Dave Winer on hisdealwith Verisign. Sounds like he sold weblogs.com for all the right reasons. One question I have: will thechanges.xmlfile remain available to the rest of the ping-infrastructure?

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Lawmakers back U.S. control of Internet (Reuters)Reuters - Three lawmakers in the U.S. House ofRepresentatives called on Friday for the Internet's coreinfrastructure to remain under U.S. control, echoing similarlanguage introduced in the Senate earlier this week.Ericsson quarterly profits slightly ahead of forecasts (AFP)AFP - Ericsson, the world's biggest supplier of mobile telecommunication systems, reported on Friday third-quarter earnings slightly ahead of forecasts, but warned that the world systems market would show only moderate growth this year and next.RIM ruling risks US Blackberry shutdown (Reuters)Reuters - A U.S. appeals court on Friday denied amotion to stay a patent case against Research In Motion Ltd.,bringing RIM closer to an injunction that could shut down itspopular BlackBerry email service in the United States.Firefox Downloads Top 100 Million (PC World)PC World - Mozilla browser continues to make headway on IE, despite some glitches.Man Accused of Stealing Corning Secrets (AP)AP - A former employee of a Corning Inc. glassmaking plant is charged with stealing trade secrets and selling them to a Taiwanese company.Bertelsmann to Launch File-Sharing Service (AP)AP - Bertelsmann AG said Friday it will launch a new service that uses the technology made popular by file-swapping businesses for legal downloads of music and movies.

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Promo UploadsI’m still getting used to all the functions of Wordpress and haven’t enabled file upload yet, but you should be able topost a promoand point the URL for the enclosure to a file on any server.XJ Super V8XJ Super V8Originally uploaded byadamcurry.Presenting the new Curry Cruiser!Details in Today's Source CodeDaily Source Code for Tuesday October 25th 2005 #266Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 25th 2005 #266From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotes#273 Daily Source Code for Thursday November 3d 2005#273Daily Source Code for Thursday November 3d 2005From Curry Cottage, Guildford, United KingdomDirectLinkto the showSubscribe to thefeedSubscribe withiTunesOn the talking tip today!Time-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Friday October 28th 2005 #269Daily Source Code for Friday October 28th 2005 #269From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotes

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David Pogue: Corporate Tool, Yes, but Bright and HandyThe new BlackBerry 8700c is a thoroughly modernized version of a gizmo whose technologies were rock-solid but a tad behind the times.DAVID POGUE

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safe in sf15:30, arrived safely at the Curry Condo in SFMK Video PromoAvideo promofrom Mary and Karla"mmmm kaaay!"trippy plantsThisvideoreally tripped me out the first time I saw it.Daily Source Code for Wednesday October 19th 2005 #262Daily Source Code for Wednesday October 19th 2005 #262From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259Daily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259From the Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam The NetherlandsDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Monday October 17th 2005 #261Daily Source Code for Monday October 17th 2005 #261From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Wednesday October 20th 2005 #263Daily Source Code for Thursday October 20th 2005 #263From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Wednesday October 26th 2005 #267Daily Source Code for Wednesday October 26th 2005 #267From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotes

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Its alive22:08 Powerbook booted from the drive. iTunes opened by itself and started downloading podcasts. The entire system is responding slow, took quite a while for the CD to eject after I dragged it to the trash. I have not done anything else yet. Suggestions?PodShow JobcastA short PodShowJobCast. We're hiring!Daily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259Daily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259From the Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam The NetherlandsDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Friday October 14th 2005 #260Daily Source Code for Friday October 14th 2005 #260From Curry Cottage, Guildford United KingdomDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotes

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MSN expects China to be top five market by 2010 (Reuters)Reuters - Microsoft Corp.'s Internet unit, MSN,expects China to become one of its top five markets by 2010,fueled by growing demand for its popular email and searchengine software, executives said.Study finds TiVo losing ground among DVR users (Reuters)Reuters - TiVo Inc. has created adigital video recorder with a name that has worked its way intothe American lexicon, but its reputation among users andwould-be users is beginning to erode amid generic competitors,according to a new study that relies on Internet buzz to studyconsumers'opinion.

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safe in sf15:30, arrived safely at the Curry Condo in SFPodsfae xmas tunesAfter a discussion on the source code, a list ofpodsafe christmas musicappeared in the shownotes. These songs can be recorded or performed by anyone.Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 25th 2005 #266Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 25th 2005 #266From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Wednesday October 26th 2005 #267Daily Source Code for Wednesday October 26th 2005 #267From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Friday October 14th 2005 #260Daily Source Code for Friday October 14th 2005 #260From Curry Cottage, Guildford United KingdomDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesMK Video PromoAvideo promofrom Mary and Karla"mmmm kaaay!"Daily Source Code for Friday October 21st 2005 #264Daily Source Code for Friday October 21st 2005 #264From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Monday October 17th 2005 #261Daily Source Code for Monday October 17th 2005 #261From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotes

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A story on the10th anniversaryof the O.J. Simpson verdict notes his recent plans:Last year, on the 10th anniversary of the murders, he told Fox News that he was about to re-enter public life with a TV show in which he would pull practical jokes on unsuspecting victims. On a scale of one to 10,"it's 7 or 8 that it's gonna happen,"he said. It never happened.I haven't seen much reality TV sinceMarried by Americaperfected the form, but I'd watch an alleged double murderer being sprung on unsuspecting prank victims. O.J. would be the newAllen Funt, who had to go off-camera towards the end of hisCandid Cameradays because he was scaring the hell out of people.IfJuic'dbecame a hit, think of the copycats it would spawn: Kobe Bryant runs a rape crisis hotline! Roman Polanski teaches junior high girl's soccer! John Bolton serves as U.N. ambassador!Hysteria is ContagiousAn article on the 50-year effort by scientists torevive the 1918 Spanish flu virusreads like a Michael Crichton novel:He chose three villages in the permafrost zone -- where the ground never thaws -- that had mass graves containing corpses from an epidemic that sounded like influenza.The young graduate student surveyed the sites, all on the Seward Peninsula, which stretches westward into the Bering Sea. Of the three, a place called Teller Mission looked promising. Seventy-two of the 80 residents of Teller Mission died between Nov. 15 and 20, 1918.Hultin went to the village, whose name has since been changed to Brevig Mission, and requested permission to excavate the grave. Through a translator, he emphasized the benefit of making a vaccine. The villagers had been vaccinated against smallpox, so they knew what he was talking about. At the meeting were three of the eight survivors from 1918.Columnist Charles Krauthammer believes it'smore of a Steven King:We have brought back to life an agent of near-biblical destruction. It killed more people in six months than were killed in the four years of World War I. It killed more humans than any other disease of similar duration in the history of the world, says Alfred W. Crosby, who wrote a history of the 1918 pandemic. And, notesNew Scientistmagazine, when the re-created virus was given to mice in heavily quarantined laboratories in Atlanta, it killed the mice more quickly than any other flu virus ever tested.Though he citesNew Scientist, Krauthammer omits a few facts from the magazine'sflu coveragethat are worth considering before completely losing your shit, as doRay Kurzweil and Bill Joy, who call this flu's published genome a"recipe for disaster."The laws of probability suggest that if Earth sticks around long enough, scientists will eventually stumble upon a discovery that wipes out humankind and gives the rest of the universe one less thing to worry about. That's why we must colonize other planets as soon as possible. Our genes need places to store backups.But I'm not ready to hit the panic button about the return of the killer of 1918. Most people have been exposed to milder descendants of that flu or vaccinated against them, both of which provide natural protection. Existing antiviral drugs also are likely to offer resistance.The more pressing concern is the next pandemic flu, which hasn't been filtered through survivors and weakened by the collective might of antibodies and evolution. Learning from the publication of the Spanish flu's genome also may enable researchers to devise an effective response to the next killer flu or biological terror attack.Besides, if hiding information from bad, bad people is Earth's best hope, we might as well max out the credit cards and stock up on beer, medicinal marijuana, and fatty foods, because we're screwed. As technologists like Kurzweil and Joy must realize, security through obscurity never works.In a story that will not become an inspirational ESPN movie starring Gene Hackman, a Florida high school hasdropped its football programmidseason after losing its first six games by a combined score of 299-0. The Doral Academy Firebirds, who returned13 startersfrom last year's 0-11 team, still had thetoughest part of the scheduleto come. During the first six games of this season, they lost 29 out of 45 players with season-ending injuries to their pride.This is Anna BadkhenThe most compelling stories from a newspaper reporter in Iraq are being penned byAnna Badkhen, a 29-year-old foreign correspondent for theSan Francisco Chronicle. She frequently writes stories that bring first-hand accounts from frontline soldiers home, such as her article this morning of aMarine platoon outside Sada, a town near the Syrian border that's one of five controlled by insurgents:The mortar rounds hit in the early morning. The first one, a harbinger of the assault to come, whooshed up from the sleepy border town of Sada at around 5:30 a.m. Friday, landing in a burst of sparks several hundred yards short of the sandstone cliffs where U.S. Marines were camped out.The shell's trajectory left a momentary orange trace in the predawn sky, but the impact was almost inaudible, and most of the Marines slept right through it, wrapped in their sleeping bags in the foxholes they had dug in the hard-packed desert dust.The second round landed closer ...Badkhen has a novelist's ear for dialogue, relating Thursday how desert-encamped Marinesmake their beds:"It's like digging a grave,"he says."I'll lay in my little grave, I'll put my sleeping bag on top of me, and I'll be warm. I've found out that the deeper you dig, the warmer it gets.""Last time we were out,"he continued,"the first day, I dug like a champion. The second day, I didn't dig deep enough, and I was cold."TheChroniclethinks so much of Badkhen's work that it sent her from one warzone to another, assigning her to theaftermath of Hurricane Katrinain New Orleans.Badkhen, who publishes anonline journalfor the paper, described herself asanti-warin a 2003 interview. Before bias monitors make too much of that, it appears to be an apolitical expression of sympathy for civilians caught in a warzone:I don't like wars. I think wars are bad. I see a lot of people suffer ... If one government doesn't like the other government and they go to war, or if one regime doesn't like the separatists, and they go to war, then the people who suffer are not just the government and the separatists. The people who suffer are the people in between, just people who are living their lives. I'm on their side.Another blogger hasdiscovered Badkhen, complimenting her ability to note things that"snottier, glitzier reporters don't."The more I read of her work, the more it feels like the nextPulitzer Prize for International Reporting.Throw the Book at GoogleJim Minatel, an acquisitions editor at Wiley for one of my books, believes that Google's plan to turn web-crawling googlebots loose on print libraries is aclear violation of copyright.I'm not so sure.If I had a copy of the world's most useful computer book (let's call itMovable Type 3 Bible Desktop Edition), and I made a practice of sending one page of the book to people who asked a question answered by that page, would I be violating Wiley's copyright?Selective quotation of a book is fair use. Is repeated selective quotation of a book still fair?There are full-text books on the web under copyright, such asLive Simpleby John December. Google did to this book what it wants to do to library books in the real world -- it grabbed copies of all the pages and will search the text in response to aquery, presenting the relevant excerpts.As an armchair copyright lawyer, I can't figure out how it matters that Google grabbed one book with a bot and grabbed the other with a scanner. Google grabs the full text of copyrighted works all the time --56,000on this server alone. If Google Print is illegal, wouldn't Google be illegal as well?Thank God we have wealthy corporations with high-powered intellectual property lawyers who can answer this question for us.Losing Page Rank with Two Site URLsI've been tracking the Google page rank of my web sites for the past year, trying to learn about effective, non-abusive techniques that improve their positions in search engines. You can really see a difference in a site's traffic when it goes up in rank.SportsFilterjumped to PR 7 in the last three months, and the site's membership is booming as a result.A lot of publishers are losing page rank because they use two different domains -- one that begins withwwwand one that doesn't -- for the same site.Most sites offer both forms of address to help users. For instance, you can reach the political analysis site MyDD at eithermydd.comorwww.mydd.com.When you use two domains, pick one that's the real address and redirect the other address using an HTTP status code of"301 moved permanently,"which indicates a permanent move, rather than"302 found,"which may be temporary.If you take another approach, Google's likely to treat them as different sites. For example, Google tracks 24,600 incoming links towww.mydd.com, giving the site PR 7, and 808 links tomydd.com, giving it PR 6.The site's hosted with Apache, so ifmod_rewriteis installed, a two-line.htaccessfile in mydd.com's root directory will redirect requests to the real address with the proper HTTP code:RewriteEngine onRewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.mydd.com/$1 [R=301]To see if your site could benefit from this technique, try both of its addresses as a Google search. If the number of results is different, Google thinks you're publishing two different sites and you're losing page rank. I know this affects all Manila-published sites, because I've experienced it atBuzzwordand am abjectly begging UserLand for a fix, and other weblogging tools as well. Among the top 10 blogs onTechnorati, onlyDooceandKottke.Orgaren't giving up some rank.$500,000 for a Flying FishThere may be no fat left in the federal budget, if you believe the assessment of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, but there's a lot of protein and Omega 3 fatty acids.A non-profit in Alaska led by a Republican Congressman's son spent $500,000 in federal funds to paint an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-400 like a salmon, according to theAnchorage Daily News.A team of 30 painters and airbrush artists used more than 140 gallons of paint and took 24 days to render the lifelike chinook -- triple the time normally needed to coat an airliner."There's no question, at least in my mind, that this is the finest airline art ever conceived,"said Bill MacKay, the company's Anchorage-based senior vice president."People will just be amazed at the detail."The fishy expenditure comes from the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, whose chairman Ben Stevens was spawned by U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. The board received $29 million in federal funding to promote Alaskan seafood.My Reign as the King of PingsI've been runningWeblogs.Comsince June for Dave Winer, who wanted to see if service performance could be improved as he began to receive seven-digit inquiries about selling it.Weblogs.Com ran onFrontierfor six years from its founding in 1999, handling the load reasonably well until the number of pings topped one million per day within the last year.In a frenzied weekend, I recoded the site as an Apache/MySQL/PHP web application running on a Linux server, writing all of the code from scratch except forXML-Simple, an XML parsing library I adapted from code byJim Winstead. Hosting was provided byServerMatrix, which charges around $80-$140/month for a dedicated server running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 with a 1,200-gigabyte monthly bandwidth limit.On an average day, my application served 34.65 gigabytes of data, took 1.1 million pings and sent 11,000 downloads of changes.xml, a file larger than 1 megabyte. TheLAMP platformis ideal for running a high-demand web application for as little money as possible.When Dave rerouted Weblogs.Com to my new server and it instantly deluged the box with more than a dozen pings per second, I felt like Lucy Ricardo pulling chocolates off the conveyer belt.The server ran well, crashing only a few times over four months because of a spammer sending thousands of junk pings per minute. Every few days, I used theiptablesfirewall to block requests from the IP addresses of the worst abusers.Business reporterTom Foremskiand others have suggested that the Weblogs.Com sale might reveal a lack of faith in blogging as a business.I think the sale was motivated by the realization that the demands of running Weblogs.Com had become much too large for Dave's one-man company. He could either hire people and start pursuing revenue opportunities or sell the service.VeriSign got a good deal acquiring it for a reported $2 million. The company's now at the center of the blogosphere, a giant web application and information network with more than 15 million users, and ought to be able to leverage those pings into new services built on XML, XML-RPC and RSS.One thing I'd like to see is a real-time search engine built only on the last several hours of pings, which could be a terrific current news service if compiled intelligently. While I was running Weblogs.Com, I wanted to use my brief moment as the king of pings to extend the API, which VeriSign appears to beconsidering, but Dave didn't want to mess with things while companies were loading a truck with money and asking for directions to his house.I want to pursue these ideas, either independently or in concert with VeriSign andYahoo Blo.gs. No knock intended, but big companies tend to sit on purchases like this rather than implementing new features.Bloggerstill lacks category support two years after being purchased by Google, an omission so basic you have to wonder whether it's serious about fending off competition fromSix Apart,UserLand, andWordPress.Everyone Who Uses Must ConvergeLast March, Ashley Smith was taken hostage by Brian Nichols after he shot a judge and three other people to death escaping an Atlanta courthouse. During a seven-hour ordeal, she read to him from the Bible andThe Purpose-Driven Life. He eventually let the 27-year-old woman leave and tell the police his whereabouts, surrendering peacefully.Wall Street Journalpundit Peggy Noonan wasdeeply movedby the incident:Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols were together for seven hours.Thisis Nichols's mug shot.Thisis Nichols's face after he gave himself up to police Saturday.Something changed.Something happened. ...It is an amazing and beautiful story. And for all its unlikeliness you know it happened as Smith said. You know she told the truth. It's funny how we all know this.Something did happen. Smith revealed a secret in hernew memoirthat she kept from police, the press, and Peggy -- during the ordeal, she gave Nichols some of hercrystal meth:... as the night wore on -- after Nichols had snorted some of Smith's meth -- she tried to win Nichols' trust by talking about her faith in God and relating to him her personal stories. ...She writes that she asked Nichols if he wanted to see the danger of drugs and lifted up her tank top several inches to reveal a five-inch scar down the center of her torso -- the aftermath of a car wreck caused by drug-induced psychosis. She says she let go of the steering wheel when she heard a voice saying,"Let go and let God."In the short term,crystal methbrings reduced fatigue and adeep feelingof well-being, intelligence and power. (In the long term,not so much).Noonan found in Nichols' transformation a redemptive Easter miracle:This is all quite a mystery, too big to be understood, too beautiful to be ignored.I just feel like bowing to everyone, all the victims and all the survivors, the good judge, the good guards, the good woman, the reporters, all of whom became part of something big and without borders. The only lesson is love. I feel certain this is true.Oops.Update: Lee Siegel, a critic for theNew Republic, questioned Smith's story from the beginning, faulting the broadcast media for spinning a fable that omitted her criminal record, the circumstances of her husband's murder and the reason she lost custody of her child.Don't Fall for Scamazon.ComConsidering the sophistication of the scam e-mails that I've been receiving lately, there must be a huge black market in phishing, the practice of tricking people into revealing their passwords from ecommerce sites and banks.A phony Amazon.Com e-mail I received last night is pretty convincing:Dear Amazon member,Due to concerns we have for the safety and integrity of the Amazon community we have issued this warning.Per the User Agreement, Section 9, we may immediately issue a warning, temporarily suspend, indefinitely suspend or terminate your membership and refuse to provide our services to you if we believe that your actions may cause financial loss or legal liability for you, our users or us. We may also take these actions if we are unable to verify or authenticate any information you provide to us.Please follow the link below:[link removed]and update your account information.We apreciate your support and understanding, as we work together to keep Amazon market a safe place to trade.Thank you for your attention on this serious matter.Regards,Amazon Safety DepartmentNOTE: This message was sent to you by an automated e-mail system. Please don't reply to it. Amazon treats your personal information with the utmost care, and our Privacy Policy is designed to protect you and your information.The link had the Chinese hostname www.amazon.com.encrypted-inquiry.cn, which resolves to an IP address in Germany. Yesterday, a net abuse monitor reported on Usenet that it had a different IP address in Thailand. The site looks exactly like Amazon.Com and asks for your username, password and credit card information.Never respond to an e-mail asking for your account or credit card information, no matter how official it looks. These are always scams, run professionally by criminals who will rapidly hit your accounts for everything they can get and are unlikely to ever be caught. Most operate outside the U.S., as this globe-trotting Chinese/German/Thai effort demonstrates.Considering the importance of ecommerce, browser users need more help detecting these scams. I could tell that the host encrypted-inquiry.cn was suspicious because I am adomain name geek, and Amazon.Com would never use a host in China for American customers. A Microsoft program manager wasnot so lucky, falling for a similar e-mail because he had just ordered from Amazon.The server monitoring company Netcraft offers a freeInternet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox toolbarthat warns users of known phishing sites, providing hosting information about each site you visit. When I installed it this morning, it already had the Amazon scam attempt in its database,alerting menot to visit before I loaded the page.The toolbar displaysdetailed informationabout each site, revealing where it's hosted, what company controls the IP address, and how long it has been online. Toolbar links opendetailed reportson each site.

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Viva BBC AmericaI caught the first episode ofViva Blackpoollast night on BBC America, a six-episode mini-series that features the most wonderfully vile lead character sinceThe Sopranos.The show's a funny drama about Ripley Holden, an Elvis-loving Brit trying to bring Vegas-style excess to Blackpool, England, in the form of the Yankee Dollar Casino. When a dead body turns up one morning, a Scottish detective shows up poking around Ripley's business (and his wife).The comparisons to Tony Soprano are unmistakeable -- Ripley's a larger-than-life oaf ruling the lives of his wife, son and daughter, and he mixes bullying and charm in a way that makes me think the U.S. will steal actorDavid Morrisseythe way we've absconded with Ricky Gervais.The strangest and most amazing thing about the show was the occasional use of musical numbers a laCop Rock. The first episode ends with a"These Boots are Made for Walkin'"dance between Holden and the detective, and though it sounds excruciatingly bad, it was so great I scrambled for the TiVo to record the show for my wife.I try to avoid watching television aside fromLaw&Orderand football, because it robs me of time I could be wasting on the web. But I'm in for the next five hours ofBlackpool, which airs Mondays at 10 p.m. and has one last repeat airing of the first episode at 7 p.m. tonight.In a story that will not become an inspirational ESPN movie starring Gene Hackman, a Florida high school hasdropped its football programmidseason after losing its first six games by a combined score of 299-0. The Doral Academy Firebirds, who returned13 startersfrom last year's 0-11 team, still had thetoughest part of the scheduleto come. During the first six games of this season, they lost 29 out of 45 players with season-ending injuries to their pride.Harriet's Homework HelpersA postscript on Harriet Miers, buried in aWashington Poststory on the burial of her Supreme Court aspirations:White House aides finished Miers's second response to the Senate questionnaire and delivered it at 11:40 p.m., more than three hours after she decided to abandon her nomination. The 59-page document makes it clear that the struggle to learn about her advice to Bush would have continued had she stayed in the fray. Asked for details about her work, she submitted 135 boilerplate, publicly available fact sheets on White House policies and 67 policy statements the administration has sent Congress on legislation.Miers wasn't even working on her own questionnaire! I know that Supreme Court justices often lean heavily on their clerks in drafting opinions, but you'd think a person described as"detail-oriented"in four billion media stories might have given her homework a look-see before aides turned it in.I'm beginning to wonder if she's even agood bowler.My Reign as the King of PingsI've been runningWeblogs.Comsince June for Dave Winer, who wanted to see if service performance could be improved as he began to receive seven-digit inquiries about selling it.Weblogs.Com ran onFrontierfor six years from its founding in 1999, handling the load reasonably well until the number of pings topped one million per day within the last year.In a frenzied weekend, I recoded the site as an Apache/MySQL/PHP web application running on a Linux server, writing all of the code from scratch except forXML-Simple, an XML parsing library I adapted from code byJim Winstead. Hosting was provided byServerMatrix, which charges around $80-$140/month for a dedicated server running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 with a 1,200-gigabyte monthly bandwidth limit.On an average day, my application served 34.65 gigabytes of data, took 1.1 million pings and sent 11,000 downloads of changes.xml, a file larger than 1 megabyte. TheLAMP platformis ideal for running a high-demand web application for as little money as possible.When Dave rerouted Weblogs.Com to my new server and it instantly deluged the box with more than a dozen pings per second, I felt like Lucy Ricardo pulling chocolates off the conveyer belt.The server ran well, crashing only a few times over four months because of a spammer sending thousands of junk pings per minute. Every few days, I used theiptablesfirewall to block requests from the IP addresses of the worst abusers.Business reporterTom Foremskiand others have suggested that the Weblogs.Com sale might reveal a lack of faith in blogging as a business.I think the sale was motivated by the realization that the demands of running Weblogs.Com had become much too large for Dave's one-man company. He could either hire people and start pursuing revenue opportunities or sell the service.VeriSign got a good deal acquiring it for a reported $2 million. The company's now at the center of the blogosphere, a giant web application and information network with more than 15 million users, and ought to be able to leverage those pings into new services built on XML, XML-RPC and RSS.One thing I'd like to see is a real-time search engine built only on the last several hours of pings, which could be a terrific current news service if compiled intelligently. While I was running Weblogs.Com, I wanted to use my brief moment as the king of pings to extend the API, which VeriSign appears to beconsidering, but Dave didn't want to mess with things while companies were loading a truck with money and asking for directions to his house.I want to pursue these ideas, either independently or in concert with VeriSign andYahoo Blo.gs. No knock intended, but big companies tend to sit on purchases like this rather than implementing new features.Bloggerstill lacks category support two years after being purchased by Google, an omission so basic you have to wonder whether it's serious about fending off competition fromSix Apart,UserLand, andWordPress.Samuelo Alito and a Catholic MajorityAny legislator who is publicly supporting laws which favor abortion or euthanasia may not present himself or herself for Holy Communion. --Raymond Burke, Catholic Archbishop of St. LouisIf Judge Samuel Alito is approved by the Senate, the Supreme Court will have five Catholic justices, a religious majority that is nearly without precedent in U.S. history. He would join Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.The only time thisappearsto have happened was 1792-1793, when four of the six justices belonged to the Episcopal church: Chief Justice John Jay and Justices James Iredell, Thomas Johnson and James Wilson.The Constitution expressly forbids religious tests in consideration for public office, so there's a strong inclination against scrutiny of a nominee's religious beliefs, whether in support or opposition. With Catholics, this comes into conflict with agrowing movementwithin the church to deny sacraments to lawmakers who oppose its views on subjects like abortion, stem cell research and euthanasia.In 2002, the Vatican issued adoctrinal notestating that Catholic lawmakers must act in accordance with its teachings:John Paul II, continuing the constant teaching of the Church, has reiterated many times that those who are directly involved in lawmaking bodies have a grave and clear obligation to oppose any law that attacks human life. For them, as for every Catholic, it is impossible to promote such laws or to vote for them.The Catholic Church comes into conflict with different political factions over the Vatican's voluminously documented views. John Kerry, a practicing Catholic who regularly attends mass, was publicly denied the right to communion by Archbishop Burke during the 2004 presidential campaign, an action with theapprovalof Pope Benedict XVI while he served as cardinal. New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey was denied by another bishop for remarrying without getting an annulment.Up to this point, American bishops have played the communion card solely against socially liberal Democrats. There has been no comparable effort to deny Justice Scalia for his support of capital punishment, nor a rejection of Catholic politicians who favor the Iraq war.Though I'm undoubtedly going to be accused of anti-Catholic bigotry, one of my concerns with Alito's selection is the historic majority that it establishes. When the church began actively politicizing the Eucharist, it called into question how life-tenured justices will reconcile conflicts between their Constitution and their church.And the Booker Goes To ...There aren't many instances where I wish the American Revolution had turned out differently, but the yearly award of theBooker Prize for Fictionis one of them. Our former rulers treat an annual literary contest with the pagaentry and hype that the U.S. bestows uponSurvivorfinales and the joyous day Tom Cruise announces that he has anointed his next bride. Advantage Britain.The Booker's such a big deal there's atell-all bookcoming out about the contest, written by departing administrator Martyn Goff:There will be a number of stories that have not appeared ever before, including stories about judges. Yes, there will be sexual shenanigans, but that's quite minor compared to other things.When this becomes a movie, I see Ben Kingsley and Helen Mirren in the roles of the sexually rapacious literary judges, with F. Murray Abraham hiding in the closet taking pictures.This year's Booker, announced live last night on British TV, went to Irish novelist John Banville forThe Sea, a novel of a grieving man returning to a vacation spot where something very bad happened in his youth. (The titleThe Prince of Tideswas already taken.)Banville put some work into this victory. He shredded a critically acclaimed book,Saturdayby former Booker winner Ian McEwan, and may have contributed to the"dismayingly bad book"being left off the list of finalists for 2005.The review's on afor-pay site, but the writer Jenny Davidsonbloggedthe good parts:It happens occasionally that a novelist will lose his sense of artistic proportion, especially when he has done a great deal of research and preparation. I have read all those books, he thinks, I have made all these notes, so how can I possibly go wrong? Or he devises a program, a manifesto, which he believes will carry him free above the demands of mere art -- no deskbound scribbler he, no dabbler in dreams, but a man of action, a match for any scientist or soldier. He sets to work, and immediately matters start to go wrong -- the thing will not flow, the characters are mulishly stubborn, even the names are not right -- but yet he persists, mistaking the frustrations of an unworkable endeavor for the agonies attendant upon the fashioning of a masterpiece. But no immensity of labor will bring to successful birth a novel that was misconceived in the first place.Something of the kind seems to have happened here.Saturdayis a dismayingly bad book. The numerous set pieces -- brain operations, squash game, the encounters with Baxter, etc. -- are hinged together with the subtlety of a child's Erector Set. The characters too, for all the nuzzling and cuddling and punching and manhandling in which they are made to indulge, drift in their separate spheres, together but never touching, like the dim stars of a lost galaxy. The politics of the book is banal, of the sort that is to be heard at any middle-class Saturday-night dinner party, before the talk moves on to property prices and recipes for fish stew. There are good things here, for instance the scene when Perowne visits his senile mother in an old-folks' home, in which the writing is genuinely affecting in its simplicity and empathetic force. Overall, however,Saturdayhas the feel of a neoliberal polemic gone badly wrong; if Tony Blair -- who makes a fleeting personal appearance in the book, ozozing insincerity -- were to appoint a committee to produce a 'novel for our time,' the result would surely be something like this.Meow! I do not expect to learn in Goff's book that these two are having sex.Harriet Miers, Bush's Stealth BombA letter toNational ReviewcolumnistDavid Frum:I graduated from law school this past May, and am currently a **th Circuit law clerk. I have always been a member of the Federalist Society, and have devoted much of my recent spare time to working on several law review articles that, while on subjects esoteric to non-attorneys (such as subject matter jurisdiction priority over personal jurisdiction), remain important to the proper position of the courts in our governmental system.I'm considering abandoning them after watching how such advocacy often turns into a negative blotch on an attorney's resume and a disqualifier for any high level judiciary or executive service ...Since the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, the most fascinating political site on the web has beenConfirm Them, a weblog created by Republican activists to support the confirmation of President Bush's judicial appointments.Miers has made a mockery of the site's name, splitting conservative contributors into angry pro- and anti-Miers camps. They were gearing up for a fight to get an openly conservative jurist with an established track record past the Senate, but instead have been handed another stealth nominee whose judicial philosophy must be taken on faith.No conservative had the White House counsel on their short list of prospective choices, according toGeorge Willin one of the greatest insults in the history of punditry:... there is no reason to believe that Miers's nomination resulted from the president's careful consultation with people capable of such judgments. If 100 such people had been asked to list 100 individuals who have given evidence of the reflectiveness and excellence requisite in a justice, Miers's name probably would not have appeared in any of the 10,000 places on those lists.Snap! You go, George!Stealth nominees have a strategic short-term advantage that makes it difficult to keep them off the court, so it's likely that Miers will be confirmed unless President Bush withdraws the nomination, which ranks in probability somewhere between"no chance in hell"and"never in a million years."The president's so stubborn that were he captain of the Titanic, he would have run the ship into a second iceberg to prove he meant to hit the first one.There's a long-term price for filling the Supreme Court in secrecy, as this clerk's letter illustrates. Conservatives have built an intellectual foundation for their interpretation of constitutional law over a quarter century, as embodied by theFederalist Societyand the embrace oforiginalism.Neither Bush appointment has publicly nurtured this movement during their careers. In some instances, they've even distanced themselves from it. When asked her most admired Supreme Court justice, Miersdid not chooseJustices Scalia or Thomas. When John Roberts showed up in a Federalist Society membership directory, the White House issued aquick denial, stating that he"has no recollection of being a member."Roger Pilon, a Cato Institute vice president and society member, was stunned to see Robertsrun away from the associationas if Joseph McCarthy was after him."Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Federalist Society?"If you're a 25-year-old conservative who graduated Harvard Law first in your class and clerks for Chief Justice Roberts, do you spend the next 20 years contributing to law journals, actively participating in the Federalist Society and seeking a judgeship from which you can foster conservative jurisprudence?Clearly, if you have supreme ambitions, the answer is no. By choosing Roberts and Miers, Bush has publicly affirmed the notion that judicial conservatives believe in an ideology that dare not speak its name. Friends of Clarence are the new Friends of Dorothy, forced to develop furtive code phrases to seek each other out -- just like how President Bush namedropsDred Scottas a double-secret shout out toanti-abortion activists."I couldn't help but overhear what you said aboutGriswold v. Connecticutat the bar, friend. Want to take this someplace more private so we can disrespectstare decisisaway from all of these living constitutionalists?"Harriet Miers is the best thing to happen to liberals since the repeal of anti-sodomy laws. I hope she has a sister.Stuart Smalley: Bush Needs TherapyStuart Smalley made his first appearance onAl Franken's radio showFriday, venturing into politics to discuss tabloid rumors that the president has returned to the bottle (attached podcast).I'm surprised it took so long to hear from the caring nurturer, who believes the president should get into an anonymous recovery group, regardless of whether or not he's drinking:Right away. Imagine the stress. There but for the grace of God go I. If I were president, I'd be a complete wreck. I'd be doing a worse job than him, I really believe that. If that's possible.

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Blackberry Users Learning Painful Lesson (AP)AP - Chris Claypool was addicted to his BlackBerry wireless handheld. Like many users, he never thought twice about pecking away at lightning speed, replying to a wave of e-mails from clients around the globe. Last year, the 37-year-old agricultural sales director from Post Falls, Idaho, noticed a throbbing sensation in this thumbs whenever he typed.

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Chief Justice Denies Stay in BlackBerry CaseThe maker of BlackBerry e-mail devices lost an emergency Supreme Court appeal that sought to suspend a long-running patent suit against the company.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSEngineers Make Leap in Optical NetworksA team of engineers has discovered how to switch a beam of laser light on and off up to 100 billion times a second with materials that are widely used in the semiconductor industry.JOHN MARKOFFQ.&A.: Fax Software for Windows XPIs it possible to get the fax software added to Windows XP like the built-in fax ability that was included in previous versions of Windows?J.D. BIERSDORFERSprint Nextel Beats Estimates in First Report Since MergerThe Sprint Nextel Corporation posted sales and pro forma income that narrowly beat Wall Street estimates.MATT RICHTEL

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I.T. Firms Push Next-Generation Internet (NewsFactor)NewsFactor - Rollout of the next generation of Internet Protocol technology is moving ahead with Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) and Global Crossing announcing that the companies are starting to deploy IP version 6 (IPv6) systems.In Brief: Zend Core for Oracle available (InfoWorld)InfoWorld - Oracle and Zend Technologies have announced that Zend Core for Oracle for IBM AIX, Linux, and Sun Solaris, and the beta version of Zend Core for Oracle for the Windows platform are now available.

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Daily Source Code for Wednesday October 19th 2005 #262Daily Source Code for Wednesday October 19th 2005 #262From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Tuesday October 25th 2005 #266Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 25th 2005 #266From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Monday October 17th 2005 #261Daily Source Code for Monday October 17th 2005 #261From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesAttention TechSteve Gillmor's dailyAttention Techis now available as a podcastDaily Source Code Video for Sunday October 23d 2005 #1Daily Source Code Video for Sunday October 23d 2005 #1From Curry Condo, San Francisco CaliforniaDirectlinkto the video.I got a video iPod yesterday, subscribed to a multitude of video Podcasts. Quite interestingMy own experimentation with the platform starts with this short'cast of Curry Condo.If you own a video iPod, it should show up automatically under Video Podcasts. Lemme know if it worked![Details of clip]Recorded with an iSight on a G4 Powerbook (the new one!)Edited in iMovie on a G5 iMac (a new one!)Exported as'Quicktime to iPod'iPod VideoIf you have one of the new iPods,thismay look cool on it. I've added it to the Daily Source Code podcast feed, should work fine in iTunes as well.Daily Source Code for Thursday October 27th 2005 #268Daily Source Code for Thursday October 27th 2005 #268From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotes

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Basics: Deleted but Not GoneMaintaining privacy in the era of digital information requires work on a number of fronts, but one basic measure is easily overlooked: proper data destruction.THOMAS J. FITZGERALDMicrosoft Introduces Web Services, Competing With Google and YahooMicrosoft is offering two new advertising-supported Web services, Windows Live and Office Live, as a direct response to competitors'challenges.JOHN MARKOFFAdvertising: CBS to Acquire CSTV for$325 Million in StockViacom announced that the new CBS Corporation would acquire CSTV Networks, a cable channel and confederation of Web sites that focus entirely on college sports.RICHARD SANDOMIRDavid Pogue: Corporate Tool, Yes, but Bright and HandyThe new BlackBerry 8700c is a thoroughly modernized version of a gizmo whose technologies were rock-solid but a tad behind the times.DAVID POGUEBuying: Stores Look for a Niche as Gadgets Grow UpIf the prices for high-tech gadgets are slightly out of reach for the average Wal-Mart shopper, that is fine by the company. In fact, it is by design.MICHAEL BARBAROVideo Games Are Facing Soft DemandElectronic Arts became the second major video game maker this week to warn that it was seeing soft demand from retailers as it heads into the holiday season.MATT RICHTELDavid Pogue: 10 Ways to Please Us, the CustomersDear electronics makers, you should worship at the altar of good design and make customer satisfaction your religion. These should be your commandments.

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Microsoft Introduces Web Services, Competing With Google and YahooMicrosoft is offering two new advertising-supported Web services, Windows Live and Office Live, as a direct response to competitors'challenges.JOHN MARKOFFBasics: Deleted but Not GoneMaintaining privacy in the era of digital information requires work on a number of fronts, but one basic measure is easily overlooked: proper data destruction.THOMAS J. FITZGERALDJumpy Enough to Chew a Chair? Try DogCatRadioA new Internet radio station for pets aims to keep the loneliness at bay while owners are out.DINITIA SMITHDesign: Style Meets Function, and Technology Gets a Human TouchLike many new technologies, dongles - the tiny sticks that attach to computer ports and transport files from one computer to another, have been designed in many guises.PHIL PATTONDell Says New Focus Will Cut Into ProfitDell Inc. warned that its shift in strategy to focus on higher profit margins would result in lower-than-expected revenue and earnings in the third quarter.DAMON DARLINQwest Loss Narrows in QuarterQwest Communications reported a smaller loss for the third quarter and announced a tentative$400 million settlement of shareholder lawsuits.THE ASSOCIATED PRESSE.D.S. Shifts to a ProfitThe Electronic Data Systems Corporation reported a third-quarter profit after it worked out differences with the federal government on a huge Naval contract.REUTERSInterActive Profit OffIAC/InterActiveCorp, the television and Internet-services company, said that third-quarter profit fell 25 percent on costs of spinning off the Expedia travel business.BLOOMBERG NEWSDavid Pogue: Corporate Tool, Yes, but Bright and HandyThe new BlackBerry 8700c is a thoroughly modernized version of a gizmo whose technologies were rock-solid but a tad behind the times.DAVID POGUE

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Nude Dancer Denudes WalletToday'sNew York Timeshas an op-ed defending the right of strip clubs torip off their clientele:With many customers, fawning is key. What a stripper sells is not her ability to dance or take off her clothes, but her ability to suspend the customer's disbelief.If she is doing her job right, his bald spot and his mortgage cease to exist, and he enters an adolescent fantasy of sexual prowess, temporarily transformed into James Bond, Han Solo and Hugh Hefner all rolled into one. The dancers keep cooing and flattering until the money runs out. It's not duplicitous; it's what the patron signs up for.The author of the essay is Elizabeth Eaves, a former stripper who has turned the experience into a work of scholarship:Bare: On Women, Dancing, Sex, and Power.There's something poetic about a stripper who hates her customers so much she believes her job is to bankrupt them, since there isn't a lot of respect coming in the other direction of the"shake your moneymakers"business.Eaves has anextremely low opinionof the men whose wallets she used to lay bare:I don't have a lot of respect for these men. I don't think they're evil people, but I think that they're weak. I see visiting strip clubs as a form of cheating; I'm bothered by the idea that women are for sale, and I see this in many aspects of our society.$500,000 for a Flying FishThere may be no fat left in the federal budget, if you believe the assessment of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, but there's a lot of protein and Omega 3 fatty acids.A non-profit in Alaska led by a Republican Congressman's son spent $500,000 in federal funds to paint an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-400 like a salmon, according to theAnchorage Daily News.A team of 30 painters and airbrush artists used more than 140 gallons of paint and took 24 days to render the lifelike chinook -- triple the time normally needed to coat an airliner."There's no question, at least in my mind, that this is the finest airline art ever conceived,"said Bill MacKay, the company's Anchorage-based senior vice president."People will just be amazed at the detail."The fishy expenditure comes from the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board, whose chairman Ben Stevens was spawned by U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens. The board received $29 million in federal funding to promote Alaskan seafood.Everyone Who Uses Must ConvergeLast March, Ashley Smith was taken hostage by Brian Nichols after he shot a judge and three other people to death escaping an Atlanta courthouse. During a seven-hour ordeal, she read to him from the Bible andThe Purpose-Driven Life. He eventually let the 27-year-old woman leave and tell the police his whereabouts, surrendering peacefully.Wall Street Journalpundit Peggy Noonan wasdeeply movedby the incident:Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols were together for seven hours.Thisis Nichols's mug shot.Thisis Nichols's face after he gave himself up to police Saturday.Something changed.Something happened. ...It is an amazing and beautiful story. And for all its unlikeliness you know it happened as Smith said. You know she told the truth. It's funny how we all know this.Something did happen. Smith revealed a secret in hernew memoirthat she kept from police, the press, and Peggy -- during the ordeal, she gave Nichols some of hercrystal meth:... as the night wore on -- after Nichols had snorted some of Smith's meth -- she tried to win Nichols' trust by talking about her faith in God and relating to him her personal stories. ...She writes that she asked Nichols if he wanted to see the danger of drugs and lifted up her tank top several inches to reveal a five-inch scar down the center of her torso -- the aftermath of a car wreck caused by drug-induced psychosis. She says she let go of the steering wheel when she heard a voice saying,"Let go and let God."In the short term,crystal methbrings reduced fatigue and adeep feelingof well-being, intelligence and power. (In the long term,not so much).Noonan found in Nichols' transformation a redemptive Easter miracle:This is all quite a mystery, too big to be understood, too beautiful to be ignored.I just feel like bowing to everyone, all the victims and all the survivors, the good judge, the good guards, the good woman, the reporters, all of whom became part of something big and without borders. The only lesson is love. I feel certain this is true.Oops.Update: Lee Siegel, a critic for theNew Republic, questioned Smith's story from the beginning, faulting the broadcast media for spinning a fable that omitted her criminal record, the circumstances of her husband's murder and the reason she lost custody of her child.Brownie Backs Brown-NoserThe White House has enlisted a new ally in the effort to seat Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court:Conservative activist Michael D. Brown said internal GOP polling being cited by party and administration emissaries purports to show that"70 percent of self-identified conservative voters have a favorable impression of Harriet Miers."The emissaries are warning that ordinary Republicans beyond the Washington Beltway continue to support the nomination because they trust President Bush, even after several weeks of conservative opposition to her, according to several conservative Miers critics who have been courted by the White House.The administration is"disappointed that conservatives inside the Beltway are fighting among ourselves over this nomination, and it fuels the fires for our enemies, for Democrats,"said Mr. Brown, the former Federal Emergency Management Agency director.Brown also gave Miers 500 bottles of water and $200,000 in federal relief to replace a tree outside her Dallas home that was toppled by Hurricane Rita.Losing Page Rank with Two Site URLsI've been tracking the Google page rank of my web sites for the past year, trying to learn about effective, non-abusive techniques that improve their positions in search engines. You can really see a difference in a site's traffic when it goes up in rank.SportsFilterjumped to PR 7 in the last three months, and the site's membership is booming as a result.A lot of publishers are losing page rank because they use two different domains -- one that begins withwwwand one that doesn't -- for the same site.Most sites offer both forms of address to help users. For instance, you can reach the political analysis site MyDD at eithermydd.comorwww.mydd.com.When you use two domains, pick one that's the real address and redirect the other address using an HTTP status code of"301 moved permanently,"which indicates a permanent move, rather than"302 found,"which may be temporary.If you take another approach, Google's likely to treat them as different sites. For example, Google tracks 24,600 incoming links towww.mydd.com, giving the site PR 7, and 808 links tomydd.com, giving it PR 6.The site's hosted with Apache, so ifmod_rewriteis installed, a two-line.htaccessfile in mydd.com's root directory will redirect requests to the real address with the proper HTTP code:RewriteEngine onRewriteRule ^(.*) http://www.mydd.com/$1 [R=301]To see if your site could benefit from this technique, try both of its addresses as a Google search. If the number of results is different, Google thinks you're publishing two different sites and you're losing page rank. I know this affects all Manila-published sites, because I've experienced it atBuzzwordand am abjectly begging UserLand for a fix, and other weblogging tools as well. Among the top 10 blogs onTechnorati, onlyDooceandKottke.Orgaren't giving up some rank.And the Booker Goes To ...There aren't many instances where I wish the American Revolution had turned out differently, but the yearly award of theBooker Prize for Fictionis one of them. Our former rulers treat an annual literary contest with the pagaentry and hype that the U.S. bestows uponSurvivorfinales and the joyous day Tom Cruise announces that he has anointed his next bride. Advantage Britain.The Booker's such a big deal there's atell-all bookcoming out about the contest, written by departing administrator Martyn Goff:There will be a number of stories that have not appeared ever before, including stories about judges. Yes, there will be sexual shenanigans, but that's quite minor compared to other things.When this becomes a movie, I see Ben Kingsley and Helen Mirren in the roles of the sexually rapacious literary judges, with F. Murray Abraham hiding in the closet taking pictures.This year's Booker, announced live last night on British TV, went to Irish novelist John Banville forThe Sea, a novel of a grieving man returning to a vacation spot where something very bad happened in his youth. (The titleThe Prince of Tideswas already taken.)Banville put some work into this victory. He shredded a critically acclaimed book,Saturdayby former Booker winner Ian McEwan, and may have contributed to the"dismayingly bad book"being left off the list of finalists for 2005.The review's on afor-pay site, but the writer Jenny Davidsonbloggedthe good parts:It happens occasionally that a novelist will lose his sense of artistic proportion, especially when he has done a great deal of research and preparation. I have read all those books, he thinks, I have made all these notes, so how can I possibly go wrong? Or he devises a program, a manifesto, which he believes will carry him free above the demands of mere art -- no deskbound scribbler he, no dabbler in dreams, but a man of action, a match for any scientist or soldier. He sets to work, and immediately matters start to go wrong -- the thing will not flow, the characters are mulishly stubborn, even the names are not right -- but yet he persists, mistaking the frustrations of an unworkable endeavor for the agonies attendant upon the fashioning of a masterpiece. But no immensity of labor will bring to successful birth a novel that was misconceived in the first place.Something of the kind seems to have happened here.Saturdayis a dismayingly bad book. The numerous set pieces -- brain operations, squash game, the encounters with Baxter, etc. -- are hinged together with the subtlety of a child's Erector Set. The characters too, for all the nuzzling and cuddling and punching and manhandling in which they are made to indulge, drift in their separate spheres, together but never touching, like the dim stars of a lost galaxy. The politics of the book is banal, of the sort that is to be heard at any middle-class Saturday-night dinner party, before the talk moves on to property prices and recipes for fish stew. There are good things here, for instance the scene when Perowne visits his senile mother in an old-folks' home, in which the writing is genuinely affecting in its simplicity and empathetic force. Overall, however,Saturdayhas the feel of a neoliberal polemic gone badly wrong; if Tony Blair -- who makes a fleeting personal appearance in the book, ozozing insincerity -- were to appoint a committee to produce a 'novel for our time,' the result would surely be something like this.Meow! I do not expect to learn in Goff's book that these two are having sex.Harriet Miers, Bush's Stealth BombA letter toNational ReviewcolumnistDavid Frum:I graduated from law school this past May, and am currently a **th Circuit law clerk. I have always been a member of the Federalist Society, and have devoted much of my recent spare time to working on several law review articles that, while on subjects esoteric to non-attorneys (such as subject matter jurisdiction priority over personal jurisdiction), remain important to the proper position of the courts in our governmental system.I'm considering abandoning them after watching how such advocacy often turns into a negative blotch on an attorney's resume and a disqualifier for any high level judiciary or executive service ...Since the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, the most fascinating political site on the web has beenConfirm Them, a weblog created by Republican activists to support the confirmation of President Bush's judicial appointments.Miers has made a mockery of the site's name, splitting conservative contributors into angry pro- and anti-Miers camps. They were gearing up for a fight to get an openly conservative jurist with an established track record past the Senate, but instead have been handed another stealth nominee whose judicial philosophy must be taken on faith.No conservative had the White House counsel on their short list of prospective choices, according toGeorge Willin one of the greatest insults in the history of punditry:... there is no reason to believe that Miers's nomination resulted from the president's careful consultation with people capable of such judgments. If 100 such people had been asked to list 100 individuals who have given evidence of the reflectiveness and excellence requisite in a justice, Miers's name probably would not have appeared in any of the 10,000 places on those lists.Snap! You go, George!Stealth nominees have a strategic short-term advantage that makes it difficult to keep them off the court, so it's likely that Miers will be confirmed unless President Bush withdraws the nomination, which ranks in probability somewhere between"no chance in hell"and"never in a million years."The president's so stubborn that were he captain of the Titanic, he would have run the ship into a second iceberg to prove he meant to hit the first one.There's a long-term price for filling the Supreme Court in secrecy, as this clerk's letter illustrates. Conservatives have built an intellectual foundation for their interpretation of constitutional law over a quarter century, as embodied by theFederalist Societyand the embrace oforiginalism.Neither Bush appointment has publicly nurtured this movement during their careers. In some instances, they've even distanced themselves from it. When asked her most admired Supreme Court justice, Miersdid not chooseJustices Scalia or Thomas. When John Roberts showed up in a Federalist Society membership directory, the White House issued aquick denial, stating that he"has no recollection of being a member."Roger Pilon, a Cato Institute vice president and society member, was stunned to see Robertsrun away from the associationas if Joseph McCarthy was after him."Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Federalist Society?"If you're a 25-year-old conservative who graduated Harvard Law first in your class and clerks for Chief Justice Roberts, do you spend the next 20 years contributing to law journals, actively participating in the Federalist Society and seeking a judgeship from which you can foster conservative jurisprudence?Clearly, if you have supreme ambitions, the answer is no. By choosing Roberts and Miers, Bush has publicly affirmed the notion that judicial conservatives believe in an ideology that dare not speak its name. Friends of Clarence are the new Friends of Dorothy, forced to develop furtive code phrases to seek each other out -- just like how President Bush namedropsDred Scottas a double-secret shout out toanti-abortion activists."I couldn't help but overhear what you said aboutGriswold v. Connecticutat the bar, friend. Want to take this someplace more private so we can disrespectstare decisisaway from all of these living constitutionalists?"Harriet Miers is the best thing to happen to liberals since the repeal of anti-sodomy laws. I hope she has a sister.In a story that will not become an inspirational ESPN movie starring Gene Hackman, a Florida high school hasdropped its football programmidseason after losing its first six games by a combined score of 299-0. The Doral Academy Firebirds, who returned13 startersfrom last year's 0-11 team, still had thetoughest part of the scheduleto come. During the first six games of this season, they lost 29 out of 45 players with season-ending injuries to their pride.

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Daily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259Daily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259From the Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam The NetherlandsDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesMK Video PromoAvideo promofrom Mary and Karla"mmmm kaaay!"Daily Source Code Video for Sunday October 23d 2005 #1Daily Source Code Video for Sunday October 23d 2005 #1From Curry Condo, San Francisco CaliforniaDirectlinkto the video.I got a video iPod yesterday, subscribed to a multitude of video Podcasts. Quite interestingMy own experimentation with the platform starts with this short'cast of Curry Condo.If you own a video iPod, it should show up automatically under Video Podcasts. Lemme know if it worked![Details of clip]Recorded with an iSight on a G4 Powerbook (the new one!)Edited in iMovie on a G5 iMac (a new one!)Exported as'Quicktime to iPod'Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 11th 2005 #258Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 11th 2005 #258From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Wednesday October 20th 2005 #263Daily Source Code for Thursday October 20th 2005 #263From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesAdam Curry ice thinkingAdam Curry ice thinkingOriginally uploaded byadamcurry.Getting ready for christmas as I rebuild my mp3 and photo collectionsfrom various saves on multiple firewire drives. I'm asked for picturesso often that I figured I'd throw this one on the blog sogooglecan pick it up.safe in sf15:30, arrived safely at the Curry Condo in SFDaily Source Code for Monday October 24th 2005 #265Daily Source Code for Monday October 24th 2005 #265From Curry Condo, San Francisco, CaliforniaDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesPodsfae xmas tunesAfter a discussion on the source code, a list ofpodsafe christmas musicappeared in the shownotes. These songs can be recorded or performed by anyone.trippy plantsThisvideoreally tripped me out the first time I saw it.

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Taps for the PBDing dong, the [Power]Book is dead :(Thanks to all who sent me emails with fantastic tips and other offersof help. I was able to save most of my data, bar a few photos and myroute66 install. Currently I'm running the PB off an external 30 gigfirewire drive, not too shabby. I installed using the migration optionfrom another mac. Unbelievably easy and cool. Duplicates everything,right down to your browser cookies and all prefs!Despite the urge to dash off to the store to pick up a new PB, I'mholding off, since I think next week's Apple announcement won't be ofthe video iPod, but of a new range of professional macs...Google Reader ~ Not bad!Plenty of pushback on the new Google RSSReader.At first glance it didn't look like the typical usefulRiver Of Newsthat I enjoy so much, but after a quick and effortless import of my 400 subscription opml file, I kinda got the hang of it.I like the shortcuts, same keyboard commands used in GMail, of whichI'm a big fan. Seeing your feeds sorted by relevance of each story isan interesting experience, sorting by date shows the top level of theriver. Enclosures in audio pop up an embedded player for immediateaudio gratification.Still fooling around with it, very promising for sure.Daily Source Code for Monday October 10th 2005 #257Daily Source Code for Monday October 10th 2005 #257From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesiPod VideoIf you have one of the new iPods,thismay look cool on it. I've added it to the Daily Source Code podcast feed, should work fine in iTunes as well.Daily Source Code for Thursday October 6th 2005 #255Daily Source Code for Thursday October 6th 2005 #255From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotessafe in sf15:30, arrived safely at the Curry Condo in SFdead powerbookRight after I recorded today's DSC my PowerBook gave up. It no longer can boot from the harddrive. Booting from the install disk to use disk utilities gives no joy, as disk utilities can't see the drive at all.On boot up I hear the drive spinning and crunching, but it either stays greyscreen, flashes the'can't find system'icon or defaults eventually to the CD for boot.Since I'm still usingRadio UserLandto update the podcast feed (really must change that -ed) I can't post and thus you can't get the show in iTunes or any other podcatcher software.Any help is ofcourse greatly appreciated. Listen to DSC-255 to hear what steps I took in cleaning up the health of my drive before is hosed out...Update: On one of my many boot attempts, I got the PB to boot from thje install disk, and am able to see the Macintosh HD volume. I decided to cp -R that entire volume to my 100GB Firewire drive before doing anything else. At least the data is now safe :)If I can't get it fixed, I will use the Firewire drive on my other mac to post the DSC feed through Radio Userland...Daily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259Daily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259From the Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam The NetherlandsDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Tuesday October 4th 2005 #253Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 4th 2005 #253From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Friday October 14th 2005 #260Daily Source Code for Friday October 14th 2005 #260From Curry Cottage, Guildford United KingdomDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotes

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Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 11th 2005 #258Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 11th 2005 #258From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Wednesday October 5th 2005 #254Daily Source Code for Wednesday October 5th 2005 #254From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Thursday October 6th 2005 #255Daily Source Code for Thursday October 6th 2005 #255From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesdead powerbookRight after I recorded today's DSC my PowerBook gave up. It no longer can boot from the harddrive. Booting from the install disk to use disk utilities gives no joy, as disk utilities can't see the drive at all.On boot up I hear the drive spinning and crunching, but it either stays greyscreen, flashes the'can't find system'icon or defaults eventually to the CD for boot.Since I'm still usingRadio UserLandto update the podcast feed (really must change that -ed) I can't post and thus you can't get the show in iTunes or any other podcatcher software.Any help is ofcourse greatly appreciated. Listen to DSC-255 to hear what steps I took in cleaning up the health of my drive before is hosed out...Update: On one of my many boot attempts, I got the PB to boot from thje install disk, and am able to see the Macintosh HD volume. I decided to cp -R that entire volume to my 100GB Firewire drive before doing anything else. At least the data is now safe :)If I can't get it fixed, I will use the Firewire drive on my other mac to post the DSC feed through Radio Userland...Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 4th 2005 #253Daily Source Code for Tuesday October 4th 2005 #253From Curry Cottage, Guildford, UKDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownotesDaily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259Daily Source Code for Thursday October 13th 2005 #259From the Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam The NetherlandsDirectLinkto the showTime-code basedShownoteschanges.xml?Cngratulations to Dave Winer on hisdealwith Verisign. Sounds like he sold weblogs.com for all the right reasons. One question I have: will thechanges.xmlfile remain available to the rest of the ping-infrastructure?one more thingHeh, I waswrong!lovin'the community shownotesNow these are greatcommunity shownotes, with pictures and links galore!Google Reader ~ Not bad!Plenty of pushback on the new Google RSSReader.At first glance it didn't look like the typical usefulRiver Of Newsthat I enjoy so much, but after a quick and effortless import of my 400 subscription opml file, I kinda got the hang of it.I like the shortcuts, same keyboard commands used in GMail, of whichI'm a big fan. Seeing your feeds sorted by relevance of each story isan interesting experience, sorting by date shows the top level of theriver. Enclosures in audio pop up an embedded player for immediateaudio gratification.Still fooling around with it, very promising for sure.

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Yahoo biggest threat to Google, Sullivan saysDanny Sullivan, on Search Engine Watch,says that Yahoo is the most virulent threat to Google.Rumor: Weblogs.com sold to VerisignLatest rumor,as reported on Jason Kottke's site:Weblogs.comsold to Verisign?Note: this is different than weblogsinc.com, which WAS sold to AOL yesterday.Dave Winer is my friend, so I can neither confirm nor deny this rumor (he owns weblogs.com and is in the air traveling right now). It sure will be interesting to see what happens in this space, though.Weblogs.com is an important (and often ignored) piece of blog infrastructure. It's a ping server. When I post on my blog, it pings weblogs.com and tells it"something was just published."This lets search engines like Google/MSN/Yahoo visit. It also lets a whole raft of services be built on top of it. Most of the Blog Search engines watch this server for pings.MSN explains more about how they give instant answers on searchJamie Buckley, over on the MSN Search blog, replies tomy PLAYing with search results.HD DVD format battles heat upInteresting BusinessWeek article on the fight that's going on in the industry over HD DVD formats. If you haven't been following this one, it's interesting. I have friends involved inside Microsoft and the stories are fascinating. I wish I could share some of them with you, but for now this BusinessWeek article will have to do (it's not very positive toward Microsoft's position, either).Some things worth pointing out from this article, though. BlueRay's technical claim is that they can do higher capacity discs. The problem is that claim is at least partly smoke and mirrors. I've learned not to believe in smoke and mirrors claims (remember how I got burned believing Longhorn would ship this year?) Be careful whenever a company or a group tells you it'll do something but then can't demonstrate it.Another piece is that the Xbox 360 won't have an HD DVD when it ships (from either camp). I've spent a bit of time with the Xbox team lately. They said they couldn't get enough volume before Christmas on a drive. They wouldn't tell me which one they are going with, though, saying they are still considering their options for future products. An add-on drive could easily be added, though, to the new Xbox.Also, watch what happens with the DRM on both standards. The folks I talked to at Microsoft feel strongly that you should have fair use rights to the videos you get on future media. Translation, we want to make sure you can plug in an HD DVD in your future Media Center on one machine, like up in my office, and then watch it on another machine somewhere else in your home (or on your Xbox 360). Or, like my Slingbox lets me watch TV anywhere I'm connected to my home TV via the Internet. BlueRay's DRM seemed to prevent that kind of usage.Also, we want to make sure you can copy a DVD to a portable device so you can watch that movie elsewhere, like on our portable media centers. It'll be real interesting to see what Apple does when it brings out a video iPod.But, it looks like this fight is just getting going and is becoming more interesting no matter which side of the fence you're on.One other thing: why don't we just get rid of the idea that we need media altogether? I regularly deliver, on Channel 9, 1GB-long videos with only a few complaints. I'm sure that in a few years folks will be able to download 10GB files without any problems at all. The Media Center already has the ability to download huge video files in the middle of the night through RSS.I think my bet is gonna be against either of these formats. Maybe Microsoft should have invested in BitTorrent?What do you think?Why MSN Search won't PLAY with certain stock symbolsLots of people at MSN Search have been writing me back explaining why PLAY doesn't pull up a stock quote chart on MSN (query result here). They pointed out that most stock symbols will pull up a chart. Here'sMSN's result for searching for AAPL, which is Apple Computer's stock symbol, to demonstrate.But why not for PLAY? That's PortalPlayer's symbol.Well, they say that most people searching for Play are coming there for some other reason and they want to make sure that their engine always returns the most relevant result.On one hand this explanation makes me cheer. It's what I have been wanting to hear for a long time. That we have a PHILOSOPHY! Here's the philosophy in algorithms. That relevancy should be sacrosanct.But, on the other hand, I'm not sure that this is the best philosphy to have. I'd rather the engine be consistent. I often search on stock symbols. Why? Cause I watch money shows and they use the stock symbols on the screen and that's how I learn more about the company that is going by.Anyway, this demonstrates just how difficult it is to make a great search engine. Those pesky users always wanting more.Oh, and neither Google, nor MSN, have a stock chart when you search for"PortalPlayer, Inc."Shows that there's still more to do.Oh #2. Watch Ask Jeeves for another trend in search engines: providing answers to questions. Ask it who theinventor of the cotton ginis, for instance, and you get a Web answer in bold.Update: there aremore details on instant answers and PLAY on the MSN Search Blog.Monolith's musician on the Red CouchI'm sitting with Nate Grigg, musician forMonolith. Don't know Monolith? They have some killer games coming out.He wrote the music and sound effects forF.E.A.R, which won the best action game of E3.He also was bragging about the gameCondemned, which he said he just finished that game's effects and music. He says it's the best looking game that Monolith has ever produced -- it's an Xbox 360 game. You can hear Nate's music by watching thevideo trailer on Sega's site.So, how did he do the"weeerrrreeeerrrr"sound? He was using a really old sampler that he had since college. It lets you take speech samples. And mess with them. Take a loop and crunch it and expand it over time.It's crazy, he says. It's like taking a snapshot of a sample and changing its position or its length.He does all his production on PC."The PCs do what I want them to do,"he says.I sure am getting excited about Xbox 360. I'm hearing it's already sold out at most stores so if you want one for Christmas you've gotta hunt around.Reuters has a listof Xbox 360 games that'll be available at launch. Monolith's Condemned isn't on that list, but will be available"soon."Yahoo publishes RSS usage reportYahoo just releaseda whitepaper on RSS usageand came out with a publisher's guide to RSS too (both are on their guide to RSS page).Of the big three companies (Google/Microsoft/Yahoo) Yahoo is definitely getting RSS the best.I believe, in fact, that real soon now this will start to turn their usage model upward. Translation: they are going to gain market share in the search space. Now, where is that market share going to come from? Well, 85% of the referers last month to Channel 9 came from Google.It's suprising to me that the big companies still aren't taking RSS totally seriously. Yeah, Microsoft is putting RSS all over the place. Yeah, you can spit out MSN Searches via RSS. Which, actually, is pretty advanced and interesting. But Yahoo is going further.The marketplace still hasn't rewarded Yahoo for this. I'm pretty sure it will. As Dean Hachamovitch over on the Internet Explorer team says, first there was Browse. Then there was Search. Now there's"subscribe."Yahoo ruled in the Browse age. Google ruled in the Search age. Now who'll rule in the Subscribe age?That's the big question and right now Yahoo is out front.Key findings in the Yahoo RSS report? Not many people are aware of RSS. Even fewer use RSS. But, those who use it are in an ultra valuable demographic (educated, affluent, young, and all that).Translation: lots of opportunity to add value in this Subscribe world. The market is ahead of us, not behind us.

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ARM unveils new Cortex chip core for mobile devices(InfoWorld) - Processor designer Arm Ltd.'s latest core design, the Cortex A8 processor, could be the core that allows ARM and its partners to expand their products beyond mobile phones and into the future digital home, company executives said Tuesday.Arm is well-known in the chip industry for its processor core designs, which can be found in millions of mobile phones that use chips from companies like Texas Instruments Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Freescale Semiconductor Inc. The Cortex A8 will appear in several next-generation high-end mobile phones, but Arm and its partners see a much wider range of applications for the new core, said Warren East, the company's chief executive officer, in a press conference at the Arm Developers'Conference.Chips based on the Cortex A8 will run between 600MHz and 1GHz, depending on the needs of the chip maker and the device, said John Cornish, director of product marketing at Arm. The low-power versions of the core will consume no more than 300 milliwatts of power, making them ideal for embedded devices that require long battery life or quiet operation, he said.The faster versions of the A8 core will deliver enough performance to run consumer home media devices like DVD players, personal video recorders (PVRs), and high-definition televisions, Cornish said. ARM and its partners have long eyed this market, but their chips are primarily used in mobile phones.Many chip companies are vying to control the future of the digital home, should that future ever arrive. The exact definition of the digital home is a little sketchy, but most companies envision a scenario where homes hum with multiple high-definition televisions connected wirelessly to each other and the Internet. DVD burners, mobile phones, PCs and refrigerators are also part of that network, depending on which vendor is giving the presentation.Arm believes that smart mobile devices, like smart phones or portable media players, are the future of consumer computing, said Oliver Gunasekara, director of corporate business development with Arm. PCs aren't going anywhere just yet, although shipment growth is expected to slow. But there are far more mobile phones in use than PCs, and they already deliver enough performance for many people, he said."The vast majority of people use office documents, send e-mails, browse the Web, maybe play a few games. Most of these are low-performance applications,"Gunasekara said. High-end mobile phones can already tackle these tasks, and the introduction of phones based on the Cortex A8 will set a new performance standard and reduce the costs of today's powerful phones, he said.If Arm partners also have success with home media devices based on Arm's cores, it will allow software developers to build applications that can share data between phones and devices like PVRs, Gunasekara said. By the end of the decade, Arm hopes that about two-thirds of its cores are used in nonmobile devices like PVRs and digital televisions, East said during the press conference. Currently, about two-thirds of its cores go into mobile phones.The Cortex A8 is one of the first Arm cores that delivers enough performance to make inroads into this market, Cornish said. Arm included its Neon multimedia acceleration engine and its Jazelle RCT Java acceleration technology on the Cortex A8 core, he said. It is also the company's first superscalar core, which means it can process more than one instruction during a single clock cycle.Executives from TI, Freescale, Samsung and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (better known for its Panasonic brand) joined Arm's East on stage to announce they had signed licenses for the Cortex A8 core. The companies plan to use the core in chips for mobile phones and consumer media devices that will start to become available in 2007 and 2008, they said.ADVERTISEMENTQuantumMeet the super-performing SDLT 600 drive.Tom_Krazit@idg.com (Tom Krazit)Google, Sun tout software deal, hint at services(InfoWorld) - Google Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. Tuesday unveiled a partnership to distribute the Google toolbar with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), but stopped short of revealing any future plans to bring Sun applications such as the StarOffice productivity suite to the Web through Google services.That does not mean that the union still won't pose a problem for the companies'common rival Microsoft Corp., as both Sun and Google executives hinted that it's likely at some point they will jointly provide applications as services, a plan Microsoft also has in the works, analysts said.At a press conference in Mountain View, California, Tuesday, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt and Sun Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Scott McNealy unveiled a deal between the companies that they said will start with the marriage of the Google desktop and Java, and expand in any number of directions. Sun plans to make available a version of the JRE including the Google toolbar in the next 30 days."We want to leverage the network economics [with] a very strategic partnership to promote the Java Runtime Environment and the Google toolbar,"McNealy said at the event at the Computer History Museum Tuesday morning."Going forward there's lots more we can do. They have a lot of smart folks at Google ... This is a very natural partnership. There's going to be a lot of money following if we do this thing right."While a press statement said that Google also is exploring options to expand distribution of OpenOffice.org -- the open-source suite on which Sun's StarOffice is built -- executives did not elaborate on how this would be done.Schmidt, McNealy and Sun President and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Schwartz, who joined the two CEOs on stage to field questions after the press conference, only alluded to future plans the companies may have to deliver software such as OpenOffice.org as a service on a joint network built using Sun infrastructure, the news that many analysts and industry-watchers believed would be the focus of Tuesday's event.In fact, though Sun's share price was up almost 10 percent to $4.56 before the press event, it went down again to close at $4.20, just $0.01 higher than its closing price the previous day.Sun and Google also Tuesday declined to admit their union was designed to compete better with Microsoft, a chief rival for both Google and Sun.Sun's Schwartz said that the partnership was not intended to highlight two companies'coming together to fight a common enemy, but to illustrate how they are uniting on common goals."It's not about who we're against, it's what we're for,"he said."There is plenty of commentary on the Internet about who is going to be sensitive to our partnership. To me the one marketplace I'm focused on is customers, not Microsoft... Freeing the Internet or lowering costs and driving participation are all value propositions for the customer.""The point here is both [Google and Sun] are dedicated to software as a service, to the network as the computer,"McNealy said."All $2.2 billion of our R&D [investment] has some applicability to somehow make the Google experience better, or we wouldn't be doing [the partnership]... We can only talk about what we're talking about now and there is a lot of conversation and cross-pollination [between us], and we expect more to come.""One thing to understand about Java is that it's a programming platform,"Schwartz said."As Google looks to expose more and more APIs (application programming interfaces) [on the Web], they need to make sure that platform can evolve. There's lots of opportunity here."He added that the two companies would not spell out exactly what the opportunity is"partially because of the element of surprise"about what they plan to deliver in the future.Jean Bozman, a research vice president with research firm IDC, said she expects the software distribution deal unveiled Tuesday to be just the tip of the iceberg for the companies."When they said'stay tuned,'that means to me there are other announcements down the line,"she said."But we didn?t get the details today."McNealy and Schmidt also said that Google, already a Sun customer, would be expanding that role, but declined to reveal exactly how that would be done.Following the press conference, Schmidt said that the companies"would never pre-announce anything."However, when asked whether the companies have no plans to offer applications as services using Google's network, he cautioned,"Don't put words in my mouth; I never said that."However, Schwartz in an interview said cryptically that he's"not convinced the world needs a Web-based office productivity suite."But, he added,"you'd have to talk to Google about what they are up to."During the press conference, McNealy stressed that Sun is determined to"take back the Web"and regain some of its former glory epitomized in a previous marketing slogan that Sun was"the dot in dot.com."He declined to say exactly what that might mean in the future for the Sun-Google relationship.However, McNealy did hint that partnering with Google was a clear statement that Sun plans to provide infrastructure to offer customers applications as services the way some of its existing customers already do."We've made some progress with software-as-services companies such as Salesforce.com,"McNealy said."What better way to make a statement than to partner with Google, the leader of Web services."SEE ALSO:Sun, Google partner on Java, OpenOfficeGoogle, Sun to bring StarOffice to WebADVERTISEMENTHPIdentity Management: An Increasing Requirement in the Regulatory Compliance ChallengeElizabeth_Montalbano@idg.com (Elizabeth Montalbano)Business Objects plans to buy Infommersion for $40M(InfoWorld) - Business intelligence software vendor Business Objectsplans to buy information visualization software developer Infommersionfor about $40 million in cash, it announced Tuesday.Infommersion is a privately held company based in San Diego. It sells Xcelsius, an application that presents business intelligence data from back-end systems as interactive charts, graphs, and dashboards, and can package them in document formats including Adobe Systems'PDF (Portable Document Format) and Microsoft's PowerPoint presentation tool.Business Objects, of Levallois-Perret, France, plans to use Infommersion's technology to enhance the way its software presents data.The companies expect to close the deal in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approval.SEE ALSO:Business Objects snags Symantec exec for new CEOADVERTISEMENTCovad VoIPSign up today to reduce your communication costs by up to 20%Peter_Sayer@idg.com (Peter Sayer)Siebel deepens MS Office integration in SMB software(InfoWorld) - Siebel Systemsreleased an updated version on Monday of its Professional Edition, a lower-cost version of its CRM (customer relationship management) software aimed at the midmarket.Siebel Professional Edition 7.8 deepens the software's connection to Microsoft's Office applications, adding integration with Microsoft's Sharepoint collaboration tools and allowing users to directly access Siebel contacts and appointments from Microsoft Outlook. The new version also introduces integration with Siebel Contact OnDemand, Siebel's hosted software for call routing and other telephone communications infrastructure.Siebel's Professional Edition debuted in early 2004 and is now used by several hundred organizations, according to Rob Reid, Siebel's SMB (small and medium business) group vice president. The package includes Siebel's sales, service and marketing software, with other functionality available as add-on modules. Its price tag is $995 per user, about half the cost of Siebel's enterprise CRM software, which allows greater scalability.Siebel's future product road map and pricing is somewhat uncertain right now because of its pending acquisition by Oracle Corp., expected to close early next year. Reid doesn't anticipate major shakeups for Siebel's Professional Edition, however."I can?t speculate on what will happen, but I do not believe that we will be any different than we are now,"Reid said.REFERENCES:Siebel creates cheaper, SMB software version, Dec. 8, 2004SEE ALSO:Microsoft adds native PDF support to Office 12Dell bets on Linux to capture enterprise marketADVERTISEMENTLightPointeGig-E Wireless Bridges. Online price estimates: www.lightpointe.comStacy_Cowley@idg.com (Stacy Cowley)Copan readying new storage Revolutions(InfoWorld) - Storage startup Copan Systemshas ambitious plans for the upcoming months, according to senior company executives. The plans include the release of three new products, a number of tie-ups with other storage players and a ramping up of the firm's international operations."Over the next few months, we're going to show the real power of the MAID (massive array of idle disks) architecture for backup, archiving and specialty applications in tiered storage,"Dave Davenport, president and chief executive officer of Copan, said in a recent interview."We're going to have new software and capabilities."Copan made waves last year in the storage industry with the release of its Revolution 200T disk-based library which emulates a virtual tape library and targets enterprise users. The MAID technology only powers up and spins disks when customers need to either save data to disk or access information held on the media both prolonging disk life and lowering power consumption, according to Davenport.Revolution 200T includes what Copan dubs Disk Aerobics, monitoring and management software designed to anticipate which disks may fail so that data can be rebuilt on spare drives before the suspect disk actually fails."Before, it would've taken days to reconstruct a [failed] disk, but we can automatically copy the data over to another disk, so it only takes a few minutes to move that data to a new disk,"Davenport said.Every 30 days, Revolution 200T spins disks to check their functionality. Copan customers typically only require one annual service call to replace failed disks and ensure the system has sufficient spare disks, according to Roger Archibald, Copan's vice president of marketing and business development."The system can also call home if it's running out of good disks,"he said.Revolution 200T has a three-tiered systems architecture and includes what Copan calls Power Managed RAID, full RAID 5 data protection software that spins the drives when they're needed.Now, the company is planning to debut other Revolution-branded products based on the MAID technology."When we first came out with Revolution, we knew we had an uphill battle for a while,"Davenport said."We wanted to get validated so our first version [of the Revolution product] was a virtual tape library, a very low risk strategy.""About one-third of our customers are using Copan for archiving as well as backup,"Archibald said."In the latter part of this year, we'll release a more file-oriented product specifically targeting archiving."Other Revolution products will focus on improvements in the areas of disaster recovery and compliance, he added.Later this month, Copan will unveil version 3.0 of Disk Aerobics which will feature a proactive fail capability as well as Disk Scrubber, according to Archibald."If Disk Scrubber sees a bad sector, it will reconstruct the data and write it to a different place,"he said. The company will also be offering remote replication from one Copan system to a second remote Copan system or from a Copan system to a traditional tape system over Fiber Channel or via a Fiber Channel over Internet Protocol (FCIP) extension, he said. By the end of this year, Copan will offer native IP connectivity, Archibald added.Over the coming next few months, Copan expects to announce some significant OEM (original equipment manufacturer) deals, according to Davenport. Additionally, a number of leading storage software vendors are working to modify their products so that they run natively on Copan's MAID architecture not as tape emulation as they do now, Archibald said. He expects Copan and the as-yet-unnamed software companies to make a joint announcement on this front in the first quarter of 2006, he added.Copan has about 30 customers in the financial sector, health care, media and three national laboratories, according to Archibald. The users include Baptist Memorial Healthcare, Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Time Warner Cable. Copan announced Tuesday that its products now manage more than 2.5 petabytes of customers'data.With a staff of over 12,000, the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) based in Galveston uses Revolution 200T to back up more than 300 non-storage area network (SAN)-attached servers containing some 60 terabytes of financial, academic and patient data.UTMB's IT setup is split between storage software from Symantec Corp.'s Veritas division and EMC Corp.'s Legato business, according to Matt Johnson, senior software systems specialist at UTMB. The organization has a mix of operating systems -- Solaris 9 and Solaris 10 from Sun Microsystems Inc. and Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 from Microsoft Corp. Most of UTMB's servers have gigabit public and private connections to a 10-gigabit backbone. The center has three tape libraries including a Dell Inc. 136T (an eight-drive LT01) and a Sun StorageTek L180 (a six-drive LT02), he wrote in an e-mail response to questions.UTMB installed Copan's Revolution 200T in the spring of this year as"a near-line/high-availability backup solution,"Johnson wrote.Why did the organization chose Copan?"Aside from the reduced footprint and cost and performance increase, the strongest factor was the high level of experience of the support staff,"he wrote. As to the major benefits UTMB has experienced to date with Revolution 200T, Johnson cites"extremely fast backup and restore times as well as more than five weeks of on-hand backups."The center has been able to cut the time spent on backups and restores from a full night and into the following business day to 4.5 hours and only one person now needs to administer the system, he said in a Copan release.Although Revolution 200T was integrated into UTMB's disaster recovery plan, the organization didn't need to carry out any system restores in relation to the recent hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast, Johnson wrote.Johnson welcomed Copan's plans to come out with new Revolution products."MAID architecture by design will provide a number of features that to this point were nonexistent,"Johnson wrote."I am using the Copan [system] for the sole purpose of backing up our non-SAN-attached servers. I would like to explore the possibility of taking full advantage of MAID architecture in future projects."Privately held Copan launched as a company back in December 2002 and has been selling its tape library mainly into the U.S. market since August 2004. The firm opened its European headquarters in London in July of this year and Tuesday announced the appointment of two vice president of sales -- one London-based for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the other based in Hong Kong for Asia-Pacific.Copan currently employs 70 people, but CEO Davenport expects headcount to grow to 80 by the end of the year.To date, Copan has raised US$39 million in venture capital funding from investors including Pequot Ventures, Pinnacle Ventures and Austin Ventures."We will probably look at some additional equity investment some time next year,"Davenport said."We have no defined timeline."Copan plans to"go cash positive in the second half of next year,"Archibald added.Although Copan started out with Hitachi Computer Products (America) Inc. manufacturing Revolution 200T, the arrangement didn't work out and was terminated by mutual agreement, according to Davenport. Copan is currently finalizing the move of its manufacturing to Sanmina-SCI Corp., he said. Going with Sanmina, a general-purpose electronics contract manufacturer, instead of one focused on the storage market"allows us to scale to a greater level,"Davenport added.The Copan name comes from the Copan Ruins in Central America, an archeological site dating back to the Mayan era, according to company information in print and on the Web. Because the site's artifacts were well-preserved and yielded much information about the Mayan civilization, the firm thought the name Copan an excellent moniker to apply to an organization specializing in long-term storage.SEE ALSO:Brushing up on HP and AppIQA call to action: It's time for EMRADVERTISEMENTHPSimplify server management with the HP ProLiant ML310 G2 server.China_Martens@idg.com (China Martens)Sun, Google partner on Java, OpenOffice(InfoWorld) - Sun Microsystemsand Googleplan to cooperate more closely in their desktop software development efforts, the companies said Tuesday.Sun will now include the Google Toolbar as an option in the desktop version of its Java runtime environment. Google and Sun have also agreed to"explore opportunities to promote and enhance Sun technologies like the Java Runtime Environment and the OpenOffice.org productivity suite,"the companies said in a statement.Google and Sun have scheduled a press conference in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday morning where Google Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eric Schmidt and Sun Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy are expected to offer more details on the agreement.(Elizabeth Montalbano contributed to this story)SEE ALSO:Google, Sun tout software deal, hint at servicesGoogle, Sun to bring StarOffice to WebADVERTISEMENTSiebelLearn how Siebel CRM solutions deliver superior business results.Robert_McMillan@idg.com (Robert McMillan)Google, Sun to bring StarOffice to Web(InfoWorld) - Google and Sun Microsystems are expected to unveil a collaborative effort Tuesday that will bring StarOffice productivity applications to Google users, according to sources familiar with the companies'plans.The move is expected to be part of a larger technology initiative in which Sun will help Google build a network to provide Web-based applications that will enable the companies to compete with their common rival, Microsoft.Google and Sun are expected to hold a press conference in Mountain View, California, Tuesday morning where Google Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerEric Schmidt and Sun Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy will be on hand to unveil a partnership between the search giant and the computer systems vendor.Company representatives have been extremely tight-lipped about what exactly will be announced, but industry sources have speculated that Google is interested in offering more Web-based applications to compete with Microsoft.The Redmond, Washington-based software company has made no bones about its aim to unseat Google as the leading search-engine company. Microsoft executives also have said it will begin offering more services rather than packaged software in the next year.Sun, too, sees Microsoft as one of its chief rivals in the software market, but has been having trouble garnering widespread adoption of its software portfolio, including its StarOffice productivity suite. The company just released a new version of StarOffice that includes features that allow Sun's productivity suite, which is based on the open-source OpenOffice suite, to better interoperate with Microsoft Office.Sun also believes it has momentum for StarOffice in a recent decision by the state of Massachusetts to move to open office file formats for documents created by the state's government agencies. The state going forward plans to support the newly ratified Open Document Format for Office Applications, or OpenDocument, as the standard for its office documents. Suites that support OpenDocument include OpenOffice, StarOffice, KOffice and IBM Workplace. Microsoft Office does not support the file format.A pairing of the two companies, then, could give Google the technology it needs to rival Microsoft in providing applications as services, while giving Sun an edge in the applications business as well.SEE ALSO:Google, Sun to unveil multiproduct collaborationGoogle, Sun tout software deal, hint at servicesSun, Google partner on Java, OpenOfficeADVERTISEMENTHitachiHitachi Data Systems Application Optimized Storage(TM) solutionsElizabeth_Montalbano@idg.com (Elizabeth Montalbano)Update: EarthLink selected for Philadelphia Wi-Fi network(InfoWorld) - The city of Philadelphia has selected EarthLinkto deploy a citywide wireless broadband network, the largest municipal Wi-Fi network in the U.S., the company announced Tuesday.The Wi-Fi deployment in the U.S.'fifth largest city is expected to be finished by the fourth quarter of 2006, EarthLink said. EarthLink, a large Atlanta-based Internet service provider, will deploy a mesh Wi-Fi network covering 135 square miles (349 square kilometers).Under the terms of the EarthLink proposal, no city or taxpayer dollars will be used to fund the project. EarthLink will finance, build and manage the wireless network, and share revenue with the city's Wireless Philadelphia initiative.The infrastructure portion of the contract totals about $10 million, said Dianah Neff, the city's chief information officer and acting chairwoman of Wireless Philadelphia, a nonprofit group set up by the city. EarthLink's proposal was one of 12 the city received from vendors, she said.EarthLink's proposal to pay for the cost of building the network was among the major reasons the city selected the provider, Neff said. The city's request for proposals did not require that the Wi-Fi vendor pay for the cost of building the network; the city had considering using bonds or private funding to allow Wireless Philadelphia to pay for construction, she said.Philadelphia's plan to build a citywide Wi-Fi network has met criticism from Verizon Communications Inc., which offers DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and wireless broadband service to the Philadelphia area. Verizon and other incumbent telecommunications carriers have questioned whether tax dollars should fund Internet services in competition with private companies and if cities understand the long-term costs of maintaining Wi-Fi networks.EarthLink's funding proposal addresses those criticisms, Neff said."We have believed from the beginning that the nonprofit could take on the [funding] risk,"she said."EarthLink stepping up and offering to fund this at their risk ... was very important to us."Two other bidders proposed alternative funding arrangements, Neff said.EarthLink's proposal also best matched Wireless Philadelphia's goals of strengthening the city's economy and improving its neighborhoods by providing citywide broadband access, Neff said.A Verizon spokesman didn't comment directly on the city's choice of EarthLink. Verizon didn't file a proposal because the city's requirements"do not fit out current business model,"said Brian Blevins, Verizon's director of external communications. Verizon offers DSL and its wireless EV-DO (evolution-data optimized) product in the Philadelphia area, and it has begun deploying a fiber-to-the-premises network in southeastern Pennsylvania, Blevins noted.EarthLink and the city have reached agreement on the major terms of the contract and are working to complete the agreement within 60 days, Donald Berryman, president of EarthLink Municipal Networks, said in the press release. EarthLink will first build a 15-square-mile Wi-Fi network to test the equipment and service, he said."Wireless Philadelphia represents an important milestone in the deployment of wireless broadband in the United States on such a wide scale,"Garry Betty, EarthLink's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement."It provides a competitive alternative to high-speed Internet offerings and gives many Internet users the ability to stay connected, no matter where they are in the city."SEE ALSO:Google's plan for city signals Wi-Fi ambitionsPalm-Microsoft deal sends ripple effects through the enterpriseADVERTISEMENTIBMSOA on your terms, and our expertise. IBM WebSphere makes it simple.Grant_Gross@idg.com (Grant Gross)Blu-ray support hinges on disc copy, says Intel(InfoWorld) - Intel, which last week expressed support for the HD-DVD format for high-definition video discs, is open to also supporting the rival Blu-ray Disc format should its backers commit to allowing the copying of content from discs onto home multimedia servers, an Intel executive said Tuesday.Intel's decision to join the HD-DVD Promotion Group and come out in favor of the format, which it did together with Microsoft, was a departure from the company's usual stance of technology neutrality.The decision was born out of a belief that the interests of consumers are being ignored as the world's largest consumer electronics, computer and content companies prepared to bring two competing and incompatible high-definition optical disc formats to market, said Donald McDonald, vice president and general manager of Intel's digital home group. He was speaking at a news conference at the Ceatec exhibition in Chiba, Japan, on Tuesday.The HD-DVD group, led by Toshiba, NEC, and Sanyo Electric, is planning to put its system on the market in late December in Japan, while the Blu-ray Disc group, led by Sony and Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic), is planning to launch its system in 2006. Both are vying to replace DVD as the de facto standard for high-definition movie discs."The reason we provided support for HD-DVD is that basically it has committed to several features. Specifically, the mandatory managed copy,"said McDonald.Mandatory managed copy guarantees that consumers will be able to copy the content on their discs to home servers so that it can be accessed from around the home. It will also mean movies can be copied onto portable devices for viewing on-the-go."We have not heard an unequivocal statement from the Blu-ray camp to say that you'll be able to have mandatory managed copy without any kind of complications and any kind of issues. So we could be thrilled if they were able to deliver a similar commitment,"McDonald said."The opportunity is for Blu-ray to unequivocally commit to having exactly the same consumer friendly features."Intel's statement of support doesn't mean its technology won't work with Blu-ray Disc. Like other technologies the company will build the technical support required for the format into its chipsets and devices, he said.SEE ALSO:Microsoft and Intel throw their backing behind HD-DVDHD-DVD, Blu-ray prototypes square off at CeatecThe industry cools downADVERTISEMENTHPTransform challenges into opportunities for success w/HP.Martyn_Williams@idg.com (Martyn Williams)

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Story about single-play DVDs is falseEd Bott reports the truth:no truth to Microsoft single-play DVD story.Yes, the news system can be hoaxed. But, it cleans itself out pretty fast. Bloggers, please include links to original sources and the source where you saw it. Also, correct any post where something false is reported. Help the system clean itself out.For instance, will Slashdot correctthis post?O'Reilly author notices Microsoft's opennessGiles Turnbull, a Mac user who writes over on O'Reilly:"There's something that Microsoft is doing much better than Apple.""Not only doing it better, but improving with each and every day that goes by. It is a cutting-edge activity for large corporations, something that few businesses today have even tried, let alone got right. But Microsoft has got it right and is reaping the benefits."What is this mysterious activity I'm talking about?"You'll have to visithis postto find out.I notice that his readers give the usual"Microsoft doesn't deserve credit"kind of reactions. That's OK. I'm seeing that our products are getting better thanks to a better conversation. I'm noticing that many many more program and product managers are wondering what their audience will think about their products and services. That's massively good and I don't really care if anyone notices externally.He's right that most other companies are terrified of this new world. I just got another note from one of my readers who says an organization he's on the board of directors on is freaked out that he has a blog and is going nuclear.I can smell the fear when I go in a room of PR or C-level executives. Personally, I like working at a place where I don't have fear of telling you what I think at 1:42 a.m. without checking with PR first.My condundrum: loving both Web and Windows appsA few of my readers have noticed that I'm caught in a condundrum: that I praise both Web Services and Windows Apps at different times. Rick Segal sorta hones in on this too andsays he's looking to fund great apps, period, but isn't scared of non-browser-based apps (maybe he noticed that Skype sold for about $3 billion).Some see my condundrum as being one brought upon by where I work. OK, it certainly is a possibility that I'm drinking the Redmond Koolaid, but I've noticed something deeper:1) I LOVE Web apps when I only need to use them occassionally. Like maps. I've only used Google Maps or Virtual Earth maybe 10 minutes out of the past week.Also in the past week I've filled out expense reports. Those were Web based and it worked fine, for the most part (although wait until you see what the InfoPath team is working on there!). And there are tons of little apps that I use often that the Web is awesome for.2) I LOVE Windows apps when I need to use them more than an hour a day. For instance, when my blog reading went over an hour a day, I switched over to using a Windows app. Recently I've been playing around with NewsGator online (they make both an online service and several Windows apps for different uses). The online service is far less productive for me. And, yes, I've tried some RSS aggregators that have been"AJAX-ized."Better, but not even close to the productivity you'll get from, say, FeedDemon or NetNewsWire on the Mac.So, why is this? Well, just think that if you needed to install a piece of software just to read a new blog. Wouldn't that be frustrating? Yes. So, having things available in a"no install"way is very important, and very cool. It's what's driving businesses like Amazon, Google, Yahoo, eBay because you can get incredible reach and volume very quickly. Jonathan Schwartz is right about that.But then, there's the issue that if you really want to use a Web app for more than an hour a day it just feels unstatisfying (and, is provably less productive than having a full-blown application).Anyway, just my condundrum of the day. Continue on...

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Mike tells me how a small donation can have huge impactWe always hear about rich folks who just aren't nice. Or, worse.But over lunch I went over and met with Michael Murray, chairman of Unitus.You might have heard of him. He worked at Apple on the Mac team and at Microsoft was Vice President of Human Resources for a number of years.He told me about his non-profit organization and how they are helping entrepreneurs in super poor areas in the world. He started the meeting by pulling $2 out of his pocket and explained that more than half the world's population (billions of people) live on less than $2 a day.I can't even buy a latte for that.Anyway, he's found a way to help bootstrap communities with simple microloans. I video'd the interview, I'll have that up next week. It's inspiring.Can you make a difference in the world? He told me about how a $100 loan (not a donation, but a loan) can totally transform someone's life.Half of an iPod Nano. Think about that for a moment.He's starting a blog today to tell more. I'll link to that when he gets it up, buthttp://www.unitus.comhas more details on how this works.Oh, don't remember Mike? He wrotethe famous Shrimp and Weenies memothat became famous in the early 1990s.Mike will speak on Microsoft's campus next Monday on Microsoft's campus in building 118 at the Mt. Si room at 11:30 a.m. so Microsoft employees can learn more about this concept (as part of our annual Giving Campaign).My brother and I argue about search rolesHeh, while I was stuck in traffic on the way home tonight my brother called. We had one of our usual heated conversations -- this time about search engines (he had read my post about PLAYing with search and thought I was nuts for wanting search engines to display stock quotes for terms like PETS, PLAY, etc). He thought I was wrong. I thought he was wrong. That's sorta how it is in the Scoble household (we've been like that ever since we were little kids). But,he blogged the conversation about what search engines should doover on his ComputerWorld blog.I came up with something that looks like convinced him to come over to my side, though: that we need search engines that understand the role you are in when you're searching.For instance, let's say you get interested in buying an HDTV (like I am). So you go to the search engines. Here, I'll save you the time. Here'sGoogle for HDTV,here's Yahoo,here's MSN,here's Ask Jeeves.These resultsets are TOTALLY UNSATISFYING. Here's why. I already know what HDTV is. I saw it the other night at Chris Pirillo's house. So, now I know what it is, I know I want one.But the engine doesn't ask me what role I'm in. None of them do. We need a new search engine that understand that different people will come to an engine seeking different kinds of things. Some who are looking for HDTV probably are writing reports and need to know how it works. Some are probably wondering about the HD DVD vs. BlueRay debate. Some might have just heard it's the hottest thing and are wondering what it is.But I'm in a different role. I want to buy one.So, let's just focus in on Google since that's the hot search engine of the moment. First link: an introduction. I don't need that. I already had an introduction. Second link: how HDTV works. I don't care. Next. Third link: an info site about stations and some product comparisons. Hmmm, maybe useful later, but I'm looking for something else right now. Fourth link: Amazon.com. Huh? I'm not ready to buy yet. I wanna know what's available. It predicted I was in a different role. Fifth link: a magazine site. OK, it's clear the search engine isn't going to give me what I want, so I'll probably go off and read that site for an hour and come back. Sixth link: an ATI card? I'll have to put that on my gift list too. Seventh link: HDTV Buyer site. News and info. Another site I'll have to go and check out later. And on and on it goes.What WAS I looking for? When you first get interested in something, what's the first thing you need to know? All the choices that are available, damn it!Where's the link to"manufacturers of HDTV?"Sony. Toshiba. Dell. Gateway. Samsung. Panasonic. So on. They aren't there (well, except for the ads -- hey, do search engines have an economic disincentive to keep you in the wrong role so you'll click on the ads? Hmmmm.).So, what COULD the engine do? Well, first of all, if you could watch, say, millions of users, you'd be able to see that a lot of people visit the manufacturers sites and you'd be able to see that a lot of people go to a few pages on those sites with the words"HDTV."You'd be able to build a model of those sites, and be able to, if you invested the dev time and the processor power, to bring back something at the top of the page that had something like: see all the major manufacturers of HDTV sets.We know this can be done. Why? Cause Google did it for Seattle Hotels. Here's theGoogle result for Seattle Hotels. They make a nice little list of all the hotels available and even give you one of those Google Maps.MSN Search has the exact same thing. Yahoo goes even further.They have pictures and ratings!!So, why can't they do this for HDTVs? Of course they can. It just hasn't gotten onto the dev list of any of the major engines yet. Yet.Oh, Yahoo Shopping has something like this but they screw it all up. Again, I'm not in the role of buying yet. I'm in the role of LOOKING. So, why can't I geta list like this one on Yahoo Shopping, but with features, reviews, AND LINKS TO THE MANUFACTURER'S OWN SITE????Not to mention that if yousearch for HDTVs (plural) on Yahooyou get a sports cafe. Huh?Google doesn't havethat kind of noise.Neither does MSN.Building good search engines is hard.Believe it or not, but folks from all three of the big search companies are watching here (particularly my coworkers at MSN).What would you like to see them do differently?Oh, Ask Jeeves and Clusty gets really close with the bar along the right side (here's a search on Ask Jeeves for HDTVsand thesame search on Clusty). If they had a list of manufacturer's of HDTVs there, they would have nailed it.One more'oh': I can just hear some of you saying"why didn't you search on'HDTV manufacturers'?"OK, smartypants. Go do the search for that and tell me, did you find Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, JVC, Samsung, Gateway, Dell, or other manufacturers? I did that search on all three of the major engines and didn't.Hey, everyone who thinks this search thing is done and doesn't need more work is fooling themselves. It's looking a lot like 1997 when everyone thought search was done.

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WebEx attacks SMB collaboration market(InfoWorld) - One month after closing its acquisition of Intranets.com, WebEx Communications is launching an updated, rebranded version of Intranets.com's hosted collaboration software suite, a move aimed at expanding WebEx's share of the SMB (small and medium business) market before Microsoft conquers the space.Santa Clara, California-based WebEx is doing away with the six-year-old Intranets.com brand. Starting Tuesday, the online suite of document management, project and contacts management, calendaring and database tools will be named WebOffice. The software will retain its current pricing, which starts at $60 per month for five users. A WebOffice Personal edition intended for single users is priced at $50 per month.The Intranets.com business unit, which WebEx runs as an independent subsidiary, is being renamed WebExOne.With WebOffice, WebEx is embedding its Web conferencing service more deeply into the collaboration suite, for an additional add-on fee. It is also launching several new, standalone conferencing products aimed at encouraging users to make online conferencing a routine part of their workday.Adding WebEx Meetings to WebOffice costs $50 per month per host user, with a five-user minimum. That fee covers unlimited meetings, with up to five attendee participants per meeting. (Additional attendees can be accommodated for a higher fee.) WebOffice Personal's monthly fee includes one meeting-host license.WebEx is also launching two standalone products on Tuesday, MeetMeNow and PCNow. MeetMeNow works like a Web conferencing version of instant-messaging systems: The application resides in the system tray of a user's PC and allows users to launch instant Web conference meetings with a few clicks. It carries a $50 per month price tag. PCNow, priced at $15 per month per PC, lets users access remote computers through a Web browser.With MeetMeNow and PCNow, WebEx will be going head-to-head against Citrix Systems, which offers similar services with GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting. WebEx's fiercest rival, however, will be Microsoft, whose Live Meeting and SharePoint collaboration tools are aimed straight at the SMB market that WebEx so covets.Intranets.com currently has a customer base of 9,000 organizations and 300,000 end-users. By making WebOffice simple to deploy and intuitive to use, WebEx hopes to expand its share of the SMB market and become the collaboration provider of choice for small businesses and project teams at larger enterprises, according to Karen Leavitt, vice president of marketing for WebExOne.IDC analyst Robert Mahowald thinks WebEx has a short window of opportunity in which to extend its Web conferencing dominance into a similar command of the SMB collaboration software market."Looking over their shoulder, they see Microsoft with a new version of Office and an on-premises version of Live Meeting coming out next year,"Mahowald said."[At WebEx], there's a sense of'we've got to get ensconced in our customers now.'"Team collaboration will be a major focus of Microsoft Office 12, which is expected to include deeper SharePoint integration and tools to enable easier Web publishing distribution of documents to colleagues, Mahowald said. Microsoft's purchase earlier this year of collaboration software maker Groove Networks, whose technology the company plans to incorporate into Office, also indicates its ambitions in the market.Still, Mahowald thinks WebEx's WebOffice line is promising -- and, whichever vendor they choose, Mahowald expects customers to benefit from the growing availability of robust collaboration tools."These combinations of real-time and non-real-time application team suites are becoming more common,"he said."If people could be convinced to use these products, I think the result would be tremendous productivity gains."SEE ALSO:WebEx to buy Intranets.com for $45 millionADVERTISEMENTMKSWhite Paper: An Innovative Approach to Managing RequirementsStacy_Cowley@idg.com (Stacy Cowley)Symbian, Intel show off reference design(InfoWorld) - As part of its efforts to target mass market devices, Symbian Ltd. demonstrated Tuesday at the Smartphone Show in London a reference design for Symbian OS phones that it developed with Intel Corp. It's the first reference design announced by Symbian, although the company is working with other chip makers too, said Simon Garth, vice president of marketing for Symbian.Historically, handset makers assemble all the components necessary to build a phone, including the silicon, the OS and the user interface."Each had to do the same thing,"Garth said."It's inefficient."Symbian is now working with chip makers like Intel to offer handset manufacturers a reference design that includes silicon, the OS and drivers such as for video capabilities. Symbian expects the reference design will help drive down costs for handset makers, which can still customize their handsets on top of the reference design.ADVERTISEMENTHPSimplify server management with the HP ProLiant ML310 G2 server.Nancy_Gohring@idg.com (Nancy Gohring)ISO to review OpenDocument as a standard(InfoWorld) - A standards body will soon consider adopting the file format used by the OpenOffice.org software suite, among others, as an international standard.The commonwealth of Massachusetts recently made headlines when it mandated use of the Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) for its internal documents from Jan. 1, 2007. OpenDocument is already used by the free software suites OpenOffice.org and KOffice, and by the commercial StarOffice suite from Sun Microsystems Inc., but Microsoft Corp. does not support the format in its Office suite.The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) submitted the OpenDocument specification to a joint technical committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission for publication as an international standard, according to an ISO spokesman.The committee will send the specification out to its members, probably at the end of this month, and they will have five months to study and vote on it, according to ISO spokesman Roger Frost.Supporters of OpenDocument expect more governments to follow the lead of Massachusetts if the format becomes an ISO standard, and encourage other software developers to get ready."Suppliers need to realize that it's in their interest to adopt the standard, because it will maximize their access to future markets,"said Ian Lynch, a spokesman for the Open Document Fellowship, a group that aims to support volunteers promoting the format.ADVERTISEMENTOkiDataOKI Printing Solutions Click to Save Now, Its Good MathPeter_Sayer@idg.com (Peter Sayer)Mobile e-mail may push beyond executive corridor(InfoWorld) - Mobile e-mail isn't just for the chief executive and president anymore. At least, that's what many of the companies presenting at Symbian Ltd.'s Smartphone Show said on Monday. Companies including Visto Inc., Nokia Corp. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB are all talking about their"push"e-mail applications that aim to be attractive throughout the enterprise as well as to smaller businesses."We think there is going to be explosive growth of e-mail on Symbian,"said Simon Garth, vice president of marketing for Symbian.While there's been a small group of"noisy users"of push e-mail products like the Blackberry, from Research In Motion Ltd., overall user numbers are relatively small, said Tony Cripps, a wireless software analyst at Ovum Ltd. But the Blackberry has raised awareness of the benefits of mobile e-mail and now mobile workers lower on the corporate ladder and in small businesses are increasingly looking for access, he said."The great unwashed masses are keen to get it if they can,"Cripps said.Visto is one push e-mail provider that thinks it can address those potential users, mainly because its offering can be used with a wide variety of devices."A range of device choices will help get this to the mass market,"said Sanjay Kamble, vice president of marketing for Visto."We're taking this out of a device-centric mode to a service-centric."He wasn't alone among speakers at the show who delivered thinly veiled jabs at the Blackberry. Some of Blackberry's competitors criticize the very popular offering because the e-mail software is largely tied to a specific device."Users should be able to get e-mail on the phone you want. They shouldn't have to buy a compromised phone because they want e-mail,"Garth said.Even Rogers Wireless, the Canadian mobile operator and one of the first to offer the Blackberry to customers, believes that device choice will help drive mobile e-mail into a wider market. There are customers that want to do e-mail but they don't want that service to dictate the type of device they can buy, said Robert Munro, a senior director at Rogers Wireless. Rogers has been offering e-mail to users via the Visto platform, allowing users to choose from a variety of devices.Rather than develop its own e-mail client, Symbian relies on partners that develop e-mail applications that operate on the OS. That strategy offers a choice of e-mail products that meet a variety of end user needs, Garth said. By contrast, smart phone OS maker Microsoft Corp. has included a push e-mail client in Windows Mobile 5.0 and the Blackberry has push e-mail as its core offering.Historically, mobile e-mail solutions were Web-based or used complicated short messaging mechanisms to deliver e-mail messages to devices. The more recent push e-mail solutions deliver e-mail to mobile devices automatically when new messages arrive at the e-mail server.Nokia recently introduced a push e-mail platform and Sony Ericsson recently released an upgrade to its push e-mail platform.ADVERTISEMENTHPIdentity Management: An Increasing Requirement in the Regulatory Compliance ChallengeNancy_Gohring@idg.com (Nancy Gohring)Liberty Alliance releases legal, privacy guidelines(InfoWorld) - The Liberty Alliance Project, an industry consortium working on standards for federated identity systems, released a set of guidelines Tuesday that aims to help organizations deal with some of the legal and privacy issues that arise from such federated identity projects.The technologies that underlie the Liberty Alliance Project are mature enough for companies to build federated identity systems, according to Russ DeVeau of Liberty Alliance Communications. But companies must also agree on what types of information will be shared and the security and privacy measures they need to have in place to achieve what the Liberty Alliance calls a"circle of trust"among the organizations involved."The biggest barriers are how organizations actually work together to federate,"DeVeau said.Federated identity refers to the use of a single sign-on point through which users can then move onto other Web sites or applications without having to enter their user names and passwords repeatedly. Proponents say it can make life simpler for consumers who have to juggle a handful of different user names and passwords, and can mean better security and savings for organizations through fewer password resets.The 15-page document, targeted at policy managers, was developed through Liberty Alliance's Public Policy Expert Group (PPEG), which includes members from the Business Industry Political Action Committee, a U.S. pro-business group; the U.S. General Services Administration, a U.S. government procurement and policy agency; plus Oracle and Sun Microsystems.The Liberty technical architecture does not inherently address liability or indemnification, as those are issues that are contractual between the service vendor and the customer, said Michael Aisenberg, chair of Liberty's PPEG and director of government relations for VeriSign.The guidelines published Tuesday offer the advantage of being developed in the marketplace rather than imposed by a government, Aisenberg said. They are the closest thing that exists to a global statement of industry best practices for federated identity, he said."The problem with many technologies in the past has been the intrusion of government saying'Here's a solution, everyone has got to deploy it,'"Aisenberg said."That freezes technology in place. That stagnates the incentives for innovation. That makes a telephone system rely on copper for 100 years."The Liberty Alliance was founded in 2001 and has about 150 members including vendors, private companies and government agencies. The guidelines can be viewed at http://www.projectliberty.org/resources/whitepapers/deployment_guidelines_v2_9.pdf.SEE ALSO:Liberty Alliance urges standard for UK ID card planADVERTISEMENTIBMWebSphere live for SOA. Discover new solutions to advance your SOA. Click here.Jeremy_Kirk@idg.com (Jeremy Kirk)Update: Microsoft, Real Networks close to settlement(InfoWorld) - Microsoft and RealNetworks are close to settling a long-running antitrust lawsuit against the U.S. software giant in a settlement deal valued at about $750 million, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The two companies have called a press conference in Seattle at 10 a.m. Pacific Time Tuesday, but did not indicate what the topic will be.Both Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates and RealNetworks Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rob Glaser will conduct the press conference, according to a"media alert"sent to journalists. Company executives declined to discuss the matter prior to the press conference.Under terms of the settlement, Microsoft would provide a combination of cash and promotions for RealNetworks'music and game services through Microsoft's online services and software, and the two companies would collaborate on technology initiatives in he future, according to the report.RealNetworks filed its antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft in December 2003, alleging that Microsoft used its Windows operating systems dominance to restrict RealNetworks'position in the market for media software for the PC.The lawsuit claimed that Microsoft forced PC manufacturers to include its Windows Media Player while at the same time placing restrictions on how competing players may be installed.RealNetworks initially claimed damages in excess of $1 billion.Microsoft has already settled or resolved many of the big antitrust suits filed against it. Last April, the company paid Sun Microsystems $1.6 billion to settle charges against it. Before that, it paid the former America Online $750 million to settle an antitrust complaint brought by AOL's Netscape division.Microsoft is currently appealing a separate antitrust ruling against it by the European Commission. Asked to comment on whether a settlement between the two companies would make it easier for Microsoft to win that appeal, Jonathan Todd, a spokesman for Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, said that the Commission is committed to ensuring full compliance with its March 2004 decision in the case. The Commission's role is to ensure"proper application of E.U. competition rules to benefit consumers and companies in Europe, not for the benefit of one particular company."(Simon Taylor in Brussels and Nancy Weil in Boston contributed to this story.)ADVERTISEMENTIBMIBM Tivoli Application Management. A better way to manage the business of IT.John_Blau@idg.com (John Blau)Hitachi to expand work on vein-recognition systems(InfoWorld) - Hitachi announced Tuesday it will expand its finger-vein authentication system business as interest in the technology grows.On Nov. 1, the company will establish a dedicated Finger Vein Authentication Business Center with four regional subsidiaries in North America, Europe, China, and Asia, according to a press release. The company will customize finger-vein authentication systems for customers in those regions, it said.Finger-vein identification systems are more compact than iris-identification systems and less susceptible to duplication than fingerprint-identification systems, Hitachi said. Light is projected through a person's finger, enabling a high-contrast matching of vein patterns.Hitachi has developed a finger-vein recognition system small enough to be installed in laptop computers and mobile handsets. The company began researching finger-vein authentication technology in 1997 and holds a number of patents in vein pattern biometric certification systems, it said.ADVERTISEMENTQuantumMeet the super-performing SDLT 600 drive.Jeremy_Kirk@idg.com (Jeremy Kirk)

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New Feature:Titles and Links in Radio-generated RSS.DW:mySubscriptions.opmlcontains the RSS channels I'm tuned into.The editor of soapbox, which I admire,posteda newbie intro to Radio as a weblog tool. Gotta love it. [Scripting News]Marty Heymanwarns:"Radio is an Insidious Plot for global domination by Userland Software!"[Scripting News]Interview: Dave Winer on Radio Userland. We interview Dave Winer, founder of UserLand Software, about his newest creation, Radio Userland. Thirteen years in the making, Radio Userland puts an industrial strength Web server on your desktop. Designed to be extended by developers, Radio will also appeal to the masses with its news aggregator and weblog features. By Andy King. 0312We releaseda set of changes that improve the generation of RSS in Radio 8. Includes support for theandelements in RSS 0.92; macros are now processed as feeds are built; a big speed bump; a bug fixed. The code also got a lot more maintainable.BTW, did you notice theproduct shotnear the top of the page? We had some fun. Radio doesn't actually come in a box. But we wanted to imagine what it would look like if it did.Two-Way-Web:SOAP meets RSS.

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BT plans Bluephone boosts for 2006(InfoWorld) - British Telecommunications plans to sell 20 different converged Wi-Fi and cellular phone models next year as part of its BT Fusion service, an executive said on Wednesday during the Smartphone Show in London. BT also has other plans to expand the service and has a keen eye on the competition.The converged Wi-Fi and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) phones, many of which will support 3G, will come from manufacturers including Nokia, LG Electronics, Motorola, and HTC, said Dave Woodbridge, general manager of mobile devices for BT."We're spending huge amounts of time working with the manufacturers,"he said.BT launched Fusion with much fanfare earlier this year. Customers use a single handset to make cellular calls over the wide area network and low-cost VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) calls in their homes via a Bluetooth connection to BT's broadband service.When Fusion launched, it was criticized for using Bluetooth rather than Wi-Fi. BT said then that the converged Wi-Fi and GSM handsets of the time were still too expensive for the mass market.BT is planning to launch a business version of Fusion, Woodbridge said. The plan is in line with those of other handset manufacturers and vendors that are also promoting the use of single handsets that enable voice over Wi-Fi in the office and cellular elsewhere.Woodbridge initially suggested that BT has an advantage over operators such as the U.K. network of Vodafone Group, which doesn't own a landline network and thus can't offer a similar service as efficiently. End users might prefer a service like Fusion that allows them to browse the Web over Wi-Fi in the home at a faster rate and lower cost then browsing over a 3G cellular service, he said.However, the trend toward bundled cellular price plans is a threat to Fusion:"Bundled minutes on GSM are a concern for us,"he said. That's because the cost of browsing becomes less of an issue when customers subscribe to monthly cellular packages that include large volumes of voice and data for a set price.Vodafone ultimately does benefit from the Fusion service because BT doesn't own a cellular network and resells service to customers from the Vodafone network.The Fusion service may also be threatened by free VoIP services like Skype, which customers could use in the home instead of Fusion. Calls on Fusion in the home cost0.03 ($0.05) a minute during the day and0.055 an hour in the evening and on weekends. BT will compete with services like Skype on quality of service because it's unlikely that BT could legally block access to such free services, Woodbridge said.ADVERTISEMENTLightPointeGig-E Wireless Bridges. Online price estimates: www.lightpointe.comNancy_Gohring@idg.com (Nancy Gohring)Samsung improves DRAM technology to increase output(InfoWorld) - Samsung Electronics on Thursday announced it had produced its first DRAM (dynamic RAM) computer chips using 70-nanometer production technology. The manufacturing technology improvement means the company will be able to double the number of chips it makes on a single silicon wafer, the raw material of a chip, once the process is widely in use in the company's factories.Samsung, the world's largest memory chip maker, said it produced a 512Mb DDR2 (Double Data Rate 2) DRAM chip using the 70-nm technology.A nanometer is a measurement of the size of transistors and other parts that are etched onto chips. The more transistors on a chip, and the closer they are together, the faster the chip can perform tasks. For manufacturers like Samsung and rivals Micron Technologyand Infineon Technologies, developing smaller technologies is important for increasing output and reducing costs.The price of the most widely used DRAM chips have fallen by over a third so far this year to $2.53 each, according to DRAMeXchange, an online clearinghouse for the chips. DRAM are such heavy volume chips for manufacturers that they trade on spot markets similar to commodities such as oil and wheat.Samsung estimates the number of chips it will be able to obtain per silicon wafer will be at least 100 percent higher compared to the 90-nm technology in use on most of its DRAM production lines today. Chips are made on silicon wafers about the size of dinner plates. Thousands of chips can be made on each wafer."We won't use the 70-nanometer technology for DRAM until the second half of next year,"said Sung-hae Park, a Samsung representative. The company already makes NAND Flash memory chips using 70-nm technology, but its DRAM is mainly produced using 90-nm and 80-nm processes.The company had to make several technological innovations to tweak 70-nm production technology to overcome limitations of stacked DRAM cells and improve the data refresh function, Samsung said in a statement.The company started using 90-nm technology for DRAM production in mid-2004, followed by 80-nm in the second half of 2005. Samsung said it would begin using 70-nm technology for DRAM in the middle of next year, starting with 512Mb, 1Gb, and 2Gb capacities.ADVERTISEMENTIBMIBM Tivoli Application Management. A better way to manage the business of IT.Dan_Nystedt@idg.com (Dan Nystedt)BenQ developing PCs for automobiles(InfoWorld) - Taiwanese electronics maker BenQis developing PC products to be used in automobiles, catching a ride on the trend to combine computers with cars.The company is researching several products, but so far has nothing ready to formally announce, said a BenQ representative.Since more new cars are equipped with a display panel for use with GPS (Global Positioning System) to help drivers find their way around, it's now more possible to add increased PC functions inside a car, the BenQ representative said.At the earliest, the company would announce new products for the automotive sector at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, according to the BenQ representative.CES will have special exhibition space set aside for auto related products, including its Automotive Aftermarket section, and the Digital Car/Telematics section, devoted to mobile electronic components, navigation devices, software or hardware integrated into vehicle systems and other products, according to the CES Web site, http://www.cesweb.org/default_flash.asp.ADVERTISEMENTIBMWebSphere live for SOA. Discover new solutions to advance your SOA. Click here.Dan_Nystedt@idg.com (Dan Nystedt)Google and Comcast to buy AOL stake, reports say(InfoWorld) - First it was Microsoft, now it's Google and Comcast: It seems everyone wants a piece of America Online(AOL).Fresh rumors surfaced on Thursday of negotiations regarding Google and Comcast buying a portion of AOL. These discussions, reported by news organizations including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, follow on the heels of previous reports that Microsoft has been working on buying AOL or a portion of the company from Time Warner, AOL's current owner.Spokespeople from AOL, Google, and Microsoft all declined to comment.Each of the tie-ups makes sense and analysts agree that the loser won't be left completely in the cold.The rumors have all the companies interested mainly in AOL's portal with its valuable content, not its Internet access business."AOL has some great content that is broadly appealing to consumers,"said Joe Wilcox, senior analyst with Jupiter Research."One thing that Microsoft lacks for MSN is a lot of good content."For Microsoft, owning all or some of AOL means that it can earn more revenue from ad sales and also extend the reach of its search application. Currently, AOL uses Google for searches.Part of Microsoft's interest in AOL may also stem from concern over Google's market momentum."Microsoft is concerned about Google and the things they might do,"Wilcox said.There may be more of an upside for Google than Microsoft, said Patrick Mahoney, an analyst with the Yankee Group."They've been dabbling in a portal or home page strategy yet they don't have really any content assets,"he said. If Google wants into the content market, AOL offers a solid entry.AOL's content could also be good for Comcast, which could benefit from additional content as it moves away from solely serving as a pipe to the Internet. Some reports describe a deal where Google and Comcast together make a bid for AOL.The timing for any of these negotiations makes sense, Wilcox said."We've crossed that threshold where broadband has enough momentum over dial-up,"he said."What we see is a lot of emphasis now from MSN and AOL on delivering content for those fatter pipes."Also, Google is recently flush with cash, putting it in the position to make a significant acquisition or investment.Both Wilcox and Mahoney were suspicious of the fact that the rumors of both negotiations have been leaked."It was very convenient for Time Warner management that people are really excited about AOL right now,"Mahoney said. Time Warner has been pressured by some major investors to sell off AOL. Such leaks about negotiations can drive up a company's value as additional suitors compete.Regardless of which of these companies -- if any -- end up with AOL, the loser won't be left destitute."There's always someplace else to look,"Wilcox said. Mahoney agrees."It will benefit somebody but I don't think anyone will be a loser,"he said.SEE ALSO:AOL CEO quiet on Microsoft rumorsADVERTISEMENTHPThe HP LaserJet 4240 featuring instant-on technology. Just $999.Nancy_Gohring@idg.com (Nancy Gohring)In Brief: Funk ships endpoint integrity suite(InfoWorld) - Funk Software is now shipping a suite of endpoint integrity products that includes the new Steel-Belted Radius/Endpoint Assurance and an update of its Odyssey Client.The suite is designed to protect enterprises against viruses, worms, and other threats to network security. It allows enterprises to determine the security and compliance of clients connecting to their networks, and offers the ability to automatically remediate non-compliant endpoints. The products are built upon the open standards developed by the Trusted Computing Group's Trusted Network Connect (TNC) subgroup, and are compatible with security and infrastructure products from McAfee, Symantec, PatchLink, ProCurve Networking by HP, and others.ZendCore for Oracle availableOctober 12, 7:35 a.m. PDTOracle and Zend Technologies have announced that Zend Core for Oracle for IBM AIX, Linux, and Sun Solaris, and the beta version of Zend Core for Oracle for the Windows platform are now available. Zend Core for Oracle accelerates the building and deployment of mission-critical, PHP-based Web applications. Zend Core for Oracle also offers an updated PHP"OCI8"driver to connect with the Oracle Database, providing enhanced reliability, stability, and performance for Oracle Database-driven Web applications. Oracle offers free downloads of the products fromhttp://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/php/index.html. Zend Core for Oracle is also available athttp://www.zend.com/core/oracle.Nokia releases new family of development toolsOctober 11,7:30 a.m. PDTAt Symbian's Smartphone Show in London, Nokia launched a new family of developer tools in an effort to unify all of its programming software. The Carbide c++ brand will include a variety of tools aimed at different types of developers, including professional Symbian OS developers, developers for the Nokia Series 60 and UIQ platforms, and entry-level developers. Nokia also launched a support program called Forum Nokia Pro Symbian Zone for companies that develop applications for the Symbian OS. The program offers developers reference material and early access to updates to the Symbian OS library of APIs.Fujitsu-Software AG offering manages SOA assetsOctober 10,6:55 a.m. PDTFujitsu and Software AG on Monday announced a joint offering for managing integration components within a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). The CentraSite SOA repository enables maximum visibility and re-use of Web services components within and across organizations. The first three products enabled with CentraSite are Fujitsu's Interstage Business Process Manager, which models, automates, and optimizes business processes; Software AG's Enterprise Information Integrator, which provides a single view of information to business users; and Software AG's Enterprise Service Integrator, an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB). Fujitsu and Software AG are also developing a community program for partners and other technology vendors that they plan to introduce at the beginning of 2006.CTO leaves BorlandOctober 6,7:05 a.m. PDTBorland Software announced that CTO Pat Kerpan is leaving the company to pursue opportunities outside software development and more in line with his Venture Capital roots. Kerpan had been with Borland since the acquisition five years ago of his company, Bedouin. As CTO, Kerpan was an advocate for Borland's SDO (Software Delivery Optimization) vision as well as the company's decision to leverage Eclipse as a framework. The company has not announced its transition plan for the CTO role.IBM addresses computing needs of maturing workersOctober 3,7:30 a.m. PDTIBM on Monday unveiled technologies aimed at making the work environment more conducive to maturing workers'comfort and productivity. The four new accessibility tools include Keyboard Optimizer, which helps users adjust keyboard settings to suit their typing style; Web Adaptation Technology, which magnifies the contents of a Web page and adjusts font, image, and page layout to improve readability; Mouse Smoothing Software, which enables users with hand tremors to eliminate excessive cursor movement; and Reflexive User Interface Builder, which helps developers build applications with popular graphical user interfaces that are still accessible to users with disabilities and mature workers. The tools are available for free download in a new accessibility section on IBM'salphaWorksWeb site. IBM recently announcedbusiness consulting servicesthat helps companies prepare for the baby-boomer transition.Quest releases Application Assurance Suite for Java and PortalsSeptember 30, 6:35 a.m. PDTQuest Software announced at BEAWorld the release of its Application Assurance Suite for Java and Portals, which lets users rapidly measure, analyze, and optimize applications during development. The suite is the next generation of Quest PerformaSure integrated with Quest JProbe, and it enables development and QA teams to correlate end-user transactions to performance impacts on Java applications and portals. New to this solution are features for diagnosing issues in portals, memory performance analysis, and automated performance blueprinting. Other features include automatic optimization of SQL statements in Java applications when used in conjunction with Quest's database tools; line-of-code isolation; automatic application mapping, which reveals the interdependencies of components; and transaction correlation, which speeds problem diagnosis. Quest's Application Assurance Suite for Java and Portals is available now priced starting at $7,000 per CPU.ADVERTISEMENTQuantumMeet the super-performing SDLT 600 drive.newproducts@infoworld.com (InfoWorld staff)Three indicted for'massive'software, music piracy(InfoWorld) - Three California men were indicted Wednesday for their alleged participation in a"massive"software and music-CD copying scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.Arrests in the scheme to illegally copy 325,000 software and music CDs were part of the largest CD manufacturing seizure in the U.S., the U.S. attorney's office said. The indictments follow the arrests of five people and searches of 13 locations in California and Texas on Oct. 6.Two of the suspects were involved the large-scale replication of Symantec Corp. antivirus software, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan's office said in a press release. All three were also charged with illegally copying Latin music, the office said.Indicted late Wednesday were Ye Teng Wen, also known as Michael Wen; Hao He, also known as Kevin He, both of Union City, California; and Yaobin Zhai, also known as Ben Zhai, of Fremont, California.The three were charged in two separate indictments for conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and traffic in counterfeit labels; criminal copyright infringement; trafficking in counterfeit labels; and aiding and abetting, according to the U.S. attorney's office. Wen and He were charged in a 10-count indictment, and Zhai was charged in a seven-count indictment.Replicators can use sophisticated equipment, sometimes including silk-screening machines to copy artwork on CDs or DVDs, to make tens of thousands of counterfeit CDs or DVDs, the U.S. attorney's office said. A counterfeit-music CD found at a retail store last month in Chicago came from two of the people arrested in this operation, law enforcement said.The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America both praised the antipiracy operation. Law enforcement officers"successfully toppled a highly sophisticated pirate network capable of generating millions of dollars in illegal proceeds,"said Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA's chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.Wen, He and Zhai are scheduled to make their initial court appearance on the indictment Oct. 27. Zhai was released Wednesday on a $150,000 bond. Wen and He were released on Oct. 6 on $75,000 bonds.ADVERTISEMENTHPSimplify server management with the HP ProLiant ML310 G2 server.Grant_Gross@idg.com (Grant Gross)

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Time to switch to WordPressMy comments are down again (Update: I should be clear that this isn't a UserLand problem, the servers are being hammered by spammers and Dave Winer is graciously hosting the server here, not UserLand). OK, it's time to switch over to WordPress. I won't do it if I don't force myself over there. Life has just been so busy lately. Every extra minute I've been trying to answer email. I have 244 emails waiting to be answered. I'm sorry.Oh, and James Torio, thanks for saying nice things about me inyour Master's thesis(as seen on Doc Searls'weblog).See ya over onhttp://scobleizer.wordpress.com/. We'll clean up the house as we go along. I'm also going to open a TypePad blog, and also post over in my DABU blog (which is athttp://www.robertscoble.com) so that you can see how the blog tools compare (and so I can see that too).One thing I'm interested in is which tool is most powerful? Which one is easiest to use? Which one gives best stats? Which one provides the best OPML and RSS options? Which one has best ping-server support? Which one has the most responsive company behind it? Which one is the easiest to customize?What else is important in a blog tool? Well, let's move over to WordPress and talk about it.Winer sticks up Office's new XML formats because of installed baseDave Winer sticks up for Microsoft Office's XML formats. Hey, thanks! Here's Brian Jones, of the Office team,explaining what developers can dowith the new file formats. (That's a clip of a longer video we ran on Channel 9 earlier in the year).

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Robb and Scoble:Radio UserLand for Webloggers. Dan Shafer:My First Review of Radio 8. [Scripting News]Oliver Wrede:Golden Rules for Newbies to Frontier and Radio UserLand.WebMonkey:"Radio manages to create a dynamic environment for the exchange of information without asking too much of each individual user. They've made it simple for beginners to get involved in a kind of active network that would've required much more know-how a few years ago. If you're looking for more than just a tool, but an effortless way to get a site launched and incorporated into an online community, Radio may be your best bet."It's not hard to find programmers to work on Radio, though. This evening I added afeaturefor our friends the bloggers, making sure that it's easy for people to credit their sources. This should emit a loud sigh of relief in Radio UserLand and perhaps elsewhere. The Supremes are singing You can't hurry love, no you'll just have to wait. We're figuring this stuff out in real-time, as always.[Scripting News]I have my instant outliner going again. Radio users can subscribe using the OPML coffee mug onDHRB. The new thing is that notification happensvia instant messaging, not polling. And there's somethingreally newin there. A remote procedure invocation protocol. They are not remote procedurecallsbecause they don't return values and are asynchronous. But you can pass parameters, complex ones, using the encoding of XML-RPC. It's the loop-close on theworkwe did in Keystone with the Jabber folk last August. Works with AIM too. We're bootstrapping on theRadio-Devmail list. [Scripting News]Sometimesthings work just like you wanted them to.Here's the most interestingRadio BlogI've seen so far, but understand that I've been looking for something like this ever since we released the beta of the decentralized blogging tool in Radio. It's the zig to Blogger's centralized zag. (Or the blig to its blog?) As Blogger has grown, it's climbing a scaling wall, and the performance has suffered, much as the performance of Weblogs.Com has suffered as it has grown. [Scripting News]Today'sCraig Burton tutorialis on channels in Radio. It's by far the best docs on our software. I hope everyone runs his latest tutorial, it's a Java window, he presses all the buttons and narrates. Craig talks very slowly and explains everything. His tutorials are eye-openers. [Scripting News]Yesterday I did a feature for Radio called Magic Folders. A router for folders. Now if you plop a file into theimagesfolder it goes into the images folder (via FTP) on My Blog. I think stories are going to work the same way. Just a little bit of glue to create a workgroup. They're magic because there's almost nothing there, like any good router it's just a glue-bit."When you see one of these, do this."

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My new blog running slowSo much for WordPress. It's running like snails in salt. Great, comments don't work. New blog doesn't work. Maybe that's the computer's way of telling me I should take the week off.I'm emailing Matt at WordPress right now to find out what's up.Update: now my comments are running here, and my blog athttp://scobleizer.wordpress.comis running fine again. Maybe it's a good thing to have a few blogs. Decentralized infrastructure. One goes down, the other keeps working. ;-)Update: I was reminded again that Dave Winer is hosting my comment server, not UserLand, and that that server is getting slammed by spam. I'm sorry for not making that clear. I really appreciate Dave's hosting of my blog. I'm getting a lot of traffic and my main blog has almost always been up (I can't remember the last time my blog was down like what WordPress behaved like tonight).One thing I forget is just how much tuning I did of UserLand's templates, too. They are damn small compared to the other systems I've seen. That does translate into fewer bites transmitted and a faster response time (particularly on cell phones).Engadget finally gets its hands on Xbox 360Lots of Xbox 360 news today too. I visited Bungie this morning and did an interview, but they wouldn't show me their new stuff, though. The interview was still cool. I'm not sure if I'm the first video inside their new offices, but might be.Anyway,Engadget has an Xbox 360 hands-on preview."Hate to say it, but as of November 22nd the Xbox 360 is going to be only game in town."I hate to say it, but I hate it when people say they hate to say it. But, it's more evidence of the brand damage we've done by shipping products that aren't done as well as the Xbox 360.How deep is that brand damage? Well, when the team showed me the Xbox for the first time they said"looks like something Apple designed, huh?"My answer? No, it looks better.The team, by the way, is being taxed heavily right now.The BBC reportsthat launching in three countries all within a few days of each other might not have been that smart.I'll be at Xbox launch parties both here in Redmond and in Ireland. More on that after my schedule gets a bit more firmed up. I think I'll be in Dublin. Anyone know of a good game store in Dublin to hang out in?Microsoft settles with Real for $761 millionBloomberg:Microsoft to pay RealNetworks $761 million in settlement.It's interesting thatGoogle NewsandMSNBCbrought me the news first, not blogs or Memeorandum or Digg.Update:just showed up in Memeorandum(at about 11:25).Here's the Microsoft press releaseon the settlement.Time to switch to WordPressMy comments are down again (Update: I should be clear that this isn't a UserLand problem, the servers are being hammered by spammers and Dave Winer is graciously hosting the server here, not UserLand). OK, it's time to switch over to WordPress. I won't do it if I don't force myself over there. Life has just been so busy lately. Every extra minute I've been trying to answer email. I have 244 emails waiting to be answered. I'm sorry.Oh, and James Torio, thanks for saying nice things about me inyour Master's thesis(as seen on Doc Searls'weblog).See ya over onhttp://scobleizer.wordpress.com/. We'll clean up the house as we go along. I'm also going to open a TypePad blog, and also post over in my DABU blog (which is athttp://www.robertscoble.com) so that you can see how the blog tools compare (and so I can see that too).One thing I'm interested in is which tool is most powerful? Which one is easiest to use? Which one gives best stats? Which one provides the best OPML and RSS options? Which one has best ping-server support? Which one has the most responsive company behind it? Which one is the easiest to customize?What else is important in a blog tool? Well, let's move over to WordPress and talk about it.New video iPod, new Channel 9'Clipster'feature, and much more while I was awaySorry I've been offline for the past couple of days. Yesterday I was in an all-day meeting with MSN Search team. Today I was just busy. Visited Bungie's new offices at 8 a.m., did an interview with the CRM team, and the Microsoft.com test team, and got a look at some future HDTV stuff that Microsoft is working on too (damn, can't wait to show you that).Anyway, it's been a very busy news cycle. Yesterday Real and Microsoft announced that we're getting along again and todaySteve Jobs worked his Apple magic and brought out lots of new stuff. The new video iPod looks like a great way to watch Channel 9 videos.One thing, though. Steve Jobs better never tell me we're copying him next time I meet him in the street. Why? Cause he brought out a video-playing computer (we call those Media Centers) and a portable video-playing device.Congrats Steve for finally getting that people want to watch video. Geee,wonder where he got that idea from? Heheh.Which brings me to something that the Channel 9 team just released tonight: video clips.See, watch that Portable Media Center clip above. If you click"watch clip"it'll actually play just the part of the video whereCharlie Owen shows off a Portable Media Center. That's a piece of an hour-long video.You'll also see that we've rewritten the video player interface from scratch. So, it looks cooler and it works WAY faster! Now you know why we're using streaming servers. Click on the white bar underneath the video and it'll jump to that part. Lets you scan through my boring videos a lot easier.Jeff Sandquist has a lot moreon the new"Clipster"feature andwe're talking about them on Channel 9(there's more than just a new video control too).I'll be using this feature a lot in the future to point out key parts of the videos so you don't have to watch an entire hour.Update: the new feature doesn't work in Firefox, sorry. We'd love help converting this feature to Firefox.More tech news, whew it was busy todayA ton of Microsoft news today.eWeek, via Memeorandum:Microsoft Has New Mission for Media Center.One of the blogs there that caught my eye was Thomas Hawk'sApple Unveils Media Center Type iMac. He said:"Personally I'm a little underwhelmed from what I've seen so far."Another one that caught my eye is Joe Wilcox and Michael Gartenberg'sanalysis of Apple's moves today. Joe said"Overall, I think Apple delivered a cohesive set of new products."One thing I totally agree with Joe on is that Apple is WAY WAY WAY better than Microsoft at coming up with names."Apple Front Row"certainly beats"Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005."Oh, andYahoo and Microsoft announced a planto interoperate instant messaging clients today. That's important because Yahoo and Microsoft have a LOT of people using those two products. Hey, I wonder if AOL will join in the fun?

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New Radio 8 feature. Now you can post to categories without posting to the home page. If you have categories enabled, there's a new checkbox, the first one, called Home Page (it effectively becomes a category). By default it's checked. Now you can easily publish multiple weblogs, going to lots of different locations, from one edit box.Screen shot. Radio 8 essays:Adam Curry,Mark Paschal,Meryl Evans. [Scripting News]

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Radio is the first Web server to doupstreaming, a necessary feature for servers running on users'desktops.Lawrence:"Being part of the development of Radio 8.0, it's awesome to see there are going to be lots of people who are going to be playing around with a CMS (at under $40 US) and with an entire weblogging system already in place." [Scripting News]Garret:"Dump anything in Radio's www folder, and it's been filed, uploaded, backed up, statically rendered, content managed, diced, chopped, ground, and served on a platter." [Scripting News]inessential.com:Radio UserLand 7.0b34is out. Among the bug fixes is one that has annoyed me for a long time -- on Windows 2000, when you click the Edit With Radio button, Radio actually comes to the front now rather than just flashing in the taskbar. AFT.The editor of soapbox, which I admire,posteda newbie intro to Radio as a weblog tool. Gotta love it. [Scripting News]Sometimesthings work just like you wanted them to.Radio:"When accessing a server on the local machine, MSIE/Mac doesn't yield enough processor time to allow the server to do its processing. The net result is a glacial pace, when it should be lightning fast. The addition of a single system call to the loop that's waiting for a response from the server would probably cure the problem."WebMonkey:"Radio manages to create a dynamic environment for the exchange of information without asking too much of each individual user. They've made it simple for beginners to get involved in a kind of active network that would've required much more know-how a few years ago. If you're looking for more than just a tool, but an effortless way to get a site launched and incorporated into an online community, Radio may be your best bet."Washington Post on Radio:"The program, its templates and other elements work smoothly, and you can go from downloading the program to publishing your thoughts on the Web during a coffee break."Thanks![Scripting News in RSS]

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Rick asks former MSFTies what they thinkRick Segal has been askingformer Microsoft employees what they think of Microsoft and getting some interesting answers. One question he asks is to compare me with Mini-Microsoft.Winer sticks up Office's new XML formats because of installed baseDave Winer sticks up for Microsoft Office's XML formats. Hey, thanks! Here's Brian Jones, of the Office team,explaining what developers can dowith the new file formats. (That's a clip of a longer video we ran on Channel 9 earlier in the year).

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UserLand Radio Comments Servers Scheduled MaintenanceThe UserLand Radio Community comment sites are being moved to a new server this weekend.If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us directly at webmaster@userland.com.Dates:Sunday December 5, the Radio UserLand Community comment serversSteve Hooker: Backlog RSS file of all the postsSteve has released a new tool that you can use withFeedster's new backlogfeature. "A tool to make a Backlog RSS file of all the posts that went to your front page."Rogers Cadenhead interview about Radio UserLandRogers Cadenhead wasinterviewedby the Network Professional Association about Radio UserLand and his new book Radio UserLand Kick Start.New preference: Using non-standard FTP ports for upstreamingThe FTP upstreaming driver in Radio UserLand has been updated to support a new optional port parameter to allow you to use a non-standard FTP port.On the FTP Option preferences page in the desktop website, you will see a new port text field where you can define the custom port (by default it's empty and will default to 21 which is used by most FTP servers).Evectors localizes Radio UserLand to GermanPaolo Valdemarin announces the release of theGerman version of Radio. This joins theFrenchandItalianlocalized versions of Radio from Evectors.UserLand Radio Community Server Scheduled MaintenanceThe UserLand Radio Community services are being moved to a new server.Your content is already being upstreamed to the new server and existing content has already been moved. The server changes will not require you to re-publish your site or make any changes to your Radio configuration.If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us directly at webmaster@userland.com.Date: Sunday November 14, the Radio UserLand Community ServerNew New York Times News Feed - CampaignsThe New York Times had added another RSS News Feed, this one on the 2004 Election Campaign. To subscribe to the feed, point your browser at thisRadio Userland Pageand click on the coffee mug located next to feed #4 on the list. This brings to 20 the number of unique New York Times feeds available through Radio UserLand.Cadenhead: New sample chapter from Radio UserLand Kick StartRogers Cadenhead has posted another sample chapter from his new Radio UserLand book on theoutliner. "When I began using Radio as a version 7 beta tester three years ago, I thought it was heresy to create Web content -- much less source code -- in an outliner. These days I'm an outliner junkie, writing programs, magazine articles, and everything else I can in either Radio or the Java Outline Editor (JOE)."SocialDynamX releases FM RadioAfter their preview release in March, SocialDynamX has released the final release version ofFM Radiotoday.It offers the following:1) Spell check.2) A slick Windows editing surface.3) Tabbed browsing.4) Outlook style news aggregation.5) Simple image insertion.

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DW:mySubscriptions.opmlcontains the RSS channels I'm tuned into.Radio 8 essays:Adam Curry,Mark Paschal,Meryl Evans. [Scripting News]Well, it looks like everything got published. Cool. I'm going to release it. Wish me luck!";->"We releaseda set of changes that improve the generation of RSS in Radio 8. Includes support for theandelements in RSS 0.92; macros are now processed as feeds are built; a big speed bump; a bug fixed. The code also got a lot more maintainable.New feature:Google-It! Macro for Item Templates.Stapleris a"tool for Radio UserLand that creates RSS feeds from sources you select, scraped hourly (or every N hours, variable for each source) from HTML web sites."

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Steve Hooker: Backlog RSS file of all the postsSteve has released a new tool that you can use withFeedster's new backlogfeature. "A tool to make a Backlog RSS file of all the posts that went to your front page."TrackBack for Radio is releasedRadio supports both inbound and outbound TrackBack pings. For outbound TrackBack, all you have to do is enable the feature, and Radio will do the rest. Inbound TrackBack works similarly to comments -- a TrackBack link next to each post opens a pop-up window which displays inbound pings.To enable TrackBack for Radio, follow the instructions on thispage.New Radio feature: Comment notification via emailToday we released a new feature for Radio UserLand: comment notification via email. If the feature is enabled, whenever a new comment is posted to a Radio weblog, an email will be sent to the weblog author, notifying them that a new comment was posted.Screenshot.New Radio macro: Monthly Archive linksDavid Phillips has written a new Radio macro that creates links to Radio's monthly archive pages. You can see how the macro works onDavid's weblog.Radio 8.1 releasedRadio UserLand 8.1 has beenreleasedand a new installer is available for download for new users which includes all the latest changes since the last 8.0.8 release. Note: There wasn't an application upgrade in this release so the application version will still read 8.0.8.If you are an existing Radio user, just update Radio.root to receive the latest updates including the most recent changes released in September.Mac developers: Partner on developing a slick interface for RadioFrom John Robb: "Question: If any Mac developer(s) want(s) to work with UserLand to build a slick interface for Radio (like this one for Windows), let me know. I suspect based on UserLand's sales into the Mac community that it would be worth $50-$100 k in revenue to the partner in the first year (more in follow on years)."UserLand Appoints Product Manager for RadioUserLand Software today announced that it has named Steve Kirks product manager for its Radio UserLand personal web publishing and weblogging product.Preview chapter from Radio UserLand Kick StartRogers Cadenhead has posted a new preview chapter onBacking Up Datafrom hisRadio UserLand Kick Startbook which will be published on October 6.

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Images: Cisco's emergency radio systemCisco has developed an Internet Protocol system to create compatibility between radio networks at public-safety agencies.iPod chipmaker plans stock salePortalPlayer posts third-quarter earnings that beat estimates, announces plan to sell up to 4.5 million shares.Photos: Firefox fans find unique ways to celebrate browserOregon State's Linux User Group finds unique ways to celebrate milestones of its favorite Web browser.Cisco's new tool for emergency communicationsThe company unveils an Internet Protocol technology that links incompatible radio networks.Cisco's emergency radio systemOracle goes for girthOracle takes a dual approach to fight the competition: Fusion Middleware and industry-specific, niche applications.British music industry fights with itselfAlso: Space elevators stuck on the first floor.

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Senators back Net phone reprieveNet phone customers without 911 access may not be faced with a forcible disconnection after all.Is Windows Vista out of sync?Also: Firefox 1.5 release candidate 1 released.

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Survey highlights age discrimination in IT(InfoWorld) - Bill Gates is likely to get many birthday cards on Friday, probably from fans and critics alike. He'll also get one congratulating him on the"rare feat"of turning 50 while still being employed in the IT sector.Amicus, a manufacturing, technical and skilled persons'trade union in the U.K., said it sent the card to Microsoft's chairman and chief software architect to draw attention to age discrimination in IT. The union commissioned a study, conducted by the Labour Research Department, and found that of 500 IT workers who responded, 71 percent believe that their employers treat people less favorably because of age. Over 80 percent of IT workers in the U.K. are under 45 years old, Amicus said.The Labour Research Department is an organization that conducts research and publishes news and information for trade unions.The higher up on the corporate ladder a person is, the more likely he or she is to discriminate based on age, or at least that's the perception among workers, the study found. Senior managers are blamed for treating older people unfairly by 79 percent of the workers. A lesser 56 percent said line management is responsible for the poor treatment.Recruitment, redundancy, pay, promotion, and training are the most important areas where discrimination exists, respondents said.Older workers aren't the only ones affected by age discrimination. On the other end of the spectrum, some workers say they feel discriminated against for being too young. They may be told their pay is lower than colleagues'because of their age or that they are too young to be considered for promotions, according to the research.ADVERTISEMENTEMCDownload the free EMC Whitepaper"Email Archiving and ILM"Nancy_Gohring@idg.com (Nancy Gohring)

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CNET reviews Radio 8. Nice review. We need a spell checker. They like Blogger better, but gave it the same score, 8 out of 10. But the best part are theuser comments. You guys really like us. Wow.Thanks!Washington Post on Radio:"The program, its templates and other elements work smoothly, and you can go from downloading the program to publishing your thoughts on the Web during a coffee break."Thanks![Scripting News in RSS]For tomorrow's press release."Radio UserLand is at the sweet spot of the next generation of the Internet, bringing together XML-based web services, a decentralized approach to computing and the power of software,"said Charles Fitzgerald, director of business strategy in the platform strategy group at Microsoft."This next generation of the Internet promises more control for end users and renewed opportunity for developers."BTW, did you notice theproduct shotnear the top of the page? We had some fun. Radio doesn't actually come in a box. But we wanted to imagine what it would look like if it did.WebMonkey:"Radio manages to create a dynamic environment for the exchange of information without asking too much of each individual user. They've made it simple for beginners to get involved in a kind of active network that would've required much more know-how a few years ago. If you're looking for more than just a tool, but an effortless way to get a site launched and incorporated into an online community, Radio may be your best bet."This is a test. Please ignore.Joshua Allen verifiesthat Radio works on Windows XP. [Scripting News]Last night, as part of the mop-up on Radio Community Server, I did a rewrite of the notification code on the server-side. Some people had asked what the Please Notify entries on their Events pages are about. Here's the scoop. Some RSS feeds have an element in their header called"cloud"that tells a reader how to subscribe to the channel. When you're subscribed to such a feed, Radio automatically requests notification. That's what Please Notify is about. Then when it changes, if everything goes well, the cloud sends a short message to Radio saying"Hey this resource changed."Then again, Murphy-willing, your Radio reads the feed and if there really are new items, it adds them to your News Aggregator page. Until yesterday, this feature of the community server was turned off, now it's back on, and appears to be working.inessential.com:Radio UserLand 7.0b34is out. Among the bug fixes is one that has annoyed me for a long time -- on Windows 2000, when you click the Edit With Radio button, Radio actually comes to the front now rather than just flashing in the taskbar. AFT.

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New Radio macro: Monthly Archive linksDavid Phillips has written a new Radio macro that creates links to Radio's monthly archive pages. You can see how the macro works onDavid's weblog.

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Come visit me on my new WordPress blogI should have been clearer. My new blog is over on WordPress's new hosted service, which is still in beta. I've been posting frequently over there.http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/I'm still playing around, though, and learning the new system. I'm also setting up a separate blog over on TypePad to learn that blog tool. And have yet another one over on DABU too.Oh, and of course, there'sour book blog(which is also on TypePad) and the Channel 9 video blog, done on modified version of Community Server. So, I'm getting around to a variety of blog tools and services. I find I don't like a lot about all the tools. It's interesting to me that no one has really come out with a big blog breakthrough lately.I'm getting another demo of Flock tomorrow, too.Oh, and ou might check in onChannel 9. I just uploaded three videos, including my first Xbox 360 one, an interview with a Vice President in charge of half of our developer division (we're shipping Visual Studio"within days"I hear).

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Eric Soroos: OS X proxy utility and Radio SOCKS supportOSX Proxy Settings in Radio: "An application + script that reads OSX's current proxy status and puts that info in the proper places in a Frontier/Radio install. This is probably most useful for people who swap proxy settings based on network locations."Support for SOCKS (version 4) proxies: "Support for SOCKS (version 4) proxies. Socks proxies are at the tcp connection layer, rather than the application layer like an http proxy. Most notably, this is the dynamic proxy provided by ssh."Evectors localizes Radio UserLand to GermanPaolo Valdemarin announces the release of theGerman version of Radio. This joins theFrenchandItalianlocalized versions of Radio from Evectors.Marc Barrot: activeRenderer 2.0Marc Barrot announced a new version ofactiveRenderer: "I've just released a new 2.0 version of activeRenderer. One of its interesting new features is the ability to render OPML and RSS content as outlines through web services..."Rogers Cadenhead interview about Radio UserLandRogers Cadenhead wasinterviewedby the Network Professional Association about Radio UserLand and his new book Radio UserLand Kick Start.Redirects used with enclosuresRadio UserLand now supports redirects used when downloading enclosures which is commonly used to support podcast hit counters. When you add an enclosure to a weblog post, Radio also now follows redirects when gathering information about the file size/type of an enclosure.

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We releaseda set of changes that improve the generation of RSS in Radio 8. Includes support for theandelements in RSS 0.92; macros are now processed as feeds are built; a big speed bump; a bug fixed. The code also got a lot more maintainable.

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Josh Ledgard thinksMini-MSFT could be Steve Ballmer. Interesting, but not true. I am Steve Ballmer. Wait, no, I'm Mini. No, I'm confused.";->"

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The Call of the OzarksThere are no dueling banjos here, just a solidly run, fast-growing little bank.

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Big Car, Big Tax CreditA new federal tax incentive pays you to purchase an environmentally friendly hybrid vehicle. But the formula favors SUV buyers over quiche-eaters who purchase smaller and more fuel-efficient cars. By John Gartner.4-GB Battery Is Pricey PSP Add-OnAt about $250, the storage/battery pack costs about as much as an iPod Nano with the same amount of storage, making the upgrade a tough sell for all but the hardest-core PSP freaks. From the Wired News blog Gadgeteer.South Asia Prone to EarthquakesSeismologists say the area that crosses Pakistan into India and Afghanistan shakes whenever the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian plate slam into each other -- it's the same activity that formed the Himalayas millions of years ago.

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What a day!These notes were written on the flight from Cincinnati to Greensboro, early yesterday evening.Today was a travel day, an interesting one for sure, unique in many ways. It was the first time I began a trip in the East Bay, and I learned a ton about getting from Berkeley to SFO for an 11AM weekday flight. From the South Bay, it would be a perfect time, leave home at a leisurely 8AM, arrive at the airport by 9AM with two hours to spare for the usual lines at SFO, and plenty of time for coffee, maybe even breakfast. But the Bay Bridge at rush hour is intense, but smartly designed, and while the travel wasn't quite as easy as it would have been arriving from the south, it wasn't bad. They had TMobile at the gate, so I was able to check in, briefly before getting on the plane.I had plenty of room on the plane, a good book, movie and some crosswords, when the flight arrived at the Cincinnati airport (actually in Kentucky), I had thirty minutes to get from Terminal C to Terminal A to catch the connecting flight to Greensboro. I checked my voicemail as the plane from SF taxied, and I couldn't make out the message, just bits of it. I thought it was Jason Calacanis, giving me a heads up that they were getting ready to announce their deal with Weblogs, Inc being acquired by AOL. When I got into the terminal as I rushed to Terminal A, I listened to the message. It was from Mark McLaughlin at Verisign, saying that they were getting ready to announce the deal they had with Scripting News, Inc, because it was already on some of the blogs. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.I didn't have a way to write down Mark's phone number, so I called Mike Arrington, who was one of two attorneys working with me on the deal (Mike is also the editor ofTechCrunch, and brokered the deal withKeith Teare, his partner in Edgio, a company you'll be hearing great things about shortly, I'm sure). Mike didn't answer, so I triedMike Graves, one of the guys I worked with at Verisign, no luck there iether. Both are at the Web 2.0 conference in SF. As I was approching the gate for my outbound flight, Staci Kramer ofPaidContentcalled, asking if I could confirm that there was a deal. I asked her what she had, and she said she had read something on Kottke, but so far just had rumors. I said I couldn't confirm, she asked if I'd call her back if I could, and I said I would. I've worked with Staci on a few stories in the past, and I will indeed call her back, she'll be the first reporter I talk to about this deal.When I finally got on the nearly empty plane to Greensboro, I listened to the voicemail again, got Mark McG's number, called him, got filled in, asked him to hold off announcing anything until I had a chance to see what had been reported, then I hung up, tried Arrington again, still no answer, then I calledScoble, and he read me Kottke's piece. Not bad! He got the number wrong, but otherwise more or less understood why I wanted to do the deal, and raised a very valid question about BigCo's and Verisign, and so forth. No doubt we'll have an interesting discussion about this in the blogosphere, and I hope a productive one, and that we'll all find a way to work with Verisign. I think there's reason to believe they can and will do a much better job of running the ping center than I have been able to, and this is the perfect example of individual innovators (myself in this case) working with large companies in ways that leverage the strength of both.The bootstrap of weblogs.com is something a bigco should not attempt, it's hard to make it go, and most bootstraps don't, and it requires trust, something an individual is more likely able to inspire than a big company. On the other hand, running a serivce that other bigco's depend on (like Google, and Microsoft, to name two) is not something a person like myself should attempt. I think Verisign is the perfect company to do it. Their name servers, I hear, respond to 250,000 requests per second at peak loads. In comparison, weblogs.com's 1-2 million pings a day seems a drop in the bucket. Further, it will require great resources to tackle the ping-spam issue, and there Verisign's expertise, not just what's visible today, but what's coming down the road, will make all the difference. I was in no posiiton to do this on my own. And belive me, the Technorait's and PubSub's, even Feedster and Bloglines, weren't helping out very much. I belive they'll respect Verisign much more than they respected me. And this dealwill free me up to work on new ideas around blogging, RSS, OPML, web services, podcasting, etc. I'm good at digging holes, I have to pass off to others to make the trains run on time when the service grows as big as weblogs.com has.Anyway, the plane has just entered North Carolina in preparation for landing in Greensboro. Writing this essay has been an excellent way to pass the time. When I get off the plane I'm going to look for a phone, call my friends at Verisign, and encourage them to go ahead and make the announcement. When they have made the announcement, I will upload this document to Scripting News, and we can continue the dialog from the ground in Greensboro.Namaste y'all!Dave Winer10/6/05; 4:38:34 PM Pacific

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British Petroleum Slims DownBP will sell its underperforming Innovene unit for $9 billion.

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PC World:Canon Readies Wi-Fi Camera. The Ixy Digital Wireless is Canon's first camera with built-in Wi-Fi and will offer users the ability to automatically transfer pictures to a personal computer via the wireless link as the pictures are taken. It will also be possible to remotely control the camera from the PC.

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Faster MacIn yesterday'sthreadwhere I explored buying a new Mac with a dozen awesome Mac experts.Brian Criscuolofounda way to make my current Mac perform as it was designed to. Here's what I did that made the difference:1. Create a new user with full Administrator priviledges.2. Log off. Log on as the new user.3. Do some stuff.4. Log off. Log on as the old user.Voila. Fast Mac!Zzzzzip.Amazing.I kind of thought this was an easy to use computer?Oh well.1/4/01:"In the centralized model for the Internet, your browser makes requests of a server that could be very far away, or slow for other reasons. Now imagine that the server is very close and you don't have to share it with anyone, it's yours and yours alone. It would be fast!"

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David Merceron the sorry state of search APIs.

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Seagate Gets No RespectIs the market underpricing Seagate's prospects?

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Five years ago:"OK, the Mets didn't win today. That doesn't mean they lost."

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Grade"A"InvestmentsHere's how to cherry-pick mutual fund winners.In Praise of GougingWho's looking out for you? The free market.Liquid LoungeLearn Something New Every Day

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One thing I want to say in my BBQ keynote tonight is that one good thing that's happening is that people are trying out new ideas again. That should be a constant in the tech industry, in good timesandin bad. There should always be money for new ideas because you never know which one will turn into the next Visicalc, Wordstar, Mac OS, Excel, Web or whatever. Too many years of drought between the years of wine and roses.BTW, congratulations toEvan Williamsfor finally figuring out that the main significance of podcasting is not that it gives a new channel to commercial broadcasters (which it does), but rather it allows people to create media (see above). My guess is that this epiphany was brought about by a 20-million-ton frieght train called iTunes.Wired News takesa look at Memorandum. Of course I discovered the article on Memorandum, which tempts me not to point to it, unless I have something to say. Now having said it, I can stop, because no doubt Memeorandum will link to this witless and information-less post and at the same time will move the Wired News article up the ladder. Meanwhile, my ultra-wittykeynote, above, which has only been linked toby TechCrunch(calling itThe Flickr of Keynotes), didn't make the grade on Memeorandum at all. I could have sent out emails asking for links and it probably would have shown up, but that seems really tacky. One more thing, people complain the site is too ugly, and there should be a sports version, I have another complaint. The name has too many syllables and it's hard to remember how to spell it, and it's too long, and screws up word-wrap on my posts.

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abstemious: Dictionary.com Word of the Dayabstemious: temperate; abstinent; refraining from indulgence.

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Listening to Meet the Press today, it's fairly clear that Karl Rove and others will be indicted. A Republican senator, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, was spinning like this: Innocent until proven guilty. She hopes the charges aren't perjury or obstruction of justice, the kind of charges (she says) that you file when you can't prove your primary case. Those also happen to be the charges that President Clinton was impeached on, funny how standards change, eh. Democrat Art Schumer said he would accept whatever the prosecutor decided to do. Sounds reasonable, if you assume he's not partisan, but of courseeverythinghe says is totally partisan. So he knows the indictments are coming. This week it was exceptionally easy to read the tea-leaves.Dowd vs MillerLike Jeff Jarvis, I read Maureen Dowd's column about NY Times reporter Judith Miller in yesterday's paper. I have a few (blunt) comments.1. This is why the Times needs a blogger columnist on its op-ed page, to catch situations like this long before they melt down at the level the Miller case has melted down. And I don't mean a columnist with a blog, I mean a blogger who is given regular space on the op-ed page.2. If you think this is an unusual situation for the Times, think again. We know that at least some Times reporters aren't actually reporters any more than Miller was, they have the hubris to think they should shape the events they cover, that their point of view is what matters. I tried in so many ways to explain this at the Blogging, Journalism and Credibility conference at Harvard in January of this year, but the Times editorial people, as always, dismiss this criticism with arrogance. This is going to cause more problems in the future. People outside of the Times can see the problem more clearly than your insiders can.3. Bravo to Dowd for seeing that her position can help the Times by getting them to think.4. Please publish her op-ed outside the firewall (try the front page) so we can point to it.

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aberrant: Dictionary.com Word of the Dayaberrant: abnormal.

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We needa beautiful icon for valid OPML.What if Scooter Libbywere a guest on Law&Order?Norm Augustinushas some good OPML badge material!

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sinecure: Dictionary.com Word of the Daysinecure: an office or position that involves little work or responsibility.

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But... When I click on the link for the movie trailer, I wait a minute and nothing happens. This reminds me of a podcastinterviewI heard withRon Bloom, one of the founders of a podcastingnetwork. He says, emphatically, that technology doesn't matter. That's the kind of thing I'm likely to say myself, except when technologydoesmatter. This is one of those times. Suggest to Ron that he ask his partner Adam to explain this, and listen Ron -- becausetechnology can make the differencebetween a user watching a trailer for a movie, and shutting the window after wasting too much time waiting.Rememberthe Yahoo movie trailers feed that had an XML error, but otherwise was interesting and innovative? Well, yesterday I got an email from its product manager saying they would fix it, and this morning, it'sfixed.Bing!AOL has it's own"mini"blogger, an anonymous employee blogging about his or her employer.

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Vatican: Don't Knock ScienceAs part of a project to help end the 'mutual prejudice' between science and religion, the Roman Catholic Church urges the faithful to consider scientific reason.Call It 'Gorilla' MarketingSmashing cars to bits may seem like an odd tactic for promoting a car-sharing service but it's undeniably satisfying, in a primitive sort of way.You Can Be Smart and MarriedDespite suggestions to the contrary, you don't have to be dumb to trap a husband or rich to acquire a wife. Commentary by Regina Lynn.

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umbrage: Dictionary.com Word of the Dayumbrage: offense; resentment.

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R Is for RobotWhat bots can teach tots (and vice versa). By Larry Gallagher of Wired magazine.RIAA Takes Shotgun to TradersThe RIAA's legal campaign against online music trading has misidentified hundreds of traders and relies on bullying to get results, legal experts say. By Bruce Gain.Venice Is Deep in ThoughtIs the city of Venice a backward-looking tourist trap, stuck in the past, or a productive, creative city of the future? Commentary by Momus.

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Technology Review:Digitize This. On October 4, Yahoo and ten partner organizations announced the formation of the Open Content Alliance, which plans to build a free, permanent online repository for a wide range of print and multimedia content, including both copyrighted works and those that have passed into the public domain.

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Alex Barnett:7 reasons 2006 will be a big year for OPML.

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immolate: Dictionary.com Word of the Dayimmolate: to kill or destroy, often by fire.

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WIRED:Battle for the Soul of the MP3 Phone. Motorola and other companies have been selling phones that play music in Europe and Asia for a couple of years now - handsets with lots of memory and serious audio capabilities. And with the iPod, Apple showed how to turn an ordinary MP3 player into a great one. Put it all together and you get - the ROKR? How does a great idea get this botched?

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Network printer leads new Xerox modelsPhaser 4700 desktop device handles color or monochrome, while WorkCentre line combines printing and copying.Photo: Gateway's new tabletThis 6-pound laptop has a 14-inch widescreen display.

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IBM drops SCO countersuit claimsHurry upISP should not identify blogger - courtVictory for free speech on the internet - for AmericansSegway's brains head for toy robotIt's a balancing actAMD welcomes new Irish procurement rulesIreland and Austria fall into line with EU rulingRegreaders take the Dell 'Open-source PC' challengeFreedom is just another word for nothing to buyFor God's sake don't say 'rabbit'Curse of the Were-Underground-Muttonhits Portland screensIBM touts information as as serviceCommentIt's a data management thingFingerprint payments taking off despite security concernsLet your fingers do the talkingMy prostate's as hard as an opal and ready to conquer Web 2.0And ninethlyWhy isn't yours?

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Their clout rising, blogs are courted by Washington's elitePolitical blogs aren't just reacting to news anymore - they're making it.A new Sunni strategy in IraqAfter failing to defeat Iraq's charter, Sunni Arab parties are merging - with an anti-US agenda.

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blog honoursI'm ahalley's commentreader and am asubscriber(through"rss") and I'm blushingthis morning!belgian potBelgian drug company tosupplydutch medicinal weed.new show: sterrenbeursI picked up a new17 incheryesterday, treated myself to an iPod while I was in the store. I've been listening to theLydoninterviews at Dave'ssuggestion. I hope"manila"sites support enclosures for"rss"in the future, somoreinterviews can downloaddirectlyto my ipod.mail-2-weblogfor manila is working, so my wish may not be far off.The big news from here is that I signed for a new tv-show starting september 16th. It's calledSterrenbeurs, and is a bit like the BBC'sCelebDaq. Basically a TV show where you track the celebrity stock market. Trading takes place online and'points'can be cashed in for prizes.Supply and demand determines a star's current value, but news determines the psyche of the investors (just like the real markets) so I'm guessing weblogs are going to play an important role in this game/tv-show format. I'll report my findings here ofcourse.happy birthday baby!It was 13 years ago today that Patricia said:"this kid is done, she's gotta come out now!"Not one to argue with highly pregnant women, we took off for st. barnabas hospital in new jersey. 4 hours later our princess was born, to the sounds of'in my life'by the beatles that was playing on wltw (lite-fm) in the delivery room. Ah, how radio is so much the soundtrack of our lives!Happy birthday Christina, love Dadbar miztvahMazzel Tov toAryeh Canter. Did your dad sing?aquada bondOh shit. Ineedthis.one more to 4-ohBeen working on the new tv show for the past two days. Weblogs are going to be a big part of this. I'm writing up an essay, but first I'm going to celebrate my 39th birthday as the dutch do. Birthdays are a big deal here, and the entire family is to be congratulated as a matter of cultural protocol: ("congratulations with your wife/husband/brother/son/unlce's birthday").cannabis capersStarting today, Dutch doctors will be able toprescribemedicinal cannabis to patients.

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I've experienced a major firewire drive crash. 3000 pictures gone.ipod rss parserI'm even more excited about thethoughtI had earlier. After downloading thezipfile I loadedChristopher Lydon'sinterviews into my ipod.Bing. This is powerful stuff, now the dots need to be connected.I'm looking for an application (or glue for several existing apps) that will parse an rss feed for enclosures and load them into a new playlist on my [docked] ipod.Update:Shrookcan export rss feeds to my ipod. No support for enclosures..yet.

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Bird flu brings on PC virusVirus writers are circulating an e-mail with an attachment that offers information about the bird flu epidemic, along with a Trojan horse, according to a researcher at Panda Software. The software company rated the malware as low-risk.IBM researchers take Axe to computer securityResearchers at IBM's Almaden Lab have come up with a way to keep worms and viruses from running on computers without the use of antivirus software.More News...CrossOver Office aims to ease a switch to LinuxCodeWeavers' new CrossOver Office 5.0, released earlier this week, is designed to help Windows users switch to Linux without having to leave behind all of their favorite applications.Skype could pose security problems for companies, analysts sayThe growing popularity of free Internet telephony software from Skype Technologies could pose the same kind of security challenges for companies that other peer-to-peer technologies have created in recent years, security experts said.Motorola, Intel to drive mobile WiMaxMotorola Inc. and Intel Corp. are joining forces to lay the groundwork for the next phase of WiMax standardization: establishing profiles that will be used to implement the mobile version of the wireless broadband technology.Microsoft could pull Windows from S. KoreaMicrosoft is warning that it may have to withdraw Windows from the South Korean market if regulators there order it to remove code or redesign Windows.Google, IBM team on deep-research toolIBM is linking its OmniFind corporate search system with Google's free desktop search for business to make it easier for users to locate information that's often locked up in separate systems.Partner: Equifax Hosts FREE WebinarData in Danger: Securing Consumer TrustIT links CRM, analytical tools to keep customersUsers at SAS Institute's BetterManagement conference in Las Vegas said they are combining CRM and analytical tools to retain and gain more revenue from customers.

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Thousands pack up to evade WilmaThe hurricane, already one for the record books, sends many Gulf-side Floridians scurrying inland.Bush's second-term bluesHis woes fit a historical pattern that also shows presidents can recover.Extreme makeover for a nuclear factoryEarly cleanup of the former nuclear weapons facility at Rocky Flats holds lessons for other sites.Good pitching, well-crafted outs, and grit: a Fall Classic outlookChicago's White Sox and Houston's Astros are teams that evoke another baseball era.In a global first, Brazilians voting on banning gun salesBut as in the US, the gun culture is deeply ingrained here, as is a wariness to relinquish individual rights.

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Patent tussle could shut down BlackBerry service in U.S.In a move that could shut down Research In Motion's BlackBerry service in the U.S., a U.S. District Court will be asked to reaffirm an earlier injunction in the ongoing legal fight with NTP Inc.House committee pushes VA IT spending billA House committee that oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs has unanimously approved a bill that would consolidate IT spending at the agency under a single CIO.Interior Dept. again ordered to cut IT systems from the WebThe U.S. Department of the Interior has been ordered again to disconnect much of its computer network and Web sites from the Internet because of IT concerns that threaten the integrity of trust-fund records kept for American Indians.More News...Partner: Offer your customers high availability, iSCSI storage from RASILIENTat half the cost of the competition. Find out more.Microsoft reports second patch problemA second problem has been detected in Microsoft's latest round of security patches. The latest issue involves a critical patch relating to Microsoft's DirectShow streaming media software that may leave some Windows 2000 users unprotected.ISP router changes cited in Internet slowdownAn eight-hour slowdown in Internet traffic early Friday was caused by network delays at backbone ISPs Level 3 Communications and Verio, according to Internet traffic monitoring firm Keynote Systems.

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Microsoft's other OSAlso: Porncasts appear on video-playing iPod.Yahoo ballyhoo for TiVoBlog: Yahoo and TiVo announced a deal Monday morning that would allow consumers to program TiVo boxes from a Yahoo page. Later...Why they say spyware is good for youCNET News.com's Declan McCullagh explains the growing trend behind installing spyware on Windows PCs without obtaining proper permission.Mark Cuban eyes Pittsburgh PiratesThe Dallas Mavericks owner and Internet entrepreneur has an abiding interest in his hometown baseball team.Cable goes for the quadruple playNewly allied with Sprint Nextel, four cable operators add wireless to their Internet, video and VoIP services.EMI: We don't use rootkitsRecord label claims its copy-restriction software can easily be uninstalled and is not hidden like that used by rival Sony.

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Online auto sales scammers to serve timeNorth Carolina man and Mississippi woman collected more than $60,000 for cars they never delivered.Why Microsoft plays games with iPodBlog: After years of observing Microsoft's legal cases, we've learned one thing: Behind every move the company makes, there's always...Crowd gathers for Homebrew Computer Club's 30thCheered on by a crowd of Vintage Computer Festival-goers, veterans of the Homebrew Computer Club remember old times.Microsoft's other OSAlso: Porncasts appear on video-playing iPod.Unsecured Wi-Fi would be outlawed by N.Y. countyWestchester County proposes that all businesses providing wireless access must have firewalls and register.'Madden': The next generationEA Sports Senior Producer Jeremy Strauser discusses efforts to make the venerable football franchise storm the Xbox 360.

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Laying the first bricks for tax reformA panel's proposals make compromises that Congress and Bush will need to make anyway.What's on during Ramadan? Antiterror TVThe evening serials during the holy month are like November television sweeps in the US.Dick Cheney: no change of role visibleDespite allegations on his role in the CIA leak case, the vice president remains a key shaper of White House policy.Clash of visions for Latin AmericaIt's Bush vs. Chavez as 33 heads of state ready to meet for Summit of the Americas.

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Readers: Ask the experts about ID theftMembers of News.com's ID theft roundtable panel open up a discussion with News.com editors and our readers.The customer is sometimes wrongAlso: No customers for Sun's grid?Palm opens engineering center in IrelandCenter, to be located by Palm's European operations, will focus on mobile-networking technologies such as 3G/UMTS.

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A hard ride for eDonkeyAlso: NASA aiming to launch next shuttle flight in May.Court upholds Toshiba patent verdictCalifornia Superior Court affirms $465 million jury verdict delivered in March.Critical Windows patch may wreak PC havocPatch to fix serious Windows flaws can lock users out of their computer, prevent the Windows firewall from starting, block applications or cause other trouble.Gates to students: Microsoft wants youIn part recruitment effort, part product pitch, Bill Gates champions the"magic of software"before a packed house at Howard University.MTV buys iFilm for $49 millionDeal could mean a lot more downloadable TV programming for Web users and more online advertising for Viacom.Phishing fight may be paying offThough the number of phishing sites has hit a new high, swift action is making it tougher to launch attacks.

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bronsonCharles Bronson, dead at 81.

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Amazon profits take a hitLawsuits and tax sap cashAdton touts Flash-based Serial ATA HDDDoesn't come cheap, thoughAge discrimination rife in UKOld timers get raw dealICANN prez welcomes new era of internetPaul Twomey discusses ground-breaking VeriSign deal

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Partner: Boost Windows Performance for Branch OfficesDownload the Free Guide Now!More News...

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ISP should not identify blogger - courtVictory for free speech on the internet - for AmericansAussies launch SMS Bible'In da Bginnin God cre8d...'IBM touts information as as serviceCommentIt's a data management thingDutch smash 100,000-strong zombie armyDDoS attacks and Paypal fraudIBM drops SCO countersuitHurry upTelkom Kenya unhappy about disappearing cablesCopper-hungry vandals blamedFor God's sake don't say 'rabbit'Curse of the Were-Underground-Muttonhits Portland screens

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belgian potBelgian drug company tosupplydutch medicinal weed.davenetDave:"Blogs are a very American thing."

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Q&A: Siebel exec looks at company's legacy, his future at OracleLongtime Siebel Systems executive Bruce Cleveland talked with Computerworld this week about Siebel's past -- the good and the bad -- and its future as part of Oracle Corp.Open-source software seen gaining in EuropeStudy found that nearly 49% of local government authorities are using open-source software and that most of those using it would like to increase its use.AOL lays off about 4% of staffAOL has cut more than 700 jobs, or about 4% of its workforce, mostly among employees who currently provide support to AOL subscribers.Partner: Boost Windows Performance for Branch OfficesDownload the Free Guide Now!PHP catching on at enterprises, vying with JavaNow used at 50,000 sites and competing with Java, say speakers at conference.

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Budget cutters line up targetsCongressional leaders seek to cut $39-50 billion over five years.On abortion, a nuanced standIn 3 of 4 cases, Supreme Court nominee Alito voted on the side of abortion rights.Righting RangoonThe US and UN can, with China's help, intervene in Burma to end the long suppression.Bush outlines first US steps against bird fluThe president, citing the potential for an outbreak of avian flu, called for a $7 billion preparedness strategy.

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Iraq's Kurds embrace new charterThe constitution, to be voted on tomorrow, enshrines for the first time Kurdish rights into Iraqi law.Kashmir prized but little aidedSeparatists and mosques filled in the void left by official quake aid.Democrats' hopes rise for 2006 electionThe party is uniting around a theme for the midterm contest: a GOP 'culture of corruption.'Raising the retirement ageRich nations can't afford not to encourage older people to work. Raising the retirement age would help.

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qotd september 1Lawana Blackwell:"The hatred you're carrying is a live coal in your heart - far more damaging to yourself than to them."belgian potBelgian drug company tosupplydutch medicinal weed.happy sunday tuneThere's something aboutMo Jonesthat makes my smile when I hear their tunes. These guys are from holland, recorded theor album in their attic on Pro-Tools and recently kicked ass at theNorth Sea Jazz Festival. If you're using anenclosure aware aggregator, you'll automagically receive themp3of How The Wind Blows.I've experienced a major firewire drive crash. 3000 pictures gone.flying todayI'm off to the northern part of holland later today. I'm flying Patricia up there, she's making a rare appearance in support of her company"LaPaay"who've been at the jaarbeurs convention for most of the week. The trip is especially fun for me as I'll be second in command of theKing Airwe're flying. I hope to send some moblog postings during the trip!davenetDave:"Blogs are a very American thing."qotd sept. 6Michael Hanson:"To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action till the goal is reached. The key is action."qotd september 7Groucho Marx:"Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."

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For postquake Pakistanis, a greater needMillions of homeless are at risk as winter begins, and yet foreign aid hardly meets the need.After Wilma's punch, the pinchGas shortage: Four days after the hurricane hit their state, many Floridians are lining up for everything from ice to fuel.UN team names firms in oil-for-food scandalNearly half of the 4,500 companies that participated paid Hussein bribes, the report says.With Miers out, what's Plan B?Now President Bush must find a Supreme Court nominee who can satisfy his base yet clear the Senate.Confused about the CIA leak case? Start here.The Monitor's White House correspondent answers key questions about the investigation.

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EC moots pan-European music licensing'Good governanceLie detector tests for UK benefits claimantsNo wires - voice stress analysisNovell and IBM offer per chassis Linux deal for bladesSweetIntel-led fast Wi-Fi group menaces IEEEEnhanced Wireless Consortium revs up

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qotd sept. 6Michael Hanson:"To will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action till the goal is reached. The key is action."flying todayI'm off to the northern part of holland later today. I'm flying Patricia up there, she's making a rare appearance in support of her company"LaPaay"who've been at the jaarbeurs convention for most of the week. The trip is especially fun for me as I'll be second in command of theKing Airwe're flying. I hope to send some moblog postings during the trip!blog honoursI'm ahalley's commentreader and am asubscriber(through"rss") and I'm blushingthis morning!aquada bondOh shit. Ineedthis.qotd september 1Lawana Blackwell:"The hatred you're carrying is a live coal in your heart - far more damaging to yourself than to them."ipod rss parserI'm even more excited about thethoughtI had earlier. After downloading thezipfile I loadedChristopher Lydon'sinterviews into my ipod.Bing. This is powerful stuff, now the dots need to be connected.I'm looking for an application (or glue for several existing apps) that will parse an rss feed for enclosures and load them into a new playlist on my [docked] ipod.Update:Shrookcan export rss feeds to my ipod. No support for enclosures..yet.workin'Can you tell I'm working on some non-blog stuff? More tomorrow.

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